Tone King Comet 40A 112 Combo

2 channels: Lead "Tweed" and Blackface "Rhythym". the Lead channel only can be cut to 20 Watts (from 40). Reverb and an effects loop (which I haven't used and don't expect to soon). The blackface channel stays clean at any volume I can use - the tweed is fine at 20 Watts too. I've only had to use the tweed at 40 watts in a huge room where it was kind of a fluke that I wasn't miked. The only feature I'd add is making the half power accessible from the amp and not the footswitch (since I rarely need full power tweed I have to plug the footswitch in all the time, even if I'm doing the whole gig on tweed)

I've used this amp on jazz, aggressive rock, and r&b gigs and it's been perfect every time.

I've used this with a 335 and a Strat. The clean tone is huge and three dimensional (better with the 335). I've never had a problem with headroom. The tweed lead tone is aggressive and musical without being harsh (beautiful with both). Very quiet - you can dime the lead channel and hear some hiss, but nothing offensive.

2 months of gigging isn't enough to speak on, but the construction is beautiful and it feels great. There's a fan blowing on the tubes to keep them cooler (though some may like the tone as they overheat)

In NYC I don't have the luxury of carrying around a backup, but I feel 100% secure with this guy.

I bought this amp used and Tone King was still happy to answer questions about replacement tubes, a recommended Cordura cover, and I'm sure anything else.

I expect this to be my #1 amp for the rest of my life. The clean tone is magnificent - and I believe alot of the credit goes to the cabinet design. It fills up the whole room - and it's a 1*12!!! Major bonus for NYC subway travel - only 40 pounds. I don't mind that I get comment after comment on how beautiful it looks too.

I checked out alot of amps that could cover jazz and rock territory - Carr Slant 6V, Dr. Z Mazerati and Z-28, Matchless Clubman, Bruno Underground and Cowtippers, Fender Vibrolux and Bassman, Vox Valvetronix - and this was a hands down winner. The Bruno Cowtipper 22 was just about equal on tone and vibe - but didn't have the clean headroom I need with a jazz trio (not that the overdrive wasn't gorgeous).

I'd buy one again - maybe a Meteor with tremolo - but my best bet would be a used Comet, as the new Meteors cost twice as much.

UsedComet 40, You know the details,but I will review, 2 channel 40 watt combo, lead channel is 40 watt that can be cut in half by a foot switch, is voiced after a tweed or bassman tone,lead has one tone and a mid bite knob, turn the mid bite up to 3 o'clock at 20 watts and this baby screams!! clean channel has one of the tightest bass notes I've heard, very loud and clean, not the kind of clean that hurts your ears, I've had 66 BFSR, 64 VIBROVERB, (2)MATCHLES (they are over rated!)NAYLOR, SOLDANO, BRUNO, ETC. So I know what good sound is, you will need a overdrive box for the clean channel I use a Sparkle Drive, but any high quaility box will do. It has a effects loop in the back also. Have waited a long time to find this one!!! the other reviews were right on.

I use a 58 Custom Shop Les Paul, Strat, Tele, I play blues influenced rock and roll, this could do country also, it suits my style very well will not doheavy metal, but who cares, is not noisy very lite easy to carry to the stage in one hand a your guitar in the other.

Is built like a rock, top notch all the way, do not need a back up when i gig which I do twice a week. Have had it for months and not a problem.

Never delt with them.

Have been playing for 26 years, have had more amps than I care to admit, if I had this one sooner I could have saved a lot of money, if you get to pick one up used do it, you won't be sorry, would replace if I could find one, what I love is the deluxe clean on one side and the bassmen on the other, the weight of it is nice, have compared it to all of my other amps, will be selling quite a few now.

1x12 combo, 4-6v6EH, 3-12ax7a, reverb, 2 channels -one blackface,
the other tweed voiced. 40 watts class A, foot switchable channels
and the tweed (lead) channel is switchable between 20 or 40 watts.
No master volume. Light weight, excellent construction and attention
to detail. Extension speaker jack, series/parallel switchable efx
loop. 60 watt 12" speaker (Eminence?). Loud enough for a rocking
band if you get it close if you need it clean.

