Fender Tone Master Pro: Episode IV - A New Hope

[Frodebro]

werent marshalls based on a fender amp structure?

Originally, yes. Pete Townshend brought his Bassman into Marshall's music store and asked if they could make him a copy (Fender amps were hard to come by in England at the time). Some components were also scarce in England, so substitutions were used where necessary. The result was what was to become the JTM 45.

The very first Mesa/Boogie was a Princeton that Randy Smith hotrodded as a joke, adding additional gain stages and stuffing a bigger power section and a 12" speaker into the cabinet.

 

[timbuck3]

Originally, yes. Pete Townshend brought his Bassman into Marshall's music store and asked if they could make him a copy (Fender amps were hard to come by in England at the time). Some components were also scarce in England, so substitutions were used where necessary. The result was what was to become the JTM 45.

The very first Mesa/Boogie was a Princeton that Randy Smith hotrodded as a joke, adding additional gain stages and stuffing a bigger power section and a 12" speaker into the cabinet.

so fender should have used that history to just make the tmp a fender model unit.I am sure they have some of those hotrodded fender amps in their warehouses. That would have made this unit really unique.

 

[Foxmeister]

That actually would have been cool as hell; if it were a "Fender Museum" with ALL of the standards, plus the more esoteric and weird shit, all the EVH variants, and Sunn too. And do it really, really well. That would have been an interesting product.

Interesting? Yes!

Commercially successful? Probably not so much.

If you go over to the TMP Discord and look at the (2) amp model suggestion threads, the majority of the posts are requests for non-Fender amps...

A Fender-only modeller would be a esoteric curiosity at best if it only contained Fender models - doubly so, if that includes Fender-only pedals.
(which I doubt anyone would seriously suggest! ).

 

[laxu]

Interesting? Yes!

Commercially successful? Probably not so much.

If you go over to the TMP Discord and look at the (2) amp model suggestion threads, the majority of the posts are requests for non-Fender amps...

A Fender-only modeller would be a esoteric curiosity at best if it only contained Fender models - doubly so, if that includes Fender-only pedals.
(which I doubt anyone would seriously suggest! ).

People are always wanting more stuff. I don't think anyone suggests it should have only Fender and Fender owned brand gear, just that it should have more of those than other modelers to differentiate it on the market.

As an example, if you really love Marshalls or Mesas, then Fractal is probably the way to go since it has the most options for those. I could see appeal for "this models all these rare Fenders" as a selling point for the TMP for people who are heavily into the Fender sound.

The TMP for me has been a lukewarm product because it feels like a combination of every product already on the market, without really doing anything of its own. When it was released, at no point was I feeling like pulling out my wallet and ordering one.

When the QC came out, it had the component modeling + captures as well as the movable mic cab sims going for it as unique selling points. Now other brands have closed that difference with their own movable mic cab systems, there are more touchscreen operated modelers on the market and adding captures to any rig is relatively cheap with Tonex or NAM, or even the Kemper Player. But the QC did bring unique advantages to the table.

 

[Foxmeister]

I don't think anyone suggests it should have only Fender and Fender owned brand gear, just that it should have more of those than other modelers to differentiate it on the market.

Ahem...

Like i said they should have stuck with all fender models(and i mean a ton of the unique classics) at like 1k pricepoint.

so fender should have used that history to just make the tmp a fender model unit.

 

[Foxmeister]

Hey, I’m an IT guy, not a marketing guy!

Ditto!

 

[laxu]

 

[timbuck3]

By now i would have expected fender to have released way more updates to this thing then they have. I mean its fender right? HUGE COMPANY compared to say fractal . The only good thing about the tmp is that it lit a small fire under cliffs butt for improving the convolution rvb effects(or adding one) releasing evh amp models..gapless switching...that fender raved on..now is a moot point

 

[DrewJD82]

By now i would have expected fender to have released way more updates to this thing then they have. I mean its fender right? HUGE COMPANY compared to say fractal . The only good thing about the tmp is that it lit a small fire under cliffs butt for improving the convolution rvb effects(or adding one) releasing evh amp models..gapless switching...that fender raved on..now is a moot point

One would think that all that work Cliff’s put in is a good indication there’s no AxeFX IV coming any time soon, so ya gonna grab an FM9 now?

