Folks, this is the real Fender Tone Master amp, one of the very few to be manifested in a stack format. It used to be available at Swee Lee & I got to play it a few times in contemplation of a purchase. Back then, I was looking at a formidable Fender that could churn out modern, high gain tones this side of Peavey & Marshall. Unfortunately, the amp had some volume-related issues & it was the only one left in the store. At about the same time, Richie Sambora got into a spat with Fender over the Tone Master amp because the manufacturer had associated the aforementioned guitarist name to the amp without prior consent. What a waste. The amp could have otherwise gotten a formidable ambassador & would live in the production lines till this day. Yes, the Tone Master was discontinued.
This Summer, the Tone Master monicker is now hosting a pair of digital amps by Fender. The manufacturer has a digital version of the Twin & Deluxe Reverb in this series. We know how digital & Fender are- not the best of pairing & short-lived (recall the Cyber Twin- I was there when Swee Lee got Gary Hoey down to promote this one). This year though, they had no plans to re-live that digital experience, the current approach to this is Fender doing a digital modelling of their flagship amps with some plus points tucked away at the rear so the front looks deceivingly non-digital in an attempt to not repel the purists. Here are some details:
