Fender Tone Master Pro: Episode IV - A New Hope

[Jarick]

I re-bounced all the tracks without normalization so the levels should be much more consistent. You should be able to hear the sonic differences between the two units a lot easier now.

With these clips I dialed effects levels down much more to focus on core amp tones. I also went back to my favorite old Ownhammer IR's from many years ago. With better ears and equipment to me these sound much fuller and more balanced than earlier clips.

 

[Tritium3H]

I re-bounced all the tracks without normalization so the levels should be much more consistent. You should be able to hear the sonic differences between the two units a lot easier now.

With these clips I dialed effects levels down much more to focus on core amp tones. I also went back to my favorite old Ownhammer IR's from many years ago. With better ears and equipment to me these sound much fuller and more balanced than earlier clips.

Excellent comparison, Jarick. I just listened to it on my Kali Audio IN-8 V2s. They both sound great, although I have a very slight preference for the Soldano, the AC-30, and the BE-100 on the TMP. These models on the TMP have a tighter and more accentuated mid-range, which I prefer.

 

[Mongillo19]

I re-bounced all the tracks without normalization so the levels should be much more consistent. You should be able to hear the sonic differences between the two units a lot easier now.

With these clips I dialed effects levels down much more to focus on core amp tones. I also went back to my favorite old Ownhammer IR's from many years ago. With better ears and equipment to me these sound much fuller and more balanced than earlier clips.

Nice! So you used the Ownhammer IR for both TMP and III?

 

[Jarick]

Nice! So you used the Ownhammer IR for both TMP and III?

Yes I used some of the older ones from the mid/late 2010s. They sound great!

 

[[Nathan]]

Crazy how close they sound

 

[Jarick]

So here's my thoughts on the sound. Recommend listening to the clips before getting my opinions.

Some amps are closer than others sonically, and with the clean amps they tend to sound more similar. As the amps get more gain, the Fractal tends to sound more mid forward and in some cases boxier where the Fender amps tends to sound a lot more like a smile curve with more bass and treble. On the Soldano and BE-100 I had to crank the treble and presence way up on the Fractal to get close to the Fender, where I had to dial the high end back a bit on the BE (Soldano I think I cranked the presence up because it sounded awesome that way).

The Fractal amps also at times sounded more compressed. You can hear on the Plexi clip that the Fractal has a lot more sag on the individual notes near the end of the clip where the Fender does not. It's something I had to watch as well when matching volumes, the Fender has much more of the low end thump when palm muting than the Fractal does. You can hear that on the Soldano clip about half way through, the notes on the Fender jump out a lot more.

One thing though, the speaker impedance curve is drastically impacting the sound on the Fender, much more so than the Fractal. The default SIC on the Fender is the 4x12 Brit GB which is louder and much more scooped sounding than almost any other 4x12 SIC on the Fender. Swapping out to the same Friedman 4x12 I would say gets closer sonically although I still need more extreme settings on the Fractal to get close to the Fender, which sounds closer to my actual Friedman.

Overall I generally prefer the sound of the Fender as it's a bit more aggressive and engaging sounding, but I'm wary about the speaker impedance curve being implemented incorrectly. Still, the tone is excellent and of course the UI is significantly better too.

 

[AZG]

So here's my thoughts on the sound. Recommend listening to the clips before getting my opinions.

Some amps are closer than others sonically, and with the clean amps they tend to sound more similar. As the amps get more gain, the Fractal tends to sound more mid forward and in some cases boxier where the Fender amps tends to sound a lot more like a smile curve with more bass and treble. On the Soldano and BE-100 I had to crank the treble and presence way up on the Fractal to get close to the Fender, where I had to dial the high end back a bit on the BE (Soldano I think I cranked the presence up because it sounded awesome that way).

The Fractal amps also at times sounded more compressed. You can hear on the Plexi clip that the Fractal has a lot more sag on the individual notes near the end of the clip where the Fender does not. It's something I had to watch as well when matching volumes, the Fender has much more of the low end thump when palm muting than the Fractal does. You can hear that on the Soldano clip about half way through, the notes on the Fender jump out a lot more.

