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

[JiveTurkey]

Maybe I missed it, but I don't think you ever gave us a full report on why you returned the IR-D?

I'm still interested in this device for a bit of "fun", and I still have some pedals here that I could use with it, when not luxurating in AF3 tones.

My reports are pretty to the point these days In short; fat tones and nice sounds. But for the tones I like; needs a bit of a buildout around it I just didn't feel like the juice would be worth the squeeze for me vs. the FM with all the routing and my enjoyment of the JVMs. Knowing your tone preferences as far as Marshall stuff; it is a great pedal and would be a great centerpiece for your pedal based rig if you are looking for something to scratch that itch \m/

 

[jellodog]

Knowing your tone preferences as far as Marshall stuff; it is a great pedal and would be a great centerpiece for your pedal based rig if you are looking for something to scratch that itch \m/

Yeah, you're totally right about my tastes.

I like the vintage tones and don't do high gain. Pushed cleans through EOB to crunch. That's as far as I go. Thanks!

 

[Baba]

My reports are pretty to the point these days In short; fat tones and nice sounds. But for the tones I like; needs a bit of a buildout around it I just didn't feel like the juice would be worth the squeeze for me vs. the FM with all the routing and my enjoyment of the JVMs. Knowing your tone preferences as far as Marshall stuff; it is a great pedal and would be a great centerpiece for your pedal based rig if you are looking for something to scratch that itch \m/

Yeah, you're totally right about my tastes.

I like the vintage tones and don't do high gain. Pushed cleans through EOB to crunch. That's as far as I go. Thanks!

It's funny, with both online demos and my limited testing so far, while the IR-D is lower gain than say, the IR-X, it still reaches into high gain pretty easily, but definitely goes from clean to mean, and all points in between.

I think I like the guitar volume cleanup on the IR-D more than the IR-X, which is what I wanted, and makes sense, due to the nature of those two different amps, etc.

 

[FuzzyAce]

Since I'm too lazy to read through all the pages... is there confirmation that all current units are with the updated preamp? I suppose I could ask my SW sale's rep but...

 

[JiveTurkey]

It's funny, with both online demos and my limited testing so far, while the IR-D is lower gain than say, the IR-X, it still reaches into high gain pretty easily, but definitely goes from clean to mean, and all points in between.

I think I like the guitar volume cleanup on the IR-D more than the IR-X, which is what I wanted, and makes sense, due to the nature of those two different amps, etc.

Agreed. It has a more "vintage" vibe to my ears though. Even if you set it to stun.

 

[Jarick]

Since I'm too lazy to read through all the pages... is there confirmation that all current units are with the updated preamp? I suppose I could ask my SW sale's rep but...

Mine has a date of July 2024 and has extremely low self-noise so I would assume everything on the shelf today unless it's very old should be fixed.

 

[Jarick]

Couple more hours in, still feel quite positive about the FR-12.

For clean tones only, the Orange 1x12 is very workable. But the FR-12 seems to sound more "nautral" once you dial in the bass and tweeter levels.

I suspect you're going to get a lot of the Fender FR-12 "flavor" in the sound, which is partially why it can make a direct tone with an IR sound more amp like. But I don't think the point of the FR-12 is to be a perfect "FRFR", it's to be something between that and a real amp & cab. Which is probably very close to the Friedman ASC-12 (although that is more that twice the cost and very heavy).

Anyways I can also report that the FR-12 sounds really nice with effects. I was worried at first they may be over pronounced but it actually sounds quite nice.

Now I haven't spent a lot of time with higher gain tones on it. I tried a few and those sound generally nice but I've been fighting a really bad cold (possibly Covid) for the last week so my brain and body haven't had much energy. Hoping to dig into that more this week.

 

[jellodog]

@JiveTurkey Well...

The usual GAS / buying pattern repeated itself. I _nearly_ bought the IR-D, as I do most weeks.

After listening to a few demos I ended up jumping to a couple of Friedman Plex demos which sounded (unsuprisingly) better.

From there, I thought, "I wonder if I can get close to the Plex with my goto 50w 6CA7 patch", so fired up the AF3. Changed to the bright cap to match that switch position on the Plex (100pf) which is better for bright strat pickups, and spent the next couple of hours enjoying delicious and comparible tones.

Once again, the AF3 prevented me from buying more gear!

[ Insert happy / sad emoji ].

 

[JiveTurkey]

@JiveTurkey Well...

The usual GAS / buying pattern repeated itself. I _nearly_ bought the IR-D, as I do most weeks.

