I got one of these from another guitarshop. Worth every penny. As they say it is such a musical amp. No matter what you run into it, it always sounds so good. My own little bit of Guitar Paradiso is running my old late 80's RAT into the Sky King - Glorious! You can keep your Klon's & Lazy J's!
@@malthus101 In the UK they are something like £2, 500. Only justified if you are a Pro. Eight times the cost of a good digital amp and they can produce sounds and effects this can't
Buddy Martin It’s expensive and it’s worth every penny. You should hear one turned up loud in person, not recorded in a video, or even better play one loud.
Great demo of the features. It sounds great, which shouldn't be surprising in such an expensive amp. This amp keeps the crisp attack even when it's quite overdriven.
I truly love how the sounds are so cutting and glassy on some settings. It's unique. I want one one of these days ( For now I'm almost as happy with my team : a small Laney Supercub 12 and a Blackstar HT-5... which is actually not so bad, paired with a Reverend Crosscut and a Buckshot or an Airsonic).
Thinking on getting a Falcon Grande but SkyKing is getting my attention as well Very good chaps 6L6 is my favorite American style tube But guess what ? Falcon can use them as well although really like the 5881 which is in the Friedman Dirty Shirley Falcon Grande is winning me over as the demo goes on 🙂
Expensive as heck but they are hand wired. This means it can be repaired as long as generic parts are made. Most modern amps under 1200 are surface mounted which means if something blows it will be a 50% cost to repair or just junk it. The only thing I dont care for is that it doesn't have a varnished tweed covering or something cool. I have a Falcon (little brother) and it sounds and looks fab. Think of these amps as amps you will have as long you want. A long term investment.
Humbucker Music had a black tweed version a while ago, IIRC. I lusted after it. Hard. The wiring setup and chassis design in the Sky King is really amazing actually; you should look up the gut shots.
I have a brown Sky King that we retubed with vintage tubes, and, while it sounded great before, it’s insane now. I leave it on the lead mode with the volume at 10 and tone and mid at 5, and control it from the guitar and go from a crisp clean to screaming. It’s a heavy amp, not as bad as a Twin Reverb of course, but it’s so worth it. Look around and you can find them used periodically.
That mid-bite knob does remained me of an old Boogie amp i used played. That was such a sweet amp but i had to sell it. this is the closed i heard ever since! So i'm gonna convince my wife that i need this right now!
Yeah, it's a little like the Boogie mid (which is also a gain past midway) -- there's a little more perceived gain since it's rolling up the high mids.
Any chance you could review the Tone King Falcon. It's smaller, simpler and also more affordable than the others you've reviewed. I'm really keen to know how you think it compares to the others you've reviewed. Fantastic playing as usual, really comprehensive review. I fall into the category of people who shouldn't try one of these!
I would think they they are pretty close to the PBG-era, but I believe there are some changes - no longer hand wired, no longer in a pine cabinet, different speaker?
Sounds like a properly modded brown face/black face Fender Bassman amp...remember them? For adjustable attenuation I just use about an 8 oz. white ceramic wire wound rheostat on the speaker.
@@pianoworld89 If I do go with the Imperial I might go with the head and use my 4/10 tweed cabinet or an old Vox 2/12 w Alnico gold's (actually Oxfords..they did that to save on shipping in 73) but a nice single 12 would be just fine No ext spk out in the Imperial combo
If you reviewed more equiptment rather then just guitar and bass that would be awesome! Even if its just general things like PA speakers and mixers and such like that! Love the set and great vids keep up the good work! :)
Ehm, no. The modes are Ultralinear and Pentode. The amp may be in triode mode for ultralinear, but ultralinear means something specific that you should look up.
Ultralinear is mostly tied to the output transformer wiring, not whether the tubes are wired triode or pentode. www.guitarplayer.com/gear/1012/review-tone-king-sky-king-and-20th-anniversary-imperial-le/25711
I have one and I don't believe it switches between rectifier types - it does switch between a Pentode & Ultralinear mode that give two different feels. The Pentode mode is more of a Blackface Fender feel with snappier, crisp response, and the Utralinear mode has rounder, warmer highs & a greasier oldschool feel to it, more like old Valco/Supro amps.
sounds a lot like my twin with a jhs tube screamer modded on low gain in front of it. is the guitar volume turned down on this cos the amp sounded slightly weak in comparison with other tone kings?
