I agree, it really is about playing the guitar! I've owned mine for about two weeks and its easy to dial up great sounds and start playing. Thanks for these videos!!
I used a Helix for years and it was great in regards to sound and how deep I could go... definitely better than the AxeFX in regards to ease of use. However eventually I just stopped making my own patches, only using a few I had made or purchased so I sold it. I got a Tonex to just front end my pedalboard and it was good... but really didn't simplify anything. Down to this TMP or Headrush core but leaning towards this right now. I just want something small and light I take with me, plug into the house and I'm good to go. I have some great amps but for many small gigs those just don't make sense. Great review and kudos to Zzounds letting you check it out. I had a Zoom 9003 that I used with a 4tack in the early 90s... seemed like nothing could get better back then, amazing how far things have come since then! Glad you mentioned the decoupling with the headphones jack... been trying to find that out as to me that is a must on these units unless you really want to make a lot of different sound guys mad!
I remember the old Zoom PFX! My first digital unit was the old Kori G1 distortion processor I got from a buddy back in 93 or so. I remember wanting it because Dimebag and J from white zombie both used it so I HAD to have one. Fun fact though. I still have it. And it still works. 😂 I should do a retro review on it. The thought has crossed my mind to try and find an old Japan Jackson PS4 Performer (which was my first guitar) to also review.
Agree with the take on the Fractal. I bought an FX3 during the pandemic and it felt daunting with all the menu diving. For people willing to take the time to learn it will absolutely be able to achieve any sound they want! But I quickly learned I need something I can tweak on the fly to mess around and get inspired by random sounds I come upon. I didn’t feel spontaneous inspiration with the Fractal. Like I had to have an idea of what I wanted to do then menu dive to get it right. Not as much fun as twisting some knobs on some pedals all laid out in front of you.
Excellent video. Having owned multiple fractal units, Kempers and dabbled in Helix world I can say myself that I found many of those devices were not stage friendly when you had to tweak stuff quickly. I am intruiged by this unit as I play mostly cleans and classic rock; I am thinking that Fender probably has the best modelling for their own amps (?).
Yeah the fenders are the best of the best and although I really don't use any sounds like that on stage, the Jubilee model in particular was VERY good and the sound of the amp reacted just like my real jubilee when adjusting the controls.
I have the TONEX and its killer. But I use it with my amp, not as a replacement for an amp and cabinet. I run my pedals in front and behind the TONEX as if the TONEX is the amp, but them into the return of my 100 watt Marshall head, then into the 2X12 cabinet. You cannot tell the difference from a capture to a real amp this way. Its just like changing amp heads whenever you want. Or cabinets and effects if you choose. I just like mostly using the amps because I have pedals and I like using them on the fly. I did the programming and its hard to change something on the fly of effect in a digital processing unit. There is a small downfall to the unit but its not too big of a deal really. Some of the older captures are not very good because people were learning to capture the amp. Well they have figured it out now and most of the amps are BANGIN! Its also nice to put your hands on amps like the Hiwatt, Matchless, Two Rock, ODS Dumble style amps that most of us just cannot afford or amps so rare the peasant never will. Also other amps like older Marshalls and stuff, Krank, Peavey 5150's you name it. But you can sound just like them. For $400US you cannot go wrong with this pedal. I have about 25,000 captures I have downloaded to my computer already and saved the best of the best. So its taking me a little time of a couple months 15 to 20 minutes a day checking stuff out. But its so easy to set up good tones very quickly and play about anything and sound just like playing along to a CD or backing tracks. Its a small learning curve like anything else. But so worth it.
The one thing Fender needs to do to compete directly with the Line 6 Helix is to create a Native Software Version of their pedal just like Line 6. It's the one thing no one else has. When you don't need the Hardware in the studio or your engineer can tweak the sounds after you've left and then export them for you later, its hard to remove that from your workflow. It's the reason I've been using the Helix for 7 years now. If Fender had that too, I believe they could overthrow the beast, but they'd have to market it and promote it equally. Line 6 would sell even more if more people understood what HELIX NATIVE was. The fact Helix owners get a discount on it (it has modes for all helix devices) plus the fact studio only users with no hardware can own it for just a few hundred bucks, is pretty powerful stuff and hard to compete with.
