Prices for the Tone Master Pro and FRFR cabs available here: Thomann - thmn.to/thocf/wnxrunjowa Sweetwater - sweetwater.sjv.io/GmobE2 Fender Direct - prf.hn/l/znPGMGO
With 2400 beans I could get a pro junior and a used USA Strat/Tele/LP/ junior/ SG and a delay and wah and be able to turn up anywhere that has a plug socket(230/240) and spend 2 hours playing as opposed to 2 hours drinking and banging my forehead in the wall screaming"Why did I fall for that Tech scam...again"!
I would love if you could take some of the cheaper multi FX-s like Hotone Ampero (Mini / 2 Stomp / 2 Stage), Nux, Boss ME-90, Mooer, and see how they stack against things like this.
Max Gutnik was one of the guys responsible for the Helix products. He's been at Fender now for a while and is one of the big brains behind the TMP so it's no surprise that this unit is so intuitive. You should revisit this product now that they've made some big improvements with the firmware updates. I would EASILY put the unit I'm reviewing up against my Fractal FM3, my Helix LT and our singer's quad cortex. I gigged with it this past weekend and it was fantastic running to our PA and an FRFR behind me. The hardware itself feels more premium than any other modeler on the market and the I/O is nearly on par with the big helix (which IMO is the best on the market in that regard) It's easy to look at the price and get down on the unit because it's expensive but it's premium hardware, industry leading I/O, a well thought out UI/UX and the most powerful processor in the digital space. Everyone flocked to the more expensive QC when it came out and it was missing like half the stuff they said it would have and no one complained about the price.
Ordered today as bundle with the FR-12, we will see but this box seems to sound really great. Thanx for your feedback and test, you've noticed some interesting points.
@@MelloState yeah, I thought the same. You could grab an epiphone pro, a decent half stack and a couple of pedals for that money. I use an old epi, a grid spark and a wah and I can get more than enough sounds form it.
I mostly see comments from those who’ve never used a top modeling unit so have no idea what they’re talking about. But, this is RU-vid. The price is a bit bold. I’m shopping Fractal as the next step from my own custom rig and would trust Fender to be very competitive sonically so price is not a total turnoff. Every big-bucks feature is there, and then some, such as multiple routes, stereo/mono inserts. It seems like a very well conceived halo product. Fact is, touring & session players, as well as playing producers and composers can justify the learning curve and price and get along great with such a product. It’s not designed for occasional users or home players. The jury is still out. I expect Fender will hold the line on price while offering major SW additions for no charge.
This cost the same as a Fractal FM9 which I own. The FM9 is really hardcore as there are so many parameters that one can tweak. It also has a bigger footprint but the ftswtchs do not act also as control pots etc as the Fender does. But really what got my attention is the Fender frfr monitor amp. At $500 that seems fairly reasonable considering the other options on the market.
The $500 was for the 1x10 and $549 for the 1x12 cab. Saw a review of the 1x12 compared to a QSC 8 and was not to impressed with the sound. However would have to hear them live in order to make a final judgement. Would be hard to beat my 1x12 large cab with a Celestion F12-x200 speaker but will wait and see. My cab weighs a ton at 42lbs.
I find it very hard to justify that price tag considering the HeadrushFX Prime is in my ears sounding just as good. Only thing would be if you really want "True" fender tones
The thing is that they seem to be marketing this at pro. and live players, but most of them seem to dislike or even hate, digital modeling processors. ??? Go figure. Yet people like Billy Corgan seem to have embraced it. He would probably use this all day for rehearsals, if not for live.
Essentially the same price as Helix, Quad Cortex, and FM9. You could argue whether or not the features are comparable, but Fender has priced it appropriately for the market they’re competing in.
@@astronautsoul I see, yeah. They're all kind of high-end units, so take your pick, I suppose. If you're gonna spend that much I would try to demo them somewhere though, if possible.
