Fender Tone Master Deluxe Reverb

soma1975

That recent video from Fender with Kirk Fletcher still didn't sound incredible and the fact that 80% of the vid was just him talking and not playing makes me wonder if Fender don't think that's the case as well. 

Tadragh1

I don't dislike the idea, but the price seems much too high for what it is.

Lewy

soma1975 said:

That recent video from Fender with Kirk Fletcher still didn't sound incredible and the fact that 80% of the vid was just him talking and not playing makes me wonder if Fender don't think that's the case as well. 

I thought it sounded better - mind you I generally find it quite extraordinary how bad some of the sounds on Fender demos are, often from gear that sounds much better in reality. 

@downbytheriver and I have similar tastes tone wise so it’ll be very interesting to hear what he has to say after living with it for a bit. I don’t think the asking price is steep for what it claims to be - i.e. a full blooded DR that just uses digital rather than valve tech. I’d definitely consider flogging my PRRI to fund one.

shaunm

ICBM said:

RonnieHotdogs said:

We seem to be getting better at building guitars and worse at building amps 

In the long term I think we'll move away from 'amps' entirely. I'm not sure that's an entirely good thing, but I can see it coming.

I can’t see it. I’ve dabbled with a helix and went straight back to proper amps. I don’t care what the sounds are (the helix sounds ace) it doesn’t feel like playing through an amp. 

ICBM

shaunm said:

I can’t see it. I’ve dabbled with a helix and went straight back to proper amps. I don’t care what the sounds are (the helix sounds ace) it doesn’t feel like playing through an amp. 

That's you, with experience of playing live with real amps. But very few guitarists play live any more.

Many of the kids I know who play are happier with a 'bedroom' type amp than a 'proper' amp, and they don't feel like real amps either. Give it twenty years and most guitarists probably won't have any interest in real amps.

noisepolluter

Here’s Proguitarshop Andy doing a guess-which-is-which video. I only listened on the phone speaker, but ...ahem... I got it wrong. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeDr7u_hwGA

sweepy

I just play what feels better to touch and sound and so far it’s valves all the way 

Lewy

noisepolluter said:

Here’s Proguitarshop Andy doing a guess-which-is-which video. I only listened on the phone speaker, but ...ahem... I got it wrong. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeDr7u_hwGA

Don’t know about the amps but it made me drop everything and go and listen to London Calling end to end

Funkfingers

noisepolluter said:

...ahem... I got it wrong. 

I got it right but mainly because I had already auditioned a TMDR in a shop. (Its reverb is the giveaway. This issue could probably have been sorted by having 6G15-style Dwell and Tone controls tucked away somewhere on the rear of the chassis.)

There are moments in Andy Martin's demonstrations when I think both amplifiers sound a bit crappy. For the section with the G&L Legacy, I preferred Amp#1 over Amp#2. 

Ultimately, no video presentation of somebody else playing the gear - no matter how good - can convey the experience of playing that gear oneself. 

sweepy said:

I just play what feels better to touch and sound and so far it’s valves all the way 

This. 

The Fender TMDR is less responsive than a valve amplifier. Full stop. On the other hand, for some applications, this matters very little. If this amplifier retailed for five hundred Pounds rather than eight hundred, it would sell like hot cakes. 

If you are going to spend the best part of a grand, you might as well get a re-issue Princeton.



Listen to this then, go back and listen to Andy's Deluxe shoot out!

stickyfiddle

noisepolluter said:

Here’s Proguitarshop Andy doing a guess-which-is-which video. I only listened on the phone speaker, but ...ahem... I got it wrong. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeDr7u_hwGA

I also preferred the Tonemaster in that video, but they're close enough that it might easily be due to manufacturing variance in pot values and different speakers. Without knowing how it feels under the fingers it's not a particularly useful conclusion in isolation. 

ICBM

I thought Amp 1 sounded much better than Amp 2, especially for the heavily overdriven sound at the end, although also on the cleanest sound at the beginning. The tremolo on Amp 2 (6'38" onwards) was particularly poor.

The Princeton is somewhere in between the two, but is a quite different sound.

So overall I would take Amp 1 in the Deluxe shootout.

(No spoiler for those who haven't watched it yet.)

downbytheriver

AB it shall be....

guitarmangler

Last night I played a social club where they had no car park, the access to the (on the first floor) stage was via a set of stairs outside (in the rain, they were painted brick) which weren’t big enough to fit my size 11 feet on. One of these would have made life a lot easier than my 25kg Yamaha 1x12 combo. I’m going to wait until a local shop has one in and then go and audition one against my amp and see how it fairs.

downbytheriver

Well, AB it wasn’t - I used the Deluxe Reverb Tone Master for the whole gig. It sounded and felt just fine. It weighs less than my (not huge) pedalboard. Dynamics felt right, tone was familiar, frankly I am slightly stunned. It was suggested that it might lack a little middle but that tends to be the way I like it - I used the classic vol 6, treble 6, bass 3 settings that have worked on every Deluxe I have ever used. 

