I bought one of these 18 months ago and will never get rid of it. The tones are silly good; the amp is very versatile; and the attenuator is great for real-world usage. It keeps up with a band fine, though I'm not talking about a 5-piece army of savage riffage. Absolutely worth the money.
after one of my amps bit the dust.......I just went nuts and got the beautiful tweed version of this...............now I'm skint, but it was worth it. A real killer and the best amp ever owned including DR Z's Fenders, marshalls, old ac30's , musicmans etc etc. I have to add that I had a couple of technical questions and emailed toneking........Mark Bartel himself took the trouble to send some very detailed responses in person....the guy is a genius and a gentleman.
I have a Tone king Imperial Mk 1 that Mark Bartell went through and refreshed before I purchased it. What an extraordinary amplifier! One of my favorites and I've had some of the best including Tweed Fenders a Blackface '65 Pro Reverb a Blackface '66 Super Reverb, and a AC30 s Etc. This amplifier reminds me of my beautiful 65 Pro Reverb in that it has those beautiful rich overtones and breaks up just wonderfully! I think it's the finest quote-unquote Boutique amp out there! The only thing that I've done to the app is put in a pair of NOS grey bottle RCA power tubes and I replaced the speaker with a Gold Celestion alnico that just sounds killer!
Get a 70s silverface deluxe or Princeton, or champ -whatever wattage you'll be able to crank it, and when you need hit it with a boss eq pedal with whatever frequencies you like pushed up for gain. If you get a champ consider swapping out the speaker for a 10 inch weber or celestion
The attenuator is a very cool feature. Especially for the studio or going from a bigger club to a smaller one, and still being able to retain the 'tubey goodness'.
I'm thinking about getting one now. However I'm wondering if there is a MKIII version coming very soon since MKII was released in 2016. They just updted the Royalist, so maybe this is next. I'd hate to purchase and then miss out on any new features.
I think the imperial is better. Injave the grande. Its good but the imperial wowed me at first which is why i got the grande. I love it but the imperial really packed it home for me the mkii
Hello, great demo! I have one question: how does this compare to Falcon Grande? Because both are 20W + attenuator, 2 or 3 channels... It also confuses me that you say that the leed channel is tweed style in the Imperial, while the FC has both tweed and lead... Thank you!
Excellent demo, thanks. I tried one of these in Nashville last year, and thought it was superb. Matt a Dizengoff Audio turned me on to this, I believe you were using his preamp here?
Very cool! We hadn't yet received the Dizengoff preamp for the filming of this video, but starting with this week's releases, you'll be hearing it in our videos. Thanks for watching Martin John Butler !
Not nearly enough time on the clean sound. And how about using guitars that more people play, LP's ok but a Fano? I want to know what a Telecaster sounds like through this amp!
I've never understood the concept of doing amp demos with the least common weird guitar brands that likely few to none of the people watching will actually end up playing through the amp. I mean, LP with a Bigsby, ok a little off center but not so bad- but a Fano? WTF? Ever consider letting us hear it with a plain LP, Strat, Tele, etc? Lol No one is impressed that a guy doing a demo for a company can get his hands on a fancy instrument. We want to know how it will sound with OUR guitars, or at least as close to it as possible. That's my opinion. Thanks.
Thanks Noah Hershkop , that lead channel is definitely a LEAD channel, and is great for fizzy fuzzy rhythm riffs. And the rhythm channel cranked gets some great classic overdrive.
I don't think it is and this is what gives me pause about this particular amp. Have to get two, which if they weren't so expensive would be my way forward. First world problems I know.
I'm using a deluxe reverb on stage now and loud enough on 5 keeping it clean. Will this stay clean say for a small to moderate club say set around 5 or 6. Thanks Rich
+rickostrat3 If you're mic'ed at all, you shouldn't have a problem either way. If you're not mic'ed it should be loud enough at 3-4 and the attenuator turned all the way up. Though it does of course depend how loud your drummer is! ;)
at its price range, and its market aim, why not pack in an AlNiCo speaker? doesnt make sense i wouldnt use a ceramic speaker of any kind with this amp.
If I was going to spend that kind of coin on an amp, I would spend a little more and get stereo (and a better sound IMO). Here's the same guy demo'ing the Magnatone Stereo Twilighter... 2 x 20w. ruclips.net/video/9pJcjVzIPZQ/видео.html. I'm not crazy about the 1960s aethetics but man that thing sounds good.
