Hopefully....I'm going to eat some crow (Fender Tonemaster Pro content)

[AFKAEjay(retired)]

speak. I guess my lesson to learn here is to wait a bit and let my ears recharge before diving into it..

Me comparing sounds:
Playing A…and love it
Switch to B and do the observation A was better
Play B for 2 minutes more so my ears get used to it: Love B also!
Switch back to A and do the observation B was better
Play A for 2 minutes more so my ears get used to it…back to loving A!
…rinse and repeat!

In my mind, once you verified the core of a unit provides a quality sound…stuff like amounts of bass/treble are simply variables you can correct…all subject to the context you use the sounds in…and/or…whatever calibrated your ears in the last 5 minutes.

 

[JCW308]

I'm still loving the cranked blonde Deluxe Reverb with a boost pedal in front. It's perfect for playing with a Tele. Gets WAY raunchier than I would have expected but still focused and defined! If you want to check out my preset, look for "JCW Tele" on the Fender Cloud. It has 8 scenes. 4 clean and 4 crunch,

 

[deadpool_25]

• ...top-tier modeler

Wait, I thought this post was about the TMP. Hm. Now I gotta start over.

 

[deadpool_25]

It's definitely not Fractal flexible. I think there's only really two possible horizontal lanes, so it's a sub Helix/QC in flexibility too. Much as I enjoy it, that's the sacrifice that likely had to be made to enable the skeuomorphic interface.

But it comes at a cost, no question.

To be fair nothing is fractal flexible. The signal routing is one of the most genius aspects of Fractal.

 

[deadpool_25]

DAY FOUR:

• Call it a honeymoon phase or whatever, but I feel like this unit has the greatest set of factory patches to recreate specific artist/song tones that I've ever used. Everything from Nile Rodgers direct-to-board funk to Chris Isaac exotica to several flavors of hot-rodded 80s tone and even Tom Petty and everyone in between.

But is there a Tool/Adam Jones preset?

Asking for @JiveTurkey

 

[mikah912]

But is there a Tool/Adam Jones preset?

Asking for @JiveTurkey

There's not. Gonna try to roll my own, but I have several clips I need to record to bear out some of my TMP points.

 

[JiveTurkey]

But is there a Tool/Adam Jones preset?

Asking for @JiveTurkey

You can play a climax-less delay saturated chug riff with just about any high gain tone though?

 

[mikah912]

You can play a climax-less delay saturated chug riff with just about any high gain tone though?

Honestly, I've never understood why so many treat Adam Jones' tone as unobtanium. I've watched a couple of tutorials, and it seems consistent whether they're using a run-of-the-mill Marshall or a Diezel or even a Dual Rectifier.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Honestly, I've never understood why so many treat Adam Jones' tone as unobtanium. I've watched a couple of tutorials, and it seems consistent whether they're using a run-of-the-mill Marshall or a Diezel or even a Dual Rectifier.

It's definitely a tone that is adjective rich

"Round and woody! Punchy and smooth!"

 

[mbenigni]

View attachment 39012

I can't stop wondering how many people have put their pick between their lips to type the phrase "poo switch".

 

[deadpool_25]

Honestly, I've never understood why so many treat Adam Jones' tone as unobtanium. I've watched a couple of tutorials, and it seems consistent whether they're using a run-of-the-mill Marshall or a Diezel or even a Dual Rectifier.

NGL I kinda agree. I heard a pretty good Tool cover on a 6505. Orvillain posted a solid Tool-ish tone with his Mark V.

It's not just Tool though imo. I honestly don't think nailing any particular tone is all that important. As long as you can get the general tone (high gain with lots of mids; high gain with mid scoop; edge of breakup with some plate reverb; etc.), it's far more important to nail playing and dynamics.

IMO

Edit: link added

 

[metropolis_4]

Is Adam Jones tone the new “brown sound”?

Honestly I didn’t know his tone was a thing

 

[mikah912]

NGL I kinda agree. I heard a pretty good Tool cover on a 6505. Orvillain posted a solid Tool-ish tone with his Mark V.

It's not just Tool though imo. I honestly don't think nailing any particular tone is all that important. As long as you can get the general tone (high gain with lots of mids; high gain with mid scoop; edge of breakup with some plate reverb; etc.), it's far more important to nail playing and dynamics.

IMO

Close enough for government work, as they say. All of the tonechasing, tweaking and IRs are just for me. The group of guys I play and record with don't know what cabsim or amp model is being used when or where. They'll only use factory presets, and it serves them just fine.

 

[Sidler72]

Is Adam Jones tone the new “brown sound”?

Honestly I didn’t know his tone was a thing

I’m sure there’s a percentage of players who want Adam’s sound but it’s nothing close to people wanting to sound like Eddie. Between pickups, pedals, speakers, amps, amp mods, attenuators hell there’s even fanatic fans who knows the exact type of spray paint he used to paint the frankenstrat.

 

[deadpool_25]

Is Adam Jones tone the new “brown sound”?

Honestly I didn’t know his tone was a thing

It's not anywhere near as universal as the Eddie-chasing was and still is. With that said Tool has a truly fanatical following and enough of those fans are guitar players or were inspired to start playing because of Tool that chasing his tone (and playing the songs) is definitely a thing for quite a few.

