PART 2 HERE - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4AxVQZPscYM.html When I'm not cultivating a single eyebrow I make music and you can listen to it here - ragdollrock.bandcamp.com/track/skies-limit
Nevermind... I went to your main bandcamp page and I was able to listen. Guitars on "Skies Limit" sound great! 🤟🏼 I guess they're recorded with a Fractal?
I hope fender send you out two of the new FRFR-12 powered cabinets keen to hear your opinion on a stereo setup with axefx3 as I’m looking on upgrading mine to something better than the two headrush 112 that I have for my axefx3
The Tone Master Pro is much more friendly and for cleans and Fender tones will have the market once they get going and continue firmware updates. Being a songwriter and contemporary jazz artist I dislike modelers until now. If Fender does it right they will make bank. Great job Fender!
The UI and the footswitch setup really impressed me. The tones... well, just don't sell your Fractal, and I don't plan to sell my Helix. But I very much enjoyed the demo.
I have an Axe FX III. It’s been fantastic. There’s nothing wrong with these tones at all. And dang that interface and form factor slays. If it said Fractal FM4 in the corner instead of Fender, everybody would be preaching game over, everywhere. All of these modelers need tweaking and time to learn the nuances. Adding IR’s is key. Fender will add to this over time I’m sure. But LT was hammering sounds out of this that were studio worthy already. You can see he was inspired. As an unofficial/official Fractal spokesman you can only go so far in your praise I would imagine. But you can’t say that Headrush didn’t change the game with touchscreens, that Fender hasnt developed an awesome one, and that Fractal now has their work cut out for them if they want to stay top dog. If Fender priced this a couple hundred lower, they could score major market share immediately. And start building a base of their own if they were forward looking enough.
well, I'm not getting rid of my FM9, but if i have some extra cash i'm not opposed to adding this to the collection. Looks and sounds amazing. Also, if i were a new purchaser and had the choice between this, or QC, i'd take a spin on a new product from Fender before going back to a company that still hasn't fully delivered on release day touted features nearly two years later.
The touch screen on this is large and very easy to use. The Line 6 Pod Go I use is a similar size, but much less user friendly. This is somewhat pricey, but for the ease of use, I believe it's worth the money and I'll probably buy one because of informative and superb video. Your video making skills are nearly at the level of your guitar skills, which is f*cking high. Thank you.
Ooh, that interface is more than sexy…it’s practical! When you want to adjust the knobs on an amp it is much easier to turn the knobs that double as foot switches than using the touchscreen. Great idea!
For me sounds between units can get close to each other across brands BUT the big thing is support over the lifetime of the hardware/software. Big names tend to abandon stuff after two or so years unlike say Fractal who support and update well past expectations.
Great video, and I love Fender, but what is the benefit over every version of this made by every other maker? This thing is still $1700. I have had the Fractal and LOVE it. Like you said, you wouldn't replace your Fractal. Kind of puzzling that they come out with this, this far into the game when Fractal and others have much more they have learned already.
Give me a Fractal FMx with this size factor, this size screen (don’t care about touchscreen) and this extensive I/O incl. Bluetooth and amp switching and I’ll buy two immediately. I’m hoping fractal will release that sometime in the near future. They would own the market.
Love the I/O options. Couldn’t ask for more for my uses… Don’t like the preset signal chains. Tap dancing would be hard with spacing. Sounds good overall. A little $$!
Sounds pretty good and the UI looks very simple, which I like. Nothing sounds or feels quite like a real amp and cabinet pushing air in the room, but let’s be honest, you probably aren’t gonna get that onstage unless you’re playing un-mic’d at a small club or something like that.
Some great sounds, one of the standouts was British. I think it's great that a founding amp maker like Fender has a box. I like the touchscreen, like HeadRush. Sticking with my Kemper as it is amazing, and every time Christoph Kemper does an update and upgrade, it is new tech without being charged and pushed into buying version II, II, Core or whatever. This box looks great though, and whatever works for someone is what matters.