One of the main engineers of the TMP was also the big brain behind the Helix products. I'd like to think that they at least considered it when designing the TMP.
I suspected as much. This means you could theoretically program one of the foot switches to toggle that CC value. I’ll definitely be trying that whenever another TMP slides through the studio.
@@FastRedPonyCar That’s cool, they are really good. I just have my main cab and mics I like for everything, but I could easily ditch them and just use the onboard ones
That stinks. I was really pleased with the sounds I was able to get from the Plexi and Jubilee. The Jubilee was my favorite amp model in the device but really needed the right cab(s) to sound right.
Love my TMP, have been gigging it since release. Can't be touched for Fender tones, but I find the Plexi lacking the dynamics of the real thing so I put a Lion in the FX loop and now Ive got the best of both worlds.
Man the Lion is untouchable. I’ve got a few vids of my Lion on the channel and it’s SO good. All of the UAFX pedals are killer. The ANTI is also extremely good for the high gain stuff. I ended up sending mine back just because it was a bit too aggressive for the type of music that our band plays but for the guy who plays metal and wants a very compact rig with an extremely authentic 5150 sound, I don’t think there’s a better option out there.
Maaaann …I seriously considered it. The dilemma I’m in is that I’m always gigging with new gear to demo on my channel so if I bought the TMP, I wouldn’t have many opportunities to use it. I’m very selective with what I buy these days because 99.9% of the time, the gear is only used on stage. The red Explorer and the OX Box can be used with any amp on stage and the Neumann interface is used in every video I do so those made sense to me but as much as I have loved some of these amps and stuff, they are hard for me to justify if I am not going to be using them every show (ie, they need to help pay for themselves). If I run out of amps to test though, I’ll probably sell my FM3 and get the TMP. I spent a good 5 hours with the FM3 today having to re-learn the thing and trying to dial in a decent new gigging patch but it was such a huge hassle. I ultimately ended up with a great sounding patch but it also took me another hour to program some midi commands into my Morningstar controller to do stuff that would have taken literally 10 seconds on the TMP and the end result is no better than what I got from the TMP…just took a hell of a lot longer to get there.
Great question. I’ve got a constant stream of gear to review and take on stage so if I bought a TMP, I wouldn’t have any time to take it on stage unless I only used it for effects and the FM3 is already great for that. If I run out of gear to review it’ll be a very strong consideration.
Yes but with the caveat I mentioned in the vid. I think that the fractal units can ultimately deliver a better sound but the amount of work it takes to get to that point is not worth the effort IMO unless you’re a touring musician or have an extremely specific sound you’re after that requires digging into all those amp settings or have an effect that the fractal has. I spent all day with my FM3 today side by side with the TMP dialing in a solid Jubilee patch and it took nearly 5 hours to get to about on par with the patch I made on the TMP and even then plugging in back and forth between the two, they were both equally great. Nothing can help the fractal units being an absolute huge pain in the ass on stage though if you want to make any changes. Not even between songs. I was making tweaks to the TMP during songs and I think that can’t be overstated where I have to wait until set breaks to mess with the fractal.
@@FastRedPonyCar No for sure. I get it. I actually like the infinite ability so I can get more for my money. It's cause maybe I'm a techy dude. You did say digital unit. If you want the easiest, it should be a tube or solid state amp. Almost all digital units require some sort of learning curve. People have different thresholds to learn the skills required to operate such units and I understand that. I'm glad you like the TMP. My favorite units are the TC Electronics G-System and any fractal unit. The Headrush MX5 is fun for the low price.
