NEW Tonemaster Fender Super Reverb!

rpr

 

AndyJP

My understanding of a super reverb in a band setting is it gives you lots of mid range. Because the mid range comes in when blackface amps are cranked up . Well that’s what Derek Trucks says, when using his Super and SG. 

So would I be right in assuming this modeTM version of the Super is designed to give you all that midrange at any volume?

paulmapp8306

stickyfiddle said:

dean111music said:

When I play through my TMDR I never feel like I’m playing through a computer/modeller. I really don’t. I actually feel like and I’m telling myself I’m playing through a valve deluxe reverb. Don’t know about anyone else?. The look of it definitely plays that trick rather than looking down at what looks to be a pretty spaceship with lots of nice lights.

Exactly. It's largely because most modellers model the amp, cab, speaker, microphone and a bit of recording chain so you get the sound of a Deluxe Reverb in a room at Abbey Road or whatever. That's lovely, but not the same as the TM, which only models the amp, and then feeds that into a real speaker and cab to give you the sound of a Deluxe Reverb in your own house. 

It also looks and feels like an amp to use, which I'm sure can't hurt.

like putting all the amps into the same cab -which is the same reason I use my AFX into a power amp and cab.  OK, Im using one cab - and cabs/speakers make more difference to sound than the amp itself.  BUT it does react/feel like a traditional amp in a room.   One of the fenders will do the same - plus point is the speaker/modelling is tuned to sound like the real thing (where as the AFX isnt) - neg point less versatility as you only have that amp.   Neither are bad things if they are what you want.  

Lewy

AndyJP said:

My understanding of a super reverb in a band setting is it gives you lots of mid range. Because the mid range comes in when blackface amps are cranked up . Well that’s what Derek Trucks says, when using his Super and SG. 

So would I be right in assuming this modeTM version of the Super is designed to give you all that midrange at any volume?

I don’t know about the midrange point but yes, the idea of the TM range is that  whatever way you have the amp dialled in, it will sound like the valve version dialled in the same way, and then you can have that at pretty much any loudness you want using the “attenuator” on the back panel. It’s not really an attenuator, it’s a volume control, but calling it an attenuator reinforces the point that it’s meant to be controlling loudness without changing the character of the sound. 

LastMantra

Lewy said:

dazzajl said:

I’m sure it’s fabulous but we’ve got essentially the same amp in three different size shoes and a new hat from the Tone Master range now. 

Get your point but I kind of hope we haven't got the same amp in different sizes...i.e. they have modelled the valve and transformer differences and not just smashed a generic blackface model into different cabs?

Is that not what they've always done anyway? 

There's not really much to a basic fender valve amp 

JezWynd

ICBM said:

rze99 said:

I’m clearly alone in this, but I find the idea of buying a modelling amp with one model completely nuts. 

So do I.

I want a modelling amp with two models.

I don't want a model, I want the real thing. 

LastMantra

LastMantra said:

rze99 said:

I’m clearly alone in this, but I find the idea of buying a modelling amp with one model completely nuts. 

It's probably for this reason that they seem to work really. There's always going to be lots of compromise if you try to make one box and speaker sound like lots of different amps. 

Why are most of these things "models" what about more original sounding voicings? Blending amps could be good. 
Probably already been done. 

It's often when you realise that something doesn't sound exactly what it's supposed to that you also realise it can sound pretty cool in it's own way.
I bet there's been many an amp discarded because it didn't sound exactly like what ever it was meant to sound like when with a bit of tweaking it might have even worked better for what it was going to be used for.

stickyfiddle

JezWynd said:

ICBM said:

rze99 said:

I’m clearly alone in this, but I find the idea of buying a modelling amp with one model completely nuts. 

So do I.

I want a modelling amp with two models.

I don't want a model, I want the real thing. 

I'm happy to inform you that Fender still make those too!! 

