This is the Tone Master vid I've been waiting for.

[Snaked Strat]

Almost true, internet videos in general are terrible for 'researching' tones/sound quality. But, if you have one video with several products it is possible to compare the sounds within the video with each other. Whether it tells you much in the real world is a different matter but it should give a reasonable jumping off point.

Don't agree because......

a) due to many technical reasons it's impossible for any youtube video to accurately record the tone of anything, anytime.
b) every listener uses different playback equipment so we all hear something different.
c) most youtube makers have hidden agendas and make post recording EQ changes. They don't report them so veiwers don't know what they've done.

What you get in youtube videos is a jumping off point to nowhere

 

[guitarchaeologist]

Yeah pretty much the video shows that the TM sounds like a cardboard box when you push it with pedals according to Danish Pete.

I heard the bad tone when the fuzz was plugged in (and only with the fuzz) and it hit me later that the problem was most likely where they had a buffered fuzz plugged into the signal, not the amp.
It's a guess, of course because we didn't see any of that, but I think maybe this was the case.

People talk a lot about amps that do or don't take pedals well, and I am honestly at a loss. I cannot really imagine a decent sounding amp not accepting pedals well.
Of course, I may be wrong, but I just simply haven't experienced that before.
Maybe we'll have a thread at some point with some examples.
I can say that in my experience, having owned at least a dozen silverface and older Fender tube amps, that the Deluxe TM does, IME, hold it's own, even against my 5F11.
Having had a Deluxe TM now for several months, I find it quite nice sounding and a useful tool so far.
To be transparent (and fair), I tend to plug straight in and get great tones without additional signal manipulation.

 

[Cerb]

Aderton's pitted a '65 Princeton RI against a Princeton Tone Master.
Same speaker & they didn't simply set all the controls the same on each amp.
They took a few minutes to see how close they could get the tones.

One interesting result. The TM had a very different sound with a fuzz in front of it... very much different than the tube version.
Other than that, the amps are so so close.
See what you think.

You might find this interesting too.

 

[guitarchaeologist]

You might find this interesting too.

Seemed fair enough. Although I think he missed the point of the power scaling (it's not an attenuator). Power scaling allows a very similar sound to be transferred to higher or lower volume, so increasing the volume each time you bump the power scale down really defeats the purpose. The scaling on the Princeton, Deluxe, and Twin are all different. Each uses a 6-way switch and the levels are dependent upon the full power output.

I mostly agree with his assessment and it is very interesting to see the TM vs a vintage amp instead of a RI. And recall how much flack the RIs got for not sounding exactly like their vintage counterparts.
To reiterate though, all three have different speakers and that may account for the greatest differences we hear. That idea is supported by this vid and the one from Aderton's which each talk about how nice and close the Direct Out signal is. I've already swapped my speaker out to a more American voiced less-mid punchy speaker, and am quite happy with the change (although the Celestion that came in it was also nice, just more mids IMO).

Anyway, thanks for posting. That was a fun comparison.

 

[guitarchaeologist]

Interestingly, the guys from That Pedal Show did compare the RI to the TM with a central speaker (34:15), and still both preferred the RI.

 

[Stormy Monday]

@guitarchaeologist no need to defend your choice. Sounded fine in the mix in Greenville.

 

[Cerb]

You might find this interesting too. It’s kind of apples and oranges, but it’s being compared to a tube amp that costs more than twice as much.

 

[guitarchaeologist]

You might find this interesting too. It’s kind of apples and oranges, but it’s being compared to a tube amp that costs more than twice as much.

I made an honest attempt to watch, but I couldn't make it through this vid.
I watched about 8 minutes & was bored to tears. Jumped to 24 minutes and he just couldn't hold me. Sorry.

 

[Cerb]

I made an honest attempt to watch, but I couldn't make it through this vid.
I watched about 8 minutes & was bored to tears. Jumped to 24 minutes and he just couldn't hold me. Sorry.

I agree, although I watched it. He ended up keeping the TM.

 

[Snaked Strat]

You might find this interesting too. It’s kind of apples and oranges, but it’s being compared to a tube amp that costs more than twice as much.

No need to watch this video.
I already know the Fillmore is much better than any vintage Fender tube DR.
I've played both - I suggest people do the same and decide for themselves

 

[Cerb]

No need to watch this video.
I already know the Fillmore is much better than any vintage Fender tube DR.
I've played both - I suggest people do the same and decide for themselves

I very much like my Fillmore 25 (head). I’ve only played a TM once, can’t remember which one, in a music store. It sounded good too, but it’s hard to make a comparison.

 

[Snaked Strat]

I very much like my Fillmore 25 (head). I’ve only played a TM once, can’t remember which one, in a music store. It sounded good too, but it’s hard to make a comparison.

Well the Fenders only do cleans (almost) so can be directly compared imo.
Having played all these amps myself my rating on cleans is.....

1) Fillmore - better than any Fender imo.
2) Fender DR tube.
3) Fender DR TM - very close to the DR tube.

But then if you really crank the 2 Fenders you can force some really ordinary sounding light overdrive out of them.

Fillmore of course has great, and versatile, overdrive ranging from edge of breakup to just short of distortion. It's very accessible and EQ'ed on a separate footswitchable channel. I also prefer the reverb on modern Mesa amps.

So chalk and cheese comparison between Fillmore and any Fender imo.
If people ignore youtube videos and go play amps for themselves they'll have completely different views

 

[Nexus1984]

The Tone Masters will do their function until Fender decides to stop servicing them, and quit with software updates. How many years will it be before that happens?

They all will be obsolete at some point, whereas a tube amp like a Twin or a Princeton may last a lifetime.

I don’t understand your point, what do SW updates to do with the amp life ?

an amp is not like Windows 10 or MacOS where you need constant updates for security issues or bug fixes. If the amp (as a black box) is working as it should, damn it doesn’t even have effects like a Katana, why would you need more updates ?

 

[guitarchaeologist]

I don’t understand your point, what do SW updates to do with the amp life ?

an amp is not like Windows 10 or MacOS where you need constant updates for security issues or bug fixes. If the amp (as a black box) is working as it should, damn it doesn’t even have effects like a Katana, why would you need more updates ?

The TMs do not need updates. There is one available for the TM Deluxes to allow the black version to have the virtual bright cap clipped (as in the blonde version) & the opposite for the blonde version (just in case someone want want those changes), but periodic updates are not needed or planned as far I I know. However, I believe they all do have a USB connection port... perhaps in case of a failure or ???.