1. petes eyebrows arent perfectly symmetrical. 2. mid boost drive preamp which is unintuitive. 3. That tone has fizz which you werent expecting peace out
"Honey, my tube amp is too quiet for bedroom practice"... you may be the first person in the world to have said that. ;-) In person it's not too quiet at all, and it's adjustable so I'm not sure why it would be a drawback to begin with?
So I switch it to lowest with it all cranked ,the dog farts and I can't hear it ......my actual point was I think the guitar volume may have been down , or some other volume killing ".............the tones are amazing, priced outa my league
no it's because you have a certain volume on your speakers, and on youtube, and they have that on their mics etc. the volume gets tweaked a lot through out the process before you hear it. when Pete says I can talk over it is what you should compare it with.
I don't know you guys. If I'm being brutally honest I'm not hearing too much here to get excited about. One can easily dial in at least as nice a clean sound out of a RI Deluxe Reverb. Stick a nicer speaker in the Fender and throw a couple good pedals into the mix and voila: a comparable sound for thousands less. It's a beautifully made amp with a ton of quality features and components and is no doubt worth the high price tag but you can come close to the end result here for much less cash.
Scott. Even with the "HD" setting, YT audio suffers from a noticeable reduction in sample rate, bit depth, and dynamic range. So, IMHO, I don't think the listeners (eg. us, and others) have a chance in hell of hearing the subtle blooming, the complex harmonics that create 'movement' in each note, and all the other 'mojo' that comes with a hand-wired, properly-designed, well-constructed tube amp (that's played by excellent guitar players). Having owned tube amps that were the same calibre of the Sky King (but possessing nowhere near the talent these chaps have! lol), I can attest to the fact that no pedal or modeling amp can perfectly replicate the gloriously addictive tone & ''mojo' that of a true boutique amp produces. Does that mean that your suggestion for a more affordable alternative is irrelevant? I would day, Not at all!". Unless a guitarist with a boutique amp uses it for top-quality studio recording, and/or uses it in solo or small combo performances, most of the subtle 'mojo' will never be heard by the listeners/audience. Consequently, the set-up you suggested makes a lot of sense for the gigging pro musician & is totally appropriate for mere mortals like you & I who cannot afford true boutique amps like this Sky King. In fact, I bet that there are pro guitarists in pro bands who own premium quality boutique amps or well-maintained vintage amps, however they only use their boutique/vintage amp to record in top grade pro studios & use it at home while practicing/writing (the superb tone probably is quite inspiring & motivating). However when they're playing shows & travelling on the road, they would use a substitute amp and/or a quality modelling pre-amp, (eg. AxeFxII, Line 6 Helix, Kemper, etc etc) Cheers
I've had a Sky King, and it was great....but it really doesn't compare to an ACTUAL Fender if you want 'that' sound. The Sky King's low end is too tight, and it seems to have a hard-wired bright cap (no good). I have a Super Reverb now and couldn't be happier.
Scott Matheson PLAY one in person & you'll hear & feel the difference. If you, then cannot hear the difference... well, you just don't have the ears & should, indeed stick to a DRRI.
It's Volume, Treble, Bass on clean and Volume, Tone, and Mid-Bite on dirty. Very simple and the amp is so touch sensitive that you never need to tweak it once you find the sweet spots -- just adjust the attenuators for each situation. If you have success gigging a one-knob tweed, good on ya...
Lol, okay, if you're trolling, good on ya. If not... you're worried about three knobs per channel on a Sky King when you regularly use a Kemper? Wot!? X-)
Im not disputing this is a nice Amp,but for my needs the Kemper is more suitable. Its cheaper.....sounds great with my two QSC112 cabs. Its light-portable,and for me the most important thing is the ability to pre-set the sounds therefore theres no fiddling on stage "perfect"! Fractal Axefx 2 is another good choice albeit a different ball game.Try one and you will be blown away. Cheers.
Tone King or Two Rocks? Need a head amp only for bedroom use only only so 15-20 watts ish. Clean, warm... think Dire Straits or Richard Hawley. Any suggestioñes?
