“The camp is very protective, and has extremely high standards”: Fender says gaining the EVH endorsement was a crucial benchmark for the Tone Master Pro

The EVH brand is famously fastidious in its approach to tone. So much so that until the arrival of the Fender Tone Master Pro last year, it had not endorsed any licensed models of its amps for use in software/modelers.

Now, in a new interview with Fender’s EVP of Product Justin Norvell, the exec tells Guitar World that despite Fender and the EVH Gear brand’s close working relationship, its endorsement – dependent on the team run by Wolfgang Van Halen and his partner at EVH, Matt Bruck – was not a given. 

Bruck’s endorsement and the wider EVH Gear sign-off was obviously significant for the team from a spiritual point of view, as the guardians of Eddie Van Halen’s tonal legacy, but also for the credentials that it offered.

Modelers are prevalent in heavier music and there’s a subsequent expectation that they should deliver good quality high-gain sounds – something that’s outside of Fender’s traditional tonal forte. 

“It was important to us,” explains Norvell. “EVH's tones are always the most sought after on anything that approximates [that time]. Whether it's the ‘brown sound’ or other, later sounds, like the 5150s. And that, we felt, would be something that as a benchmark, people could really go, ‘OK. They did the work.’”

Norvell describes winning the endorsement of EVH as a “very big thing” and says he hopes it is just the first step for the brand on the digital side.

“I think that that's something that's very interesting, but of course, the camp is very protective, and has extremely high standards,” says the Fender exec.

“So it's gotta be great. It’s not just like, ‘Hey, we're friends. Put my name on this.’ That's not how it works.”

As such, the EVH Gear team traveled to Fender’s Scottsdale, AZ base to put the model through its paces – A/Bing it against an actual EVH 5150III 100S head, in the process.

It clearly did the job because they signed off on it and the TM Pro has quickly proven its credentials, elsewhere, too – enjoying wider use than many expected – and the early evidence is that its tempting a new host of players to experiment with modeling. 

“I think that's been an awesome thing,’ comments Norvell. “Whether it's Satriani on The Howard Stern Show or just seeing this pop up fast. It's not having to do six months or a year in someone's home environment till they feel confident with it.”

For more insights from Norvell on the development and future of the Tone Master Pro, plans for the Fender Strat’s 70th anniversary and his thoughts on everything from guitar prices to the firm’s tube amp plans, keep an eye out for our full interview later this week.

Meanwhile, Fender recently unveiled the first free, major firmware update to the Tone Master Pro since its launch last year.

UPDATE 2/27/24: This article was amended after the Fender team reached out to clarify that previous quotes provided to Guitar World suggesting Wolfgang Van Halen had used the Tone Master Pro on tour were incorrect.