Fender Tone Master Pro Leaked

NickB

Is it me or do the demos on Youtube sound quite harsh treble wise? Are the effects modelled in the unit better than the HX eco-system? 

fretmeister

NickB said:

Is it me or do the demos on Youtube sound quite harsh treble wise? Are the effects modelled in the unit better than the HX eco-system? 

Real plexis are really harsh - so that could be accurate.

As for the fx - I don't think anyone can answer that yet.

NickB

fretmeister said:

NickB said:

Is it me or do the demos on Youtube sound quite harsh treble wise? Are the effects modelled in the unit better than the HX eco-system? 

Real plexis are really harsh - so that could be accurate.

As for the fx - I don't think anyone can answer that yet.

I'm looking forward to the comparison videos!

Dan_Halen

Christ, the demos sound crap. Sounds like some cheap and nasty modelling amp and that's from the 2 demos I've just watched by guys who can usually make anything sound good.

No idea what they're thinking - they're not really bringing anything to the table in an area of the market already well catered for by Kemper, Fractal, Neural, Boss, Amplifire and a slew of plug-in makers all whom have this stuff nailed.

The whole appeal of the Tonemaster surely wasn't how well it modelled the amp (even if they bang on about how powerful the processor is and how it was all dedicated to a single model) was it? For me it was that fact that it was built into a proper cab  with a proper speaker, attenuation available, digital connectivity and was light as well as single grab and go, gig ready package. A way to give you the benefits of modelling but in a 'real' amp.

CaseOfAce

Dan_Halen said:

Christ, the demos sound crap. Sounds like some cheap and nasty modelling amp and that's from the 2 demos I've just watched by guys who can usually make anything sound good.

No idea what they're thinking - they're not really bringing anything to the table in an area of the market already well catered for by Kemper, Fractal, Neural, Boss, Amplifire and a slew of plug-in makers all whom have this stuff nailed.

The whole appeal of the Tonemaster surely wasn't how well it modelled the amp (even if they bang on about how powerful the processor is and how it was all dedicated to a single model) was it? For me it was that fact that it was built into a proper cab  with a proper speaker, attenuation available, digital connectivity and was light as well as single grab and go, gig ready package. A way to give you the benefits of modelling but in a 'real' amp.

Ah ... but the whole mission for Tonemaster was that Fender defined and was the authority on what a Fender amp properly sounded like in the digital domain. And they are now bringing that Tonemaster quality to multi effects. ;-)

Nerine

OK.

A lot of the time I listen to YouTube reviews in the car whilst I'm driving etc to help pass the time. I check mixes in the car when I'm working on clients' music. I know the stereo well. 

i listened to the Leon Todd review on the way to the office this morning, and the guitar sounds all sounded very mix ready to me. I.e. whatever he played, kinda sounded like it was already EQ's and was part of a record etc. 

Usually this means they are going to be pretty bright. 

Perhaps this is why people's initial reactions are that the tones are bright/"brittle"/"harsh". Perhaps the presets are designed to pretty much sit in a mix straight away. I actually thought it sounded pretty good. 

NickB

Nerine said:

OK.

A lot of the time I listen to YouTube reviews in the car whilst I'm driving etc to help pass the time. I check mixes in the car when I'm working on clients' music. I know the stereo well. 

i listened to the Leon Todd review on the way to the office this morning, and the guitar sounds all sounded very mix ready to me. I.e. whatever he played, kinda sounded like it was already EQ's and was part of a record etc. 

Usually this means they are going to be pretty bright. 

Perhaps this is why people's initial reactions are that the tones are bright/"brittle"/"harsh". Perhaps the presets are designed to pretty much sit in a mix straight away. I actually thought it sounded pretty good. 

I listened to the Mary Spender video and it really sounded harsh but maybe that's the sound she was going for? I keep coming back to the modeller vs real amp debate and I have found that modelled amps when compared to real world analogue valve amps sound  a little one dimensional. Well, they do to my ears, so it will be interesting to see how the TM Pro stacks up.

JohnCordy

I got one today. I don't think any owners of Fractal, Line 6 or Neural gear are going to be knocked out of their socks. 
UI is nice though

Wazmeister

Dan_Halen said:

Christ, the demos sound crap. Sounds like some cheap and nasty modelling amp and that's from the 2 demos I've just watched by guys who can usually make anything sound good.

No idea what they're thinking - they're not really bringing anything to the table in an area of the market already well catered for by Kemper, Fractal, Neural, Boss, Amplifire and a slew of plug-in makers all whom have this stuff nailed.

The whole appeal of the Tonemaster surely wasn't how well it modelled the amp (even if they bang on about how powerful the processor is and how it was all dedicated to a single model) was it? For me it was that fact that it was built into a proper cab  with a proper speaker, attenuation available, digital connectivity and was light as well as single grab and go, gig ready package. A way to give you the benefits of modelling but in a 'real' amp.

From the little ive heard on YT, I agree 100% with this.