 

[Tritium3H]

DAY FIVE:

• As I started to set up for A/B with my FM9, I started with the Marshalls and.......it's not great for the TMP. Their Plexi and JCM800 models are just...not it. I slapped the same York Audio Friedman V30/Greenback blend IR on both units and just put some subtle Plate reverb behind each. The Fractal 100W Plexi High and JCM800 2204 both sounded pretty iconic and real to what I remember them as with the controls at noon. The TMP versions didn't indicate if they used the high input or not, but I assumed they did. In both cases, they were undergained, polite, and slightly muffled in comparison. Even cranking the treble, mids, gain and master on each could only get them somewhat close to the default noon-ish settings on the FM9. And despite going back and forth for a bit, I couldn't dial them but so close. The TMP Marshalls are fine on their own, and most factory patches have a drive pedal in front of them to help out. But once you hear them back-to-back....yikes. You plug into the FM9 patches and immediately want to start ripping AC/DC/Cult/The Darkness riffs. On the TMP, you must start dialing up everything to get close to that classic kerrang.
• The new Soldano model, on the other hand, was a much, MUCH better showing. I kept the same IR, and I honestly preferred the TMP Soldano Lead model slightly over the FM9. Neither was bad, but it breathed a bit more fire and was slightly more responsive to my playing.
• The comparison clips might take awhile depending on time. But I can see that Fender has some work to do with their Vox and Marshall models.

Mikah, I hope you might consider doing a shootout between the Fractal FM9's SLO-100 -vs- the TMP's SLO-100. IMHO, I prefer the SLO in the TMP, over Fractals. Although, I prefer all the Marshalls in my FM9T compared to the TMP.

The highlight "high gain" amps in the TMP are the SLO, the Friedman BE-100, and the EVH. I also prefer many of the Fender amps in the TMP. The TMP's convolution Spring Reverb is amazing!

I guess I love my FM9T and TMP equally, for different reasons. The biggest plus for the TMP, for me, is its ease of use as a stand-alone platform...when I don't want to have to rely on a PC-based editor. Its user interface is absolutely brilliant, and actually inspires me to play around with various effects groupings and signal chain arrangements. Yes, the FM9T is WAY more customizable, and on the whole has superior effects...but the TMP has excellent bread-n-butter/meat-n-potato effects, which is where I mostly live. Give me a great sounding hall or plate reverb, and a great sounding 2290 delay, along with some really good OD and distortion boxes, and I'm good.

I also love the graphical positioning/flexibility of the TMP's virtual cabinet/microphone, which compares favorably to the FM9's DynaCab system.

 

[mikah912]

Mikah, I hope you might consider doing a shootout between the Fractal FM9's SLO-100 -vs- the TMP's SLO-100. IMHO, I prefer the SLO in the TMP, over Fractals. Although, I prefer all the Marshalls in my FM9T compared to the TMP.

The highlight "high gain" amps in the TMP are the SLO, the Friedman BE-100, and the EVH. I also prefer many of the Fender amps in the TMP. The TMP's convolution Spring Reverb is amazing!

I guess I love my FM9T and TMP equally, for different reasons. The biggest plus for the TMP, for me, is its ease of use as a stand-alone platform...when I don't want to have to rely on a PC-based editor. Its user interface is absolutely brilliant, and actually inspires me to play around with various effects groupings and signal chain arrangements. Yes, the FM9T is WAY more customizable, and on the whole has superior effects...but the TMP has excellent bread-n-butter/meat-n-potato effects, which is where I mostly live. Give me a great sounding hall or plate reverb, and a great sounding 2290 delay, along with some really good OD and distortion boxes, and I'm good.

I also love the graphical positioning/flexibility of the TMP's virtual cabinet/microphone, which compares favorably to the FM9's DynaCab system.

I will shootout those and other amps as well. It's just been tough to find the time this week. Got a sick high schooler and work has been far crazier than expected.

I did make time to just play on the TMP last night, and it was a joy. Stayed on my Plexi patch, but then decided to add a SD1 in front while upping the plate reverb. Also, swapped in some new factory cans for the York Audio IR is been using.

It was instant modded Marshall arena-rock goodness. Think I'm going to make a multi-scene patch for the Cloud so everyone can enjoy!

 

[mbenigni]

This is "hey maybe I need a TMP" stuff right here:

 

[[Nathan]]

This is "hey maybe I need a TMP" stuff right here:

Now I can badly play violin and guitar at the same time

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Is Adam Jones tone the new “brown sound”?

Honestly I didn’t know his tone was a thing

Definitely not as much as the Brown sound but I think there’s probably a generational aspect to it as well. I haven’t met anyone less than 15 years older than me who gives a shit about Van Halen. For me EVH means 5150 amps.

Totally respect him as a musician and creative brain as well as a boundary pusher. But I’d take AJ’s tone every day of the week (which IMO is also nothing too special, it just matches my playing better). I’m sure if I was into playing Van Halen style guitar and grew up listening to those albums (as well as being around them when they were at their more culturally relevant) I’d have very different feelings towards it.