How many of you have had issues with your Tone Masters?

[TelecasterSam]

I've been wanting one, but do have the GTX-100. Has anyone done a comparison? It's OK, but I'm wondering if the Tonemaster would be slightly better, or maybe much better. I have pedals I could use with it, so I wouldn't be missing out on a lot of the GTX effects.

 

[birv2]

I've been wanting one, but do have the GTX-100. Has anyone done a comparison? It's OK, but I'm wondering if the Tonemaster would be slightly better, or maybe much better. I have pedals I could use with it, so I wouldn't be missing out on a lot of the GTX effects.

This is what sold me on the TMDR. I went to GC with my guitar and played through the GTX 100 (on the DR sim) and then the TMDR. NO comparison. I walked out with the ToneMaster. 5 months later, I like it even more.

 

[TelecasterSam]

Dumb question, but in a live and pretty loud country/rock band situation, how does the Tonemaster Deluxe compare to, say, an 80s Peavey Bandit 65 or a Princeton 112? I've used both over the years (mic'd) with decent results.

I have the GTX100 and it's okay. My Princeton 112 has certain qualities I like over it, the GTX100 has qualities I prefer. Now my Vox Super Berkeley lll has a totally different and wonderful solid state sound.

 

[NiceTele]

Got a TMDR blond last year and have done many gigs with it, and no issues, sounds like lots of other tube DRs I have used over the years.
I'm typing this on a 10 year old Mac computer which has been used almost daily with no problems, and I reckon my TMDR will outlast me.

 

[birv2]

Dumb question, but in a live and pretty loud country/rock band situation, how does the Tonemaster Deluxe compare to, say, an 80s Peavey Bandit 65 or a Princeton 112? I've used both over the years (mic'd) with decent results.

I have the GTX100 and it's okay. My Princeton 112 has certain qualities I like over it, the GTX100 has qualities I prefer. Now my Vox Super Berkeley lll has a totally different and wonderful solid state sound.

I don't know about the Princeton, but I used to have an 80's Bandit. That's a great little amp. But for that Fender sound, I'll take the TMDR every day. Depends what you're looking for, but the attenuator and the DI out are big plusses. Plus the weight is ridiculous.

 

[Cleantone]

I am a little confused by the market and pricing for the Tone Masters. You don't get much of a price break buying used, and don't get a break compared to used tube amps they emulate. Why do the used Tone Masters go for a price so close to brand new? And why are they essentially the same price as a used tube version, although there is a big difference in price for new?

 

[mycroftxxx]

I am a little confused by the market and pricing for the Tone Masters. You don't get much of a price break buying used, and don't get a break compared to used tube amps they emulate. Why do the used Tone Masters go for a price so close to brand new? And why are they essentially the same price as a used tube version, although there is a big difference in price for new?

Sounds to me like the market has spoken about the merits of the ToneMasters.

 

[Blrfl]

You don't get much of a price break buying used, and don't get a break compared to used tube amps they emulate. Why do the used Tone Masters go for a price so close to brand new?

That's often a sign that they're highly-valued by people who own them and the people who want to purchase them. Well-liked products tend not to hit the market in large numbers because of that, and the scarcity keeps prices up.

People on the Internet will say they'll all be in the landfill after the warranty expires, but I suspect that owners and buyers believe otherwise.

 

[Brent Hutto]

I am a little confused by the market and pricing for the Tone Masters. You don't get much of a price break buying used, and don't get a break compared to used tube amps they emulate. Why do the used Tone Masters go for a price so close to brand new? And why are they essentially the same price as a used tube version, although there is a big difference in price for new?

They're still new enough and popular enough for the used supply to be less than the used demand. No different than something like an effect pedal that's incredibly popular the first couple years after it is released. You'll do well to save 10-15% (if that) buying a used one.

What usually happens is a few years down the road number of used ones for sale will gradually increase, the initial popularity will finally wane a bit and you reach a normal equilibrium where you can easily find a used one and save 20-30% from the price of a new one. Might take a little while yet on the Tonemasters.

 

[Cleantone]

Sounds to me like the market has spoken about the merits of the ToneMasters.

That is my conclusion, too. And I think it is a major statement about the future of digital amps in general. Fender got it right in that respect.

 

[Jakedog]

It’s funny how the haters have so many people questioning the TM reliability with absolutely no facts to back it up.

I don’t know what tube amps you use that notoriously crap out, but in 50+ years of playing I’ve ONE amp failure on stage and have seen two more from people I was playing with.

I never had a tube amp failure for almost twenty years. And saw them happen to other people VERY rarely. I never maintained mine or was silly careful with them. If they started sounding weird or getting noisy, I slapped some new tubes in and they were always ok. That’s the way it was in the old days. We didn’t know anything about biasing, or cap jobs, or any of that. There was no internet to tell us everything at the beginning.

Then I had seven, yeah, seven, quit on me at gigs in a one year period. They were dying ugly deaths left and right. Various failures, no rhyme or reason. It just seemed like I couldn’t play an amp without blowing it up.

Now it’s been fifteen years since that happened. And I have not had another amp failure of any kind. Tube, SS, digital, any of it.

My opinion is it’s luck of the draw.

 

[11 Gauge]

I never had a tube amp failure for almost twenty years. And saw them happen to other people VERY rarely. I never maintained mine or was silly careful with them. If they started sounding weird or getting noisy, I slapped some new tunes in and they were always ok.

Then I had seven, yeah, seven, quit on me at gigs in a one year period. They were dying ugly deaths left and right. Various failures, no rhyme or reason. It just seemed like I couldn’t play an amp without blowing it up.

Now it’s been fifteen years since that happened. And I have not had another amp failure of any kind. Tube, SS, digital, any of it.

My opinion is it’s luck of the draw.

Now that I think about it, it's been a similar situation for me. I think I made it until 2010 or so with no real failures, other than a cathode bypass cap exploding in my '67 Champ like 5 years earlier, but that was just a practice amp.

Anyway, around 2010 or maybe a couple years after, I had a NOS 7581A fail catastrophically in my old SR, but I managed to get it powered down before it hurt the amp. The pair of 7581As in that amp were awesome and functioned flawlessly for at least 3 years or so.

And around the same time, I got a pair of Tung-Sol RI 5881s that I put in my Marshall 2204 (to try and reduce the output power a bit). The 5881s only had a handful of hours on them when one suddenly redplated without warning. Luckily, I had the head positioned in such a way that I could see the bright-ass red glow emanating from the back. And once again, I managed to shut down the amp before any harm was done. The truth be told, those tubes now function just fine, albeit in another amp (an old drip-edge AB165 Bassman head).

...So it's now been a decade since I had those issues, and everything has gone back to being uneventful.

If ever there was a time I would have expected anything to blow up, it would have been in the 80's - 90's, when no one I knew had the money to maintain anything correctly, including myself. I'm sure there were instances where that happened that I'm forgetting, but it was so uncommon that I can't remember.