While lovers are nonetheless fussing over tube amps and drooling over results pedal collections, gigging musicians are within the midst of a digital revolution. Offerings from manufacturers like Kemper, Line 6, Fractal Audio, and Neural DSP all permit musicians to mannequin tube amps digitally, with outcomes that come astonishingly near the actual deal.

These new digital modeling amps are simple to arrange, dependable, and far lighter and extra compact than earlier rigs. These days, the sounds are additionally outstanding. Unless they’re within the studio, many modern musicians are using digital options for his or her sounds, and lots of of these choices are making their method onto hit tracks.

Fender has competed within the digital amp area for many years, however its new $1,700 Tone Master Pro, which launched late final yr, is the primary actually pro-tier possibility that we’ve seen from the model in current reminiscence. It’s additionally one of the crucial intuitive I’ve ever laid eyes on. With traditional fashions of iconic amps and results, a touchscreen, glorious onboard controls, and a surprising quantity of digital processing energy, it’s primarily a conveyable guitar studio. It additionally has a four-channel audio interface and lots of of microphone modeling and cupboard modeling choices that simply compete with the actual deal—even within the studio. It’s even fairly superior for karaoke.

If I have been searching for an all-in-one guitar answer that works each in my bed room and on stage, particularly if I didn’t need to fuss round in menu screens ceaselessly, that is the one I’d decide.

The New Black Box

The Tone Master Pro seems to be practically an identical to many of the different all-in-one amp/pedalboard options I’ve seen. Essentially, it’s a black slab that’s supposed to take a seat in entrance of you when you play, both on the ground or on a desk. A 7-inch touchscreen sits between two silver knobs on the highest of the gadget, flanked on the backside by 10 pedal switches and related LED screens. It’s all very clear and trendy, simple to cover when you play on stage.

One quirky and acquainted factor I really like is that Fender included its traditional purple energy gentle on the again of the gadget, so you possibly can simply inform it’s on like a “normal” Fender amp. The remainder of the rear of the Tone Master is a smorgasbord of inputs and outputs the likes of which I’ve by no means seen on a guitar amp.

There are stereo outputs in each quarter inch and XLR; 4 separate results sends and returns (two stereo) for utilizing outboard pedals and results with the gadget; two expression pedal shops; a mic/line and instrument enter; in addition to a foot swap management, 3.5-mm aux in, headphone output, MIDI out and in, USB-C, and MicroSD. And additionally, Bluetooth. If you want extra, you in all probability want a mixing board or a patch bay.