King Amplification Uptown 33

I got to try this amp out in an audition room for a good twenty minutes. The amp is a hand-made 33 watt boutique amp. It has a pair of 6L6 power tubes and 12AX7 pre-amp tubes. It's rootswitchable between clean, distortion, and a parallel path that allows both the clean and OD channels to be played simultaneously. It has a tube driven long tank reverb with controls for dwell, tone, and depth. All componenents soldered around junction boxes that minimize wiring. Custom coverings, speakers, and tone adjustments based on purchasers sound specs. This is no cookie cutter amp, it's like being fitted for a fine taylored suit. I tried this amp with medium expectations and it surpassed my expectations of a great sounding amp with very little knob twiddling.

You can't get a bad tone on this amp. This amp is perfect for classic rock, blues, country, and jazz. As said above, you need very little knob twiddling to get an outstanding tone. The amp has a clean that shimmers and yet has ton of body. The reverb just adds to that great tone with having the 3 seperate controls. Once you go to the distortion channel, you realize that the bottom and mids are still there in spades! It doesn't get weak or high pitched. You maintain your original tone with a beautiful distortion added in. It's a medium high gain amp. If you're a metal head, it's probably not for you, however, if you enjoy a wide palette of clean and classic overdrive tones, you're in for a treat. The amp is very quiet at idle and has loads of volume in those 33 watts. I've been looking for an amp that has tone and simplicity and this appears to be the one for me.

It's built military tuff, literally. The amp was designed around very tough junction boxes that were used in applications like old radios, scopes and the like. It is designed for night after night of heavy use.

The company, King Amplification, is owned/operated by Val King, who has been in the business of amp repair and is an authorized service facility for many major manufacturers, including Fender, G&K, Peavey, and Mesa. He and his dedicated technicians are in the business for the long haul and are musicians, as well. They know both tone and technical aspects of an amplifier. Val is very friendly and loves to talk about amps in general and will take the time to explain his amps in detail. He and his crew have offered me some very helpful insight on repairs and mods for other amps that have needed attention. You're not just a number in his shop. The warranty period is 3 years for his amps.

I've been playing longer than my skills would reveal. I'm a semi-serious hobbyist and I enjoy trying different products that would improve my tone. I own a couple of Mesa Boogies and have gone through a string of other amps over the years. I am seriously saving up for one of these amps. I think that it is worth the extra money for being able to work with the designer to personalize your tone and for the fit and finish that this amp affords. If you know what you want in tone, it's a lifetime investment. Great tone doesn't go out of style.

Two channel switching, clean and dirty. All tube, 12AX7 preamp and 6L6GC power-amp. Single 12??? Jensen P19, speaker selection customized to buyers request. Built-in reverb. Cool white LED on footswitch and front panel, color of LED can be switch to users preference. Power rated at 33 watts. Baltic birch cabinet construction. Rear external speaker jack, switch selectable to 4 or 8 ohm. Point to point wiring, using special wiring metal cages, no PCB boards. Unique parallel circuitry for both channel, foot switch activated.

The clean channel is capable of producing country twangy sound, crystal clear shimmering sound, to a bluesy SRV with very slight overdriven tone. The clean channel has a volume control and three tone knobs, and one master volume to control the final output. The channel is controlled by one master volume channel. The tone controls are very responsive. The tone is clean all the way to 9 of the volume setting, a slight overdriven comes in at 10.
The dirty channel has a gain control, volume control, three tone controls, and the final master volume. Turning the gain knob, you can get infinite combination from a slight bluesy tone to crunchy to overdriven tone. The amp is responsive and a quick backoff of my guitar volume knob and the tone cleans up nicely.
A cool feature is the parallel mode where both the clean and dirty channel are playing simulataneously.
Three more knobs dedicated to the reverb.

No pc-board, birch cabinet, top quality components. Well built. It appears it can handle the grueling road of a tour.

I am lucky enough to live in the same area as the designer of the amplifier. I have met the designer and builder, Val King. He stands behind his amplifier. He can tweak the amp to the user desire at no extra cost after the initial purchase.

Great sounding boutique amp. If you want your tone to stand out and be different, here is an amp worth looking into.