Fender Tone Master Pro: Episode IV - A New Hope

[usphotographer]

Haven't seen any new posts in here since Monday. Is this thread still alive?

 

[norminal]

 

[Jarick]

Love the idea, glad I didn't pursue it though. I've seen them sell in the $1250-1300 range used sometimes.

 

[mikah912]

Love the idea, glad I didn't pursue it though. I've seen them sell in the $1250-1300 range used sometimes.

There's no "there" there yet. Maybe in a year or so when they've demonstrated what kind of aftermarket support they're willing to give it. But for right now? What's the point?

 

[Jarick]

There's no "there" there yet. Maybe in a year or so when they've demonstrated what kind of aftermarket support they're willing to give it. But for right now? What's the point?

Kinda like me with the QC, I bought it last December for a good deal used when it hit a level of maturity I was comfortable with. As you said, maybe TMP in a couple years, but by then we probably have Axe FX 4 and Helix 2 and who knows what else. Fender IMO needs to get going on development if they don't want to be left behind.

 

[norminal]

Fender IMO needs to get going on development if they don't want to be left behind.

Given it took them three months to model the EVH 5153, I’d say so.

 

[JT]

It's never going to be caught up to anything else in it's price bracket.

 

[mikah912]

It's never going to be caught to anything else in it's price bracket.

But it's so far ahead of all of them in terms of skeuomorphic graphics! Tone is in the pixels, bro....

 

[usphotographer]

Love the idea, glad I didn't pursue it though. I've seen them sell in the $1250-1300 range used sometimes.

I bought mine through ZZounds but after buying it at $1699 I saw it on Guitar Center's website for 10% off if you signed up for GC's newsletter or something like that. So I called ZZounds as they have a price guarantee for 90 days and they verified the price difference then gave me $170 back. They were awesome and it saved me money!

 

[UncleJesse]

I utilize pretty basic presets but I like mine. I always liked Fractal but found myself tweaking more than playing. I'm set with my TMP. It sounds great on my nightly practice sessions through my studio monitors and my small gigs where volume is an issue. When I can I still roll a real amp and cab on stage. I'm close to my name coming up for the V2 preamp for my Fr12 and then I should be good for a minute.

 

[Frodebro]

It's never going to be caught up to anything else in it's price bracket.

It's possible, but that would require either a series of rapid fire small updates, or else a huge one soon to at least cover the basic stuff until the next scheduled one-which would also have to be pretty major.

 

[LP59]

It's possible, but that would require either a series of rapid fire small updates, or else a huge one soon to at least cover the basic stuff until the next scheduled one-which would also have to be pretty major.

What it would require is Line6, Fractal, and Neural all taking extended holidays for the next 12 months.

 

[Frodebro]

What it would require is Line6, Fractal, and Neural all taking extended holidays for the next 12 months.

Fractal is doing the exact opposite.

 

[mikah912]

Fractal is doing the exact opposite.

It's a shame the price competes with Fractal floorboards because Fender isn't capable of competing with them on any other front.

Cliff lasered in on their launch and leapfrogged their unique selling points (top tier Fender amps, very realistic spring reverb) with new firmware updates before they could even fix their gimped 5153 model.

Fender should gun for NDSP, tho. Way better positioning and a much, much slower target to hit.

 

[LP59]

It's a shame the price competes with Fractal floorboards because Fender isn't capable of competing with them on any other front.

Cliff lasered in on their launch and leapfrogged their unique selling points (top tier Fender amps, very realistic spring reverb) with new firmware updates before they could even fix their gimped 5153 model.

Fender should gun for NDSP, tho. Way better positioning and a much, much slower target to hit.

I think the price is most important thing for Fender to change if they want to compete. If they could drop the price by a few hundred dollars, people will stop making direct comparisons to Fractal and Line6 and NDSP. Fender will never win those comparisons.