Fender Tone Master software update

Michael Lester · Post by **Michael Lester** » 22 Oct 2020 10:03 am

Has anyone installed the ToneMaster update using a thumb drive rather than hard wire to a computer?

Steve Spitz · Post by **Steve Spitz** » 22 Oct 2020 1:56 pm

Iâ€™d reach out to Fender directly.
They were extremely helpful when I downloaded mine.

Greg Lambert · Post by **Greg Lambert** » 22 Oct 2020 7:04 pm

Dont tell me this amp needs an update already...

Bill Terry · Post by **Bill Terry** » 23 Oct 2020 8:35 am

Based on this support page, it looks like the firmware update has to be initiated with a drag and drop from the OS, but who knows. Might be worth contacting Fender.

https://support.fender.com/hc/en-us/art ... Procedure-

Craig A Davidson · Post by **Craig A Davidson** » 23 Oct 2020 10:45 am

The update is worth it. It makes the reverb sound better.

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 23 Oct 2020 11:01 am

There are also several upgrades available for the Deluxe Reverb model:

https://support.fender.com/hc/en-us/art ... -Procedure

Dean Smith · Post by **Dean Smith** » 24 Oct 2020 12:04 pm

I scoured the house to find a correct USB cord and i was literally finished with the update in 5 minutes...Reverb is much more robust in terms of adjustability.

Love my TM Twin...

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 24 Oct 2020 12:10 pm

Greg Lambert wrote:Dont tell me this amp needs an update already...

I don't think of it as the amp "needing" an update per se but rather that it's admirable that Fender is continuing to improve it on an ongoing basis. It would ge great if all companies did that for their products.

Greg Lambert · Post by **Greg Lambert** » 24 Oct 2020 5:41 pm

Jim Cohen wrote:
Greg Lambert wrote:Dont tell me this amp needs an update already...
I don't think of it as the amp "needing" an update per se but rather that it's admirable that Fender is continuing to improve it on an ongoing basis. It would ge great if all companies did that for their products.

YEs that is good that Fender continues to improve their products. The market demands it. Ive always said a little extra time in research and development could prevent updates of this frequency.

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 24 Oct 2020 5:44 pm

Greg Lambert wrote:Ive always said a little extra time in research and development could prevent updates of this frequency.

What frequency, Greg? Isn't this the first time? I guess they came out about a year ago, so are you saying after a year is too soon?

Greg Lambert · Post by **Greg Lambert** » 25 Oct 2020 2:04 pm

Jim Cohen wrote:
Greg Lambert wrote:Ive always said a little extra time in research and development could prevent updates of this frequency.
What frequency, Greg? Isn't this the first time? I guess they came out about a year ago, so are you saying after a year is too soon?

I guess not Jim , It sure doesn't seem like a year has past. Maybe Im just an old timer that doesnt want to keep track of what updates are in my equipment and what is needed. LOL

Bill Terry · Post by **Bill Terry** » 26 Oct 2020 5:33 am

The whole idea of firmware updates is the be able to make ongoing improvements in a product that don't cost the user anything but a little time. I think it's great that Fender is obviously taking feedback from users and is trying to improve the product based on what they're hearing.

I've worked in the tech/SW industry for a lot of years, and I have developed and delivered end-user initiated firmware updates. I don't know how it works at Fender but typically the firmware is never finished, just 'between releases'..

Steve Spitz · Post by **Steve Spitz** » 26 Oct 2020 3:25 pm

Bill,
Thanks for that explanation. Iâ€™d be interested to see if they offer any other updates based on your â€œbetween releasesâ€ mindset. The reverb update on the twin is significant.

I was thinking the time between the amps becoming available for sale , and the following update, was relatively quick considering what else is going on in the world.

Itâ€™s a process I donâ€™t know anything about, but Iâ€™m guessing at minimum youâ€™d need to:

1. sell a bunch of amps, ( some during a pandemic)
2. Evaluate the feedback from the market, on two separate amps
3. Create all the software updates, based on the consensus
4. test the process
5. Provide the update, along with tech support

Most importantly, Fender made it look exactly like my other Fender amps, so my future ex-wife didnâ€™t know I bought a new amp.