@@matthewearl9824 Man I wanted a Gsystem for SOOOO long. I used a gmajor for years and years and it was a GREAT unit. I eventually moved away from the rack setup and got a Nova System and it was great until it just wouldn't power on one day and TC wouldn't fix it so I jumped off that train and grabbed the Stomp HX for my effects. As for learning curves, I would say that the TMP by a MILE is the easiest to dial in primarily because it so closely mimics real physical gear. The amp only lets you tweak the knobs the real amps would let you mess with, the cab/mic selection only lets you move around a virtual mic in the same way you'd physically move a mic around and the effects are all controlled exactly with the same physical controls as their real world counterparts. I hate to use the analogy but as someone who used and tinkered with Android phones for years and years, this feels like how I felt when I got my first iPhone. Everything is super intuitive and easy to use and the hardware feels better than any of it's competitors but I absolutely can understand why someone would want that extra freedom to dig into the power amp settings, the preamp triode settings, the power supply and power amp settings, etc but for another group of consumers, that is just extra confusion that gets in the way of plugging in and playing. I don't think the TMP will sway any die hard fractal/QC users and I don't know if the Fractal stuff could pull away any TMP enthusiasts either. All I know is that as a guitar player who grew up cutting my teeth on the instrument in the early/mid 90's, digital stuff and the affordability of OUTSTANDING tone has made leaps and bounds and great tone is available at even entry level prices. No one makes a bad sounding unit. Who knows, maybe we'll see a smaller version or a rack version of the TMP. I wouldn't say no to a TMP with half the size of this version and a $999 price tag.
I’ll never get rid of my jubilee and splawn but the TMP is not only a young product that came out of the gates swinging for the top, it’s also being developed by one of the guys who led the line 6 helix development. I think that they’ve got a good team on the TMP and enough success and failures have been made with the digital products at this point that failure should be few and far between. Time will tell but right now, I think it’s the best.
The Tone X user experience is horrible, the whole workflow is cumbersome. I had fun with it and it had some good sounds, might be nice to see how it or the say the Quad Cortex Nano sounds as an amp in the TMP FX loop to see how the captures compare to the TMP amps.
Agreed! The desktop software seems like it was designed by someone that’s never used a computer. Using the computer for the captures introduces too many points of failure for the average user, and personally I can’t get a usable high gain capture to save my life, and that’s using their own AXE I/O interface. I actually hate it
@@xxdr34m5xx_4 Because I do. Buy any digital amp then and see his much you get for them after a couple of years when you want to move it on for the next updated digital amp. People can’t even sell their Kemper’s or Axe Fx’s for dirt cheap cause nobody wants them. But please do buy one by any means, I couldn’t give a rats ass what you buy.
Your tube amp, as awesome as it is, can't do a quarter of the things these modellers do, and is inconsistent, heavy, bulky, and needs more maintenance.
@@djabthrash You ain't wrong but you could say the same about a modeler from 20 years ago. How many of those sounds are you going to actually use?? I went from a Marshall head to a Boss GT6 in a P.A, then went back to tube amps. I've never had a issue with an Amp being inconsistant & maintance has never been a problem. Ultimately it comes down ease of use and price but tube amps still sound better.
I agree, it really is about playing the guitar! I've owned mine for about two weeks and its easy to dial up great sounds and start playing. Thanks for these videos!!
So good…. Tone and playing! You definitely rock that unit. Thanks for posting.
Cheers
Awesome Video. I can’t agree more. The TMP sounds great. I think I’m going to have to pick one up 😎🤘🏻
I used a Helix for years and it was great in regards to sound and how deep I could go... definitely better than the AxeFX in regards to ease of use. However eventually I just stopped making my own patches, only using a few I had made or purchased so I sold it. I got a Tonex to just front end my pedalboard and it was good... but really didn't simplify anything. Down to this TMP or Headrush core but leaning towards this right now. I just want something small and light I take with me, plug into the house and I'm good to go. I have some great amps but for many small gigs those just don't make sense. Great review and kudos to Zzounds letting you check it out. I had a Zoom 9003 that I used with a 4tack in the early 90s... seemed like nothing could get better back then, amazing how far things have come since then! Glad you mentioned the decoupling with the headphones jack... been trying to find that out as to me that is a must on these units unless you really want to make a lot of different sound guys mad!