 

[Frodebro]

One would think that all that work Cliff’s put in is a good indication there’s no AxeFX IV coming any time soon, so ya gonna grab an FM9 now?

He has commitment issues.

 

[spikey]

The only good thing about the tmp is that it lit a small fire under cliffs butt for improving the convolution rvb effects(or adding one) releasing evh amp models..gapless switching...that fender raved on..now is a moot point

I think nothing Fender does or doesn't do affects what Cliff/Fractal does or doesn't do. The Axe-FX III Mk2 speaks volumes for itself. That said, I do hope Fender puts out a huge update for the TMP soon, as I did like its hardware layout, touch screens, and editor.

 

[DrewJD82]

I think it’s a bit much to go hard on them for not putting out an update just yet, when they said straight from the gate their update plan was to be in 6 month increments. At least for the first one after the unit hit the public and they probably got a flood of things they weren’t anticipating.

Seeing some of the “they’re already abandoning it” comments are really silly, IMO.

 

[nicolasrivera]

I think nothing Fender does or doesn't do affects what Cliff/Fractal does or doesn't do. The Axe-FX III Mk2 speaks volumes for itself. That said, I do hope Fender puts out a huge update for the TMP soon, as I did like its hardware layout, touch screens, and editor.

HUGE UPDATE

 

[laxu]

I think nothing Fender does or doesn't do affects what Cliff/Fractal does or doesn't do. The Axe-FX III Mk2 speaks volumes for itself.

I don't believe that is true. I feel like things like the Dyna-Cabs, reverb updates etc are direct responses to what competitors were doing, namely QC with movable mics, TMP with its reverbs that got a lot of hype initially. Similarly Line6 came out with upgraded cab sims with movable mics as a response to the QC.

This is all great stuff for us end users because it pushes things forward and we get to reap the benefits even if our favorite platform doesn't have the latest and greatest touchscreen UIs and whatnot.

 

[the-trooper]

even if our favorite platform doesn't have the latest and greatest touchscreen

Said it as if that's a bad thing.

 

[Aleksi]

I don't believe that is true. I feel like things like the Dyna-Cabs, reverb updates etc are direct responses to what competitors were doing, namely QC with movable mics, TMP with its reverbs that got a lot of hype initially. Similarly Line6 came out with upgraded cab sims with movable mics as a response to the QC.

This is all great stuff for us end users because it pushes things forward and we get to reap the benefits even if our favorite platform doesn't have the latest and greatest touchscreen UIs and whatnot.

I have to agree. Fractal doesn't exist in a vacuum. If I remember correctly, the tonematch block came out after the Kemper and could be seen as a sort of answer to profiling. There was a lot of talk about matching amps back then.

Fractal is probably working on a lot of stuff and sometimes (like the gapless and new spring reverb) the competition simply makes some features more of a priority.

 

[laxu]

I have to agree. Fractal doesn't exist in a vacuum. If I remember correctly, the tonematch block came out after the Kemper and could be seen as a sort of answer to profiling. There was a lot of talk about matching amps back then.

Fractal is probably working on a lot of stuff and sometimes (like the gapless and new spring reverb) the competition simply makes some features more of a priority.

Yeah and sometimes they might have something they tried before, abandoned for something more pressing and revisited later. I believe Cliff has said he had been experimenting before with what was used for the new reverbs.

I'm still not sure how Kemper managed to go 10 years without releasing USB audio interface functionality tho when the capability was there right from the start.

 

[Sascha Franck]

I'm still not sure how Kemper managed to go 10 years without releasing USB audio interface functionality tho when the capability was there right from the start.

I'm torn between thinking of it as a kickass stunt or "What an incredible shit show!"

 

[timbuck3]

I am here with my cyber twin sr combo

 

[alexone]

Yop. I come here looking for information on TMP and the least I can say is that I was well served (lol).
I own this animal. Very satisfied with some low gain (all Fender, Marshall not modded are fine / in contrary the Boogie is bad, nothing to say about 5150ish as they are not my cup of tea ) and the sense it was developed. It suits me well. But I'm half deaf, I have no experience at all and... it's my first post here (I likely have an agenda).
Keep to be critical as long as it's not silly or aggressive. It makes things moving forward.