Fender Tone Master Pro: Episode IV - A New Hope
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Lysander
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That's the crux of it
Unlike, say, the QC, it has no real novel features against a competition which offers vastly more mature products... at a lower price.I wish Fender well, but this is not an easy market to stand out in.
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Eagle
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I sent it back it sounded so bad. The first modeller that I could use was Axe fx 2 and only after firmware 10 . Since then I use a Axe 3 ,DV multiamp and a Kemper. I hate the format of the QC but it sounds good. I never liked the Helix . Sounds brash and fake to me . I just got a Kemper to revisit and I am enjoying the feel of it in the room even at lower levels.
Lysander
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Note these two things are not mutually exclusive. A shocking number of albums were recorded with "outdated" POD and Amp Farm tech.
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Eagle
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And a shocking number of recorded guitar tones are terrible so the pod fitted right in.
Eagle
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I know a number of professional session player (customers) who used pod for TV work and low value stuff. They liked the way it worked enough to overlook the shortcomings in quality. I was good enough for many things I get it but I was coming from a stereo Triaxis rig with Eventide TC and Lexicon fx at the time so by comparison it sounded like shit.
laxu
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Yeah that's why the TMP was of little interest to me when released. It felt even more like a "greatest hits" of all existing modelers on the market than the QC did when it released.That's the crux of it
I wish Fender well, but this is not an easy market to stand out in.
The QC back then was unique with its compact form factor, lots of encoders/switches, captures+amp modeling, movable mic cab sims and cloud functionality. I remember going home on a bus and scrolling through presets and captures on my phone, which then loaded in when I fired up the QC at home. That was pretty cool! QC's only real failing is NeuralDSP not being up to the task of bringing it up to par with Line6 and Fractal.
We tend to forget that for example the Fractal FM3 had a very rough first year too. It was plagued by USB issues, launching it without a headphone jack was not a good move, and even when I bought one later, it was still suffering from random issues like footswitches not working right or sound becoming low volume and distorted after launch. Both solved by a reboot. Fractal has solved all that so now it's a solid product.
I haven't followed Line6 Helix progress in the same way so I don't know what it looked like in 2015 but in any case it's had years to grow.
Fender TMP came in with a pretty decent feature set from the start and I don't think there have been major issues with it other than the speaker impedance behavior with custom IRs instead of stock cabs, and the quality of some of the models. All that seems solvable if they put in the work and learn. But Fractal and Line6 both have like two decades worth of experience behind them. Hard to catch up to them as you can't just hire experts in digital modeling just like that.
What will the TMP look like when next gen Line6 and Fractal products launch in a year or two? Will people pick it because it's likely to be cheaper and from a big name like Fender? Because I don't see people picking it because it's better than what those two companies will have out by then.
Lysander
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Yup. After joining the FM3 waitlist, i eventually received a call from Fractal to confirm my order (scalping was rampant back then) and this person noted multiple times i'd be getting an unit with headphone output.
Still, the FM3 was a way better platform at launch than the TMP is today, imho.
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JCW308
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Yeah I still have many other modelers except Headrush which just wasn't even worth taking up the space. For me, the best gigging unit is still the GT-1000. Hundreds of gigs under its belt and still sounds incredibly good.That's the crux of it
I wish Fender well, but this is not an easy market to stand out in.
Jarick
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Yeah Fractal had the headphone jack missing and also a hardware issue that caused squealing. To their credit they were very transparent on the former and took care of the latter issue.
I’d be real concerned on lack of progress for the TMP. Something like no computer editor or plugin support for QC is a usability issue but the IR issue still being a problem six months later is a sonic issue.
I will say I sold off my FM3 in large part because Fractal wasn’t able to cascade their development from the Axe 3 down. Happy with the Axe 3 because it gets full development but I would be very wary of any of the lower models.
I’d be real concerned on lack of progress for the TMP. Something like no computer editor or plugin support for QC is a usability issue but the IR issue still being a problem six months later is a sonic issue.
I will say I sold off my FM3 in large part because Fractal wasn’t able to cascade their development from the Axe 3 down. Happy with the Axe 3 because it gets full development but I would be very wary of any of the lower models.
norminal
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But they are cascading their development from the Axe-FX III down.
Mongillo19
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FM9 has the same exact firmware features as the III and the FM3 sounds like it soon will as well.
From a time to update perspective, sure, but there hasn't been a moment where the FM3 doesn't essentially match the III feature set for more than a few months (outside this latest update)
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Fender blows with the tmp. It’s really that simpleThat's the crux of it
I wish Fender well, but this is not an easy market to stand out in.
Foxmeister
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Apart from the things it doesn't have...
norminal
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Have you tried one?
Mongillo19
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Honest question, what doesn't it have that the III has from a firmware standpoint?Apart from the things it doesn't have...
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I won’t defend the TMP but I also look at it another way. To enter the modeler market at this point is to enter a buzzsaw of awesomeness from Fractal, Line 6, Neural etc. It’s virtually impossible to release a first gen product that can compete with them toe to toe. At some point shit has to ship to start bringing in money to recoup the massive development outlay required to make a modern premium modeler. Fender clearly sees the writing on the wall with digital, and on some level I appreciate how forward thinking they have been with their Tone Master amps and now a full fledged modeler. For a company that could coast on nostalgia they are at least taking a swing, and who knows maybe this lays the groundwork for some cool shit to get released in the future.
Foxmeister
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Not a huge amount AFAIK.Honest question, what doesn't it have that the III has from a firmware standpoint?
Things I'm aware* of are the FM9 doesn't have the tone-matching block, mini-IR block, global blocks, and can't capture IRs.
I *think* it might also be missing a few advanced controls on some of the blocks, but I'm not 100% certain of this, nor am I certain if the FM9 supports full-res IRs.
* unless they've been recently added.