All it means is “high fidelity”. Which means it reproduces the sound source with accuracy and low noise. His use of it was not the best word choice, but it was hardly off-the-wall for referring to an amp known for its cleans.
It's a nice amp but just get a real fender Deluxe reverb & a good dirt pedal & your set. For way less $ . I own many boutique amps . Nothing beats the real thing. You want the original tone? Get the original : marshall, Fender, Vox, ect.
We love the big guns, but many distinctive wonders are sometimes found when eating gelato from the corner store instead of getting a tub of Dean's. Reverb Parable of the day, grasshoppers. :) Thanks for watching surf247365 !
Amp sounds great clean. Not so much any other way. I'm sure it's very good, but the majority of the price is the built in attenuator. Too much money for what you get. Friedman amps are better, but not getting as nice cleans. That seems to be where this amp shines. Not trying to sound negative, but overpriced and overrated.
It sounded great until he played cinnamon girl. I think it was just clipping the mic. I hope that was the problem. I spent alot on a Supro amp, played one gig, brought it right back. Sounded like a fart when pushed. Very disappointing.
I bought one of these 18 months ago and will never get rid of it. The tones are silly good; the amp is very versatile; and the attenuator is great for real-world usage. It keeps up with a band fine, though I'm not talking about a 5-piece army of savage riffage. Absolutely worth the money.
The amp sounds fantastic but the music and its execution are simply excellent ! Thanks !
after one of my amps bit the dust.......I just went nuts and got the beautiful tweed version of this...............now I'm skint, but it was worth it. A real killer and the best amp ever owned including DR Z's Fenders, marshalls, old ac30's , musicmans etc etc. I have to add that I had a couple of technical questions and emailed toneking........Mark Bartel himself took the trouble to send some very detailed responses in person....the guy is a genius and a gentleman.
what does "skint" mean?
@@cardbored_ google is your best friend.
@@cardbored_ (of a person) having little or no money available
never hear anyone playing Yes in amp demos, sounds great!
One of my holy grail amps.
I have a Tone king Imperial Mk 1 that Mark Bartell went through and refreshed before I purchased it. What an extraordinary amplifier! One of my favorites and I've had some of the best including Tweed Fenders a Blackface '65 Pro Reverb a Blackface '66 Super Reverb, and a AC30 s Etc. This amplifier reminds me of my beautiful 65 Pro Reverb in that it has those beautiful rich overtones and breaks up just wonderfully! I think it's the finest quote-unquote Boutique amp out there! The only thing that I've done to the app is put in a pair of NOS grey bottle RCA power tubes and I replaced the speaker with a Gold Celestion alnico that just sounds killer!
This sounds so good. Might go buy myself a lottery ticket..
go live with your parents for 2 months and then you can buy it
that's what im doing
Get a 70s silverface deluxe or Princeton, or champ -whatever wattage you'll be able to crank it, and when you need hit it with a boss eq pedal with whatever frequencies you like pushed up for gain. If you get a champ consider swapping out the speaker for a 10 inch weber or celestion
Stunning amp and cool playing!
Also cool to hear you mention the long forgotten Grant Green
Yes good to mention Grant Green (not forgotten in my house!) but he had me from the opening with the first line from Stella By Starlight
the good old "Long Distance Runaround" :) Thanks for it! :)
that sounds like an incredible blues / rock amp for sure!!! great demonstration, love that attenuator as well :)
The attenuator is a very cool feature. Especially for the studio or going from a bigger club to a smaller one, and still being able to retain the 'tubey goodness'.
Freakin "Beachwood Park" - awesome.
I dig your playing a lot man
Nice that the built in attenuator gives you the same amp tone & crunch at lower volume without your neighbors calling the cops for noise complaints.
Long distance runaround!? Haha that's friggin awesome. Great amp also.
Pretty sure Keb Mo was playing one of these when I saw him last week, sounded amazing.
Good on you for including Oh Well in there.
im in love. that amp ...it's....amazing
Great playing and incredible sounds. What a great amp.
It seems to me that this amp "does it all". Confirm/deny?
Confirm
Reverb hey there - I’m strongly considering buying a 60s black face deluxe reverb but now that I’ve seen this I’m torn. What would you do?
If you like shit amp tone. lol
@@Reverb
Tone down the head bopping. You look like a dude from the 80s pop scene.
@@randallabracadabra that last section he played was awful. I would never want that coming out of my amp lol
Really beautiful & tasteful playing. Lovely demo.
Thank you for saying so, Realfi
Wow! I have finally found my new amp. Amazing!!