Danny1969

Well having now seen some gut shots of these amps I notice they are using the prebuilt Ice power modules. These are off the shelf class D modules used in all kinds of things from surround sound systems to powred modellers to amp in a pedal etc. The bad news is they are extremely hard to fix, I spent hours over the course of a few weeks chasing done faults in one and in the end had to concede defeat due to lack of schematics and legends on the board.
Interestingly one of the faults I found was a tiny 6.8K sm resistor used in a pair to detect a voltage drop had vibrated in half because it was used near a large inductor .. finding it involved removing all the gunk around the coil but replacing it and another high resistor still couldn't get the switching to start. I think the PWM chip is gone because it certainly measures different to a good one. 

The good news is replacing the entire board wasn't expensive at £89 for the bridge mono 170 watt and £81 for the 2 x 50 watt stereo. 




Personally I don't think they will stand up to hard gigging life. They can be damaged from vibration, damp and mains surges. 
Indoors though they should be fine, in fact I brought a 2 x 50 watt module for an amp I'm building 

HandwrittenHero

Nice, easily replaced with 3rd party parts is at least something even if a bugger to repair what’s in situ.

AndyJP

A nice demo of a super tm here played clean. The guy also owns a DRTM. 

https://youtu.be/BLmuR5cCAdc

Note in the comments someone asks about if the Super TM is good for home use. He replies with “for home use only I would define recommend the Deluxe Reverb tonemaster over this. It(the super) is fine on 1/2 watt but all other settings are fairly loud.”

He says elsewhere the super tm in five watts keeps up with a drummer. Sounds like a LOUD amp.

HandwrittenHero

I can believe that. I mean very anecdotal context but the TMDR with that 1x12 speaker 0.2w is a sit in direct line for best results and neighbours other side of wall probably hear it. 0.5w already is fill the living room of a typical 2 up 2 down as soon as you’re playing enough volume to be getting tube distortion (in quotes because it’s obviously modelled)

5w with 4 speakers is a lot. 5w with just an 8in aka a tweed champ isn’t exactly a shrinking violet when pushed.

rlw

My TMDR, played in my sitting room - 28’ x 15’ -  at 0.5 watts at about 4 is loud enough to drown all conversation out and annoy the neighbours.  0.2 watts on 9 is almost as loud but very lovely.
I cannot envisage ever using the 1 watt setting domestically, unless that’s in Blenheim Palace or similar.

ICBM

True ‘bedroom volume’ is in the sub-0.1W range, through any kind of normal guitar speaker. Even 10mW (0.01W) is plenty in a quiet domestic environment. A lot of people don’t realise this…

Anacharsis

ICBM said:

True ‘bedroom volume’ is in the sub-0.1W range, through any kind of normal guitar speaker. Even 10mW (0.01W) is plenty in a quiet domestic environment. A lot of people don’t realise this…

You're right, of course. I think the term "bedroom" gets to be deceiving to some people. Yes, some are actually playing in their bedrooms. Bedroom or not, though, playing at home without a sound isolated room and with anyone else in the house means considerable limitations for most of us. I've almost never played in a bedroom, but almost always at home - and yes, the volume gets to be too much rather quickly. That doesn't prevent me from having a bunch of amps, but they're all very friendly to low volume playing (THR100, several Blues Cubes, one Nextone, and some 1 watt Blackstars).

Sometimes I really wonder if I should sell it all off and switch to headphones, but I figure this volume moderation is saving my hearing.

JCA2550

jellybelly said:

A 2x10 'Vibrolux' version of the same amp, literally lobbing off two speakers, would be awesome for me personally. Otherwise I'm keen to see what they can do with a tweed Deluxe/Super/Twin or brownface Deluxe or Vibrolux. Switching vibrato circuits between blackface 'photocell', brownface/Princeton 'bias' and the fancy brownface phasey one would be a welcome under-the-bonnet tweak too. 

Keen to get hold of one sometime soon!

A Tone Master Vibrolux is what's needed, I'd consider shifting my TMDR for one of those.

Onpar

Tried the TM Super Reverb in Coda today. Its one heck of an amp. Has a real full ooomph to it from those speakers. Definitely a gigging amp and sounds fantastic. However, I bought a Carr Skylark  

dean111music

https://youtu.be/c5WvjLJoi6c

Intro Jam! Damn that sounds good