The Fender Tone Master Pro sounds really good though there are many options from competitors at the price point. I’m leery of buying a modeling unit that expensive after Fender discontinued support for the Mustang III/IV/V V.2 series.
i think this piece of kit is a game changer for a hobby player like myself. there's so many things about this product that make it fantastic for a bedroom/office headphone guitar player
People complaining about the price but for those of us who are restarting (or just starting) our gear journey, that’s a heck of a deal. 1700 for all you get is awesome. It’s also awesome for what you don’t get, like a few hundred pounds of wood and metal to lug around to performances and practice. I see people saying “ you could get a tube amp and a cab for that money…” yeah? And? lol this is an amp, and a cab. So you can buy a “better” amp and cab… there’s your 1700, now drop another few hundred or another grand on pedals. No thank you.
The is great. You know what I think would be great and make your show even better? More episodes where you bring on Emily from Get Offset. The episode you did with her had a great vibe and you two were pretty funny together. I think you'd start cross driving subscribers additions. Very positive comments on her discord from people about your show. You know your stuff, she knows her stuff, and neither of you are shills. Boss Katana owner here, bought it after seeing your episodes on it. Thanks.
Fender va a patinar por culpa del precio. Se han pasado. Aun bajarla a la mitat me lo pensaria porque la Helix LT suena increible y lleva pedal de expresion
For me, the question is whether it’s worth selling my tone master deluxe reverb and line 6 pod go and replacing those with the new tone master pro and FR 12. That would bring the expense down a lot but would I be better off?
As always, Andy a great and thorough review! I have a question. I wonder if you make changes to any of the pedals or amplifiers, if you can do a factory reset on the individual devices? this way, you could avoid doing an overall factory reset.
I think they’ll sell more tone master FRFR cabs than the pedals, even though I think the pedal is quite intuitive. I use those Headrush FRFR 108’s from time to time & I wish the Headrush units were a bit more intuitive & cooler looking. I’d be curious to see what vocal processing is available on the Tone Master (auto tune, harmonizer, etc…) and how it measures up to the Headrush Prime / Core that both recently came out at lower price points. Entertaining review as always, Andy!
Line 6 just did a market survey for a potential Helix 2. These other companies are playing catchup since the release of Helix which is still being supported to this day. Just imagine once the new version comes out.
Yes it is a chunk of change but I have that much in my pedal board and I can't do a 3rd of all those sounds plus it's an interface with midi in and out. I had to save for the guitar I wanted and the Amp I wanted so saying that, just save for this too!!
Tonex 400$ less than one quarter the price and with user profiles available for download with open source software that will be around for a long time. Just add your effects. Fender digital is too expensive for me but it’s your call.
Not my thing tbh but if I was playing live a lot I’d probably love this. However, in this day and age updates should be OTA. Anything else is ridiculous, mind you so is the lack of headphone outs on all the Tonemasters. Does give me hope that they’ll do a Tweed Deluxe Tonemaster.
Sounds ace and looks easier to handle than the Line 6 family. But aye - it's a pricy one - and we didn't even lear how much the FR cab is... That's gotta be another what.... £800 on top?
It’s 2500 quid plus taxes in Canada. For that coin I should be able to sound more like Eddie van Halen. If you buy a deluxe reverb tone master ‘the pedal costs more than the amp does’
I think it's to bloody expensive. I use a Line6 Pod Go which I think do just as well (for a quarter of the price), with an additional expression pedal for free... Not convinced at all... Like the sounds of the TMP, but think modelers like the Line6 do just as well for a quarter of the price!!!
Hello First of all, thank you for another excellent review. I am interested in the following. Since I have a Mustang GTX 100 and am a studio producer, is it worth buying Tone Master Pro for sounds? Does Tone master really have that much better presets and sounds if I record directly in DAW from XLR?
Hey! I would definitely recommend trying it. The mustang, while being great, does not have the quality and depth of sound that these higher power units have. You could also try plugins such as tonex or helix native or the neural dsp stuff and that would get “better” Results than the mustang
Insane pricing! "Oh, Neural is earning a fortune. What shall we do? Ahm, maybe me-too? Oh yeah, thats great!" Shocking shamelessness! There is hardly any industry that is ripping off customers like the gear biz does. Guitars will have a huge breakdown.
