Fender Tone Master Pro: Episode IV - A New Hope

[norminal]

Dude seems like a super nice guy. On the plus side for him; he doesn't have an idea of modern functionality beyond "it's a got a touchscreen"; so nothing here to make him go "why doesn't it do this?". And hearing him describe his mindset; the TMP is a perfect fit.

You can tell that he’s genuinely excited about the TMP as well. In the end, that’s all that really matters.

 

[DrewJD82]

Yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him with a modeler before, or even a Kemper. Dude kinda missed the whole last 15 years of advances and is coming from a “I plug my guitar into the amp that I plug into a cab then I chug” mentality.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him with a modeler before, or even a Kemper. Dude kinda missed the whole last 15 years of advances and is coming from a “I plug my guitar into the amp that I plug into a cab then I chug” mentality.

He's actually a perfect person on the metal end of the spectrum for this piece as no one really has stepped into that void with this.

 

[JiveTurkey]

He's gonna get oscilloscoped in that comment section

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Rob Arnold has had KILLER tones on his albums and some of my favourite examples of how good metalcore 6505/5150 guitars can sound.

He also seems to dig some slightly questionable gear, maybe from nostalgia growing up or for some gnarly filth or whatever. He seems pretty content jamming on Crate/Valvestates/Peavey cabs etc.

That TMP in the video is pretty bad to me, mushy, stuffy and lacking low end punch. If I saw Chimaira live, I'd be a bit disappointed if he was playing anything other than 6505/6505+ just because I really associate that sound with them and hes quite a meat and potatoes guitarist.

But yeah, disregarding any previous discussion about TMP's high gain tones, that one is ........not good. damn.

 

[Frodebro]

Hmmm. That doesn’t sound good for people, like me, who own a TMP. I’ll admit, I was seduced, largely, by the Fender brand thinking the modeller ‘must’ be top-shelf. I’ve been surprised in just how many areas the TMP seems to have fallen short of the mark.

I think Fender was surprised by how many “little things” they were called out on regarding some of the things they did with the TMP. People who go for the higher end modelers (that would be most of us on this forum) get pretty nit picky about the details.

 

[JCW308]

I think Fender was surprised by how many “little things” they were called out on regarding some of the things they did with the TMP. People who go for the higher end modelers (that would be most of us on this forum) get pretty nit picky about the details.

They better come out with a heck of a second update or it's game over I think.

 

[Mongillo19]

They better come out with a heck of a second update or it's game over I think.

I bet 95 percent of owners don't even realize that it'll get another update lol

 

[TubeStack]

I bet 95 percent of owners don't even realize that it'll get another update lol

Yeah, I really doubt much, if any, of the forum-driven drama about SICs, etc, even makes it out to the average user in the real world.

 

[LP59]

Yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him with a modeler before, or even a Kemper. Dude kinda missed the whole last 15 years of advances and is coming from a “I plug my guitar into the amp that I plug into a cab then I chug” mentality.

That's exactly the kind of guitarist Fender is selling the TMP to. And there are a lot of them out there. Far more than guitarists like us who know what the alternatives are. Hardly anybody has the time or inclination to keep up with modeling technology.

If they sell a lot of them, that's cool for Fender. But it's disappointing they didn't move the needle on amp modeling, and that's not cool for all of us.

 

[Whizzinby]

Yeah, I really doubt much, if any, of the forum-driven drama about SICs, etc, even makes it out to the average user in the real world.

Im still not even sure I know what a SIC is

JK. half kidding.

 

[SwirlyMaple]

I haven’t watched this yet, but apparently Rob is demo’ing the unit in this vid. This dude is known for killer 5150 tones, it’s like 80% of the reason I even listen to Chamaira. A 5150 into a Mesa cab has been his thing since the early 00’s, so this should be interesting.



FWIW, I’ll drop this in here as a reference to the ballpark he’s generally known for-

Poor Rob. Somehow he ended up getting saddled with this thing. Probably a sponsorship deal just like the first video, which was a 5 minute ad for that Shure wireless unit from Sweetwater.

