Contact Fender Tone Support

Received my GTX50 last week. Connected to WiFi and updated firmware first thing. Then tried to connect via Bluetooth using fender tone app. Nothing, it cannot find my amp. So after spending 45 minutes doing various troubleshooting steps (turn Bluetooth on/off on the phone and amp, restart amp, restart fender tone app, force another firmware update) suddenly the app can see the amp and I can connect. Great! I thought problem was resolved. Later that night, and now every night since then, every time I want to practice I spend between 3 and 30 minutes doing a random combination of the above steps until I get lucky and suddenly the iPhone app can see the amp. Usually after at least 4-5 amp reboots. This just screams like a poor software problem. I cannot tell if it is with the app or the amp’s firmware. My device is iPhone 12 Pro. I am considering returning the amp. I have reached out to customer support. All I can say is that I would highly advise against purchasing this amp if your decision is based in part on using the Fender Tone app as a way to control it. Nothing special about my iPhone setup so I cannot believe I am the only person experiencing this.

I want to to like this app and my GTX amp, but it’s inability to connect to the amp reliably makes it a pain to use. Frequently the app cannot find the amp, and no amount of turning on and off the Bluetooth on either side would make it work. I see this issue being mentioned all over the internet yet Fender never offered a workable solution. I do know what the issue is so I’m offering it here, hopefully it will help you. But, to the developers: if you see this, please fix it ASAP! It’s a big that’s greatly cripples an otherwise great amp. The solution: your phone needs to be near the amp when you turn the amp on! Otherwise the app will not find the amp later even if the phone is already connected to the amp via Bluetooth. I haven’t tested the maximum distance for this to work, but I estimate it’s no more than a few feet. I know, it’s stupid and beyond annoying! Please fix it!

Let me start out by saying this. I am majoring in computer information technology at Purdue university, so before you assume I’m some old man who doesn’t know how to use technology, I can assure you this is not the case. On paper this app is great. It’s a revolutionary way to play your guitar with a great tone without all the hours of fine tweaking to get a better tone. However, whoever designed the Bluetooth/WiFi functionality of this app needs to be fired YESTERDAY. The app refuses to connect to your amp if you haven’t updated it which is fine, just update your amp stupid. But upon updating your amp there’s still a VERY solid chance the tone app will refuse to connect to your amp EVEN IF ITS ALREADY CONNECTED TO YOUR PHONE. This review would be totally different if this was a once in a while thing, but I’m consistently dedicating 30+ minutes every time I want to find a new tone to troubleshooting just because this app, which is literally designed for the amp I’m using(Mustang GT 100 btw), is about as reliable as dog s***. I’m not one to write reviews so the bottom line is this: I want to love this app, it’s a fantastic idea for FREE. But it’s poor network design is infuriating beyond belief. I guess you get what you pay for 🤷🏽‍♂️