I remember the old Zoom PFX!
My first digital unit was the old Kori G1 distortion processor I got from a buddy back in 93 or so. I remember wanting it because Dimebag and J from white zombie both used it so I HAD to have one.
Fun fact though. I still have it. And it still works. 😂 I should do a retro review on it. The thought has crossed my mind to try and find an old Japan Jackson PS4 Performer (which was my first guitar) to also review.
Agree with the take on the Fractal. I bought an FX3 during the pandemic and it felt daunting with all the menu diving. For people willing to take the time to learn it will absolutely be able to achieve any sound they want! But I quickly learned I need something I can tweak on the fly to mess around and get inspired by random sounds I come upon. I didn’t feel spontaneous inspiration with the Fractal. Like I had to have an idea of what I wanted to do then menu dive to get it right. Not as much fun as twisting some knobs on some pedals all laid out in front of you.
that explorer really pops on cam.
It's no slouch on stage either!
Very informative review. Thanks!
Excellent video. Having owned multiple fractal units, Kempers and dabbled in Helix world I can say myself that I found many of those devices were not stage friendly when you had to tweak stuff quickly. I am intruiged by this unit as I play mostly cleans and classic rock; I am thinking that Fender probably has the best modelling for their own amps (?).
Yeah the fenders are the best of the best and although I really don't use any sounds like that on stage, the Jubilee model in particular was VERY good and the sound of the amp reacted just like my real jubilee when adjusting the controls.
This vs Headrush? Plus and minus?
I have the TONEX and its killer. But I use it with my amp, not as a replacement for an amp and cabinet. I run my pedals in front and behind the TONEX as if the TONEX is the amp, but them into the return of my 100 watt Marshall head, then into the 2X12 cabinet. You cannot tell the difference from a capture to a real amp this way. Its just like changing amp heads whenever you want. Or cabinets and effects if you choose. I just like mostly using the amps because I have pedals and I like using them on the fly. I did the programming and its hard to change something on the fly of effect in a digital processing unit.
There is a small downfall to the unit but its not too big of a deal really. Some of the older captures are not very good because people were learning to capture the amp. Well they have figured it out now and most of the amps are BANGIN! Its also nice to put your hands on amps like the Hiwatt, Matchless, Two Rock, ODS Dumble style amps that most of us just cannot afford or amps so rare the peasant never will. Also other amps like older Marshalls and stuff, Krank, Peavey 5150's you name it. But you can sound just like them. For $400US you cannot go wrong with this pedal. I have about 25,000 captures I have downloaded to my computer already and saved the best of the best. So its taking me a little time of a couple months 15 to 20 minutes a day checking stuff out. But its so easy to set up good tones very quickly and play about anything and sound just like playing along to a CD or backing tracks. Its a small learning curve like anything else. But so worth it.
great video Thanks Amigo
The one thing Fender needs to do to compete directly with the Line 6 Helix is to create a Native Software Version of their pedal just like Line 6. It's the one thing no one else has. When you don't need the Hardware in the studio or your engineer can tweak the sounds after you've left and then export them for you later, its hard to remove that from your workflow. It's the reason I've been using the Helix for 7 years now. If Fender had that too, I believe they could overthrow the beast, but they'd have to market it and promote it equally. Line 6 would sell even more if more people understood what HELIX NATIVE was. The fact Helix owners get a discount on it (it has modes for all helix devices) plus the fact studio only users with no hardware can own it for just a few hundred bucks, is pretty powerful stuff and hard to compete with.
One of the main engineers of the TMP was also the big brain behind the Helix products. I'd like to think that they at least considered it when designing the TMP.
You can control the looper from an external midi controller while outside of the looper screen, I use a voodoo lab Ground Control Pro for this 👍
I suspected as much. This means you could theoretically program one of the foot switches to toggle that CC value. I’ll definitely be trying that whenever another TMP slides through the studio.
