Fender's G-Dec In The Amp Lab

[@dspguitar]

I've got one of the G-Dec 3 15-watt amps. Best money I've spent in a long time. I have quite a few tube amps, and usually shy away from any solid state units. But this little amp sounds awesome in multiple settings, and is so much fun to play. I've used mine almost daily for 18 months.

[@davcap88]

It's nice to see you left the night's Watch to play guitar Jon.

[@thapoppyman]

I had one of these growing up. I remember getting it when it first came out. So much fun trying out every fx awesome beginners amp.

[@RatRickenbacker]

I picked one up about 5 years ago. It was almost a steal because they were renowned for having issues with the selector and or volume knobs having contact issues. It wasn't too difficult to take the knobs out and clean them thoroughly. Adding some dielectric grease to the circuit faces resolved the issues of volume jump and impossibility of selecting the amp setting without skipping several presets. You can also download other midi files to expand your background library.

[@Mindboggle100]

Guitarist deserves a shout out for some fine demo playing and examples.

[@websurfer1585]

Some of those sounds are killer, I so want one of these amps!

[@umbertoecho1]

Thanks for making this vid - the most helpful one out there. I picked up a used one a couple months ago and finally took it apart and cleaned the tuner dial per another video on YT. Works a charm now, but one has to be slow and deliberate about turning the knob. I think they might have used too much dielectric grease in there - not sure about that - but cleaning with electronic contact cleaner did the trick. Definitely a long learning curve though as others have mentioned. I run it through a cabinet with two Eminence Legend 1518's. It sounds surprisingly well - hate all the metal and distorted presets though. Easy enough to create your own "clean" preset though as someone else mentioned. Great little amp and great demo vid - thanks again GearWire!

[@jayjackson4073]

I have owned this amp just after they started production. If you want to set any preset to another slot just set the settings how you want in each slot. To get clean sounds use British one or black face one and take all the effects off. It is one of the best amp modeling amps I have ever heard. and so many choices for Effects and how you want them set up. It also gives a wide variety of Reverb, and Timbre. I use It a lot for a clean sound and use pedals. only two things fender could have done to make it better is a Cab out jack and a longer loop time. I don't see many of these for sale any more. They discontinued them and started The Mustang series. Which Has some Different fetures and is of higher watts. 1 to get clean drop all the FX. 2 to get presets to line up set each one how you want.

[@Stevenlust1]

thanks for making this becasue the amp didnt come with a manual

[@yakadee1]

steven lust Have you ever heard of Google? This took me 7 seconds to find. support.fender.com/manuals/guitar_amplifiers/G-DEC_manual.pdf

[@Stevenlust1]

yakadee1 No i havnt , but i've heard of you tube somehow. Thanks for being concerned enough to look that up for me. I don't know why you would be that bothered by my comment. Were you the employee who forgot to put a manual in the box.

[@Stevenlust1]

steven lust And get a life.

[@OMGWTFLOLSMH]

New link. Old link is dead. www.fmicassets.com/Damroot/Original/10001/OM_leg_gtramp_GDEC_English.pdf

[@gabedeliso222]

@@Stevenlust1 The page you were looking for doesn't exist

[@davidfuchs9636]

It's my favorite amp in the whole world. It bummed me out that they stopped making it.

[@Nachteule96]

I've had this amp for a few years. It does not get loud enough to play along with drums or in a crowd. You would need to have PA speakers for that which can be done on the back of it. Nonetheless I love it. You can get any sound out of this thing, which can't be done on most amps. There's so much different stuff on here. The drums kind of suck but do help if you're trying to work on tempo. Also the tuner is amazing. I like the tuner more than most others I have used.

[@EddieMiner]

I liked that you can customize all parameters.I would run a blues pedal sometimes through it

[@jasonbothun1]

Really excellent demo-

[@widowmakerheartattack5212]

Verbal part of this is great.I can't be mean to this guy,he seems really nice.Got the amp today for $80 bucks the sunburst maple.Its,a lot of fun.