I'm using an ESP Vintage Strat and Tele. The Tele has SD pickups
and the Strat has Rio Grande's Tallboy(neck), Halfbreed(mid), and
an Anderson H2+ in the bridge.
This replaced a Matchless Cheiftain Head and 2x10 cabinet. The amp
is as loud as the Matchless and due the simplicity of the controls,
is much easier to dial in a great sound. This is used for a wide
variety of music ( rock, r&b, funk, county). THe amp can get fairly
distorted (not mesa here) for a good rock or blues grind. I use a
H&K tube factor for my over the top distortion. This amp has
excellent tone and sensitivity. This amp sounds much better than my
68 Deluxe reverb. Very full and clear sounding. The lead/tweed channel has sort of the feel of a RI bassman which I used for many
years. Great tone, sensitivity and range of tones.

The amp is built solidly and clean. The electronics are fully enclosed for maximum sheilding. Circuit board construction but it
uses high quality parts. No 1/8 ohm resistors like the major amp
manufactures. No problems at all. I wouldn't gig without a backup
regardless of who the manufacture is. This amp is high quality.

No experience here.

Been playing for 30+ years. Owned many tube amps, Fenders, Rivera, Peavey, Marshall, Mesa, Ampeg ... Still own a Peavey Classic 30
as a backup amp, a Rocktron Chameleon, and various analog pedals.
If it was stolen, I would try out Bruno and Carr too. There is nothing that I hate about the amp. I was looking for an amp that
was somewhere between and Deluxe Reverb and a tweed bassman and
portable. This amp comes is quit amazing in that it almost nails
both. This amp would probably sound even better in a 4x10 arrangement. Toneking is all about tone and quality.

The Tone King is a 40 watt class A amp using 4 6v6 tubes. A foot switch allows the player to switch between the normal channel (black face deluxe) and the lead channel (tweed deluxe) with a 20/40 watt switch for the lead channel only. The amp includes a series/parallel effect loop. Controls on the clean channel are volume, treble, bass, reverb and the lead channel has volume, tone and mid bite. This amp does not include a master volume (an external device such as a overdrive pedal must be used to achieve preamp break up at low volumes).

The sound of the Tone King is similar to Fender model amps with two big exceptions. One, The high strings retain all the Fender highs when cording, however, will get a bit warmer when soloing. And two, the amp is designed to be played with the volume control at very high levels with very little humm or buzz. This amp has enough usable volume (head room) to play any size room with a full band.

This may be the best designed, best built, highest quality amp on the market. The entire chassis is totally enclosed in a metal frame for shielding. The tubes are held in place with very strong tube retainers, and I can't find a single area where the highest quality parts haven't been used. Attention to detail is perfect.

Mark takes customer support to a new level. I purchased my amp used with a broken cabinet back panel. Mark replaced the back panel at no charge and even paid for shipping. I can't name another manufacturer who provides that kind of support.

This amp isn't designed for heavy distortion or that Vox/Matchless, English EL84 thing. However, if your want that BF/tweed Deluxe tone at stage volumes this may be the last amp you'll ever own.

2001, two channel, 40 watts, with lead channel switchable to 20 watts, without loss of tone. Has effects loop, which I've never used.
I've gone from a Mesa Boogie Mark IV that I played for 9 years, to a boutique Carr Slant 6, to the Toneking. I've played this at about 40 gigs, indoor and outdoor, and will have no other.

Hard to top the already great comments made about this wonderful amplifier. They're all true! Don't be fooled by all the great reviews you see on this sight. This is truly it! I was fortunate to have had a dealer in my area that carried most of the handmade/boutique amps on the market today, and this one tops them all. Of course, tone is in the ears of the beholder. Everyone's different! I guess this may not be the greatest amp for someone playing, oh say, maybe Kid Rock or Korn. But then again, even the heaviest metal player, after realizing how good and big sounding the clean channel is, may never want to play with distortion again. That's not to say that with a good overdrive/distortion pedal this amp wouldn't shine. I just don't know, that's not my style.