Connor Ferrand It's a great choice!
Wow. I want this real hard now...this will be my next amp. Time to start saving change.
Did you end up getting one? Thinking about it.
Kudos for demoing with Long Distance Runaround.
Beechwood Park with the trem is so sick
Beechwood Park, glorious. Great demo.
Any fan of the Zombies is a friend of ours, Thayer McClanahan
Tastiest amp demo EVER !
Thanks +David Espinosa!
Where did you get the transcription of "Beechwood Park"?
Brilliant demo, and I love YES too!
I'm thinking about getting one now. However I'm wondering if there is a MKIII version coming very soon since MKII was released in 2016. They just updted the Royalist, so maybe this is next. I'd hate to purchase and then miss out on any new features.
i'm in the same position, I am waiting on word of the Mk3 as well
What a awesome amp
wow... when these guys heard other brands definition of clean they definitly said "Hold my beer" , cus thats CLEAN lol
It should be noted that saturation is directly proportional to head movement ;} Great playing. Great demo. Great amp
Was on the fence with this amp. Cinnamon Girl fucking sold me. Thanks dude. Neil's tone is God's tone.
I'm really really stuck between this or the Falcon Grande.... any help guys?
I think the imperial is better. Injave the grande. Its good but the imperial wowed me at first which is why i got the grande. I love it but the imperial really packed it home for me the mkii
How in the world can you demo the amp sitting so close to it? “What??”
Great demo! Awesome amp!
Tone King are awesome amps, indeed! Thanks glassslide
Nice demo - I especially enjoyed "Long Distance Runaround" instead of the usual blueslicks!
Spinkled a little Cinnamon Girl on at the end!
Hello, great demo! I have one question: how does this compare to Falcon Grande? Because both are 20W + attenuator, 2 or 3 channels... It also confuses me that you say that the leed channel is tweed style in the Imperial, while the FC has both tweed and lead... Thank you!
nailed that Howe riff wow nice playing and amp
+TheNatureScapes Haha. Thanks man. Took a minute to learn that low harmony bit.
Jim Tuerk i can imagine
Excellent demo, thanks. I tried one of these in Nashville last year, and thought it was superb. Matt a Dizengoff Audio turned me on to this, I believe you were using his preamp here?
Very cool! We hadn't yet received the Dizengoff preamp for the filming of this video, but starting with this week's releases, you'll be hearing it in our videos. Thanks for watching Martin John Butler !
i think with a Jazzmaster this amp sounds great
OMG - Amazing!!! Great sounds on this video. :)
Not nearly enough time on the clean sound. And how about using guitars that more people play, LP's ok but a Fano? I want to know what a Telecaster sounds like through this amp!
+ infinity for Beechwood Park...
Not the this didn't sound amazing with a LP, but these amps were made for Strats and Teles. Nice demo.
Funny...it doesn't say that on the website
VintageTubeTone
Relax. It's not illegal.
Dog shit ! Made for whatever sounds good.
I've never understood the concept of doing amp demos with the least common weird guitar brands that likely few to none of the people watching will actually end up playing through the amp. I mean, LP with a Bigsby, ok a little off center but not so bad- but a Fano? WTF? Ever consider letting us hear it with a plain LP, Strat, Tele, etc? Lol No one is impressed that a guy doing a demo for a company can get his hands on a fancy instrument. We want to know how it will sound with OUR guitars, or at least as close to it as possible. That's my opinion. Thanks.
Yeah how dare this guy play... A guitar.
listen to the music you dummy, it’s more than selling a brand
I would have used a strat to demo this amp
Is this model still made , is it available in Canada , where , and how much approx . in Canadian $ ???
On TK website, they say the combo weights 36.2 lbs? Anybody knows whether this is true? Seems very little for an amp of this complexity.
it's true.. i picked one up and it surprised me how light it is
quite a fuzzy overdrive. very interesting take
Thanks Noah Hershkop , that lead channel is definitely a LEAD channel, and is great for fizzy fuzzy rhythm riffs. And the rhythm channel cranked gets some great classic overdrive.
Nice!
Thank you for doing a demo of this! I wasn't very impressed with it in the NAMM video, but now... Oh my holy fucking shit does that sound amazing!
Told you guys we'd try to do it justice post-NAMM, thanks Brandon !
Reverb.com You guys rawk.
I love the tone of these..but is 20w enough to stay clean with a drummer?
