Fender tone master pro and dedicated Speaker

I have to correct my statement from above. It does not seem to be a "pretty o.k." sounding unit, it's instead a big disappointment (for me)! From all the many demo videos available yet and all the influencers trying very, very hard: None of the tones sound good. It sounds sooo cheap, like a modeller from 10 years ago. WTF?!

I wanted to like it. I wanted this thing to be great. But this thing is no Quad Cortex killer, not even a Helix killer. Let's see if updates bring some improvements in tone, but I don't believe in a big step up. Soundwise this thing is on the level of Hotone, NUX and other cheapos... at best.

I guess people with no modeller experience or newcomer may like the whole package and don't be aware of how mediocre (or dare I say "bad") this thing sounds.

What a pity...

I've watched just about every video on YouTube about the TMP and am still not sure whether I want one or not. I ordered one for my 74th birthday (10-5), it will arrive next Monday. Until then I will not know if I'm going to keep it or not. It sounds good in some videos and not so hot in others. Some of that is probably due to video makers that don't know what they're doing (sound recording wise), different guitars/pickups, improper technique (wrong style of music for the type of amp), and other factors.

I have about 25 guitars and 10 amps already but I really like the looks of the user interface. I hope it turns out to be something I like but I won't be able to tell until after next Monday. If I don't like it I can sell it pretty quick.

I know it won't replace either of my Kempers because it doesn't do profiling and I still have 7 amps to profile. At present, Liquid Profiles are useless to me because the tone stack models aren't available yet. The last amp I profiled was a Fender TM Deluxe Reverb and when I applied the Kemper Fan D'Lux Nrm tone stack model the control for the mids was greyed out and an extra gain control was added. The Fender TM Deluxe has no gain knob, but the Kemper model gives me two of them (doesn't work for me) but the profile itself sounds exactly like the amp, I can deal with that but I have to make more profiles for different settings. Making extra profiles is no big deal but if the TMP models are close enough I won't have to do that.

I paid $800 for the Fender TM Deluxe Reverb about 3 years ago and they sell for $949 today, so if the Fender TMP models are good I can't complain about the price.

Quote from Edward Dixon

when I applied the Kemper Fan D'Lux Nrm tone stack model the control for the mids was greyed out and an extra gain control was added. The Fender TM Deluxe has no gain knob, but the Kemper model gives me two of them...

Just to note, all liquid profiles would have two gain controls. The "Generic" gain just represents to the original Kemper gain as it was before the Amp Model is applied. In the case of the Fender Deluxe, the new Gain control would represent the Volume control of the real amp. Kemper probably sees no real need to re-label gain as volume. For the Mid control, the Fender Deluxe has no Mid control so the Liquid profile disables it to match.

Now whether you find it accurate or not, only you could say.

I'm also interested in how the new Fender Tone Master Pro will develop. But I think I'll give it some time and see where they go with it over some time.

I don't have a Fender deluxe, I have a Fender TM Deluxe (with mid control) and there is no kemper model for that. I also have a Fender Machete and a Blues Deville and no Kemper model for those either.

Yea, I don't have one. Don't know what you have, but I was just pointing out that the current Fender Tone Master Deluxe on Sweetwater and the regular Fender Deluxe have no Mid controls so I'm sure that's why the Kemper model doesn't. As far as the other amps, if Kemper decides there is enough difference in the tone stacks maybe they'll add more in the future. Certainly, there will never be specific tone stacks for most amps since there are so many and most really aren't that unique.

The whole liquid profiling thing just adds another option to play with, like Definition, Sag and Clarity that wouldn't be available on most amps. I find using any of the new amp models with any amp, regardless of whether they match, can yield useful results. And if you leave it on "Generic" it's just the Kemper as it was anyway. So nothing lost either way. It'll be interesting to see what the new Fender might bring to the table.

Quote from Edward Dixon

I don't have a Fender deluxe, I have a Fender TM Deluxe (with mid control) and there is no kemper model for that. I also have a Fender Machete and a Blues Deville and no Kemper model for those either.

All of that is a mere Profiling session away from happening.

Just sayin'

I stand corrected, the TM Deluxe doesn't have a mid. I'll have to go back and try again.

Quote from BayouTexan

He forgot to say "above the Kemper and not as good". Liquid Profiling blows them away by miles. I think Fender should stick to guitars and amps. I've never heard anyone consider their effects department as "high end" or above mediocre except for maybe their spring reverb. Prove me wrong.