Thank you, as always. I didn't even know this was on the horizon before early this morning. Now...along with the Fender FR...jeepers, please don't tempt me. It is the last thing I need as well as the first thing I need. It is the Alpha and the Omega. The beginning and the end...with a whole lot of deliciousness in between.
It might be a bit expensive. But if you try to buy each product it has individually. You might spend at least 4 times the cost of this unit. I would definitely look into buying this.
@LivinginLosAngeles-re5yx I'm new at this modeling equipment. But what I meant was all the pedals, amps., speakers, cabs, etc. If you had to buy each one separately. That would definitely break the bank.
As usual the overdrive on all these digital units sounds “brittle” to me rather than the organic sound full of natural harmonics you get from a good tube amp.
I don't see how anyone would buy any pedals any more. The sheer variety of tones via amps and pedals makes it seem like a no brainer to go digital versus accumulating a lot of expensive pedals / amps. One expensive tube amp alone would cost more than 1k quid already. I would preface this review in that you are approaching this product from someone who plays in a band and gigs. I'm a dining room warrior who plays after the kids go to bed. Currently in love with the Waza Air headphones so i can crank up the volume and not disturb family / neighbors. I've found that playing at loud volumes can dramatically improve tone, and that's only possible via a headphone set up.
You make some great points here. As a bedroom Player, this could be all you never need but so could so many plugins. I also have the WAZA headphones and I use them more than any any practice tool
Really really nice ... but with a price tag ... HM ... on the other hand ... You could buy all 4 "character plus" pedals and end up with .... errrrrrr .... much less at ~ the same price tag Love the FRFR monitor ...
i dont know why there are these complaints about the cost. its comparable to the QCortex in price and thats clearly their target.... for the guy at home its likely overkill..but maybe thats not their market...
The complaints stem from Fender's previous track record with ditching support over their digital products(Cyber Twin, Mustang Floor, Fuse, etc), and the fact that at $1700, its competing with both the Fractal Fm9 and the Quad Cortex. Both mature, and excellent sounding and higher value packed products. I wish Fender well, and can't wait for the comparison videos to start popping up.
It’s a wonderful life for those that have the money to throw at every new digital product that hits the marketplace. Yeah no. I’m not that guy. Damn it. lol… I can’t even get my family to gift anything guitar related for birthdays and Christmas. It would be so cool if they all got together and instead of buying a bunch of stuff that is nice and all but not really what I want or will be useful. They could get something that would elevate my passion and purpose. Even if that means it’s the only present under the tree for me, that would be better than anything else and create perma smile. lol… take care looking forward to the follow up video. 🎸🤓🌎☮️🥓👍
After the Post Holiday Season Consumer Spending Stats come out, We will see Significant Price Drops across the board on these overpriced pedals... "Should I feed my family? Or should I buy a pedal?"
Fender left us "out in the cold" with the Super Champ X2 and it/s "fuse" software updates. I'm going to stick with Tone Junkie's "every Fender amp" pack for the Kemper until Fender redeems itself.
$1700 for a pedal packed full of features you'll never use past the first two honeymoon weeks. Just look at your pedal board. That's more or less what you want whether you're prepared to admit it or not.
I love Fender. That said, the modeling sounds comparable to everything else out there. I wasn’t blown away, it’s not bad at all, but it’s not $1699 good. The interface looks pretty cool though, if this was 800 bucks, I’d be more into this, but 1700 isn’t a price I’d pay when I can get a Quad Cortex or kemper with years of bugs worked out and patches. Plus knowing Fenders history of abandoning Fuse software, Im very hesitant to trust Fender will be updating this unit in 3 years. I’m curious to try it, but not buy it.
