Fender Tone Master Twin Reverb
So about 2 weeks ago I acquired one of the new Fender Tone Masters, the Twin Reverb. I had read literally thousands of posts on various gear-oriented boards, watched demo videos, read reports and reviews... it was hard to decide between the TMDR and the TMTR. Fact is, though, I've always wanted a twin. I played one a few times years ago, and I always felt like I was trying to ride a horse that was just too fast for me. The weight of course was also an issue. After a lot of research, and going with a vendor with a good return policy, I ordered the Tone Master Twin Reverb.
I have so far been just delighted with it. The tone is everything I remember loving about the Twin I played long ago. I can't do a side-by-side, and also I've learned that's really pointless. The "real" tube amps vary a lot among themselves and if I had, say, 3 real tube TRs and the TMTR, likely there would be 4 different sounds coming out. But I have to say, I'm really impressed.
Most impressive to me are the two "extras" Fender added, in violation of their general plan to stick solely to duplicating the Twin Reverb's performance in a digital amp. They added an attenuator that dials the output power down in very rough half-increments: 85 watts, 40 watts, 22 watts, 12 watts, 5 watts, and 1 watt. So you can set up the front controls for "cranked" or whatever, and then control the output for the room you're playing in. That seems to work pretty well as far as I can tell. There is also an XLR balanced line out, with 3 settings. One is a straight, I suppose FRFR out. Then there is a setting with an IR profile for a Shure SM57 close up at the edge of the speaker center cone. The second IR profile is for a Royer Lbs R-121 studio ribbon microphone. You have a level control to shape the output signal. These extra tools strike me as incredibly useful and they work extremely well. Combined with the light weight (33 lbs) this amp is really an amazing tool.
So for a clip... I wasn't sure what to do. I can't do a side-by-side with a "real tube" version. So I decided to do 2 runs through the same music, one using the XLR IR#1 and the other using XLR IR#2. I can't hear much difference, but it might be helpful to some. I also recorded a clip using the SM57 set up at the edge of the cone, and I could not separate it from the XLR IR#1 clip in terms of sound. They were totally indistinguishable except the "real" microphone picked up the sound of the dehumidifier switching on in my office!
I'll be glad to answer whatever questions I can about this amp. I'm really happy with it and think many will find the Tone Masters to be a great solution for performance and recording.
https://youtu.be/-qwfZjPDNds