Fender Tone Master Del. Reverb Blonde

My first reaction when plugging in my Suhr classic to this amp was one of disappointment. To me the sound seemed closed in, maybe due to the increased mids, compared to the Deluxe original? I tried to compensate by increasing the treble control and dialling down the bass. That only made the treble sound harsh. Unfortunately, in line with the original tube amp, there is no mid tone control. This poor sound was most noticeable when using clean tones.
I was about to contact Thomann to send the amp back as I can get a better tone, but not as full a sound, with my little Yamaha thr10c. I sent some sound samples to a pal in N.Z. for a blind test and he also thought the Yamaha sounded better when using a Fender type tone!
What changed my mind was when I plugged in my Boss ME70 multi pedal and only using the EQ section managed to dial in a much brighter and open sound. Now we're in business!
Bear in mind, this is only my opinion and you may be perfectly happy with that pushed mids, clean tone sound.
If you have an Equalizer to hand, try plugging it in to reshape the tone.

I considered the valve version and the black tonemaster but discounted both as the valve version is too loud for home recording, there is no way to crank the amp to it’s sweet spot without seriously annoying the whole neighborhood! I chose the blonde version as it has bright cap already modded, so takes pedals better & the celestion speaker was more appealling to me and it looks fantastic!
I wanted the amp mainly for home recording and occasional gigs, the Tonemaster is a no brainer as unlike its valve sister, it has an attenuator and DI out with 2 IRs simulating two well known mikes, so it can be recorded silently yet still sounding as cranked as you desire. I took it to a small gig and still had to use the attenuator, I like to set the amp at the point of break up which is around 5 and on full power that was too loud for the room, so I backed it off a couple of notches and it was great! It doesn’t have an effects loop but doesn’t really need one as it takes pedals in the front without any issues.
A huge advantage is the weight, it weighs virtually nothing, I can’t see me using my VOX AC15 for gigs much in future! That said I,ve used it in stereo with the Tonemaster and they sound epic together!
There will be some purists who will still crave the valve version but the difference is not significant, I could not tell in a blind test situation and the additional features and the weight convinced me to go for the Tonemaster, I do not regret that decision, it’s perfect for my needs! Additionally its cheaper but that said I didn’t consider that in my decsion process as it was purely down to features/ requirements!

I made the decision to get a digital amp due to the weight after lugging around tube amps for years. I'm very impressed with the sound of this amp and the added features compared to the original tube amps of adjustable power output and line out with simulations makes for an almost complete package. I would have liked to have a midrange pot to play with though and a longer warranty. Otherwise I'm pretty happy to make this my main gigging and recording amp.