[@bobmalas6264]

Good to see a review where the reviewer is not interested in showing off his playing ability and concentrating on the item being reviewed. Too many idiots out there trying to impress us with their guitar skills. Your confidence in yourself is appreciated. Thanks

[@SuperStig23]

A great little amp, especially for home, home studio, even full studio when plugged in direct, great for beginners who don't have a band to hone their chops with. Just my 5 cents on getting a good band together. I've been playing for 50+ yrs, the big problem was always you never got play with a REALLY good drummer and Bass Player & you will never get to that real pro fluid level of playing without them, for most people it takes about 10 yrs of playing to get good enough, (it's a bit of a catch 22 situation) When forming a band the hardest thing to find is a great drummer, then a Singer, Good Keyboard player and last of all the guitar player, why ?? because everyone wants to be the lead guitar player, there are probably 300 guitar players for every good drummer, a 1,000 for every great drummer. All the truly great Drummers I ever worked with could both sing, play Guitar and Keyboards pretty well too, they had an ear for music not just bashing away making noise, want to find a great drummer make them audition with NO cymbals, 2 toms, high hat and kick drum, if they can't play well with this basic setup they just can't play.

[@JOESEMTEX69]

I've never read so much shit in my whole life!!!

[@rosacortese]

Very pleasant presentation!

[@lookn0ver]

I’ve done lots of nice work w this cof cof toy ! Some of the presets will let you jack a mic 🎤 in w out too much feedback add a processor to mic and it’s an all in one venue on the cheap.you have to learn the value of its versatility.nothing compares to being able to dial in any effect you could dream of. Don’t be so junior high about this. This a serious Fender amp too.

[@EddieMiner]

I had one of these.I loved it.I would play a measure then solo over it.I was having a problem with that Dile he I turning.My dial was getting unresponsive,so I bought another little Fender Gdec 15 watt amp.I would play rock star.I lost both of those in my storage one day.I lost about five guitars that day Along with A Line 6 combo amp .

[@johnnygordon5947]

Most of his sound is in that perfect guitar ,it would sound good on any amp

[@RobMichaelNYC]

C'mon this thing is pretty good for a small practice amp. I wouldn't use it at my next MSG gig, but it works

[@1971SuperLead]

There's only two things good about this amp... 1. I can plug my computer into it to play You Tube backing tracks through it. This makes for great practice sessions. 2. It sounds absolutely killer. I've been playing for 40 years and I have my own amp setting that are as good as they get, well, for blues and hard rock.

[@Pelllaw26]

do u know any good settings or setup for blues?

[@1971SuperLead]

Snowie May There is Brit Jangle and Brit Blues for that Free or Bad Company tone. But for something less radical, there are the Tweed and Blackface setting. The Clean Tweed is as clean as you'll get, and it's a very convincing tweed tone. I love it. All the Tweed, Blackface and Brit tones are very cool, and I use them all. I just realized that this video is for the first model of G-DEC. I had one, but it's been too long ago to remember the good tones. Are you serious? You have this model and not the G-DEC3? When my G-DEC died, I got a free replacement from Fender, and it was the later model, G-DEC3. The G-DEC3 is far superior.

[@Pelllaw26]

ty. its really good sounding

[@1971SuperLead]

RT VIT These G-DECs came with a 5 year warranty. If your amp is less than 5 years old, simply take it to any Fender dealer. They will send it back to Fender and a new one will then be delivered to you. I think you'll need the receipt too.

[@andystephenson5407]

the backing tracks are why I want it

[@clintstrehl631]

If you have a G-DEC like me, Go to track 13. It's not perfectlyclean but it works. If thats not what you want, click the amp button and customize your own track. Then press save and you've got yourself a clean setting:D

[@gordonramsay1474]

Taking 5?

[@Tobyben420]

Amp review with shreds in between? Nice!

[@stratodanster]

The newer GDEC 3 is better. There's alot of learning to do with these amps. Its taking me considerable time to see what its capable of. NOT a stadium concert amp but loads of fun and records very nice. The computer parameter control is fantastic.

[@JohnHWelch63]

Someone gave me G-DEC 15 last month. I don't know if it's defective but it sounds like crap, and when I try to change the parameters of the effects and amp model, like bass, mid, and treble levels, or for instance, the speed of the vibrato effect, nothing happens, or nothing that I can hear happens, IDK. The drum sequences sound clear and seems to work well, but the guitar amp part sucks! I also have a Positive Grid Spark 40, which is a great little practice amp. I suppose I can use the g dec just for beats to practice too, but the Spark 40 is much better for that as you can create full drum and bass sequences, change time sigs and chord changes, etc, or you can play a drum and bass track of any song you like off youtube through it and play to that.

[@harleyblevins2613]

The sound on the G-dec-30 works great with guitar but drum sound has stopped. What could cause this problem?

[@Tumbler481]

How do you do a factory reset on it? I have one but the guitar tones do not sound right with the drum and bass lines and not loud enough either.