Pro tip, use your own go to cab and mic modelers will this and it really shines. I use the 2notes m+
I tried my CabM+ and OX Stomp and I still ended up liking the fender IR's best. They're really good.
@@FastRedPonyCar That’s cool, they are really good. I just have my main cab and mics I like for everything, but I could easily ditch them and just use the onboard ones
I love the unit.....long as its using Fender amps....i haven't heard or played a gain sound in TMP i like yet and i had one for 35 days
That stinks. I was really pleased with the sounds I was able to get from the Plexi and Jubilee. The Jubilee was my favorite amp model in the device but really needed the right cab(s) to sound right.
I think the fender tone Master has a lot of potential but doesn't come close to the FM 9 or the cortex yet
Love my TMP, have been gigging it since release. Can't be touched for Fender tones, but I find the Plexi lacking the dynamics of the real thing so I put a Lion in the FX loop and now Ive got the best of both worlds.
Man the Lion is untouchable. I’ve got a few vids of my Lion on the channel and it’s SO good. All of the UAFX pedals are killer. The ANTI is also extremely good for the high gain stuff.
I ended up sending mine back just because it was a bit too aggressive for the type of music that our band plays but for the guy who plays metal and wants a very compact rig with an extremely authentic 5150 sound, I don’t think there’s a better option out there.
Do you like the Fender TMP enough to where you would consider purchasing one ?
Maaaann …I seriously considered it. The dilemma I’m in is that I’m always gigging with new gear to demo on my channel so if I bought the TMP, I wouldn’t have many opportunities to use it.
I’m very selective with what I buy these days because 99.9% of the time, the gear is only used on stage. The red Explorer and the OX Box can be used with any amp on stage and the Neumann interface is used in every video I do so those made sense to me but as much as I have loved some of these amps and stuff, they are hard for me to justify if I am not going to be using them every show (ie, they need to help pay for themselves).
If I run out of amps to test though, I’ll probably sell my FM3 and get the TMP.
I spent a good 5 hours with the FM3 today having to re-learn the thing and trying to dial in a decent new gigging patch but it was such a huge hassle. I ultimately ended up with a great sounding patch but it also took me another hour to program some midi commands into my Morningstar controller to do stuff that would have taken literally 10 seconds on the TMP and the end result is no better than what I got from the TMP…just took a hell of a lot longer to get there.
If you love it so much, why are you sending it back? Why not just purchase it. What are you going to do now for your live rig?
Great question. I’ve got a constant stream of gear to review and take on stage so if I bought a TMP, I wouldn’t have any time to take it on stage unless I only used it for effects and the FM3 is already great for that.
If I run out of gear to review it’ll be a very strong consideration.
Which Gibson Guitar you are playing????
Lizzy Hale Explorerbird
Can you upload the preset please? 😊
They're available on the community patches. Search either my screenname here or jubilee and you should find them
You are seriously putting this over the fractal fm9? That's cool.
Yes but with the caveat I mentioned in the vid. I think that the fractal units can ultimately deliver a better sound but the amount of work it takes to get to that point is not worth the effort IMO unless you’re a touring musician or have an extremely specific sound you’re after that requires digging into all those amp settings or have an effect that the fractal has.
I spent all day with my FM3 today side by side with the TMP dialing in a solid Jubilee patch and it took nearly 5 hours to get to about on par with the patch I made on the TMP and even then plugging in back and forth between the two, they were both equally great.
Nothing can help the fractal units being an absolute huge pain in the ass on stage though if you want to make any changes. Not even between songs. I was making tweaks to the TMP during songs and I think that can’t be overstated where I have to wait until set breaks to mess with the fractal.
@@FastRedPonyCar No for sure. I get it. I actually like the infinite ability so I can get more for my money. It's cause maybe I'm a techy dude. You did say digital unit. If you want the easiest, it should be a tube or solid state amp. Almost all digital units require some sort of learning curve. People have different thresholds to learn the skills required to operate such units and I understand that. I'm glad you like the TMP. My favorite units are the TC Electronics G-System and any fractal unit. The Headrush MX5 is fun for the low price.
