Tone Master Pro

[RetiredUnit1]

Gulp, accidentally swallows gum.... ONLY $1700..... for a pedal

eGads

Fender Tone Master Pro Multi-effects Guitar Workstation

Multi-effects Guitar Workstation with Amp Modeling, Effect Modeling, 7" Touchscreen, IR Manager, 4 FX Loops, Bluetooth, MIDI, USB, Song/Set List Mode, and Looper

www.sweetwater.com

and they have a solid state 1000 watt combo amp to pair with it.

Fender Tone Master FR-12 1,000-watt 1 x 12-inch Powered Guitar Cabinet

1,000W, 1 x 12" Powered Speaker Cabinet with 1" High-frequency Driver, 3-band Active EQ, Cut, and Tilt-back Legs

www.sweetwater.com

 

[Alan W]

Come on, it’s only $1699.99!

 

[Mentaltossflycoon]

Gulp, accidentally swallows gum.... ONLY $1700..... for a pedal

eGads

Fender Tone Master Pro Multi-effects Guitar Workstation

Multi-effects Guitar Workstation with Amp Modeling, Effect Modeling, 7" Touchscreen, IR Manager, 4 FX Loops, Bluetooth, MIDI, USB, Song/Set List Mode, and Looper

www.sweetwater.com

and they have a solid state 1000 watt combo amp to pair with it.

Fender Tone Master FR-12 1,000-watt 1 x 12-inch Powered Guitar Cabinet

1,000W, 1 x 12" Powered Speaker Cabinet with 1" High-frequency Driver, 3-band Active EQ, Cut, and Tilt-back Legs

www.sweetwater.com

I want some of what Fender is smoking.

 

[Joben Magooch]

Devil’s advocate, but…

Helix - $1700
Kemper Stage - $1600
Quad Cortex - $1700 (they actually just dropped their price when Fender’s came out lol)
Fractal FM9 - $1600 (Axe FX III Turbo ~$2500)

I think it’s a little steep (feels like they mashed up a QC and Helix and subtracted a couple features from each) and not really for me. And it’s a first offering in some sense so doesn’t exactly feel like they’ve “earned” that price tag, but is more or less in-line with the other “premium” modelers new MSRP these days.

I’d be interested in playing with one at some point. The tone master amps sound GREAT imo. If it is on par with those they might be on to something. From demos it doesn’t really sound any better than helix or other existing competitors IMO.

 

[RetiredUnit1]

Devil’s advocate, but…

Helix - $1700
Kemper Stage - $1600
Quad Cortex - $1700 (they actually just dropped their price when Fender’s came out lol)
Fractal FM9 - $1600 (Axe FX III Turbo ~$2500)

I think it’s a little steep (feels like they mashed up a QC and Helix and subtracted a couple features from each) and not really for me. And it’s a first offering in some sense so doesn’t exactly feel like they’ve “earned” that price tag, but is more or less in-line with the other “premium” modelers new MSRP these days.

I’d be interested in playing with one at some point. The tone master amps sound GREAT imo. If it is on par with those they might be on to something. From demos it doesn’t really sound any better than helix or other existing competitors IMO.

For a couple bucks more you can get THE amp tho.....

Fender '59 Bassman LTD 4 x 10-inch 45-watt Tube Combo Amp

45-watt, 2-channel All-tube 4 x 10" Guitar Combo Amplifier

www.sweetwater.com

 

[HamishR]

Those things always have a ton of stuff I would never use. All I need is a good amp, a good overdrive and maybe a delay or reverb. I used to hate when people on forums said stuff like this and now I have become one of them!

I promise I will never say "who needs pedals?"

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Devil’s advocate, but…

Helix - $1700
Kemper Stage - $1600
Quad Cortex - $1700 (they actually just dropped their price when Fender’s came out lol)
Fractal FM9 - $1600 (Axe FX III Turbo ~$2500)

I think it’s a little steep (feels like they mashed up a QC and Helix and subtracted a couple features from each) and not really for me. And it’s a first offering in some sense so doesn’t exactly feel like they’ve “earned” that price tag, but is more or less in-line with the other “premium” modelers new MSRP these days.