One thing though, the speaker impedance curve is drastically impacting the sound on the Fender, much more so than the Fractal. The default SIC on the Fender is the 4x12 Brit GB which is louder and much more scooped sounding than almost any other 4x12 SIC on the Fender. Swapping out to the same Friedman 4x12 I would say gets closer sonically although I still need more extreme settings on the Fractal to get close to the Fender, which sounds closer to my actual Friedman.

Overall I generally prefer the sound of the Fender as it's a bit more aggressive and engaging sounding, but I'm wary about the speaker impedance curve being implemented incorrectly. Still, the tone is excellent and of course the UI is significantly better too.

Crickets around these parts of the forum so I thought I would give the TMP a little bump. So, with another few weeks under your belt what are your current thoughts?

 

[Jarick]

Crickets around these parts of the forum so I thought I would give the TMP a little bump. So, with another few weeks under your belt what are your current thoughts?

I still really like it. It's way more fun and easy to use than other gear such as the Fractal. I haven't played as much guitar as I'd like though due to work and life which is why I've posted less than usual.

Right now if I were to sell off all my gear and keep just one modeler it would be the Fender. I think it does most of what I'd want with a much more appealing UI and form factor than the other gear I've used. There's drawbacks and short comings for sure but I think those are mostly around specific amp/effect models or features that are not in the Fender. I think the quality of the amp and effect modeling is on part with other gear.

Long term it's possible I could sour on the quality of the modeling or lack of features. But right now I'm still pretty happy with the unit. I'm surprised by that as I was pretty critical of the Fender early on and didn't expect it would be competitive. One thing I'm still concerned about is the concept of speaker impedance curves, that still seems off to me. But I think you can work around that to an extent.

Oh one other thought, I was watching a comparison of Jazz Chorus models on YouTube earlier this week...in that one the real amp miked up sounded best and the Fractal version was really bad. I tried creating my own using the Fender and it was quite close to the video of the miked up amp. The usual caveats of "use the same IR" and all that, but for quickly dialing in tones the Fender is great here.

 

[banned]

What are the list of amps available on the Fender?

 

[[Nathan]]

What are the list of amps available on the Fender?

This is the latest model guide

https://www.fmicassets.com/Damroot/Original/10102/OM_2274900000_Tone-Master-Pro-Model-Guide-F_EN.pdf

A bit strange to get there you have to open the normal manual and inside that manual there's a link to this second guide, but this is the direct link from there. The quality of their manuals is very nice and well laid out.

 

[banned]

This is the latest model guide

https://www.fmicassets.com/Damroot/Original/10102/OM_2274900000_Tone-Master-Pro-Model-Guide-F_EN.pdf

A bit strange to get there you have to open the normal manual and inside that manual there's a link to this second guide, but this is the direct link from there. The quality of their manuals is very nice and well laid out.

Thank you! That's a fantastic guide - kudos to Fender.

I hope L6 does something similar and provides tidbits on the amps that they model.

 

[Jarick]

First real hiccup - I noticed that my audio signal was cutting in and out. I think it’s related to maxing out the DSP as I had two amps and a lot of effects. Rebooted and same thing. Removed one amp and seemed to improve. Swapped to the Axe 3 and no issues.

Couldn’t find anything on Google so I’ll have to check out their discord perhaps.

 

[ChordInversion]

First real hiccup - I noticed that my audio signal was cutting in and out. I think it’s related to maxing out the DSP as I had two amps and a lot of effects. Rebooted and same thing. Removed one amp and seemed to improve. Swapped to the Axe 3 and no issues.

Couldn’t find anything on Google so I’ll have to check out their discord perhaps.

Someone else reported that on the discord as well recently. It would probably help with diagnosing to have another report.

 

[Jarick]

Hot take - my new favorite clean amp model is the Blues Junior. It sounds big and fat and stays pretty clean.

 

[AlbertA]

Hot take - my new favorite clean amp model is the Blues Junior. It sounds big and fat and stays pretty clean.

I like real Blues Juniors - you just have to mod them a little bit so they don't chew up the tubes (install a bias trim pot) and maybe replace the input jack.