smurrayman - Posted - 01/17/2019:  01:16:04

What has the jury to say about the Tonedexter doing a similar thing to the JD Aura pedal but with more personalized quality? That’s what I’m hoping for anyways...

BrianMac - Posted - 01/17/2019:  06:30:06

audiosprockets.com/tonedexter/

Wow, it looks like this pedal does everything the JD Aura does, plus:

• bass and treble shelving


• DI


• effects loop


• solo boost


• notch filter


• personal instrument “training” using your own mic

If this thing sounds good, seems the main advantage would be in cost savings for those who are using both the JD Aura and an acoustic oriented DI. A player could ditch the DI perhaps if satisfied with tone control available at amp and/or board.

If I can get 8 people to pitch in $50 I’ll try it and review it, all for the good of the dobro community of course. 

Edited by - BrianMac on 01/17/2019 06:35:06

Slidennis - Posted - 01/17/2019:  06:51:30

I have not used a Tonedexter but I have read their product descriptions. The two products have a conceptual similarity in that your live signal is overlayed with a stored software image to improve your sound. The difference is that the Aura has already done all the work to create the images using the best of the best available and with the Tonedexter you have to put it together yourself, so to speak.



A question and analogy of sorts - Would you rather eat a fine meal prepared at a restaurant created by a master chef or cook the same recipe using a box full of ingredients from your local market? Same stuff, conceptually, to start with but potentially very different outcomes. Or, more musically speaking, would you rather buy a fully assembled and professionally set-up resonator guitar to play or build one from a kit? The Aura is more like the finished guitar, the Tonedexter is more like the kit.

Still with the Auras you get either the Jerry Douglas or Stacy Philips (the other Fishman Aura library images?) sounds.  You have to like those packaged images and there is no option to create your own images.



So yes, the Tonedexter is more "personalized".  As my old instructor used to remind me, "Garbage in, garbage out."   Tonedexter lets you create a personal image.  For a player like Jon Jorgenson it's a no brainer. He's the best player, has access to the best mics, has lots of studio experience in mic placement, etc., etc.. He'll get a great result. No "garbage in". The rest of us ....



Just my thoughts.

Edited by - Slidennis on 01/17/2019 07:00:57

UncleJack - Posted - 01/17/2019:  09:13:02

Intriguing...I will be watching this closely. The thought of ditching pedals from my board (tuner, boost, DI...) and going all-in-one is appealing, assuming the tone is there.

Also, i read their FAQs and it looks like there may be future capability to upload/download WaveMaps (using SD card). Wonder if this would open up a community for sharing settings (similar to what Line 6 and a bunch of guitar effects modeling companies support..)...assuming no legal or licensing issues??

In any event I look forward to hearing a review from any early adopters.

Regards,
Uncle Jack

MarkinSonoma - Posted - 01/17/2019:  09:46:50

Some people don't "do Facebook" but if you do, Scott also started a thread there on Rob Anderlik's

 Squareneck Journal.  There was another thread or two there last year after some folks made the purchase of the Tonedexter. Also some posts on the Facebook Dobroholics page. 

I think many us enjoy it when a new shiny toy comes out and is touted as potentially being the greatest thing since sliced bread, but I tend to let others take out their credit cards and be the guinea pigs. Then I wait for the results to come in. 

Now that a number of players have had the unit for awhile it seems that some of the shine has been taken off the toy. No - nothing like it's a dud, it seems most are reasonably happy with the Tonedexter, but initially there were reports that it was going to make the JD Aura pedal obsolete and folks were going to put their Auras up for sale. It doesn't seem to have panned out that way. 

I've already seen a few Tonedexters come up for sale on the used market from dobro players. 

Now if I could get one on the cheap I'd be happy to fool around with it, but it also brings the old adage to mind that the audience probably wouldn't notice the difference anyway. 

Dennis mentioned  "garbage in, garbage out." As a side note to this Tonedexter thead, remember  not all the Aura dobro images were created equal. The images for Jerry's pedal were created in a state-of-the-art studio and recorded by one of the best in the business, Bil VornDick. Bil also is known to own one of the finest collections of both vintage and modern microphones anywhere. Aside from Jerry getting a piece of the pie and his signature  on top, that's why his pedal goes for $350. 

The images from the Aura "library" for use with the Spectrum DI are not of the same quality as the Douglas pedal. 

But then - it might be another one of those deals where "the audience can't hear the difference."

Remember the thread we had a couple years back where one of our members yanked his JD Aura off his pedal board, and because it was really strong velcro  what got left behind was the silver metal plate on the bottom of the unit? Underneath the plate he discovered there is a USB port, and the thought was that maybe you could download Jerry's images to another device. 

Out of curiosity I called Fishman customer service and was informed that the USB port is useless to the owner and that there is some sort of "lock" installed so that one can't gain access. Only the folks at Fishman can get into it if for example you needed to send your pedal in for service.  In other words, they took additional steps with the pedal in order to protect their investment. 

smurrayman - Posted - 01/17/2019:  11:45:09

quote:

---

Originally posted by Slidennis

I have not used a Tonedexter but I have read their product descriptions. The two products have a conceptual similarity in that your live signal is overlayed with a stored software image to improve your sound. The difference is that the Aura has already done all the work to create the images using the best of the best available and with the Tonedexter you have to put it together yourself, so to speak.



A question and analogy of sorts - Would you rather eat a fine meal prepared at a restaurant created by a master chef or cook the same recipe using a box full of ingredients from your local market? Same stuff, conceptually, to start with but potentially very different outcomes. Or, more musically speaking, would you rather buy a fully assembled and professionally set-up resonator guitar to play or build one from a kit? The Aura is more like the finished guitar, the Tonedexter is more like the kit.

Still with the Auras you get either the Jerry Douglas or Stacy Philips (the other Fishman Aura library images?) sounds.  You have to like those packaged images and there is no option to create your own images.



So yes, the Tonedexter is more "personalized".  As my old instructor used to remind me, "Garbage in, garbage out."   Tonedexter lets you create a personal image.  For a player like Jon Jorgenson it's a no brainer. He's the best player, has access to the best mics, has lots of studio experience in mic placement, etc., etc.. He'll get a great result. No "garbage in". The rest of us ....



Just my thoughts.

---

I believe I have the experience and gear to give it the best shot it’s got!  Should arrive next week.  I’ll let you know what I find out.  

MarkinSonoma - Posted - 01/17/2019:  13:25:01

Alright Scott, way to “take one for the team!” 

AK Slider - Posted - 01/17/2019:  16:30:26

I have one satisfied owner/user to mention, my bandmate in the KKB Cary Black. He uses it with the pickup on his acoustic bass and is very pleased. I stand next to him and his sound is recording quality. An endorsement on gear from him is like a blessing from on high...there is nobody more particular than Cary! I can't shed any light on the TD's application to dobro, but Cary's success with it is undeniable.

smurrayman - Posted - 01/18/2019:  08:54:11

quote:

---

Originally posted by AK Slider

I have one satisfied owner/user to mention, my bandmate in the KKB Cary Black. He uses it with the pickup on his acoustic bass and is very pleased. I stand next to him and his sound is recording quality. An endorsement on gear from him is like a blessing from on high...there is nobody more particular than Cary! I can't shed any light on the TD's application to dobro, but Cary's success with it is undeniable.

---

That’s also encouraging.  My brother is on his way to get one for his upright now.    My hope is that I can go from dobro to Weissenborn and acoustic with one unit at the twist of a knob.   Sounds too good to be true, like the hover board from Back to The Future.  But I’m a dreamer