What I really love about the Tonemaster is, the labeling on all the switches and how it changes to suit what mode you are in. I think there are a few other people that could make their product a lot better by doing that.
My appreciation of the puff paint tele drastically increased after seeing it in action. Used by a Baltimore jam band who play gigs in bouldering gyms? Yep, makes sense, I'm into it.
I have an Ibanez Mikro that I set up to be in A standard(Higher tuning) and I put two amazon quadbuckers in it. The neck and the bridge were the same pickup but the neck is darker than the stock pickup and the bridge is considerably brighter, so they respond to position well . They're loud and higher output and kinda compressed sounding but still respond to dynamics well. Definitely an upgrade from the stock pickups and they respond really well to the high tuning. The only problem is that the top of the magnets have a pretty high curve and the fretboard radius on most Ibanez guitars is totally flat. So I ground down the top of the magnets on an angle grinder and it actually WORKED! and lowered the output a bit. Obviously an insane experiment but I figured I was losing 15$ at most. It sounds and plays great now and the whole project including the guitar only cost about $100. My only regret was not recording the sound through the pickup as the magnets was being ground down
I’ve had the TMP for a week and I’ve found it stunning , covers everything I “need” out of the box amp wise It holds its own with long standing products in its first month and is only getting better from here Having said that I’d love some vocal effects a multi Channel looper and some more classic go to amps but I’m sure they’re coming
I have a TMP. I use it with headphones, guitar amp, mixer and FRFR cab. It sounds great in every mode of use. The Presets are just samples what you can do to make your own presets. Spend one evening and you can make several of your own presets without need of a manual. I like a separate expression pedal because the TMP fits on my desktop nicely. The editor works great on my computer (with 32 inch monitor) but the 7 inch touch screen is beautiful to work with. I have become a better guitar player with the TMP. Bass amps coming with Xmas updates. 8 core processors mean the TMP is future-proofed. The 4 effects loops are great. I have an Eventide H90 in the effects loop. That way I don't need to lean on the internal processors so much. Seamless patches changes with spillover, other units really have a hard time with this nice TMP feature. This is Fender's Flagship. There are going to be updates. I have a Boss EV-5 expression pedal and a Boss FS5-L latched footswitch as the Toe Switch. I have two FR-12's for a beautiful stereo guitar setup. I will still be using the TMP ten years from now.
I like the sound of the effects. However, the "Convolution" effects are very processor intensive. In those cases, I would like to turn off the spillover feature in favour of being able to have more effects in line internally. Two units I use externally in the effects loop are Eventide H90 which allows me to use two processor-intensive effects simultaneously and the Boss DD-200 which has Ducking Delay, which the TMP does not have yet. I would also like Fender to include the Supersonic 22 amp head which has Gain 1 and Gain 2 to dial in a Mesa Boogie (singing sustain) sound or a Marshall (harder edgier) sound, depending on the levels of the one gain feeding into another gain in series in the same amp, which is a brilliant design.@@drewnorth3816
back in the late 80s early 90s it was quite common in "alt music" circles to decorate that guitar you got for £50 in any way you saw fit. I used puff paint on the pickguard (of all places) on my peeling-and-therefore-spatter-painted Ibanez Blazer bass, this was around 1984 or 5. It was the only bass I played for over 3.5 decades. Every last scrap of that puff paint is still exactly where I put it, It's surprisingly durable with a clear coat, or paint layer.
My brother found an original print of Thick as a Brick at a yard sale. He was excited to show me, but when he brought me to the trunk of his car, i asked him how long it had been in there. It was a 96 degree day and the record had melted. face palm moment
I used a single Duncan Hot Rail as a pick up. P 90 style w 2 of the Hot Rail ceramic magnets . It sounded good and lively, not thin. I also used 2 Humbucker AlNiCo bars . Good also, but too much bite . I used each of AlNiCo 3,4 or 5 ; maybe 2 would be mellow enough.
I’d much rather have expression pedal separate. Smart especially when helix expression pedals break. It has plenty of amps, pedals etc. if you can’t get the tone you want it’s because you can’t use a modeler. How many choices do you need?
Ryan, since you were on Harmony Central in the early 2000s and love inexpensive guitars, you're just the guy to talk about Agile guitars sold by Rondo Music who pioneered building relatively inexpensive quality guitars in Asia (Korea) and selling them online! As you may remember, Agiles had both fans and haters - the latter almost entirely people who had never played an Agile. I have two P-90 Agiles I bought around 2004, a HARM, and a semi-hollow AS-820. I think I paid between $250-299 for each of them. They have been my favorite guitars (I have Gibsons too) ever since. I had each properly set up and changed out the P90s in the Harm for alnicos from Vintage Vibe. To this day, they both stay in tune and have never given me any problems. Rondo is still in business, but neither of my guitars are still offered.
Cool! But you might want to talk about Rono as pioneer - give them credit for a good idea they never took to the level of, say, Thomann. Rondo is still selling SXs and Agiles but not as many models and the prices are higher. I heard they were trying to sell the name and remaining stock.
I would totally buy that Tele with the puff paint. If it turns out, I didn’t want the puff paint , I could easily remove it with an old T-shirt and some zippo fluid. Otherwise, that’s an insane deal or a good deal. It’s not a shite deal.
The sound of the CPAP really isn't a factor. Modern machines are very quiet, and the sound of the AC or a fan are actually much louder. However, after 3 years I'm still not really used to the mask, even with just the nose piece. BUT the best part is that I can easily function off 6 hours per night now, and I can tell when I don't sleep with my CPAP or MAD (sleep apnea mouth piece). And it's been great for my wife because she could not sleep with my snoring.
Your whacked out instruments ads are surprisingly palatable today. I don’t dislike that bass guitar. I like the shape I love the wood from which the body is made ; the only thing I don’t like is the contrast between the Maple and the body wood, though I might get used to that. The only thing I don’t know about are the pick ups, and that’s because I’m not a bass player. For that price ? I suppose as long as they’re not shit that’s a good deal.
But what if you DID do the same finish as the Jag-Stang...? Or, I've seen a "F*&k Cancer" pink metalflake that would be awesome. Edit: My specific criticism of the amp list on the TMP is that it's primarily a bunch of similar AB763 amps - given that it's *Fender's* modeller, I'm surprised the launch featured so many silly-nickname-competitor-amp clones and no Brownface, only the one Tweed, no Silverface, and still relatively little modern. If this had a '48 Champ, a '59 HPT a '61 Bandmaster, a '72 Quad Reverb and something like the Hot Rod Deville I'd have been less unsupportive. And to free up the work for that - scrap all the Vox, Marshall, Roland models until the first big update.
I stand by my statement that $1600 for the TP is aiming way to high considering their known history of abandoning product. It should have been $700 less. I will bet money that this product gets dropped by Fender in Q1 2025. They have stiff competition from high end and even our budget brands (Nux, Hotone, Mooer, etc). The budget lines do so much more than the TP. I still have not seen if it has scenes like it's competitors.
that bass body looks like it was designed and/or sawed out by a drunk person. cool hardware tho and the neck looks cool and not a bad idea to have it be wider. but that shape is a crime on my eyes.