Fender Tonemaster Pro

[mickie08]

Well. Given its getting closer to tax time (write offs) and I had some credits due me anyways, I ordered one of these. Should be here Tuesday.

I have tried Fractal (too complicated for me) Headrush (not bad but limited to me) and some of the cheaper options (mooer, etc). With the new 90s band kicking off and a bunch of other stuff going on/changing time to upgrade. Main selling point for me was ease of the interface based on videos, access to fender acoustasonic amp models for my acoustic on top of the electric models, and most importantly, ability to have 2 guitars mixed at once (though likely can only play one at once) As I get back to playing electric live again, I love the idea of one device i can run my acoustic and electrics but really have separate control of them. This thing is pricey and there may have been better options, but the ease of it's interface just seemed to good to pass up. Again, if I didnt have a credit burning a hole in my pocket and a desire to lower my tax burden a little this year, I would not have but I am pretty excited to give this a go. We will see and report back later.

[Bacchus]

Yeah, that looks great. Didn't know you could put acoustic through it, but I suppose it would be strange if you couldn't.

I was at a wedding recently and the guitarists and bassist were all going through helixes. Sounded really, really good.

They also had an electric drum kit. Drummer had a tiny mixer for his kit, bassist had a tiny mixer for everything. In ear monitors all round, they sound checked silently, brought their own, small but massive sounding PA. Complete control over everything, fitted the back of a van, with little discernible compromise on sound.

It worked so well. I felt like a bit of a luddite.

[mickie08]

Yeah, that looks great. Didn't know you could put acoustic through it, but I suppose it would be strange if you couldn't.

I was at a wedding recently and the guitarists and bassist were all going through helixes. Sounded really, really good.

They also had an electric drum kit. Drummer had a tiny mixer for his kit, bassist had a tiny mixer for everything. In ear monitors all round, they sound checked silently, brought their own, small but massive sounding PA. Complete control over everything, front the back of a van, with little discernible compromise on sound.

It worked so well. I felt like a bit of a luddite.

Yep. Equipment today is insane. I use qsc equipment for PA or RCF bose style stick system for acoustic or small band shows. Its crazy how well you can dial stuff in. Next uograde will be better in ears. Currently use shure 535s (i think) with custom molds. Probably go to an 8/9 drive in ear.

[NickS]

I was at a wedding recently and the guitarists and bassist were all going through helixes. Sounded really, really good.

They also had an electric drum kit. Drummer had a tiny mixer for his kit, bassist had a tiny mixer for everything. In ear monitors all round, they sound checked silently, brought their own, small but massive sounding PA. Complete control over everything, front the back of a van, with little discernible compromise on sound.

I think the quality of electric drums probably varies more than i expected - I was at a wedding a couple of months ago and the electric drums were definitely missing some of the highs and transients.

[NickD]

It worked so well. I felt like a bit of a luddite.

I think it depends why you play. If I was a working musician, playing most nights and looking to get a good sound, quickly at venues with lots of variables then I'd use somethiing like a Helix. As a hobby player I use tube amps because I like them.

[Nick]

So this is a Tone Master Pro. I’ve been seeing talk about these but assumed it was a solid state pro reverb like the Deluxe Reverb and Twin.

And last I heard a Headrush was a (somewhat dated) Looper by Akai

[mickie08]

So this is a Tone Master Pro. I’ve been seeing talk about these but assumed it was a solid state pro reverb like the Deluxe Reverb and Twin.

And last I heard a Headrush was a (somewhat dated) Looper by Akai

Correct on the Pro. Headrush has more than loopers now (and yeah,. it is Akai). They actually makes some pretty decent modeler pedals. Very Heilx like. There touch screen is pretty good (but not as good as the on on the tonemaster.

The reasons I chose this route is partially as mentioned above. I play out alot. Probably 120+ nights per year. In that I play from a solo acoustic artist running my RCF line array stick style PA, to duo.trios, to full 4-5 piece band in any number of venues and/or PAs. I also swithced to In Ears for almost all of my gigs. So I fully DI setup works well for me.

On top of that, I am making the switch back to playing electric live for the first time in a really long time. I like to mess around at home and have occasionally played electric out at gigs but i have been pretty much acoustic since my old band broke up in 2008 or so.

Finally, I chose this one because the interface seems to be best in class. I am a simple player so I do not need tons of options. Just 4 or 5 that sound great. AND, this has the capacity to run my acoustic and electric in to different inputs and has an internal mixer so I can control the send for each separately. Pretty handy for someone who with my main band (Mickie Arnett Band) plays mostly acoustic but will start adding in electric again and with a new band (90s grunge band) will be playing alot of different guitars in different tunings, etc. So that flexibility and ease of use (I am not a tech gear nerd type person) is awesome for me. I have owned the headrush (was Ok) and a fractal FM# (amazing sound but too complicated and not enough switching options without adding additional switching board, etc. Currently have a Valetron knock off type pedal. Its been fun post covid just messing around on but this will be a huge upgrade in terms of capability and tone as we as (and most importantly) ease of use.

[mickie08]

Got it yesterday and ran it through paces this am.

Its pretty amazing. Sounds are great. Maybe not quite fractal/nueral quad level but pretty damned good. In a live setting band mix they will easily.do they job


Presets are solid. But if course eveeyone will tweak them

Ease of use on the interface is where this shines. I HATE multi effect pedals becuase i dont want to scroll through tons of shit or plug into a computer to tweak stuff. I had 3 sounds dialed in and saved in 5 minutes. In 30 i had 5 electric setuos dialed in, an acoustic channel created, and then all 6 patches leveled together output wise. In an hour i had fine tweeked then all, messed with cabs/mics/mic placement, etc. Never once even looked at a manula or video. Juat that easy

[Thom]

That sounds great. I’ve always hated multi-fx pedals (and complicated single pedals) for that same reason - can’t cope with the menu diving or separate app. Let us know how it works at your next show.

[rahbro]

Do an demo