@RobArnoldWorld
I've been trying out a bunch of the Jackson/Fender stuff lately, and I had the opportunity to give the FTMP a try. I'm glad I did! Plus, there were no other units I had my heart set on, as I'm new to this world... So whatever I chose, was gonna be my first. And often times, you simply have to dive in, swim around, and then decide what to do or where to go from there.

"Been trying out a bunch of Jackson/Fender stuff lately"... "had the opportunity to give the TMP a try."

He does seem like a cool, friendly dude, no doubt. But it's clear this is his very first foray into modeling, and this unit was not chosen based on any comparison or shopping around for the right device. Let's see how long it stays in his rig

<Edit> another gem from the comments:

@wolvesandguitars
Please jump on Fractal stuff for Modelling. Its miles ahead of the competition and ever evolving. TMP sounds muffy not sharp, not bad just not great like fractal amps.

@RobArnoldWorld
Honestly, I hear ya on the muffy vs. sharp. I think/hope I'll eventually solve some of that with EQ as I work with it more and more. As for the Fractal, unfortunately it's too late. I've committed!

FWIW, he's running into a SS power amp and into a cab. The muffy kryptonite of the TMP!

 

[stilwel]

Yep. They also still haven’t clarified where the SIC modeling happens for the stock cabs, but the lack of any answer (except “that’s not how it works”) suggests to me that all of them do work the same as the IR implementation (a linear SIC curve, basically stacking a SIC IR on top of a cab IR). (And of course, Cliff says so too, who I’m quite inclined to trust. He knows a thing or two about making accurate models.)

It’s just not a great way of doing things for many reasons. Even if they let you pick SICs, applying them after the amp is never going to be as accurate as the Line 6, Fractal, and Neural competition.

Y'all are making the assumption that there's only one RIGHT way to do any of this stuff.
It's going to be fine. All use cases will be addressed.

 

[stilwel]

fender is out of their league...Its obvious. Another zoom mentality move thinking they can jump in at 1700.00 and hang with the topdogs..sad

I beg to differ.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Y'all are making the assumption that there's only one RIGHT way to do any of this stuff.
It's going to be fine. All use cases will be addressed.

Stay calm and keep clipping the Somewhere In Time riffs

 

[stilwel]

I wonder how TMP’s are selling overall. Does anyone know? Flying off the shelves or a hard sell? Following this forum and TGP I’m getting the impression there is quite a bit of resistance to this product but I’m not sure whether this reflects the reality of the situation on a wider scale.

I have a pretty good idea.
And your impression is not correct.

 

[eggpl@nt]

Y'all are making the assumption that there's only one RIGHT way to do any of this stuff.
It's going to be fine. All use cases will be addressed.

ok, but…

On one hand, we have probably the foremost expert on modeling amplifiers with DSP providing detailed breakdowns of how these models work and why they should be implemented in such and such a way to match their electrical counterparts. And this person has been providing such details for years through forum posts and white papers.

On the other hand, you’ve only made vague comments here and at the other place that are little more than “actually you are wrong“ and no more. You’ve been invited multiple times to provide more details, and you’ve shied away from them every time.

If I have to believe what I’m hearing from one of those two sides, the decision is not difficult.

 

[stilwel]

Hard to say. In the case of a lot of the area shops, no one wants to carry Fender products, because they like to fuck their small dealers. Fender, as a corporate entity, are a bunch of assholes.

Wow. This couldn't be further from the truth. The shops like to sell products and make money.

 

[stilwel]

Had to take a break from the forums for a week to focus on some things regarding TMP.

Here's a thing I did last night with my EVH Wolfgang Standard Laurel Exotic into Tone Master Pro.
I connected TMP to my iPhone with a USB to Lightning adapter for direct recording.
The backing track (no guitars) was streamed over Bluetooth from my macbook to the TMP.

The preset used the EVH 5150 III Blue channel boosted with the Greenbox.
Preset "We Die Young" has been uploaded to the cloud.

BTW...this was recorded with the currently available production firmware v1.1.111.

 

[duzie]

Wow. This couldn't be further from the truth. The shops like to sell products and make money.

I’ll put my 2 cents in here.
The few Mom and Pop stores left in my area do not carry new Fender or Gibson products.
I guess that maybe a sign of the times not specific to those companies