Great video.. I had a feeling you might be doing this one soon since I saw someone else do a preview of this.. It sounds great, but the price is like the price of an FM3 which I would buy personally instead.. I'd get more amps with an fm3 and more effects and better tone.. Nothing wrong with this, especially if you are interested in Fender clean tones.. Like you though, I live mostly in the high gain world.. More is more.. 😛 Great video / demo sir as always on this channel.. Oh, sorry I had to leave on your live stream a couple days ago.. I actually fell asleep as I had been really busy and worked hard so I had to go to bed and get up early for work. Have a great day my brother and be safe and well sir! Tim
Hey there Tim. Sweetwater lists this on sale today for the same price as an FM9 in the Fractal shop, $1699. Totally agreed on better value in an FM3mkII Turbo, $1099 new. Can’t tell if the folks trying to crack the market are dealing with high development cost or just trying to insert their shiny objects in next to the leaders.
Fender is known for its incredible clean tones. Glad that you took the dirt off and demoed the clean channels. My opinion, Fender should have stuck to their own tones and not try to mimic other manufacturers.😊
This unit doesn’t sound so good here. The Fenders sound good, but the high gain amps all have that Aliasing artifact character. Maybe a hi cut filter can fix it, but that’s a bit surprising that they released the unit sounding like that.
Shouldn’t be a tough fix I imagine. There’re enough resources available to implement decent anti aliasing filtering, and the hardware should be well appointed at this price point.
I always enjoy your video reviews and demos, as you take the units through a wide variety of sound examples and you seem very fair and unbiased about what your hear. You got some really nice tones out of it. Do you have any impressions on how the unit "feels"? Does it feel like a real Amp, is it similar to other Modelers as far as "feel" goes? I look forward to some blind tests comparing it to Amps found on other Modelers. Thanks
Nice toy, but for a home studio it looks dated and too much fiddling with menus. I've real amps/load box/Kemper but now exclusively use UA preamp/interface/computer and amp/cab sim and a bunch of effects and stompboxes. Super convenient and flexible, it also sounds great and saves money. What I find fun today is designing my own cabs, using different developers such as GGD/Bogren/MIKKO/ML Soundlab and others. It goes fast and sounds really good, it becomes something of its own than turning away with the cab that comes with it. The speaker is such a big part of the sound I think. Otherwise a very good demo.
Excellent review mate 🤘 Is there any chance you could do a 4CM set-up with fender TMP and a real peavey 5150 or 6505+ amp and cab with V30s and set up the usual effects to run before pre amp and delay reverb in the FX loop and mic the cab to demostrate how this sounds through a real valve head. Also the set up and addition of an expression pedal would be cool too see. The ultimate rock metal rig set up. The fender TMP looks liks a stout unit. The EVH 5150 sounded killer.. I run a 6505+ so alittle bias to that tone 🤌
Cool video man, thanks for walking us through. Seems pricey but it’s quite a powerful modeller… Would be great to hear side by side (same amp models) this vs FM9 vs QC vs ToneX… any plans? Hope you’re really well😎👍
Great review as alwayz, great playing too...my biggest gripe with all the modelers, is the way they cram in the foot switches, as a gigging muso, i'd rather have 1 less row of foot switches with a bit more room in between to avoid hitting another one in the heat of battle...these look pretty close together, are these ones too close?
good to hear, a mate has the QC, & tbh the footswitch's are too close for my liking, put me off buying one. appreciate the feedback, i'll have to go try one@@LeonTodd
Be interesting to hear this with a Fender amp in one path and a Walrus ACS1 pedal set to an AC30 in the other path. Hmmm!!! Seems like the possibilities are endless!
Is there a Mac/PC/iPad editor? As an older guy with a bad back, one of my favorite features of my Helix is using the editor on my laptop and leaving the Helix floor on the floor. I also find the computer editing to be much easier in general, instead of pushing buttons.
ehh - I think the competition at this price point is going to keep this out of my hands. I'm personally fully invested in the Kemper but I do like Fractal stuff as well - and this seems like a step down from that. I would put this in competition with the Headrush.
Yeaterday evening i go to bed and when i woke up this morning..... ups, another new modeller available. By the the way the market is totally confusing. So far so good. The UI touchscreen matches the time technologie, but the price is beyond eden !! Anyway a good presentation of the device. 😊
I have a question. How about the chain complexity? For instance, if I want to use two amps, two delays, two reverbs, etc ... where and what is the cpu limitations?
Its cool but the price makes it compete with the Quad Cortex and I dont think it has the features, tones and dynamics based on all the reviews Ive seen. Obviously its updatable through firmware but does Fender have a dedicated team developing upgrades on this? Id be interested to hear about the dev team on this and if theyre Fender employees or a third party company.