For me, The Killer App on this unit is that the bank of dials become the controls for whatever amp or effect you bring up. They are gonna update every few months just like Boss did with the GT-1000. And on the Boss GT-1000, I like editing patches on a 32 inch monitor. I am looking forward to the Fender bass amps on the Pro. Definity a product to buy and play every day. Getting two. One for stage and one to keep at home to experiment with patches. Bugs will be worked out fast with a Fender product because there will be a million people worldwide buying Fender. Fuse died and became the fertilizer for Tone Master Pro. There are a lot of people like me that are willing to pay good money for research and development. There is a lot of R&D in the Pro. For those that do not have a modeler yet, the Pro is attractive to a guitar player who has no engineering ability or those that would rather play than read a manual.
It's the User Interface (UI) that is the game changer on this unit. It will open up digital modelling to more people who struggle to adapt to fiddly user experiences. This is doing the UI aspect better than the rest, whilst digital modelling is starting to become a game of diminishing returns as far as audio quality/replication is concerned.
@@misterreality Yes well it is subjective. If it doesn't sound right for your style of music then it's a no go. Have you tried Neural Amp Modeler? NAM is free and people rave about it. Emil Rohbe @Rohbemusic has created a lot of impulses from it and demos it on his RU-vid channel.
I don't usually mind "technical" things but for me, because I gig a lot I sold my FM3 because I always need to make changes on the fly and found it to be really inconvenient in a live situation. I will have my TMP next week so I'll see if I hate it lol but I think it will be great
I could dial in a tone on three different pedals and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a 350 dollar pedal and a 1700 dollar pedal. You can get a Valeton 200 now for $350, I have one and I can get awesome sounds from it so IMO the 1700 dollar Fender is way overpriced. I guess it comes down to bragging rights and the difference between how many amp heads etc. you want to scroll through. If you have the cash go for it, if not you'll be happy with the less expensive model and have enough left over for a lot of extra gear. That being said if you are a pro and make a living from music you may indeed use all the extras you get with a 1700 pedal, (4 effect loops for example). If you're a home/small gig guitarist something like the Valeton is fine.
1) Andy, this demo is spot on, as usual! You and some weird German bloke with animals always knock it out of the ark with demons! 2) Listening to the tones, though my laptop with quality headphones, it is utter crap, sorry! Fender, late to the party, with a stupid expensive offering, yeah, typical Fender! So many better products out there for way less than half this pile of poo! So happy to watch your videos Andy... Roll on the weekend for Gear of the Week!
Great....this is the turd that is going to be making its rounds in all of the YT gear videos. Way overpriced. They're absolutely mad. Doesn't sound any better than anything else.out there.
Too expensive for me for now, but if you think about the tone master range, those aren't cheap either, and you basically get all of them with this and a couple of fr12. So thinking about selling some of my amps and pedals just makes me uncomfortable, it took a while to assemble my fleet, but if it works well, this takes less space. I'll have to try one first to be sure. Also I like that you can fix amps, if they fail; this is probably not something that you can get fixed easily, should it break. Maybe with a liftime no questions asked replace guarantee I'd get one sooner.
I think you hit the nail on the head. The price is what will kill this. There are too many other choices out there and Fenders big thing is what it always is "Dont our FENDER amps sound great?!" They also seem to wimp out on the Voxes and Marshalls and other high gain items(The fact EVH sounds good and they have a connection with the EVH brand is not shocking.
Not sure if it is the EQ or what but all the vids. of this thing either sound a bit muffled or digital. Not organic and warm like Fractal. You can literally buy a FM9 for the same price. You would be nuts to buy this and not a Fractal. Heck, for much less $, you can get a superior FM3.
I mean, compared to a Helix, I think it's over priced and doesn't offer the number of options/amp/pedals. The Helix is a very mature platform and I have a gut feeling, that there will be a response to this from other brands including from Line 6. If we think Fender nailed it (and they may have) I think what is being worked on behind the scenes from others is going to blow our mind. Now what I think this is great for... It's going to nail every Fender tone spot on. So if you look at it like getting every Fender amp for $1700, that's not a horrible deal. No one is going to do a Fender tone better than Fender if we are being honest. So I think it has a place. Just not for me at this price.
I love my HX Stomp. But there is stuff that the Helix can't do that this thing can: footswitch rotary dials, touch screen, visual presentation of models on screen. Things are getting rougher for L6 - Fender is a serious contender.