@@matthewearl9824 Man I wanted a Gsystem for SOOOO long. I used a gmajor for years and years and it was a GREAT unit. I eventually moved away from the rack setup and got a Nova System and it was great until it just wouldn't power on one day and TC wouldn't fix it so I jumped off that train and grabbed the Stomp HX for my effects.
As for learning curves, I would say that the TMP by a MILE is the easiest to dial in primarily because it so closely mimics real physical gear. The amp only lets you tweak the knobs the real amps would let you mess with, the cab/mic selection only lets you move around a virtual mic in the same way you'd physically move a mic around and the effects are all controlled exactly with the same physical controls as their real world counterparts.
I hate to use the analogy but as someone who used and tinkered with Android phones for years and years, this feels like how I felt when I got my first iPhone. Everything is super intuitive and easy to use and the hardware feels better than any of it's competitors but I absolutely can understand why someone would want that extra freedom to dig into the power amp settings, the preamp triode settings, the power supply and power amp settings, etc but for another group of consumers, that is just extra confusion that gets in the way of plugging in and playing.
I don't think the TMP will sway any die hard fractal/QC users and I don't know if the Fractal stuff could pull away any TMP enthusiasts either. All I know is that as a guitar player who grew up cutting my teeth on the instrument in the early/mid 90's, digital stuff and the affordability of OUTSTANDING tone has made leaps and bounds and great tone is available at even entry level prices. No one makes a bad sounding unit.
Who knows, maybe we'll see a smaller version or a rack version of the TMP. I wouldn't say no to a TMP with half the size of this version and a $999 price tag.
Will it be your favorite in a year or two?
I highly doubt it.
Not trying to be a smart ass. This is why I got off this train and went back to basics.
I’ll never get rid of my jubilee and splawn but the TMP is not only a young product that came out of the gates swinging for the top, it’s also being developed by one of the guys who led the line 6 helix development.
I think that they’ve got a good team on the TMP and enough success and failures have been made with the digital products at this point that failure should be few and far between.
Time will tell but right now, I think it’s the best.
The Tone X user experience is horrible, the whole workflow is cumbersome. I had fun with it and it had some good sounds, might be nice to see how it or the say the Quad Cortex Nano sounds as an amp in the TMP FX loop to see how the captures compare to the TMP amps.
Agreed! The desktop software seems like it was designed by someone that’s never used a computer. Using the computer for the captures introduces too many points of failure for the average user, and personally I can’t get a usable high gain capture to save my life, and that’s using their own AXE I/O interface. I actually hate it
Seems like a great unit.. but for the price ($3200NZD) I can buy 2 decent 2nd-hand tube amps that this thing is trying to replicate..
Why would you want a tube amp?😂 It's loud, heavy, and a one trick pony
@@jazz_grooves like the quad cortex? Or the Kemper? Or the AxeFx? Or the line6 helix?😂 All still relevant and awesome
@@xxdr34m5xx_4 Because I do. Buy any digital amp then and see his much you get for them after a couple of years when you want to move it on for the next updated digital amp. People can’t even sell their Kemper’s or Axe Fx’s for dirt cheap cause nobody wants them. But please do buy one by any means, I couldn’t give a rats ass what you buy.
Your tube amp, as awesome as it is, can't do a quarter of the things these modellers do, and is inconsistent, heavy, bulky, and needs more maintenance.
@@djabthrash You ain't wrong but you could say the same about a modeler from 20 years ago. How many of those sounds are you going to actually use?? I went from a Marshall head to a Boss GT6 in a P.A, then went back to tube amps. I've never had a issue with an Amp being inconsistant & maintance has never been a problem. Ultimately it comes down ease of use and price but tube amps still sound better.
Not made for metal...
😂😂😂 that's on you, bud, I've played multiple festivals with it and it's great for metal, especially modern stuff
Good.
Didn't stop Ola or Keith Merrow. The 5153 model is the best I've ever heard from these digital units.
Bullshit.
Also Rob Arnold from Chimaira uses one no problem.
Neither are human ears