Fender Tone Master Del. Reverb Blonde

Olen pitkään etsinyt vahvistinta, jota en ollut löytänyt ennen Tone Masterin hankintaa. Tässä yhdistyy olohuonekelpoinen harjoitteluvahvistin ja useimmissa tapauksissa tarpeeksi lujaa soiva työkalu.

Tuntuma ja käyttö tuo mieleen modernin, hyvin tehdyn sähkölaitteen. Samalla puuttuu niitä ominaisuuksia, joiden kanssa on totuttu tulemaan toimeen; hurinat, paino, suurpiirteisyys ja epätarkkuus osien toleransseissa.

Tästä ei tule mieleen, että Fender olisi tehnyt kopion, vaikka DeLuxe Reverbin kopiona tätä pidetään. Mielestäni Tone Master on modernilla teknologialla tehty kitaravahvistin, josta saa juuri sen saundin johon kitaristit ihastuivat 60-luvun puolivälissä. Tone Master jatkaa perinnettä.

Kitaristeilla on usein vahvoja käsityksiä ja vaatimuksia siitä, millä tekniikalla vahvistin on rakennettu. -Ja tämän johdosta yksi tähti pois äänen osalta. Vaikka tämä on kaikinpuolin loistava, hienoinen dynamiikan puute on läsnä. Lisäksi särösoundit eivät ole kauneimmat mitä olen vahvistimista kuullut. Varsinkin jos suoraan vertaa täysin putkilla varustettuun vahvistimeen. Dynamiikan puute ei ole suuri, mutta sen huomaa.

Tätä jo pitkään käyttäneenä, olen kuitenkin tyytyväinen lopputulokseen, eli kitarasaundiin ja käyttömukavuuteen jotka molemmat ovat kunnossa.
Lopputulos on Tone Masterin kohdalla kuitenkin niin upea, että voin tätä suositella!

My first reaction when plugging in my Suhr classic to this amp was one of disappointment. To me the sound seemed closed in, maybe due to the increased mids, compared to the Deluxe original? I tried to compensate by increasing the treble control and dialling down the bass. That only made the treble sound harsh. Unfortunately, in line with the original tube amp, there is no mid tone control. This poor sound was most noticeable when using clean tones.
I was about to contact Thomann to send the amp back as I can get a better tone, but not as full a sound, with my little Yamaha thr10c. I sent some sound samples to a pal in N.Z. for a blind test and he also thought the Yamaha sounded better when using a Fender type tone!
What changed my mind was when I plugged in my Boss ME70 multi pedal and only using the EQ section managed to dial in a much brighter and open sound. Now we're in business!
Bear in mind, this is only my opinion and you may be perfectly happy with that pushed mids, clean tone sound.
If you have an Equalizer to hand, try plugging it in to reshape the tone.

I considered the valve version and the black tonemaster but discounted both as the valve version is too loud for home recording, there is no way to crank the amp to it’s sweet spot without seriously annoying the whole neighborhood! I chose the blonde version as it has bright cap already modded, so takes pedals better & the celestion speaker was more appealling to me and it looks fantastic!
I wanted the amp mainly for home recording and occasional gigs, the Tonemaster is a no brainer as unlike its valve sister, it has an attenuator and DI out with 2 IRs simulating two well known mikes, so it can be recorded silently yet still sounding as cranked as you desire. I took it to a small gig and still had to use the attenuator, I like to set the amp at the point of break up which is around 5 and on full power that was too loud for the room, so I backed it off a couple of notches and it was great! It doesn’t have an effects loop but doesn’t really need one as it takes pedals in the front without any issues.
A huge advantage is the weight, it weighs virtually nothing, I can’t see me using my VOX AC15 for gigs much in future! That said I,ve used it in stereo with the Tonemaster and they sound epic together!
There will be some purists who will still crave the valve version but the difference is not significant, I could not tell in a blind test situation and the additional features and the weight convinced me to go for the Tonemaster, I do not regret that decision, it’s perfect for my needs! Additionally its cheaper but that said I didn’t consider that in my decsion process as it was purely down to features/ requirements!