Good job Fender.

Craig A Davidson · Post by **Craig A Davidson** » 26 Oct 2020 5:15 pm

Itâ€™s not much different than buying a new Peavey and within a couple months changing electronics and speakers.

Bill Terry · Post by **Bill Terry** » 27 Oct 2020 7:27 am

Hi Steve,
Yeah, I certainly can't speak for Fender, but the release processes I've been around, mostly communication products, are driven by a very complex set of forces, usually schedule driven.

- The design team is working on a product, and it takes some minimum amount of time to get it designed, validated and ready for a release to QA.
- Meanwhile, some marketing guy has told management that for this product to succeed, it has to be in the market by [insert an arbitrary, insane, impossible date here].

- Right in the middle of development, marketing comes back with a 'must have' feature to be competitive.
- Management has other stuff on the drawing board, they don't have resources to staff every project, so there has to be a decision made as to what is most important, i.e. what gets staffed.
- The poor test guys are being told that instead of the usual 2 months they need for full testing (a requirement that has been vetted and confirmed across many products), they're going to have to finish it up in 1 month so they can hit the target release date.

There are other factors that play in as well, component vendors dropping the ball, etc. So what generally happens is that all sorts of compromises are made, and this is purely conjecture in the case of Fender, but I've lived all these scenarios. LOL.

- Design de-features, or 'parks' some features or function temporarily to make their release date. They can be added back in 'later' with a firmware update... or not. (This would be 'between releases' LOL)
- Management reallocates resources to 'hurry up', which means they've just shifted the pain to some other product.
- Marketing pushes out the release date (almost NEVER happens in my experience, because typically they've promised some big customer a delivery date).
- The QA and test guys compress their process to hit the difficult date (this is the 'solution' that I've always hated), and somebody somewhere at a high level gets a CYA email from the QA manager; i.e. 'This product really needs more testing, but here ya go..'

It's a strange business... but I agree with you, I think Fender has done a good job with this Tone Master line.

Ken Metcalf · Post by **Ken Metcalf** » 30 Oct 2020 11:49 am

Easy!
Reverb improvement.
^_^

Chris Harvey · Post by **Chris Harvey** » 2 Nov 2020 7:26 pm

Agree with Ken completely. A great reverb enhancement and easy to do.

Ken Metcalf · Post by **Ken Metcalf** » 3 Nov 2020 7:23 am

I could have done without the bright switch mod.
Wonder if I can get that reversed back?

Craig A Davidson · Post by **Craig A Davidson** » 3 Nov 2020 8:41 am

Ken was that a mod we donâ€™t know about?

Ken Metcalf · Post by **Ken Metcalf** » 3 Nov 2020 8:48 am

It mentions it on the Deluxe firmware. Bright cap removal.
My Twin now has no bright on the bright switch.
I turn up the treble but it is not the same.
Guess I will ask fender.

Rick Heins · Post by **Rick Heins** » 3 Nov 2020 10:56 am

Ken Metcalf wrote:It mentions it on the Deluxe firmware. Bright cap removal.
My Twin now has no bright on the bright switch.
I turn up the treble but it is not the same.
Guess I will ask fender.

Ken,
Is it possible that you updated your Twin with the Deluxe firmware? I'd suggest trying it again and verifying that you're updating with the Twin software. If that doesn't work, let me know and I'll ask our team about other solutions.

Rick

Ken Metcalf · Post by **Ken Metcalf** » 3 Nov 2020 3:00 pm

I thought I had installed it correctly but after reloading it is good now.
Very happy with this TM Twin amp and also have the Deluxe.
Thank you Rick
1967 Twin is for sale.

Rick Heins · Post by **Rick Heins** » 5 Nov 2020 5:16 pm

Ken Metcalf wrote:I thought I had installed it correctly but after reloading it is good now.
Very happy with this TM Twin amp and also have the Deluxe.
Thank you Rick
1967 Twin is for sale.

Happy to hear it, Ken! I still use my Tone Master Twin every day for steel and the blonde Deluxe for guitar.