PFAllen2

JohnCordy said:

I got one today. I don't think any owners of Fractal, Line 6 or Neural gear are going to be knocked out of their socks. 
UI is nice though

Looking forward to your video. 

chrisj1602

I’ve watched a bit of the Andertons demo and the UI looks great and I guess some people will want that. I’d be worried about damaging it at a gig! It looks like it would be a nice desktop thing.

Danny1969

chrisj1602 said:

I’ve watched a bit of the Andertons demo and the UI looks great and I guess some people will want that. I’d be worried about damaging it at a gig! It looks like it would be a nice desktop thing.

I thought the same and also worry if the footswitches,  which are also  encoders can survive gigging when there's loads of damp mud on the stage. 

If I buy something for gigging then it needs to be able to handle all gigs. I wouldn't want to pay a lot of money and then fret if the gig'ing conditions were likely to damage it. 

All screens fail eventually no matter what the tech. Doesn't matter if it's a phone, a mixing desk or a laptop or a modeller, the screen will fail at some point. Could just be the ribbon cable and often is or could be the driver for the LED V+ or it could be the one of the many matrix joints of the actual screen but something will fail. 

When this happens on a phone or a laptop after 5 or 7 years it doesn't seem to be much of an issue as the techs moved on and we get a new one but would we be expected to accept this of a modeller or will be there be a cost effective repair program in place with parts readily available to keep it running ?

This is how my mind works .. I can't help looking at something and see'ing all the ways it's going to go wrong. 

Nerine

Nerine said:

OK.

A lot of the time I listen to YouTube reviews in the car whilst I'm driving etc to help pass the time. I check mixes in the car when I'm working on clients' music. I know the stereo well. 

i listened to the Leon Todd review on the way to the office this morning, and the guitar sounds all sounded very mix ready to me. I.e. whatever he played, kinda sounded like it was already EQ's and was part of a record etc. 

Usually this means they are going to be pretty bright. 

Perhaps this is why people's initial reactions are that the tones are bright/"brittle"/"harsh". Perhaps the presets are designed to pretty much sit in a mix straight away. I actually thought it sounded pretty good. 

I should qualify this a bit further - I thought the sounds Leon dialled in were pretty good. When he played through the presets, they were less good. Not sure what that means though. Perhaps some of the models sound alright, some sound shit. 

Can't see it being a roaring success given it's already garnering quite a lot of negative reaction and cynicism from the online community. Usually there's a reason for it. Not even hype is helping it at the min. 

EricTheWeary

I had the Andertons video on through the big TV and sound bar so it was one up from my iPad. There were definitely moments when they were describing these big rock sounds and what I was hearing was a 5 watt tranny combo. But other things sounded fine. Lot of variables in how the sound gets to me but for a demo of an expensive bit of kit it was a bit underwhelming at times. They also made much of its relative simplicity but then dived into the IRs which seemed like 5000 options to make tiny changes. 

I’m sure it makes sense to somebody. 

duotone

@JohnCordy As a regular modeller user, I look forward to seeing your thoughts on this unit.

https://youtu.be/rDOY4MLwx0Y?feature=shared

NelsonP

fretmeister said:

Grumpyrocker said:

Watched quite a videos of this today. Odd that they sent so many of these very expensive devices to YouTubers without final firmwar. So many "feature coming soon" moments.

Was interesting in TheGuitarGeek video that he thought while the Fender owned amps sounded great (including 5150) the other stuff like Marshall sounded less good.

There's no such thing as "Final Firmware"

All the big modellers have had regular updates with new features that weren't there at launch, but were planned.
These products would never get released at all if they were waiting for a final firmware version!

There is at Atomic. No firmware updates for 2 years.

JohnCordy

@duotone still trying to dial in some stuff but honestly I feel like 24 hours in with most of my other modelers (QC, hotone Ampero, Fractal) I'd have had a "wow" moment. That's yet to happen with this unit.

TTBZ

The gain tones don't sound very good in the demos to me. It has a similar high end artefact in the sound to what the NUX modelling has when the treble/presence is turned past around 50%. It's almost like the kind of nasty octavey effect you get on some fuzzes. Forgivable for me on a budget unit but at this price I don't see why anyone would choose the Fender over a more established option. I guess the GUI does look nice though.

GrahamG

I've read "somewhere" that apparently almost all the release day videos where made with pre-release or beta software/firmware(not sure which) & there is a new version which should be loaded to those early units which improves things, or so i've read "somewhere"
I thought the ITBlues & Brett Kinsman vids sounded good, but then everything he plays sounds great 

guitarmansteve77

JohnCordy said:

@duotone still trying to dial in some stuff but honestly I feel like 24 hours in with most of my other modelers (QC, hotone Ampero, Fractal) I'd have had a "wow" moment. That's yet to happen with this unit.

@JohnCordy Which would you say is your favourite modeller? I have the Boss GT1000 but thinking of selling as the UI does my head in. Cheers