Cool and all, but I don't see why ANYONE would buy this over an FM9, Quad Cortex, or Helix even, all of which have been out for literally years at this point (getting all the kinks and bugs ironed out) and cost the same.
No modeller FX unit should come with expression built in. You live guys can always add one, but we desktop producers can't subtract one. This Is The Way.
I'm a bit suspicious of how little time Fender gave RU-vidrs with this thing prior to its going live. TheGuitarGeek also mentioned having less than a day.
It's the iFractal... User interface over customization. This will appeal to everyone who hates deep diving into menus and loves Fender and Fender licensed amps.
not a bad first swing into the modeling market. I am glad that Fender saw the landscape and decided it was best to get with the times instead of remaining stagnant. Smart move I think.
Yeah, yet had Mustang V pedal boards just like this board today. It actually sounded really good so I'm excited to hear what this new one sounds like !
@@auntjenifer7774 Fender models always sound good, except the Mustang LT's, don't know what they were thinking there? But their pedals and modeling FX are pretty solid. Digital amps have their place, but no matter how good the models are, they are still 'MODELS', NOT AMPS! And if you watch a side by side next to the actual tube amp/cab its trying to emulate, you will see it falls short compared to an actual tube amp. Louis aka; The Tone King and Phillip McKnight pointed this shortcoming of Fender Digital modeling compared to the Fender real deal tube amps. It doesn't mean digital amps are bad or anything, it just proves that they're different.
Sounds decent - at least through laptop speakers... and the UI looks great - it appears you don't really need a computer interface to get deep into editing. Using the foot switches as rotary knobs is brilliant (hopefully they're durable). I am a bit surprised at the $1700 USD price. For some reason I was expecting it to be less expensive, or at least to undercut the FM3.
Agreed. Sounds are merely decent imho (all seem to tend towards being dark/very dark), and those combination knob/dials seem like a big potential liability … imagine trying to get them replaced … lol. The pretty look/interface (and several loops?) seem like its standout features … I honestly can’t see this lasting long (especially not with the Tonex around), unless Fender makes it sound a lot better, pretty quickly … The sounds are not top-dollar, which is what they’re charging … Ongoing support from Fender?!?! I see this tanking, and Fender cutting and running …
Not sure if my brain is fooling me but I didn’t hear a single sound that was bad or needed a ton of tweaking!!! I’m getting this for sure. Great tones to my ears without looking at a schematic to change diodes and tubes. 😂 I’m loving it! Great review my friend!!!
It's the same price as a Fractal FM-9, Neural DSP Quad Cortex or Line 6 Helix ($1699). If it was half that price I could _maybe_ see myself trying one out just for shits and giggles, but I'd much rather spend my money on companies that do modelling as their main business, and have done so succesfully for many years, instead of buying a modeller produced by a corporate conglomerate that are known to cancel products within a year or two of the release just because it didn't reach some anticipated sales figure (i.e didn't earn them enough money to satisfy the shareholders). If you haven't tried any of the other modellers I mentioned, I recommend that you do a comparison between them and the Tone Master Pro at your local music store before you decide to buy it. That's what I would have done at least.
@@nj1255 You have some good points. But my thinking is if you do it right the first time, you don’t have to continually upgrade and improve. And I agree about companies dropping products (Presonus) has to be one of the worse about launching a product and in a year it’s no longer in production. Fender hasn’t given me that vibe…yet. I have three of the tone master amps and love them.
@@jeffmaestro My only concern with the Fender is that it's not clear how long they will support it with firmware updates. Fractal and Line 6 especially have long track records of supporting their products. That said, I thought the models sounded fantastic.
@@reverb508Yes, I agree with you. However, I think fender took their time with this and will support it. No way to know for sure but I’m liking what I hear so far. Plus as a Stoic I live for today. I’m 58. I’ll probably be dead and the tone master will still be here. Lol.
@@reverb508 it was made to last, I read that there would be more options in the cab, soldano soon and rectification of evh;, it is more powerful than the fx3 axis, satriani plays with it live. have you seen satriani play with fractal? Steve va? petrucci? They have their amps and they don't even play with them. I tested TMP for 10 minutes, it's fantastic, it sounds immediately. I bought a fr12, it's the best frfr cab (I've had several). I'm selling my fx3 axis for tmp (sorry fractal) this afternoon I lost 3 hours to make 2 presets, now I have to buy the dynacab (meh). I had the fx1 axis, the 2 and the 3, it will be the last (we will see for 4),soon out of stock.