Maybe I can tell people what this amp can do by naming tonal qualities of great artists, that are achievable with the Toneking: Chet Atkins, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimmy Hendrix, Al Di Mieola, Jerry Garcia, Danny Gatton, whoa, too many to name, this is harder than I thought. I've found myself criticizing the tone on recordings of some of my favorite artists, since owning this.

On second thought, forget everything I just said, I would prefer it if no one else ever bought this amp. This amps too good to get out in the general population. One of the big amp makers should buy Mark out so they can squelch his great ideas, and then we won't have to share great tone! I'm not kidding, I really would prefer to be one of the only guys playing this amp!

Very well made! All handmade by one guy, all the way down to the cabinets, I believe? Tubes are protected by Arnold Swarzenegger! And a fan blows right on them to keep them cool. This amp seems to be very well built! I'm not a person that babies my amps or instruments. A years time with me is probably like 5 to 10 years with most other players. Judging by the way this amps built, I doubt I'll ever have durabilty problems.

I traded numerous e-mails with Mark about upgrading my amp to a 40B, not wise, I don't recommend it, and he was very quick to respond. I never actually spoke with him, but through his e-mails, he comes off as someone that really cares about his customers and wants to make sure your satisfied with the product he makes for you.

Playing 25 years, 12 professionally. I play a Gibson Class 5 with Fralin P90's, I have a 52'reissue Strat, not Tele, 1972 Telecaster, my Taylor 514CE sounds great through this, as well as my 1962 Silvertone hollowbody H75. I'm giving this a 9 only because I think that musical equipment prices has gotten way out of whack! Everything should be a dollar! LOL! God! I hope it never gets stolen! I would probably just roll up in a ball and cry!

this head/cab combination was made in march 2002.
i've played various ToneKing amps over the years -(it was my idea to cut the lead-cnl power down to 50%)- and *knew* that mark bartel would eventually build an amp that i *had* to use! so, here it is:
absolutely fantastic. unbelievable. alive: responsive: deadly.
(there's always something, though! like:
separate reverb sends for each channel -w/slightly more 'pre-send' in the mix- would be nice.)

simply an amazing sounding amp: buttery, spanky, grinding, with all kindsa massive character swirling around the room--- the amp seems so spacious & ANIMATED, yet still pokes through in such a juicy, beastly fashion.
the diffusion of the broad low-mids & low-end is perfect, for me --- (i usually play in various dropped tunings) --- if i need more direct low-end, i can add an extension cab w/a tighter low 'center'.

my guess, here, judging from the build quality -& knowing mr. bartel- would be that this thing shld be rock-solid.

see above.

i play quite a bit, and have for some considerable time, mostly on recordings & film-scores; however, NB: this is not a paid endorsement.
recently, i've been working a lot on my sound, which is a kind of 'neil young on interstellar steroids'-thing, and falling somewhat short w/my main (still much-loved) amp, which just wasn't animated enough --- i just couldn't get the guitar sound to 'move' beyond being 'stationary'. (sorry for the lousy description).
around xmas 2001, mark brought over a comet20 combo, and..... well, i was blown away: had to have one: waited: now? very, very happy.
btw:
to be concerned about the differences between 'hand-wired' & 'pcb construction' with an amp that sounds & responds like this is lunacy, a mental micro-dysfunction most likely inherited from the armchair collector mentality, as it certainly is not derived from the realm of daily players..... at least, not from the players that i know.....

20/40 watt 1x12 Combo. 2 Channel, w/ reverb, all tube. Simple, effective, well done. I give it a 10, becuase I have found this amp to be surprisingly versatile despite its conservative features/controls. This emphasizes the well thought-out design.