After listening to a few demos I ended up jumping to a couple of Friedman Plex demos which sounded (unsuprisingly) better.

From there, I thought, "I wonder if I can get close to the Plex with my goto 50w 6CA7 patch", so fired up the AF3. Changed to the bright cap to match that switch position on the Plex (100pf) which is better for bright strat pickups, and spent the next couple of hours enjoying delicious and comparible tones.

Once again, the AF3 prevented me from buying more gear!

[ Insert happy / sad emoji ].

One of the worst things about the III

 

[ucnick]

Been using an FR-12 at rehearsals with one of my bands for past few months and it has been great, and just picked up an FR-10 last week but haven't had much time with it, low end seems fine with the 10" speaker, anyway I'll take it to rehearsal tomorrow with my other band and will see how it fares, but I think it'll work out very well for me.

UPDATE: used the FR-10 at band rehearsal last night, classic rock covers band.

For most of the night the band was very loud, like in earplug territory. I ran my FM3 out 2 (+4 dBu, ran at about 2 o'clock on the FP OUT2 control) into the FR-10 and needed to set FR-10 volume to a little over 2 o'clock to keep up with the band when using quieter presets (I really really need to go through them and level them better with the FR-10!) but keep up it did. When the band finally turned down around 3/4 of the way through rehearsal it became way too loud, dialed it back under noon and ran down the FM3 out2 level down to noonish as well.

No shortage of low end, in fact it was quite boomy at first, needed to turn down the bass level to around 10 o'clock, it was really resonating with the stage floor. And again, I don't have any noticeable hiss out of the unit. Very impressed. And bandmates were also impressed.

Looking forward to using it at our next gig. This thing is going to give my Quilter TB202/BlockDock 12HD a run for it's money, lemme tell ya...

 

[FuzzyAce]

UPDATE: used the FR-10 at band rehearsal last night, classic rock covers band.

For most of the night the band was very loud, like in earplug territory. I ran my FM3 out 2 (+4 dBu, ran at about 2 o'clock on the FP OUT2 control) into the FR-10 and needed to set FR-10 volume to a little over 2 o'clock to keep up with the band when using quieter presets (I really really need to go through them and level them better with the FR-10!) but keep up it did. When the band finally turned down around 3/4 of the way through rehearsal it became way too loud, dialed it back under noon and ran down the FM3 out2 level down to noonish as well.

No shortage of low end, in fact it was quite boomy at first, needed to turn down the bass level to around 10 o'clock, it was really resonating with the stage floor. And again, I don't have any noticeable hiss out of the unit. Very impressed. And bandmates were also impressed.

Looking forward to using it at our next gig. This thing is going to give my Quilter TB202/BlockDock 12HD a run for it's money, lemme tell ya...

Nice review, glad it held up! I see 1 (or 2) in my future.

 

[Jarick]

That's a great update @ucnick!

I would guess the big difference between the 10 and 12 would be the volume more than the overall tone. But these seem really capable of high volumes.

It's hard to describe how an "FRFR" can sound so much like a real amp while using a cab but that must be part of whatever design they did. Maybe the cab design it self. It really does remind me of my old band (25 years ago at this point!) where both guitarists had Fender Hot Rod Devilles. Big loud clean tube amps with big speaker cabs.

 

[SpaceMan]

Are you folks typically sticking to ~1x12 IRs? Or do you venture into 2x12 or 4x12s?

 

[Frodebro]

Are you folks typically sticking to ~1x12 IRs? Or do you venture into 2x12 or 4x12s?

My first test drive was with presets I already had dialed in, which was both 2x12s and 4x12s. There are no rules!

 

[deadpool_25]

Are you folks typically sticking to ~1x12 IRs? Or do you venture into 2x12 or 4x12s?

2x12 or 4x12 IRs for me. I almost never use 1x12 IRs.

 

[Jarick]

2x12 or 4x12, I like something balanced sounding. The Zilla Creamback 2x12 in the QC sounds great. Otherwise York 2x12 M65 which is kinda similar but brighter?

 

[Baba]

Are you folks typically sticking to ~1x12 IRs? Or do you venture into 2x12 or 4x12s?

2x12 or 4x12 IRs for me. I almost never use 1x12 IRs.

This.

You don't have to stick to a 1x12 IR, just because the FR-12, (or any solution), has just one 12" speaker, if that's what you're getting at.

 

[FuzzyAce]

I may have bought something. Things. Maybe.

 

[FuzzyAce]

 

[EOengineer]

Curious to get your take on this. I’ve been eyeing them up but have been neck deep in my tube amps of late.

Let us know how it goes!