I don't think it is and this is what gives me pause about this particular amp. Have to get two, which if they weren't so expensive would be my way forward. First world problems I know.
Of course it is
Yes!
Trying to pick between one of these or a BadCat 15 watt Hot Cat amp.
This or a Milkman Creamer?
What model of LP is that? Great looking besides the Bigsby.
f4llens Just a Standard Les Paul with a Bigsby. We stand by the Bigsby! :)
Sky King vs imperial what is the best for you ?
Could you post the tabs for the lower harmony guitar part?
Great demo and fantastic playing
I'm using a deluxe reverb on stage now and loud enough on 5 keeping it clean. Will this stay clean say for a small to moderate club say set around 5 or 6.
Thanks
Rich
+rickostrat3 If you're mic'ed at all, you shouldn't have a problem either way. If you're not mic'ed it should be loud enough at 3-4 and the attenuator turned all the way up. Though it does of course depend how loud your drummer is! ;)
Nice Beechwood Park.
Beechwood Park topped Long Distance Runaround
Cool amp! ???? Old Zombies song?
Beechwood Park: One of the best tremolo sounds on record as far as we're concerned!
what amplifier sounds similar??
that's a monster
Im hesitate betwinn impérial and fender super reverb reissue 65 what your opinion?
this or a vibrolux. pass on the super reverb
Forget that Fender.
Anybody know the song he is playing I think it's the zombies but I don't know
He plays the song on the fano
+Dean Dixon Beechwood Park by the Zombies, from the album Odessey and Oracle.
WOW!
Does this amp come with a footswitch?
Case Candy Yes it does
Great
what song is that riff from that starts at 3:35?
+Jim James that would be "Oh Well" by Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac.
+Reverb.com AWESOME thanks !!
Let's not chat about price guys, you're going to shit your pants
Does it have an effects loop?
No
Thankfully no.
at its price range, and its market aim, why not pack in an AlNiCo speaker? doesnt make sense i wouldnt use a ceramic speaker of any kind with this amp.
And yet a company who has been using these speakers for years probably knows more than you,
"Em kay two"?
"Mick eye eye"
The Zombies!
If I was going to spend that kind of coin on an amp, I would spend a little more and get stereo (and a better sound IMO). Here's the same guy demo'ing the Magnatone Stereo Twilighter... 2 x 20w. ruclips.net/video/9pJcjVzIPZQ/видео.html. I'm not crazy about the 1960s aethetics but man that thing sounds good.
Mark doesn't own the company anymore.
The tremelo does not sound as pleasant to me as the 65 Deluxe Reverb Limited by sweetwater
I dont think this guy knows what "hi fi" means
All it means is “high fidelity”. Which means it reproduces the sound source with accuracy and low noise.
His use of it was not the best word choice, but it was hardly off-the-wall for referring to an amp known for its cleans.
BF?? , its like a million light years better than dat!
Oops, on that last demo! You must have been clipping on that sound. I hope the TK doesn’t distort that horribly; sounded like vomit.
Mine doesn't do that.
ha ha, it does sound like vomit. But I dont think thats what it's made for. he was just pushing the amp to the extremes
Expensive for an amp with heavy PCB board electronic construction.
But it's the tone you pay for.
but I did thumbs up the vid
+Wadenkrang Guttenberg hahah
It's a nice amp but just get a real fender Deluxe reverb & a good dirt pedal & your set. For way less $ .
I own many boutique amps . Nothing beats the real thing. You want the original tone? Get the original : marshall, Fender, Vox, ect.
We love the big guns, but many distinctive wonders are sometimes found when eating gelato from the corner store instead of getting a tub of Dean's. Reverb Parable of the day, grasshoppers. :) Thanks for watching surf247365 !
Amp sounds great clean. Not so much any other way. I'm sure it's very good, but the majority of the price is the built in attenuator. Too much money for what you get. Friedman amps are better, but not getting as nice cleans. That seems to be where this amp shines. Not trying to sound negative, but overpriced and overrated.
Thank you for the demo.
ugh bigsbys are like a face tattoo on a hot chick why?
+Wadenkrang Guttenberg bigsbys are the shit what are you talking about ? ! what do you like floyd rose? lolz.
Nothing wrong with a Bigsby
how in heaven did you succeed to make Imperial sound bad is beyond me.. too bad.
It sounded great until he played cinnamon girl. I think it was just clipping the mic. I hope that was the problem. I spent alot on a Supro amp, played one gig, brought it right back. Sounded like a fart when pushed. Very disappointing.