They should have called it the Fender Gouge Master. $1700US is absolutley nuts for a modeller. Good review, but I see Fender not selling too many at this insane price.
Yep. This over priced toy should be under $500. I guarantee it will be 30% on Guitar Centers Used site very soon. Like it's tone and hype, it will fizz out soon. I did not hear a single patch that impressed me. Every patch on my FM9 impressed me.
You can get an awfully good tube amp for that. I've been playing with the modelling thing since it started, and it's gotten quite a bit better. That said, if you only need a single amp sound with some pedals, to my ears a good tube amp and a pedal board still sound the most authentic. If on the other hand you're covering Adrian Belew tunes where you need access to 50 different pedals and 20 different amps, something like this would be critical (and that's how Adrian gets all those sounds live these days). If I were in the market for a system like this, the Helix is already a mature product with tons of support and it's less expensive, so I'd be inclined to go with that or possibly a Kemper which is also in this price range.
This thing is a rip-off if you ask me, the Fractal FM9 still reigns supreme, and Helix is still a close second. Its kinda pathetic when you compare what this fender unit can do next to an FM9 or Helix considering they're in the same price range.
@@gr81dorn this fender unit seems to have ~30 modeled amps, about the same amount of cabs, and "standard"ish pedal selection. Also, the mic placement tool seems really "meh". Helix has ~80 modeled amps, something like ~100 cab models , seems like finer control over all parameters, more pedal selection, and specifically finer control over mic placement/offset. Also has an expression pedal of you're into that. From what I've heard now it sounds better than the Fender, also. The Fractal FM9 takes the cake with 312 amp models, 2237ish cabinet models, more pedals/effects than you can shake a stick at, and more control over all (and i mean **ALL**) parameters of every bit of your rig than you can conceive without seeing. Not to mention it's got, by far, the most real sound of all of them being they've been around the longest and have the most refined algorithms. They're all essentially the same price, too. Fender really should have stepped up their game, imo, its super lackluster in the tone and feature department, especially that wonky mic placement tool
@@AmericanNationalist852 fractal is a totally different thing, so no comparison. But I think we can all agree that most of the amps and cabs are trash on most of these units and ones we’ll never use. We all only really want a few decent ones. Helix has been around for nearly a decade, so they’ve had lots of updates and additions and a world of 3rd party things pushing them along. I think purely on power, I/O and meaningful amps/cabs and effects, the Fender doesn’t really lack. The user interface on the fender is 10x better than helix for sure, but it’s 8+years newer and the future iteration of the helix is bound to be the immediate leader whenever they take the next step. I am not sure I like any of these things cuz they all have a million useless presets and features and convolute things because they are trying to be everything to everybody. I want to try it in person to make a real decision, but it doesn’t seem like a bad competitive product to enter the market. It will inevitably make the existing things have to be better.
@@AmericanNationalist852 fractal is a totally different thing, so no comparison. But I think we can all agree that most of the amps and cabs are trash on most of these units and ones we’ll never use. We all only really want a few decent ones. Helix has been around for nearly a decade, so they’ve had lots of updates and additions and a world of 3rd party things pushing them along. I think purely on power, I/O and meaningful amps/cabs and effects, the Fender doesn’t really lack. The user interface on the fender is 10x better than helix for sure, but it’s 8+years newer and the future iteration of the helix is bound to be the immediate leader whenever they take the next step. I am not sure I like any of these things cuz they all have a million useless presets and features and convolute things because they are trying to be everything to everybody. I want to try it in person to make a real decision, but it doesn’t seem like a bad competitive product to enter the market. It will inevitably make the existing things have to be better.
I reckon at £1700 it won't sell enough to appease the bigwigs at Fender it will be quietly dropped from the line. Followed by also dropping support. Just like so many of Fenders previous forays into modelling.
Thing's awesome. I found that as a bedroom only player, Tonex on my PC is the only thing I need for 1/4 the price. If I gigged I'd get something like this or a Kemper.
