NGD Tone Master Pro w/ Unique Setup

[CSGuitarGuy01]

Hey all,

New to the forums here. I thought I’d contribute a small amount as I’m always using Google and browsing these forums to learn from you all – a big shout out and thank you!

I just picked up a TMP after a lot of research online and countless hours of YouTube. For me, it came down to the ease of use and flexibility of the platform. I am very new to modeling and getting back into guitar after a long (10 year) pause. I’m falling in love again and can’t believe how much technology has enhanced the experience.

Gear: I have a pedal board with some dirt pedals, and your standard “wet” effects like tape echo, reverb, etc. My main amp is a Friedman Smallbox with a matching 4x12 cabinet. Absolutely in love with this amp… but that’s not why we’re here…

Use case: I’m an at-home player, I don’t tour or ever leave my house with my guitar. That said, my career and multiple hobbies all revolve around tinkering. Finding “tones” that I like was no exception – once I learned about amp modeling, and the limitless configurability I knew I wanted to dive in.

Setup: For my setup I wanted a way to integrate the TMP into my amp/pedal board, as well as give myself the flexibility to play silently (through headphones) or play through my mock FRFR (Fishman Loudbox). I really struggled to figure out how to connect everything together and I wanted to share my solution in case it helps someone out and/or receive critique for a better way to do things.

I have attached a diagram I drew to explain things a bit better. I started with the manual to understand how to connect the TMP Effect loop and Output 1 to my amp. I branched off from this idea to understand how to integrate the Overdrive pedals I use (dirt) into the front of the TMP, and integrate the wet effects into the FX Loop of my amp. This setup requires modifying any presets to remove the IR cab simulation and replace it with the “External Cab” option as I’m playing through my 4x12 either through the amp tone stack, or by using an amp simulation and just using the Smallbox as a power amplifier (bypassing the tone stack).

So far, so good. The documentation explains all this in detail. But, I wanted a way, without touching any cabling, to hear a cab sim through my headphones or my FRFR. I accomplished this with a jumper from OUT1 into the MIC/LINE input. I then have to modify the preset to “Instrument + MIC/LINE SERIES” (you can also use parallel if you need).

What I’m doing is feeding the same signal my power amp is getting (amp sim only, no cab sim) back into the TMP, then utilizing OUT2 into my FRFR and the second line is configured with only a cab sim.

I then set up my levels in the mixer (my dial only adjusts the headphone level) and I set up the monitoring for each output channel.

I few pain points:

• I’m not sure exactly how to setup the external cab sim… I set the low cutoff to 50hz and the High cutoff to 8khz, the SIC I use roughly matches the cab I have, but I understand from the manual you kinda pick whatever sounds good.
• When you have a combo cab selected in your preset, the external cab option isn’t available. All (or most) of the combos have “head only” options, so you just need to edit the preset to replace the combo with the cab – however, it would be really nice if they changed this in a firmware update to allow you to select “External Cab” in a combo.

Overall, the sound is incredible. I’ve got no noise, hiss, hum, etc. I have the flexibility to go from silent headphone playing to either an amp/cab sim with my FRFR or switch over to my real amp and either use an amp sim or use the TMP as an “effects only” box in conjunction with my pedal board. So many options, I love it!

I’ve detailed the above in a series of photos attached to this post. I hope this helps someone else, and I look forward to any feedback.

 

[CSGuitarGuy01]

I thought of one additional question/thought about my setup...

Does anyone know if there is a way to save a cabinet sim setup so you don't have to change all the setting every time?

Also, is there a way to save an effect pedal preset? Say, for example, I want to always EQ one of my outputs the same way every time. Would be nice if there was a global EQ for each output rather than globally for both outputs.

 

[DrewJD82]

Welcome to the forum!!! And thanks for posting your work for others!!!

I know we got a couple TMP players here but I can’t remember who they were, I’m sure they’ll be along shortly to answer your questions though!

 

[Jarick]

@CSGuitarGuy01 thanks for the detailed input!

Honestly I've been interested in the Fender TMP for what you describe, running with a Friedman amp for effects. Which effects are you using and how do you like them?

I don't know the detailed answers to all your questions but on the cuts for cab sims, 80 Hz low cut and 8 kHz high cut is a good starting point IMO.

As you said the SIC (speaker impedance curve) doesn't need to match your real cab but it should give a more familiar starting point? I would think the SIC should only impact the sound if you're using a virtual amp though so if it changes the sound when you're using a real amp through a load box that would be weird.

 

[CSGuitarGuy01]

I got a ton of great info from this guy on YouTube, this video in particular helped me streamline my setup from what I previously posted. Also answered my question about saving speaker presets!!

 

[CSGuitarGuy01]

@CSGuitarGuy01 thanks for the detailed input!

Honestly I've been interested in the Fender TMP for what you describe, running with a Friedman amp for effects. Which effects are you using and how do you like them?

I don't know the detailed answers to all your questions but on the cuts for cab sims, 80 Hz low cut and 8 kHz high cut is a good starting point IMO.

As you said the SIC (speaker impedance curve) doesn't need to match your real cab but it should give a more familiar starting point? I would think the SIC should only impact the sound if you're using a virtual amp though so if it changes the sound when you're using a real amp through a load box that would be weird.

So far I've really enjoyed the reverb sounds I'm getting, as that's a weak point on my board currently. Besides that I've mostly been playing through the Friedman's power amp as I browse through all the presets! I feel like a whole new world has been unlocked!

 

[privatezero]

I’m trying to follow your diagram but it might be more then my simple brain can follow, however to answer a couple of you questions . I don’t think you need the jumper cable. You can split your signal into a y path under preset settings and do the same thing, I think.

Here what I do to feed speaker cab and frfr and have the ability to switch between the two, at the end of my chain on the TMP, i do a y split with the top path have the speaker modeling and the lower path having no speaker modeling. Top path is assigned to output one and lower assigned to output two.

Then I put a volume pedal model at the every end of both paths. Assign a latching foot switch to both turn on the amp cabinet model and change the parameters of the top volume pedal model to 100%, as well as turn the bottom volume pedal model parameter to 0%. Unlatched, configure it to the do the opposite to the volume pedal.

That allows me to to switch between the 2 with one button press. I turn off the master volume control on output 2 and set that output to unity gain so I can control the volume on my speaker cabs power amp.

I have a separate preset for using my tube amps, and use Fx loop 3 send to feed that amp, so switching to that preset means I can use effects in front of that amp without having to unplug everything.


I also have a line 6 helix in loop 1 so can switch the to helix separately without having to unplug anything.

I also have a Tonex in loop 4 so I can throw that into my TMP signal chain.

Not that I need any of that, but I love me some tweaking.


As far as the effects, I think I understand what you are asking. you can save a model of any pedal with its own setting, so that when you insert it again on a different preset, iyou can choose that one and it keeps the settings. On the TMP these are called block presets



For example I have 4 different klon model settings, and when I go to load a klon model, it shows me all 4 and I can choose which one I want. Pretty sure you can do block presets with an eq pedal as well.