I’d be interested in playing with one at some point. The tone master amps sound GREAT imo. If it is on par with those they might be on to something. From demos it doesn’t really sound any better than helix or other existing competitors IMO.

100%. It's a lot more than just a pedal.

I fully agree that it's overpriced for a new modeller right out of the gate though, even if it is a company as large as Fender. We've no idea how long they'll support it, how quick they'll get round to fixes and updates etc. They've had the tone master stuff out for a while and they've had 1 firmware update I think.

For my money if I was buying a new modeller I'd be going with helix or a fm9. They're mature platforms with excellent support and top class build quality. The Tone Master feels pretty derivative and more of a 'me too' product.

I love my amps and pedals but also like having a decent modeller about. They're a lot smaller and lighter for gigs/jam sessions as a grab and go solution. You can run direct into the PA, a power amp and cab or into the effects return of a backline amp. They sound great into studio monitors or headphones for low volume playing at home. They're all pretty decent audio interfaces for recording and they're not just limited to recording guitars either.

After a pretty bad experience in the early 2000s getting burned on a line 6 flextone that I lost a ton of cash on I was really hard on digital stuff for a long time but they genuinely sound great now. I can A/B any pedal in the Helix against the real thing and they're always really close, like component tolerance level close.

I keep meaning to record some audio A/B'ing some helix models vs the clones I've built. I should do that at some point.

They don't move air like a great amp in its sweet spot though.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Those things always have a ton of stuff I would never use. All I need is a good amp, a good overdrive and maybe a delay or reverb. I used to hate when people on forums said stuff like this and now I have become one of them!

I promise I will never say "who needs pedals?"

Most of the people I know only use a small selection of the gear inside their modellers but if it works for you then it doesn't matter if you use one amp model or fifty.

I really only use the Princeton, dc30, Friedman be 100 and some of the line 6 originals in mine tbh. I do use a lot of the delays and reverbs though.

 

[RetiredUnit1]

Those things always have a ton of stuff I would never use. All I need is a good amp, a good overdrive and maybe a delay or reverb. I used to hate when people on forums said stuff like this and now I have become one of them!

I promise I will never say "who needs pedals?"

I was playing one of my tele's last night just hooked up to my self built Hiwatt DR504 hooked to a 4x10 bassman extension cab. Insanely delicious tone.... no pedals....

 

[HamishR]

Twice I've owned a Strymon Timeline only to sell it because I use two settings. It takes up too much space for me to use two settings! I use a Starlight Delay now because it has two settings and is smaller. And it actually sounds amazing too which helps.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Twice I've owned a Strymon Timeline only to sell it because I use two settings. It takes up too much space for me to use two settings! I use a Starlight Delay now because it has two settings and is smaller. And it actually sounds amazing too which helps.

I've been pretty interested by the starlight. I been looking at new delay pedals and have been thinking about the Timeline, El Cap V2, the starlight or the source audio nemesis.

 

[HamishR]

Well I really like the Starlight. Others love the El Cap but there was something about it which didn't work for me - Can't say what it was. There was nothing really wrong with the Timeline except it was bigger than I wanted, I didn't use 1/10th of its capabilities and it sounded good but not amazing. I had a Source Audio Collider which had both reverb and delay in it and it was strangely uninvolving. I never felt connected to it - again, hard to explain and probably nonsense for anyone else.

But the Starlight works very well for me. It just sounds right. The repeats don't get in the way and the modulation can be nicely subtle. I like the range of sounds available - just enough really. Nothing unusable, all sound killer.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Well I really like the Starlight. Others love the El Cap but there was something about it which didn't work for me - Can't say what it was. There was nothing really wrong with the Timeline except it was bigger than I wanted, I didn't use 1/10th of its capabilities and it sounded good but not amazing. I had a Source Audio Collider which had both reverb and delay in it and it was strangely uninvolving. I never felt connected to it - again, hard to explain and probably nonsense for anyone else.

But the Starlight works very well for me. It just sounds right. The repeats don't get in the way and the modulation can be nicely subtle. I like the range of sounds available - just enough really. Nothing unusable, all sound killer.

Thanks. I'm planning on hitting a guitar store after Christmas to spend some time with some of the ones I mentioned before spending my money.

 

[HamishR]

Good idea!