[@GUITARCOVERS-b7v]

I have one of these but so the buttons are lit green and the screen is blank , I can't get the amp to do anything now ? Why what happened

[@jkalicke27]

Does anyone know if theres a way or setting to just get a clean regular tone?

[@stevea5431]

You can actually go in there independently and remove effects that way you can keep it clean tone. One of those things you need to spend the hours figuring out to get your sound just try to enjoy the process

[@icelandknight]

Why not PLAY a NOTE while making adjustments controls... So you (and WE) can HEAR the changes during the adjustments. ?? (Just trying to help. I am considering to buy one of these amps off a friend. Even though it seems pretty cheesy.) EDIT: Update! I have it now.

[@kmanikin]

Good instruction. Thanks!

[@RosalvoParadella]

How to play the internal Synth sounds with a midi keyboard ?

[@elklive]

These amps go for like 50 to 80 used and are worth it for the tuner alone. I hate the little dot tuners on the mustang and Line 6.

[@larrymckinney417]

i need to learn to set up the drums

[@OldBlueMusician]

Good review. Should u have a standalone piece of hardware, like this amp, with lcd screens and fiddly buttons or should u give it a USB socket and connect it to a laptop so that a software program (eg DAW) can control the show - Peavey Vypyr VIP . . . Personally I would go for the latter solution.

[@dronestereo]

I have this early model (God I love pawn shops!! My $337.50 mint American Special Stratocaster is a great example!!) and while it does do some neat things I'm likely selling it, unless I can figure out how to use the built-in synth. According to the manual, I should be able to use a midi controller with my DAW and access a usable synthesizer with my Oxygen 49. If I can figure that out, it'd be worth it for that alone. Unfortunately there aren't any videos I've seen that explain this (I haven't finished this one yet, though, but I'm doubtful)...

[@mikebarnett6218]

if you wanted to go from preset 3 then to 7 then to 52 then to 77 do you have to roll the wheel or can you program it to go from preset to preset?

[@zy7xw5]

I got a G-DEC 30 a couple of years ago and it quit working after I had it a few weeks, I took it back and got another one and used it twice and it quit working so I took it back and got my money back. Anyone thinking of getting one should check to see if they fixed the problem with them because the place I bought mine admitted they were having issues with them.

[@savleans2rock]

My G Dec 30 is stuck on a screen that says - "Ready For MIDI Update, Load UI, Exit To Reboot" and 'Nothing' else works! Amp is good as dead. Any solutions ? If nothing then how can i get rid of the digital interface and make the Amp Analog ? Please help!

[@aleksandardjordjevic1484]

Do you fix?

[@savds]

@@aleksandardjordjevic1484 Nope, no fix, i even spoke to Fender and they've stopped supporting it. I picked up another cheap indian amp from a friend and installed the fender speaker in that amp and bam it works well! The speaker is great!

[@kaoe145]

could you share the setting and eq setting for the 50s tone jazz tone and hot 101 tone thanks

[@gary125100]

Nice demo. Thanks!

[@theshykid19]

there is a way to make own backing track to play over just set it to 4 beat lead in in aux and drums set it to 140, 70 or 35 to fit in loop and turn down bass...

[@haguen2317]

That k you for making this video, how do u bypass all distortion

[@larrymckinney1313]

how do i get more volume when using drums

[@taxitwat1]

Is there a setting for country on it

[@everybodyslapkullen4456]

Where do I get parts for this?

[@skydogstudio]

My GDEC is just this side of dead. Fender abandoned this thing like it never existed. Mine sat for 4 - 5 years in the garage till I decided to spend 4 days straight trying to re install it's OS. I sort have got it started again I can't turn it off\... every once in a while it reboots I don't dare turn it off and let it sit. I have a little Marshall MG15 that sound wise kicks its butt with it's fake tube technology much more responsive OK it doesn't have a band but it responds like an old champ but it has delay or reverb. I almost recorded myself setting my gdec3 on fire but its temporarily saved

[@antonellogas9914]

i picked up this amp recently, does anyone know where i can find some good presets?

[@davochandler]

"Pretty much in tune"

[@ray.a7343]

How do u factory restore settings???? Anyone please help??!!!!

[@pratzlaff]

Press UTILITY button until FACTORY RESTORE is highlighted, then press SAVE twice.