I'll never understand how companies operate. I know it's just capitalism and how that works. But Fender or any company Doesn’t have to do everything and keep expanding, and expanding. When they're huge, the people who run and invest in the company have Nothing to do with or care about the "product" It's just a means to an end. As far as music companies, Sure, people want new shiny products, great. Let new companies exist that do different things well. But as far as specific brands, Fender, Gibson, Marshall, etc. All Anyone ever talks about, and what a majority of their marketing is geared toward is those few products that were the best ever made, way back when. It isn't nostalgia (which they are marketing) It's that they were really, really better. I own examples of those products. The company was focused on a very few products (even though some of these audio miracles were really just a fluke.) But a product takes off, the company then needs actual business people and then it's cutting corner, and greed time because it’s only about money. Then the original founders, and workers leave and get bought out and it's a "BRAND" that they sell us. Greed is the ruination of everything. Make your awesome product, treat your employees well, stick to what you’re good at make your million, make 2, 3,4,5. You deserve it. Stop trying to make it a billion. These "Brands" care more about their t-shirts and merch department than what got them there. The people who run it, and they have to at this point, just look at the charts, and graphs, their employee's "productivity" and pay them the minimal required for their position while demanding they always do more, faster, with less, so the big important guys at the top can justify paying themselves more. A company doesn’t have to be huge, and they can still meet demand if they only focus on what they do great. Nothing sounds better than my '54 tele straight through my blackface bassman. it's heaven.

15 years ago, a Tone Master Deluxe Reverb would have been laughed out of the room. When it debuted, people wanted to hate it. But it’s *very* good.

The market has, and continues to shift. Entire generations are growing up never using a tube amp. It isn’t bad or good….just different.

IMHO it’d be irresponsible for Fender to not offer something people clearly want and are opting for more and more over ‘traditional’ solutions. They’d become Marshall…leaning on their brand name while not releasing anything terribly exciting in years.

$1,600 for a new Deluxe Reverb? Please…and….you *can’t* turn it up without pissing someone off…..can’t record it without a bunch of gear….and it basically makes two sounds.

Or…..A Tone Master Pro for the same money and none of the above is true.

Quote from Ruefus

15 years ago, a Tone Master Deluxe Reverb would have been laughed out of the room. When it debuted, people wanted to hate it. But it’s *very* good.

The market has, and continues to shift. Entire generations are growing up never using a tube amp. It isn’t bad or good….just different.

IMHO it’d be irresponsible for Fender to not offer something people clearly want and are opting for more and more over ‘traditional’ solutions. They’d become Marshall…leaning on their brand name while not releasing anything terribly exciting in years.

$1,600 for a new Deluxe Reverb? Please…and….you *can’t* turn it up without pissing someone off…..can’t record it without a bunch of gear….and it basically makes two sounds.

Or…..A Tone Master Pro for the same money and none of the above is true.

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Yeah, I have a room full of tube amps, some vintage that I'll probably never use (on a stage) again.. That's why I have a Kemper.

So we learned and heard that the Fender TMP modelling is not able to get concvincing authentic amp models of other brands... especially the Marshall models are way off... waaaaay off.

The rumor persists, that they - at least - did a better job with modelling their own amps. They did not... this unit is just a big fail imo and will be redundand soon. Or they revise the whole modelling and quality of amp models. What a pity.

Quote from Ibot39

this unit is just a big fail imo and will be redundand soon. Or they revise the whole modelling and quality of amp models. What a pity.

I'm hair splitting here, I know you meant that but just wanted to give my personal 2 cents... Problem is we still think in amalog terms. No, in fact this unit is the most powerful and perfect unit that combines every main feature request that you can find in the feature request thread of this forum. This has to mean something. It is as if Fender can read and act and others don't. What you mean is that currently the computer code, the algorithms etc. that it runs are not perfect or disappointing in respect of how they spit out what they have calculated. That's a huge difference and the code can and will change from time to time, I claim to the better. Depending on how talented and gifted the computer nerds are at Fender. If you put fractal's or line6's firmware in there (why should it not be possible in theory, without me being an expert), all of a sudden you will have "a different unit". No you won't, of course. We have reached a point where the unsexy computer nerds have taken over and we somehow depend on them. If you compare Helix's computer code from 8 years ago to the latest Line6 fw update, you will notice that the Helix today is a totally "different" beast. If Fender does not lose interest in their Multi FX path, their TMP will become a better and better sounding, latest code spitting machine, for sure. After all they have the money to hire better programmers or pay more than fractal (assumption). The real way to "fix" this endless digital programming rabbit hole is to go analog, again. That's where The Amp X in theory comes in but we are not there, yet. For me this route of "real" tone analog modelling is the real game changing thinking. Isn't Winter Namm coming?

My new TMP and Fender FR12 just arrived...and I don't have time to explore it at the moment...but I will soon!