To be fair, I haven’t played a Two Rock, but I can honestly say that every Tone King amp I’ve tried is sonic gold. For strictly ‘bedroom/apartment’ play, the Tone King Gremlin is an absolute gem; however, it is only 5 watts and so lacks headroom. The Imperial or Sky King are probably your best bets, especially with the IronMan attenuator - crank it to get your sound and cut the output volume with the IronMan. Good luck with your choice!
Can’t you get vintage US made point to point amps for that price? My Alamo was $300 and sounds sweet. Gotta send it in for a three prong, a new volume pot and maybe caps? But, it works just fine now! All original 67.
It’s not clearly said but the rhythm channel sounds like a blackface and the lead channel sounds like a tweed. I run my lead volume at 10, tone and mid-bite at noon, and control the clean to scream from the guitar volume. And at 10 it distorts very nicely.
The concept of Mick CONSTANTLY tuning knobs makes me mad. I have the amp and can say the attenuators sound shit - plus, when you switch channels you hear a loud plop when one is attenuated and the other not. Unusable. And the Reverb ain’t great either. Overall sound great though as clean amp.
these demo's that are done where there's most talking and joking around with each other and barely get to hear the product, are of little use or value to anyone. come on guys, give us the goods, some brief info, keep your opinions short, of course you're going to talk the amp up, and LETS HEAR THE AMP !!!
I got one of these from another guitarshop. Worth every penny. As they say it is such a musical amp. No matter what you run into it, it always sounds so good.
My own little bit of Guitar Paradiso is running my old late 80's RAT into the Sky King - Glorious!
You can keep your Klon's & Lazy J's!
Well said 👍
Every time i hear a Tone King amp i just say damn that sounds amazing
the Rolls Royce of amps
Got one, absolutely the best amp in the world...will be with me forever...worth every penny!
Did you sell it yet? :)
@@malthus101 In the UK they are something like £2, 500. Only justified if you are a Pro. Eight times the cost of a good digital amp and they can produce sounds and effects this can't
I spent 14 hours plugged straight into my SkyKing today with just a Tele.......and I’m going to sleep very content.
...Fair enough ! But Isn't it something that can damage the amp after 14 hours of non-stop working ?
What a great sounding amp. Every different tone sounded amazing and I really love the attenuator -but- Damn! It just costs so much!
Buddy Martin It’s expensive and it’s worth every penny. You should hear one turned up loud in person, not recorded in a video, or even better play one loud.
This is my favorite Tone King Amp. Every thing your will ever need.
Great demo of the features. It sounds great, which shouldn't be surprising in such an expensive amp. This amp keeps the crisp attack even when it's quite overdriven.
Great amp, great playing, lovely Tele & fabulous tones from both of you, nice :)
My oh my. Some seriously grown up tones here. Absolutely killer.
one of your best videos yet! i' d wish that you show the knob changes in the blackstar video...
These are wonderful amps. Big, tight, low end. Very sweet tone.
Love the Guitar Paradiso reviews. Keep up the good work!
YEAH!! Mick AND Pete are back! =)
Agreed! I like Mick and Pete together best.
I love how Pete always gets such a kick out of Mick playing the Chet-style licks.
I literally said 'ohw yes' out loud on the first chord. Great sounds, guys!
got that right !!
It's always a pleasure listening to Danish Pete - He always brings home the bacon & his playing is mighty tasty!
"...something to with how the grids and plates work". Clearly we have seen the extent of Mick's knowledge of amp engineering!!!
I truly love how the sounds are so cutting and glassy on some settings. It's unique. I want one one of these days ( For now I'm almost as happy with my team : a small Laney Supercub 12 and a Blackstar HT-5... which is actually not so bad, paired with a Reverend Crosscut and a Buckshot or an Airsonic).
Thinking on getting a Falcon Grande but SkyKing is getting my attention as well Very good chaps 6L6 is my favorite American style tube But guess what ? Falcon can use them as well although really like the 5881 which is in the Friedman Dirty Shirley Falcon Grande is winning me over as the demo goes on 🙂
Expensive as heck but they are hand wired. This means it can be repaired as long as generic parts are made. Most modern amps under 1200 are surface mounted which means if something blows it will be a 50% cost to repair or just junk it. The only thing I dont care for is that it doesn't have a varnished tweed covering or something cool. I have a Falcon (little brother) and it sounds and looks fab. Think of these amps as amps you will have as long you want. A long term investment.