[@boogiewoogit5597]

Tonight, we dine on Metal Feast, bwahahahaHAaa, raaaaaawk go

[@lukeschmidt]

I got mine in 2005. I am not sure what version it was. I have not been happy with it. The knob when turned goes randomly from 3-41 in pre-sets for example. The pre-sets in general; though named cleverly, do not sound good. I wish it was simpler to use.

[@irfansaeed4529]

Same issue with the knob. Drives me nuts. Makes me not want to use it.

[@jeffjackson8591]

I just took mine apart, cleaned the pot out and works great now. You have to take the pot apart, took me 15 minutes

[@BIGOLEMARR]

can you download settings and stuff and put them on it

[@sash_andmusic5019]

Where can you find the reverb?

[@riverman-mk8pn]

Just put up a link to the owners manual

[@D-Squared]

I always thought the drums were meant to keep tempo....seems like u picked it up later in video....my bad

[@kingbrandor]

how do you delete what you record?

[@jimmijohn6710]

Just record another phrase it will delete itself.

[@Nathanmcu07]

Can anyone help me get a clean regular tone? I need to use a pedal but i cant. Helpe me.

[@guitwizzz]

Line 6 Spider Jam smokes this amp!

[@RainField0730]

Bogner Uberschall smokes Line 6 Spider Jam!

[@kahunawife1]

Hubby bought this for me years ago when they first came out. It's been many years, and I still can't figure this thing out. The online "manual" is no real help. Even the staff at the local guitar store don't have a clue how to really use it efficiently. I'm a 40+ year guitar player, so it shouldn't be that difficult. It's more of a novelty toy than anything else. Sure it's fun to tinker with, but the knob has never really worked and just randomly goes where it wants, so pretty frustrating when you're trying to go to an actual setting. The only reason I've kept it is to let the grandkids mess around on it as they're learning guitar.

[@deanevans7637]

My pot/knob did the same thing when I bought the G-DEC 15 secondhand for a $100. So with the amp off, I just removed the plastic knob and dribbled 'CRC Contact Cleaner' on the spline slowly with the amp sitting at the best angle for the cleaner to get right into the pot and kept turning it back and forth for 5+ minutes, now it is accurate when adjusting all settings but may need re-doing occasionally, I think mine may have had Bourbon and coke spilled on it. This cleaner does not leave any residue guaranteed unlike say WD40 or the like and will fix all dry and scratchy pots as I've always done with my older amps. It's really a 'precision electronic cleaning solvent'.

[@kahunawife1]

Dean Evans thanks! I'll try that!

[@EightToneSpanish]

Nice I'll try that too. I've also ordered a new switch for 6 dollars.

[@DanielEnochs]

I just bought one for 40 dollar in good condition :)

[@mickhack749]

Dude can’t help but play face melts 🤣🤣

[@larrymckinney1313]

teach me how to do a set

[@riverman-mk8pn]

Just posted a link to the owner's manual. Might help

[@Eruditeization]

It plays to 2:45 and stops. ????

[@KudossMusic]

Kool amp I like the effect but hate the short recording time , check out my review of it

[@dachshund_gaming]

How the fuck do I fix the knob on this thing

[@riverman-mk8pn]

Plenty of fixes, tips, on You Tube. Good luck

[@BrockArt]

why does mine sound like shit. seriously like i wish mine sounded that good. when i record its just scratchy as fuck

[@mojobonbon]

when scratchy and f*** come together, i would think you would want to see a doctor

[@peterschwinn2310]

Ich habe einen - macht Spaß zu spielen - aber der Sound ist durchwegs schlecht - wie man auch hier hört

[@santiagodeponce9390]

Can some manufacture make an all digital interface instead of these wee panels with bulky knobs.....its not tube so it isn't like you can really find sweet spots....technology has been hamstringed....uggggggh(Charlie Brown)

[@jogredizzle]

@zy7xw5 Shit that would suck.

[@Nachteule96]

Actually most I've seen are more $100 - $200.

[@50StillRocks]

For 100$ I will make it smoke....

[@jazzrockblues95]

Its made in china...great :D! hahaha

[@juana1483]

Sounds raunchy

[@davidbennett420]

Need a better guitarist demonstrating this...lol

[@boogiewoogit5597]

You need a tall glass of STFU

[@amirhe6]

all this new amps are crap! too digital...

[@DJ_UKINSELKA]

this amp sucks

[@kurdtjohn]

Nice guitar, fucked amp.

[@riverman-mk8pn]

Here is a link to an online owners manual. www.fmicassets.com/Damroot/Original/10001/OM_leg_gtramp_GDEC_English.pdf Hope it helps. Enjoy