@@GrayGhostDog1 That's why I said, "I". Didn't want to speak for anyone else. On a similar note you can get the Tonex pedal which is the same 400 bucks as the software if you don't want the PC everytime.
@@DaringDan gotcha. Yes, I do like IK Multimedia’s offerings… especially for the price. This option appears to be offering use cases for the bedroom player, project studio, gigging musician, etc. You don’t need the pedal or frfr speaker to utilize it, but it’s excellent that they are available… a more complete solution. The UI looks good and easy to use… my only negative I think I’ve noticed is that there are no models for BASS GUITAR. Other competitors include a few…
I will have to edit this one as I watch, because Preset 4 at 1:21 was enough of a piss take that I had to say something. Not only does it lack ALL of the clarity that the song had, the screen shows that whomever is responsible at Fender somehow missed that all of Eddie Van Halen's effects were before the amp when he ran a Plexi which (of course) DID NOT HAVE AN EFFECTS LOOP. Fender is asking Fractal Audio money, and they are not even trying! EDIT: Rather than make this a mass of negativity, I will simply add that only the Fender combo sounded decent to me (which has not been a challenge for a modeler in several years); everything else used the same, old modeler tricks (e.g. smeared sounds instead of clarity and ridiculous compression for anything dirtier than '60s blues) and sounded pretty mid tier even for that. A Fractal Audio FM9 Turbo can be had for the same price at the Tone Master Pro, or a Synergy SYN-30 combo and two modules can be had for about the same money as a Tone Master Pro and a Tone Master FR12.
I'm going to give it 6 months to a) see where the price settles - I'm guessing we'll see it drop down to around £1400 in line with QCs rumoured price cut b) See what the attitude towards updates turns out to be, and c) I've got to buy Christmas presents for my kids. By the way, does anyone know if there's a built in looper. Sorry if I've missed that bit of info, but it hasn't been demoed as far as I know.
I think digital modeling technology is far enough along that whether you like the sound of a particular unit's models is that of personal taste more than quality. Being Fender, I know they'll nail Fender and EVH amps to a tee, and the effects seem pretty good, too. As for the price, we're definitely paying the "Fender tax", but it seems pretty easy to use and solidly built. Thanks for the demo.
That Fender tax? I just did a ton of research on all of these units in this area and it is right on par with its competitors. Just say you dont know anything about this area and move on.
Grossly overpriced…. This should be $1000 max. And even that is questionable given Fender’s horrible track record of supporting their products long term. There used to be a time where I would buy one new Fender product a year…Be it a USA guitar, a different one of their classic amps like a Twin or Super, or some new thing like this. But their pricing has just become Gibson-level insane recently, and I haven’t bought a new Fender product in almost 6 years now. It’s just not justifiable anymore. I’m sure this is a great sounding piece of gear, but come on… Almost $2k after tax? For something Fender will probably not even think about or support 3 years from now? Get real.
Sounds great for Fender tones, at least. Your British plexi tone was good too. It's priced terribly and the UI needs some serious work. I can't imagine this will sell well at its current price point. Nothing here makes me want to replace my five-year-old Helix LT, which costs $500 less. What you demonstrated with footswitches is nothing like Helix Snapshot mode where each footswitch turns on and off different combinations of effects and can even toggle values like delay tempo, drive levels, etc. I know it's not a full demo, but that layout is not remotely impressive considering the cost.
You can do all that on this unit. Adjust multiple parameters or turn multiple pedals off and on with one press. Also the foot switches can be latching or momentary.
Can't wait to see how this handles IR. Regarding the price, Neural sent an email about dropping the msrp for the quad cortex by like £300. I'm wondering if they also anticipated this release.
Yes, the fact that they can lower the price by so much at the drop of a hat shows that they have been taking buyers for mugs by keeping a high price after the covid shortage. So I guess we can thank Fender for the Quad Cortex price drop.
$500 would be a reasonable price for this. No one’s gonna buy this for almost 2k. There’s many other companies that have been doin this for a lot longer and better for that price
The sounds and features we are getting today are really good from almost every product - not sure what will separate one from another, but a high price isn’t a draw.