Humbucker Music had a black tweed version a while ago, IIRC. I lusted after it. Hard. The wiring setup and chassis design in the Sky King is really amazing actually; you should look up the gut shots.
Black tweed. No, I wasn't aware of that at all. Thank You.
You can order a Sky King in quite a few coverings....have one on the way in a brown gator skin.
I have a brown Sky King that we retubed with vintage tubes, and, while it sounded great before, it’s insane now. I leave it on the lead mode with the volume at 10 and tone and mid at 5, and control it from the guitar and go from a crisp clean to screaming. It’s a heavy amp, not as bad as a Twin Reverb of course, but it’s so worth it. Look around and you can find them used periodically.
Wait till u see bartel amps he makes. Spectacular
That mid-bite knob does remained me of an old Boogie amp i used played. That was such a sweet amp but i had to sell it. this is the closed i heard ever since! So i'm gonna convince my wife that i need this right now!
Yeah, it's a little like the Boogie mid (which is also a gain past midway) -- there's a little more perceived gain since it's rolling up the high mids.
2:06 All Pete is missing is a glass of wine.
That bass response is unreal
Beautiful amp and great players
That tele is beautiful.
I'm born, raised, and live in Nashville, Tn and that was the best, worst accent I've heard. Keep up the amazing work Pete and Mick!
Any chance you could review the Tone King Falcon. It's smaller, simpler and also more affordable than the others you've reviewed. I'm really keen to know how you think it compares to the others you've reviewed. Fantastic playing as usual, really comprehensive review. I fall into the category of people who shouldn't try one of these!
I have a 2020 Skyking - I know Mark B left but I have read all over that these amps are just as good or better now, but Im not so sure.
I would think they they are pretty close to the PBG-era, but I believe there are some changes - no longer hand wired, no longer in a pine cabinet, different speaker?
Love these guys videos.
Really love that Tele!
okay Danish Pete wins the most awesome collection of shirts contest, its been decided!
Pete has no bandages on his body, must have been a good week. Love the Tele, the color is sick.
Damn Mick! that Tele is next on my list! Love that Mike Bloomfield steeze!
Gotta love that spinal tap reference, except it goes the other way "Its one less, innit"
Sounds like a properly modded brown face/black face Fender Bassman amp...remember them? For adjustable attenuation I just use about an 8 oz. white ceramic wire wound rheostat on the speaker.
Great video but what i dont understand is you have a great attenuator here why didnt you just cranked it ?
How are your ribs doing Pete?
A comparison between the SkyKing and the Imperial MK2 would be great!!
I am absolutely torn between these two. Please help me out! I mainly play guitar in my Apartment
@@pianoworld89 I'm leaning towards the Falcon Grande myself Don't under estimate it plus it can run on 6l6s like the SkyKing
I took the Imperial and won't ever regret it
@@pianoworld89 If I do go with the Imperial I might go with the head and use my 4/10 tweed cabinet or an old Vox 2/12 w Alnico gold's (actually Oxfords..they did that to save on shipping in 73) but a nice single 12 would be just fine No ext spk out in the Imperial combo
I've never used an attenuator and fortunately these Ironman circuits seem to be the right stuff
danish pete seems to like that new sterling musicman guitar
Is this the best combo real world money can buy? I think it may be.
I have one and it’s wonderful. The sound is killer.
If you reviewed more equiptment rather then just guitar and bass that would be awesome! Even if its just general things like PA speakers and mixers and such like that! Love the set and great vids keep up the good work! :)
Epic
Gibson Parker Flive.
great , thank you
Tone King, Bad Cat, Carr, Morgan...so many great amps so little money. LOL Great video guys.
Magnatone, BludoTone
Ultra linear is to use the tube in pentode mode as opposed to triode.
Ehm, no. The modes are Ultralinear and Pentode. The amp may be in triode mode for ultralinear, but ultralinear means something specific that you should look up.
Ultralinear is mostly tied to the output transformer wiring, not whether the tubes are wired triode or pentode. www.guitarplayer.com/gear/1012/review-tone-king-sky-king-and-20th-anniversary-imperial-le/25711
What an amazing amp. I'll have to save up for awhile get one though((.
Like the idea of Celestions and the Fender circuit Take a Bassman into a 4/12 cab is glorious I'm seriously considering the Falcon Grande myself
hi i swear my fiesta red strat must have been sprayed using the same tin of paint as the MM the color looks just like it it's crazy how close it is.
