Fender Tone Master FR-10 and FR-12 "FRFR" cabs

[JiveTurkey]

Despite hiss gate; this continues to be the star of the modern Fender digital show. Cranked the SY1000 up to earth shatter last night to get ready for our first practice in months and this thing delivers Practice is this evening in a large garage"studio". Looking forward to opening it up in a bigger space \m/

 

[Vic Winters]

Still waiting on the backorder from MF.

 

[Cainer]

Still waiting on the backorder from MF.

I ordered an FR-12 from Sweetwater and it arrives tomorrow - you could try them.

 

[Vic Winters]

I ordered an FR-12 from Sweetwater and it arrives tomorrow - you could try them.

I would, but I got 15% off.

 

[jellodog]

Hahaha I don't listen to reviews I'll listen to what my fellow TGF'ers say and base things on that

Buy an FR-12. It is GEWD.

 

[FuzzyAce]

Buy an FR-12. It is GEWD.

 

[la szum]

Despite hiss gate; this continues to be the star of the modern Fender digital show. Cranked the SY1000 up to earth shatter last night to get ready for our first practice in months and this thing delivers Practice is this evening in a large garage"studio". Looking forward to opening it up in a bigger space \m/

How'd it hold up? I want to Ola the fuck out of one to see if it stays tight (mostly).

 

[ucnick]

The same company that just sold my brother a new $2k tele with pickguard static?

Fender: We Don't Hear the NoiseTM

FWIW, I've got that on other multi guitars as well besides the big F.

Yeah. WKSmith shared a couple photos of the power section in the FAS forum, and it's clearly a 350w/4Ohms class-D power amp. Or, 150w at 8Ohms - which is exactly the speaker rating.

View attachment 12175

Marketing this as a 1000W "FRFR" is pretty inexcusable, IMHO. And it's not like the amp can't get freaking loud.

Pretty ballsy!
Kinda fits my rule of thumb, actual tube equivalent power of a class D amp is roughly 1/6th of the claimed power, which us usually instantaneous peak power.

 

[ucnick]

I would, but I got 15% off.

Got a blem unit coming next Friday from AMS for about $470...

EDIT - It arrived today, had ~15 min to play with it, color me impressed! Wonderful cleans, and stayed clean all the way up to full volume with my FM3 out 2 at max on +4dBu. The dirt tones are amazing, very detailed, and bottom is full with no flub even when doing my poor attempt at chugga-chugga-chugga.

It's not quite as loud as my TB202/BD12HD combo, which I cannot even stand in front of at full out, but it's loud enough to make my ears ring, and is uncomfortable to stand in front of it at that level. Hiss is very low, even at full volume, all knobs at noon and cut at minimum, I had to put my ear in front of the speaker to actually hear it, I guess I got a good one.

Next close to "real" test is at rehearsal next week, see how it hangs with the band un-mic'd. I'll get the boys to crank it up and give 'er a good test run. Can't wait!

Except for the dumb eq design, I think they hit this'un out of the park!

 

[jay mitchell]

Yeah. WKSmith shared a couple photos of the power section in the FAS forum, and it's clearly a 350w/4Ohms class-D power amp. Or, 150w at 8Ohms - which is exactly the speaker rating.

150 watts into 8 ohms is credible for a small, light Class D amp, if the power supply can keep up (not a given). If that is an accurate number, the amp will deliver 75 watts or less clean power into an 8 ohm load with a heavily-compressed guitar signal. You really do want clean power, BTW, because all the distortion you want will be supplied by the modeler.

Marketing this as a 1000W "FRFR" is pretty inexcusable, IMHO. And it's not like the amp can't get freaking loud.

News flash: it can't get any louder than any number of other 1x10/1x12 2-way speakers. FYI, almost all the acoustic power is supplied by the woofer in a system like this when it's used for guitar. Using a very optimistic 98 dB/1W/1M sensitivity rating for the woofer, 75 watts average power would produce 116.8 dBSPL. That's assuming the woofer stays linear at that power level (it might). Lots of small 2-way speakers will get that loud, and none will substantially exceed 120dB SPL at 1 meter, regardless of manufacturer claims.

 

[ragingplatypi]

 

[fazer]

For the n-th time, the FR-10 and FR-12 were announced less than two months ago.

Fender is NOT launching a MKII anytime soon - let alone stop production. By all accounts, the amps are selling very well.

But could Fender, perhaps, fix this quietly without mentioning they have done so? All organisations reserve the right to do this in the small print. Just a suggestion….

 

[jay mitchell]

But could Fender, perhaps, fix this quietly without mentioning they have done so?

Yes, they could, of course. Do you honestly think they will? Reducing noise (which is not universally perceived as problematic) would require a complete redesign of the filter section (not a big deal by itself), but which would then necessitate a respin of the PCB layout (which can require multiple iterations), engineering change documents, a new BOM, changes to purchasing instructions, raw materials inventory, etc.. To what end? To shut up a handful of self-appointed critics?

 

[Stratzrus]

Reducing noise (which is not universally perceived as problematic) would require a complete redesign of the filter section (not a big deal by itself), but which would then necessitate a respin of the PCB layout (which can require multiple iterations), engineering change documents, a new BOM, changes to purchasing instructions, raw materials inventory, etc..

Couldn't they just do Lysander's chip swap? Many people are reporting major reductions in hiss after doing his mod.

 

[fazer]

Yes, they could, of course. Do you honestly think they will? Reducing noise (which is not universally perceived as problematic) would require a complete redesign of the filter section (not a big deal by itself), but which would then necessitate a respin of the PCB layout (which can require multiple iterations), engineering change documents, a new BOM, changes to purchasing instructions, raw materials inventory, etc.. To what end? To shut up a handful of self-appointed critics?

No. I don’t think it’s likely Fender will fix this. I guess it is just wishful thinking really.

 

[Lysander]

Couldn't they just do Lysander's chip swap? Many people are reporting major reductions in hiss after doing his mod.

No, not really. tl;dr, switching to Burr-Brown IC just to reduce the noise floor would significantly increase production costs. Those parts are ~12x more expensive than the very common TL084s used in the FR-10/12.

A chip swap is not the solution; they just need to redesign the thing. 12 opamp stages for a EQ stack is... excessive.

Will Fender ever do this, though? Wouldn't hold my breath. Maybe for a MKII board, way down the line.

 

[timbuck3]

 

[fretworn]

Is that the missing power amp?

 

[fazer]

Is that the missing power amp?

Wicked - but funny!

 

[quadgear]

Tldr; Experiments with a mix of IR and no cab into a FR12 and a TMTR. He likes both.

Wonder how much effect the extra volume of the mixed version versus just the cab is responsible for the better sound? Louder always sounds better in comparison.