Like every video you drop, this one has content that matters to players. I had already written this off as a NO...but after watching (and hearing) you demonstrate the flexibility of the signal chain, the ability to move and choose the mics on the speakers, and the overall excellence (IMO) of the UI I'm reconsidering. Frankly, as an old guy who plays in the worship band at my church I can see this unit working great for me. I've been on Fractal for 3yrs and love my FM3. But I can see where this could really shorten my build time on presets. Plus, I love Fender amps. And as you said they seem to have done a great job with them. I'll be watching to see what Fender does around support. Thank you for another great vid. Worth every minute.
I'm afraid almost all of these tones sound harsh and fizzy to me. Maybe too much input at the source or the interface? Maybe it's just Fender's modeling algorythms? IDK. Seems like an inout gain level would be in order here. I own an early Fender Mustang II and a IV, both suffer the same crackliness beyond 2k that is really hard to mitigate.
Thanks for this Leon. The hardware looks really good, but not convinced about the sounds honestly. I don’t think fractal have anything to worry about as those units have so much more tweak ability and generally appeal to a different type of player.(like me) Once the price falls however both Helix and Headrush have a serious competitor. At the present price though I don’t think it sits well in the market place.
How are you supposed to use the footswitches live if they're so small and close together??? After Fractal this looks like a toy. That patch 01 65 Deluxe sounds a little like garbage lol. Princeton sounds thin. Ew. Pass. Hard pass. I do like the interface, will make it easy for Helix folks that can't program things.
Interesting. QC interface, Boss GT routing, Helix like for live use. Not hearing QC/Fractal level of tones, especially on the Brit amps but will wait and see how opinions develop. I want to love it but I'm not sure. It sounds like it can sound great but will need a more post processing than some others to get there.
The price should be close to headrush prime, Helix LT and FM3 if Fender wants to have a chance. Otherwise it will be a complete failure. Now you can buy an FM9 without a waiting list.
Sooooo bored of all these modellers that sound the same in the context of an overall mix. Talk about rehashing the same ol tech. Don't be a dumb musician. By anything Fractal, or your wasting your money.
It’s not going to convert anyone, but it may get new “purest” people into modeling.. or maybe not. The price point was ridiculous last I saw and comparable or more to the FM9.. Fractal is where it’s at.. sounds better, support is crazy good and price same or less. Isn’t even a decision at this point. Even for those who think this sounds good, would you make a switch for splitting hairs and take a chance, PLUS have the learning curve and rebuild patches? Nope. Thanks for the video Leon and your honesty.
It’s awesome, but the one thing missing is the ability to capture and share captures. I have some old classic amps and pedals that do not come in the unit, that I want to add in. That’s the one feature holding it back from passing the Quad Cortex. If they add that in, I would buy one in a second.
Yano my first initial concern is, does fender not have a vested interest in making this thing sound not QUITE as good as their own amps.... or is it more a case if people are buying digital versions of their amps it mightaswell be from fender..... Second concern is.... it's fender a company infamous for not really looking after their products with support into the future and general top value etc..... All that said based on day 1 videos it seems like a good unit at face value.
This seriously might pull me away from my anti modeling mentality. The UI is absolutely amazing. I love the 4 loops you can throw in and everything I've heard sounds fantastic. Also, my wife said it seems like a good price for everything that it does so that's something boys.
Pulled me away. I sold my evh head and cabinet and bought the tonemaster pro. Sounds amazing and zero learning curve. Just plug it in and start playing.
@@MG-cd7wiglad to hear you like it. I’m thinking of buying one just to use as a pedal board in front of my Vox amp for now (and dive into more features later) I sold all my pedals years ago and since getting back into guitar this year, I want pedals again. I did the math and buying the 10 pedals I used to have would cost about the same as this tone master! So I figure why not get it all rolled into one platform and have the option to edit sounds and build out set lists way easier than with analogue gear…
My biggest question is about routing whether it's capable of running w/d/w with three FRFRs. Especially so with multiple wet effects in parallel with each other.
One thing I noticed with this unit is that the amp models sound like they have more girth than others I've heard, which makes this more realistic. If Fender can get rid of the artifacts in the high gain amps, I have the feeling this will be a very popular unit.
I'm hearing the artifacts in the clean amps too, when they start getting pushed. It's less noticeable, but it's there. And it's there in almost every demo I've seen, except for the Anderton's demo.
