Fender CYBER-TWIN Instruction Manual page 53

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                                             & \ E H U  7 Z L Q L Q V L J K W V
This whole thing just started as a sparkle in my boss' eye. I remember some conceptual drawings
that he, Dale Curtis, put together to define how the Cyber-Twin was going to look and how the user
was likely to interact with it. It was hard to see how those line drawings were ever going to become a
product (no offense to Dale's drafting skills), but it was very exciting when we first put together a
prototype unit with all the graphics, knobs, switches, and buttons.
It w as one thing for us to have a product that looked vintage Fender and state-of-the-art at the s ame
tim e, but it w as another thing entirely for us to have an a mp that sounded and felt rig ht. In all other
products that w e've produced, the sound of the amp has been defined early on, way before the
m echanical design is dealt w ith. The Cyber-Twin w as a different story. B ecause of the fact that the
digital section of the am p is necessary for tone controls, voicing, and the like– I'm talking about am p
tone here, not effects– w e couldn't actually hear w hat the thing was going to sound like unti l we built a
w orking prototype. T he m echanical stuff w as m ostly done by the tim e that w e had that first prototype.
To be honest, it was all pretty scary. We had an amp that looked killer, but we didn't know if it would
be able to generate great tone. There was a lot at stake; with all that we had invested thus far in the
project, we just had to make this thing sound great. I look back in hindsight, and I regret that I ever
doubted my able co-workers. There were times when I heard sounds coming from the Cyber-Twin
that were not exactly pretty, but then again, I guess people could have walked by my cube and heard
some disturbing sounds when I was trying to debug my effects software. I wanted to put up a sign
that said "I'M NOT DONE YET!" so that people would know that these sounds wouldn't end up in the
final product.
All my fears were unfounded. A master painter sometimes makes broad strokes that look as if
they've ruined the canvas, yet as the artist continues his work with the end in mind, those same
strokes take shape and form and become beautiful as they are refined and defined. The same has
been true of the Cyber-Twin. As the tone painting has developed, it has sounded rough at times, but
has ended up being an incredible-sounding guitar tone creation tool. The difference between the
Cyber-Twin's beauty and that of, say, a one-trick pony like the inimitable Vibro-King– it does that one
trick very well indeed– is that while the Vibro-King may be the Mona Lisa of Tone, the Cyber-Twin can
become a da Vinci, a Monet, or even a Rothko or Pollock. The tone colors that you can achieve with
the Cyber-Twin are well nigh limitless.
The whole point of having a reconfigurable amplifier is to have access to a plethora of guitar tones.
However, having 100 varieties of one-dimensional sounds does one no better; it would be preferable
in that case just to have one great "go-to" tone. Further, it isn't enough to start with one of those 100
and hope to beef it up by slathering on gobs of effects. That's all icing, no cake. Now while I like
effects (especially since they have been my responsibility on this project), I am also a guitar player
who realizes that what matters at the core of it is that feeling of power, control, and grace that
happens when you plug your Strat (or insert your axe here) into an amp, tweak the controls at your
whims, and make music. We're all about that. We have set out to create an amplifier that generates
great sounds, but just as important, responsive feel. You know what I mean if you've heard someone
else play an amp that sounded great, but when you played it yourself, there was something missing–
that's the feel factor.
All in all, I am very proud of what we've accomplished as a design team. I do put the emphasis on
team, because we all have depended on one another, and I personally do not care much for praise
and accolades for my individual efforts. My colleagues and superiors know how much I have
depended on them, and I want to publicly thank all of them for their patience and help. I hope that we
have properly exercised our weighty responsibility to continue the Fender tradition of innovation and
excellence.
See if your ears (and eyes) do not agree with mine that the Cyber-Twin is the best-sounding, best-
looking do-it-all guitar amplifier on the market.
J o e B ra c k m a n
,
Design Engineer– Digital Effects
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