It’s not going back! 

Further reflection - it takes pedals very well! I use clean tones and drive comes from the pedals not from overdriving the input. Beautifully revealing of modulations from the MS3 and the Alexander Wavelength. When we got a bit ZZ Top towards the end it certainly rocked on the Pettydrive! 

 I think this is a great gigging amp - in that situation it definitely has THAT sound. For recording I would possibly think about using one of my valve amps but I would want to try this too.

I haven't tried the XLR DI output - not really my thing.

Disclaimer:   I’m not really into forensic, microscopic assessment of isolated tone in an anechoic chamber. I plug things in and tend not to judge them till I have gigged them. If I want to use them again, stamp them approved. Gear used: Gretsch G5420T (standard blacktop Filtertrons), Boss MS3, Hudson Broadcast, Pettyjohn Pettydrive, Analog Alien Joe Walsh Double Classic and Alexander Wavelength. 

markslade07

downbytheriver said:

Well, AB it wasn’t - I used the Deluxe Reverb Tone Master for the whole gig. It sounded and felt just fine. It weighs less than my (not huge) pedalboard. Dynamics felt right, tone was familiar, frankly I am slightly stunned. It was suggested that it might lack a little middle but that tends to be the way I like it - I used the classic vol 6, treble 6, bass 3 settings that have worked on every Deluxe I have ever used. 

It’s not going back! 

Further reflection - it takes pedals very well! I use clean tones and drive comes from the pedals not from overdriving the input. Beautifully revealing of modulations from the MS3 and the Alexander Wavelength. When we got a bit ZZ Top towards the end it certainly rocked on the Pettydrive! 

 I think this is a great gigging amp - in that situation it definitely has THAT sound. For recording I would possibly think about using one of my valve amps but I would want to try this too.

I haven't tried the XLR DI output - not really my thing.

Disclaimer:   I’m not really into forensic, microscopic assessment of isolated tone in an anechoic chamber. I plug things in and tend not to judge them till I have gigged them. If I want to use them again, stamp them approved. Gear used: Gretsch G5420T (standard blacktop Filtertrons), Boss MS3, Hudson Broadcast, Pettyjohn Pettydrive, Analog Alien Joe Walsh Double Classic and Alexander Wavelength. 

This is very interesting....I think the problem I had in my last foray into this kind of thing (Katana) it just didn’t work well in a band mix. This sounds like it does, and is really light. What’s not to like? Other than the ‘lack of mids’ thing (which as you’ve suggested, may be personal taste), was there anything you didn’t like about it?

downbytheriver

markslade07 said: Other than the ‘lack of mids’ thing (which as you’ve suggested, may be personal taste), was there anything you didn’t like about it?

Not a damned thing. Yet. 

Lewy

downbytheriver said:

markslade07 said: Other than the ‘lack of mids’ thing (which as you’ve suggested, may be personal taste), was there anything you didn’t like about it?

Not a damned thing. Yet. 

*sigh*

Dear Santa....

markslade07

Lewy said:

downbytheriver said:

markslade07 said: Other than the ‘lack of mids’ thing (which as you’ve suggested, may be personal taste), was there anything you didn’t like about it?

Not a damned thing. Yet. 

*sigh*

Dear Santa....

Yup.

noisepolluter

I want a Joe Walsh pedal now. 

soma1975

downbytheriver said:

Well, AB it wasn’t - I used the Deluxe Reverb Tone Master for the whole gig. It sounded and felt just fine. It weighs less than my (not huge) pedalboard. Dynamics felt right, tone was familiar, frankly I am slightly stunned. It was suggested that it might lack a little middle but that tends to be the way I like it - I used the classic vol 6, treble 6, bass 3 settings that have worked on every Deluxe I have ever used. 

It’s not going back! 

Further reflection - it takes pedals very well! I use clean tones and drive comes from the pedals not from overdriving the input. Beautifully revealing of modulations from the MS3 and the Alexander Wavelength. When we got a bit ZZ Top towards the end it certainly rocked on the Pettydrive! 

 I think this is a great gigging amp - in that situation it definitely has THAT sound. For recording I would possibly think about using one of my valve amps but I would want to try this too.

I haven't tried the XLR DI output - not really my thing.

Disclaimer:   I’m not really into forensic, microscopic assessment of isolated tone in an anechoic chamber. I plug things in and tend not to judge them till I have gigged them. If I want to use them again, stamp them approved. Gear used: Gretsch G5420T (standard blacktop Filtertrons), Boss MS3, Hudson Broadcast, Pettyjohn Pettydrive, Analog Alien Joe Walsh Double Classic and Alexander Wavelength. 

Great review. Much more interested in people actually using them commenting than the likes of me mouthing off having never even been in the same room as one.