Switch between the type of rectifier? Ahhh... more brands should do this.
I have one and I don't believe it switches between rectifier types - it does switch between a Pentode & Ultralinear mode that give two different feels. The Pentode mode is more of a Blackface Fender feel with snappier, crisp response, and the Utralinear mode has rounder, warmer highs & a greasier oldschool feel to it, more like old Valco/Supro amps.
You can’t switch the rectifier. I have one.
sounds a lot like my twin with a jhs tube screamer modded on low gain in front of it. is the guitar volume turned down on this cos the amp sounded slightly weak in comparison with other tone kings?
Really cool tube amp
That switch is like choosing a Black Face or Tweed fellows
You guys could name it the ES33Fly maybe? :)
that extra two seconds of silence before the intro crept me out...
The McPete ES-33Fly... where do I send my deposit??
Am I the only one who thinks Mick looks like Tom Cruise?
Seriously, great video as always
Vaguely. His nose isn't big enough.
+Maafa 1619 Woo big man
+Maafa 1619
Leave.
one of the rare occasions danish smoked a reefer instead of a baggie before the vid 🤣
When will we see chappers and the captain reviewing your new REVEREND stock?
King Sky King!
that tremolo is overpowering
2 things that made me feel some type of way in this video:
1. Pete's Eyebrows after the intro jam
2. That mid bite control
Oh and 3. That tone at 20:32
1. petes eyebrows arent perfectly symmetrical.
2. mid boost drive preamp which is unintuitive.
3. That tone has fizz which you werent expecting
peace out
Their new guitar name: es33fly
The full attenuated low volume was way to low.........imo.....was the volume down on the guitar ? Oopsie....
"Honey, my tube amp is too quiet for bedroom practice"... you may be the first person in the world to have said that. ;-) In person it's not too quiet at all, and it's adjustable so I'm not sure why it would be a drawback to begin with?
So I switch it to lowest with it all cranked ,the dog farts and I can't hear it ......my actual point was I think the guitar volume may have been down , or some other volume killing ".............the tones are amazing, priced outa my league
no it's because you have a certain volume on your speakers, and on youtube, and they have that on their mics etc. the volume gets tweaked a lot through out the process before you hear it. when Pete says I can talk over it is what you should compare it with.
I don't know you guys. If I'm being brutally honest I'm not hearing too much here to get excited about. One can easily dial in at least as nice a clean sound out of a RI Deluxe Reverb. Stick a nicer speaker in the Fender and throw a couple good pedals into the mix and voila: a comparable sound for thousands less. It's a beautifully made amp with a ton of quality features and components and is no doubt worth the high price tag but you can come close to the end result here for much less cash.
Scott. Even with the "HD" setting, YT audio suffers from a noticeable reduction in sample rate, bit depth, and dynamic range. So, IMHO, I don't think the listeners (eg. us, and others) have a chance in hell of hearing the subtle blooming, the complex harmonics that create 'movement' in each note, and all the other 'mojo' that comes with a hand-wired, properly-designed, well-constructed tube amp (that's played by excellent guitar players). Having owned tube amps that were the same calibre of the Sky King (but possessing nowhere near the talent these chaps have! lol), I can attest to the fact that no pedal or modeling amp can perfectly replicate the gloriously addictive tone & ''mojo' that of a true boutique amp produces.
Does that mean that your suggestion for a more affordable alternative is irrelevant? I would day,
Not at all!". Unless a guitarist with a boutique amp uses it for top-quality studio recording, and/or uses it in solo or small combo performances, most of the subtle 'mojo' will never be heard by the listeners/audience. Consequently, the set-up you suggested makes a lot of sense for the gigging pro musician & is totally appropriate for mere mortals like you & I who cannot afford true boutique amps like this Sky King. In fact, I bet that there are pro guitarists in pro bands who own premium quality boutique amps or well-maintained vintage amps, however they only use their boutique/vintage amp to record in top grade pro studios & use it at home while practicing/writing (the superb tone probably is quite inspiring & motivating). However when they're playing shows & travelling on the road, they would use a substitute amp and/or a quality modelling pre-amp, (eg. AxeFxII, Line 6 Helix, Kemper, etc etc)
Cheers
Very nicely stated Derek.
