Tqi wrote:

synchro wrote:

I just watched Ryan’s demo of this on 60 Cycle Hum. He had it goi g directly into an audio recorder. I was pleasantly surprised by some of the amp models. The Fender Blackface models were quite good, along with the ‘59 Bassman model.

Sounds great in his hands to be sure. Though, I'm pretty sure a Mooer Skyverb into an MG10CD would sound like surf heaven in his hands. The man made a Jag-Stang into a surf guitar for crying out loud.

I did see the same touch screen issues others have reported while watching him, so there's definitely some work for Fender to do on bugfixing even after the launch day patch suite. I wonder if you need to have a lab coat and pocket protector to manage the firmware process? Or, if you need to have specific computer gear? - reads - no actually, it switches into a target disk mode and you drag and drop over USB mass storage. So, in theory you should be able to do that from most (Android) phones. Pretty good.

Ryan’s JagStang amazes me. It makes me want a JagStang. He’s a good player, and I’m a firm believer that sound is greatly controlled by technique. You seldom hear discussions of pick attack, but it has a major effect on sound. Likewise, good LH technique that allows each note to ring out and develop a full, “round”, sound. But I think that a well-played JagStang with enough brightness at the amp should sound decent for Surf.

Touchscreens always concern me. I’ve used iPads since they came out, and have noticed that after some matter of years, the touchscreens don’t always behave as they should. I’d had to see this product be a life-limited device which is not economically repairable after 5 years or so.

Tqi wrote:

If in a few updates it has a fixed interface and a comprehensive Fender amp list with 4-5 Tweed; 4-5 Brownface; 4-5 Silverface; a couple of the interesting 80's amps; some of the less readily (and cheaply) available modern amps like the Pawn Shop set, SuperSonic, and more 90's treasures like the DeVille and the Hot Rods; and a suite of bass stuff like the Bassman 100T, Super Bassman and some matching pedals - then it might be worth the price tag.

I agree, the list of amp models seemed pretty predictable, when it came to the Fender amps. I would love to have seen a ‘62 Dual Showman, a ‘57 Twin (plus other Tweed amps), the Chris Stapleton ‘62 Princeton, and a few more, but I’m hardly their target market, and it may be that there is only room for so many models. If that’s the case, perhaps some future software release would allow the user to choose from a list of models. I’d never use the EVH amp, but I’d use the three I mentioned, all the time.

Tqi wrote:

Synchro wrote:

There were numerous effects pedal models. Ryan, being who he is, came up with some interesting Surf patches, which sounded pretty good. I would have loved to hear a drippy reverb in front of the ‘59 Bassman model. Something tells me that would sound great.

I do like a Surfy Bear into a '59 Bassman on my VT100, so that sounds pretty nice to me.

The ‘59 Bassman is about as good as it gets. I’ve heard several examples of a ‘59 Bassman for Surf, and they always sound great. From what I understand, the ‘57 Twin shares a lot in common with the Bassman, and looks to be a lot easier to carry. If the Bird of Great Riches ever decides to lay a huge money-egg in my back yard, maybe I’ll buy a ‘57 Twin RI and have a custom tweed piggyback cabinet built for it. Wouldn’t that be absolutely cool; a Tweed Twin head bridged across two fairly large 1x12” tweed, closed-back speaker cabs?

Tqi wrote:

Synchro wrote:

Ryan’s review isn’t about to make me bust out my Visa, which just recovered from my recent vacation, but I see that this product might make sense to some buyers. While $1,700 seems a lot of money, one might be able to use this as an all in one, and not use a pedalboard. My main pedalboard would cost more than $1,700 to duplicate, so the price makes at least some sense.

That's fair, though I don't know how true it is for every guitarist, especially in surf. Even being generous and going high end, a Surfy Bear, Surfy Trem, Surfy Fuzz and a real Carbon Copy is still only $1000 in total, you could shave $100 off that immediately if you prefer Metal or Compact instead of Classic - and there's a lot of room in good Tremolo and Fuzz under the (to be clear, fully justified) Surfy pricepoints. Even before significant shopping around, that leaves you just about enough cash for: a ToneMaster deluxe reverb, a real deluxe reverb, a Milkman The Amp, or quite a lot else. Especially if you need the FRFR for the Tonemaster in your rig.

I did a quick mental cost analysis of my gig board, and including the board itself, the Cioks power supply/distribution, the pedals and the cables, you’re looking at nearly $2,000 to recreate at today’s prices.

That little Temple Audio Duo 17, plus the Cioks power supplies comes to a cool $477, before adding even one pedal. I’m a massive cheapskate but not when it comes to gear. The two Source Audio pedals, plus tap-tempo switches adds about $500 more, and the always-on Blossom Point adds another $200. Figure $119 for the ODR-1, $329 for the Blue Nebula (at today’s £ to $ exchange rate), and $199 for the Dispatch Master and you’re at $1,824, not to mention the foot switch for the tremolo built in to one of my amps, seven George L’s cables, and a patch panel on the side of the board and we’re pushing $2,000. Well, I drive a 13 year old pickup truck, and not a BMW, so I can afford such frivolities in a pedalboard. :j

Tqi wrote:

I don't know that I have any more comment to make on this thing, and I'm not going to get my hands on it anytime soon, so - time for me to stop armchair commentating and go pay for my coil winding machine. As usual, I wish Fender luck and hope it works out for the people who buy this lovely digital recreation of a 63 reverb.

I’m not rushing to buy one. Perhaps I’ll stop by the local GC during a weekday and try one out, one of these days. I see a place for it, but probably not in my stable of gear.

What I’ve found, in my case, is that with all of the choices available to me, I tend to use pretty much the same handful of options, all the time. I play my Squier Jaguar much of the time, or one of my Gretsch guitars, or a MIM Thinline Tele. I can get great sounds out of any of them, through a 5 watt Winfield Typhoon amp and my simple little board with three pedals.

So while I find the many options offered by some of the models in the Tonemaster, I’d probably end up using a couple of the reverbs, a delay, maybe a compressor and one or two amp models. The bottom line is that the only thing that changes in my settings is the reverb in my True Spring pedal.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.