I had the great opportunity to review the new Fender Tone Master Pro back in December and it floored me. This multi-effects processor (MEP) is one of the best, if not the best, units available on the market today. Of course, the Line 6, Kemper, and Fractal lovers will probably disagree, but for me, the Fender Tone Master Pro knocked it out of the park.

Sadly, I had to watch my review unit head back to Fender last week and now I am back to using my Line 6 Helix Floor. But Fender is committed to the Tone Master Pro and they just pushed out a new firmware update with a dozen new features.

Fender Tone Master Pro

New features

• Added “Switch Link” function to footswitch assignments. Assign up to eight foot switches to a switch link group(A, B, C or D). When footswitches are grouped together in a switch link, only one can be active at a time. Select any linked footswitch to turn its parameters ON and subsequently turn OFF any active switches in the group.
• Added “Switchless Bypass” function to EXP assignments. Now able to turn on block(s) without Toe Switch by moving the expression pedal.
• Added Preset MIDI to the Preset Settings menu. Allows the ability to send up to 5 custom MIDI Program Change (PC) and continuous Controller (CC) messages when selecting any TMPro preset.
• New Cab Model-4×12 British Blackback

Product enhancements

• Amp model update–EVH® 5150® IIIS 6L6 Red
• Amp model update–EVH 5150 IIIS 6L6 Blue
• Amp model update–EVH 5150 IIIS 6L6 Green
• Amp model update–British 800
• British 800 half-stack now uses 4×12 British Blackback as default cab
• Added User IR Level control to the IR edit screen
• Added DIM LED option for all footswitch assignments
• Added support for default footswitch LED active/inactive color options in Global Settings>Footswitch
• Looper position can now be toggled between Pre / Post in the Instrument signal path using the top right footswitch labeled “HOLD: POSITION” when in Looper ModeoAfter assigning a preset to a footswitch in a song, the preset will load and its corresponding footswitch LED will light up
• Added +/–buttons for fine adjustments on gradient sliders in Pro Control App
• Added MIDI Thru and Merge options in I/O Settings>MIDI
• Added MIDI CC support for Amp Control jacks, Master Volume and Looper commands

Fixes

• Fixed phase alignment of some internal Cab IRs
• Fixed footswitch LED out of sync with single effect issue
• Fixed the “popping” issue when selecting preset with Maximus Drive and boost enabled
• Fixed a bug in EVH 5150 IIIS Red amp model where some modeled effects loop circuitry was affecting the tone
• Fixed a bug in the British 800 model where Master Volume would cause “rubber-banding” at higher settings
• Improved experience when reordering presets via long drag & drop on TMP and in ProControl
• Changed Cloud Reverb High Dampparametert
• 100Hz increments instead of 1Hz
• Footswitch LED now continues to illuminate after saving a preset in Songs Mode
• Mythic Drive font now matches between hardware and Pro Control
• 4×12 Mega V30 Cab model now uses the same % of DSP resources as other cab models
• Signal path selection is now highlighted in the list menu after selecting a new signal path type
• Chromatic Pitch Shifter “Pitch” parameter is now adjusted in steps of 1 cent within the gradient adjustment control when using the +/–buttons
• Assigning an FX Loop to a Toe Switch and then deleting the FX Loop from the signal path no longer leaves behind a blank, un-editable Toe Switch assignment
• Fixed issue when navigation through the list is interrupted due to continuous dragging process
• Fixed issue where double tap selection in “add preset to song” popup switches the mode
• Fixed issue where selecting mic for cab returns screen to cab selection window instead of cab edit
• Fixed “Undefined” preset name in Song Footswitch Assignment
• Outgoing USB signals now appear as USB 1-4 instead of Analogue 1-4in DAW settings
• Ribbon mic placement corrected in speaker cabinet microphone selection list
• Improved preset list scrolling performance on TM Pro
• 4×12 British Jubilee cab, renamed 4×12 British Jubilee V30
• Diatonic Harmonizer Effect Renamed Diatonic Pitch Shifter