I've had a Sky King, and it was great....but it really doesn't compare to an ACTUAL Fender if you want 'that' sound. The Sky King's low end is too tight, and it seems to have a hard-wired bright cap (no good). I have a Super Reverb now and couldn't be happier.
Scott Matheson PLAY one in person & you'll hear & feel the difference. If you, then cannot hear the difference... well, you just don't have the ears & should, indeed stick to a DRRI.
do a demo of gremlin please. by Tone king
Great Amp for recording........but i imagine there would be too much fiddling with the knobs on a Gig. Way too expensive !
It's Volume, Treble, Bass on clean and Volume, Tone, and Mid-Bite on dirty. Very simple and the amp is so touch sensitive that you never need to tweak it once you find the sweet spots -- just adjust the attenuators for each situation. If you have success gigging a one-knob tweed, good on ya...
I forgot to mention........I play in a Covers Band and need lots of variation! and NO,i dont use a Fender Champ.....I use a Kemper.
Lol, okay, if you're trolling, good on ya. If not... you're worried about three knobs per channel on a Sky King when you regularly use a Kemper? Wot!? X-)
Im not disputing this is a nice Amp,but for my needs the Kemper is more suitable. Its cheaper.....sounds great with my two QSC112 cabs. Its light-portable,and for me the most important thing is the ability to pre-set the sounds therefore theres no fiddling on stage "perfect"! Fractal Axefx 2 is another good choice albeit a different ball game.Try one and you will be blown away. Cheers.
@@tonykoziol9052 line 6 POD in a toaster
Tone King or Two Rocks? Need a head amp only for bedroom use only only so 15-20 watts ish.
Clean, warm... think Dire Straits or Richard Hawley.
Any suggestioñes?
To be fair, I haven’t played a Two Rock, but I can honestly say that every Tone King amp I’ve tried is sonic gold. For strictly ‘bedroom/apartment’ play, the Tone King Gremlin is an absolute gem; however, it is only 5 watts and so lacks headroom. The Imperial or Sky King are probably your best bets, especially with the IronMan attenuator - crank it to get your sound and cut the output volume with the IronMan.
Good luck with your choice!
@@jerryhorton5708 I wish they made a Sky King head... I bet they do sometime.... Thanks
malthus101 - Tone King does make the Imperial as a head only. Miles of smiles with 6V6 goodness!
@@malthus101 -You and me both, brother...
Damnit Pete get off the knobs
Can you do sounds like U2? would be super hard!
No it wouldn't :p
stack two delays in front of clean amp
How to sound like U2: ruclips.net/video/H8dZwXnMrRU/видео.html
to get a range of tones across their career it would be. But i'm thinking a AC15 and Squier 70s strat for the classic tone
just a clean amp, cheap strat, two delays (or one that can do dotted eights + quarter), and a compressor maybe.
hello!
2nd Comment. I'm special...
like all tone kings amazing cleans ....shitty dirt.....every time
Why would I buy an amp that's one softer? That makes no sense!
2 grand, wow.
3
Can’t you get vintage US made point to point amps for that price? My Alamo was $300 and sounds sweet. Gotta send it in for a three prong, a new volume pot and maybe caps? But, it works just fine now! All original 67.
Bad sound compression in tail at all guitar parts.
Titov Stas It's not a compression thing. It's a cross fade between the mic on the amp speaker and the mic in the room for them speaking.
It’s not clearly said but the rhythm channel sounds like a blackface and the lead channel sounds like a tweed. I run my lead volume at 10, tone and mid-bite at noon, and control the clean to scream from the guitar volume. And at 10 it distorts very nicely.
The concept of Mick CONSTANTLY tuning knobs makes me mad. I have the amp and can say the attenuators sound shit - plus, when you switch channels you hear a loud plop when one is attenuated and the other not. Unusable. And the Reverb ain’t great either. Overall sound great though as clean amp.
You must have a dud
when its not Mick and Dan its just not right.
where is dan
Brock Adcock Wrong show, brah.
these demo's that are done where there's most talking and joking around with each other and barely get to hear the product, are of little use or value to anyone. come on guys, give us the goods, some brief info, keep your opinions short, of course you're going to talk the amp up, and LETS HEAR THE AMP !!!
Beautiful amp and great players