Well, this amp is quite frankly, an absolute gem in the tone dept. The rhythm channel provides a wonderfully full, and glassy Fender Blackface vibe, only sweeter. More bounce, more depth than any blackface era amp I've ever had, or played through. Crank it, and you get a very useable grind, and this channel is extremely pedal-friendly as well. My Sparkle-Drive loves this channel. I play modern-alt. hard pop/rock, and this amp delivers luscious tones for days. The amp features a power cut on the lead channel, which is voiced brilliantly, and yeilds beleivable tones from hollowed out Tweed - mid-range rich Vox meets Marshall. The Mid-bite control on the lead channel is absolutely incredible. I use the amp in this fashion: Rhythm channel as my clean (this channel is always at 40 watts), and the Lead channel, set agressivley(high mids), and at 20 watts for my dirt. And what wonderful dirt it is!! This amp delivers gobs of squishy, fat, chimey, harmonically rich, saturation. That ever-elusive upper-mid grind that many amps cannot create, is easily coaxed from the lead channel, and at useable volumes. I either kick the lead channel up to 40 for solos, or just hit the Sparkle Drive for a lead. The lead channel up on 40 watts is incredible, but it gets pretty loud. I have found the 20 watt setting more useful at gigs. (no loss of tone) I have owned far too many amps to list, all good peices, many vintage gems. This little brute out-shines every one of them, even my most prized aquisitions. The speaker is voiced wonderfully, and the EH 6V6's are a great choice. You simply cannot get a bad tone out of this amp. No flubbyness, no spikey highs, no flat mids.....it's all good. My Teles(have 4) LOVE this thing, as does my Strat.

It's well.......OVER built! The tube holders are like something from Frankenstein's lab! It also features a built-in fan, and the chasis lay-out is very neat and well done. The amp is flawless in its construction. It is a PCB design......strange I agree. But, I imagine there was a good reason, judging on all the engineering that went into the cab design and tonality.

Builder is prompt to respond to questions, and backs the amp up w/ a life-time warranty.

It's just a great amp.....period. Maybe not everyone's cup of tea, but considering the range of tones that can be squeezed from this amp, it probably could please most players. As a rock player, I adore it. Chimey, fat grind for days, with the deatil and harmonic content my ears have become accustomed to demanding. After over 25 years of playing, and many amps, I have come to appreciate a good tone, and know how elusive one can be, despite the many choices we have today. VOX, Marshall, Top Hat, Matchless, Budda, Rivera, Fender, and others have occupied my stage space. This Comet 40A just has the shit. IMO, it ranks with the best, and with both channels delivering useable tones, at useable volumes, it outshines most.

This is a turn key amp...plug it in, turn the key and Bam!!! there ya are. Simple and easy to use but huge control of tone.

OH MY! This thing is a monster. HUGH evelope of clean tone with masive head room. Like an ampeg in the clean department. Turn it up and up and up and not drive the tubes too much. No low watt fender overdive here. Loud like crazy. Think about a tube screamer if you need the edge.

Not sure...

Top of the line amp...not that expensive for what you get. Not like a matchless for sure. Really wish they were PTP though

This 'best of the best' amps has 2 20 watt amps working for it. This idea results in what sounds like a much sweeter tone than any other clean amp I have tried. Most amps are impressive at low wattage, and have great touch sensitivity and response...but then lose this quality as the volume goes up. Not so the Comet; it remains sweet and very responsive up to a very loud 40 watts. The idea of lowering power by cutting one of the 20watt amps is really brilliant. Going between a lush 40 watt clean and then switching to a cranked 20 watt lead is a blues players heaven. Great sounding reverb. The voicing using the mid bite control is a nice twist ... the tone goes from tweed to crunch by turning the knob. This is, hands down, the best amp in the 6V6 class, and outperforms any other boutique amp that claims a great clean sound.

Sweet everloving blues tones pour from this wonderful amp. A feast for the ears. I am also a huge fan of high gain amps like Mesa Rectifiers and Bogner Ecstacies, but the clean tones that come out of this amp are totally infatuating. You just can not put the guitar down. You will find yourself playing licks and scales that never sounded good on a clean amp before. And the lead channel is also superior, again, for getting that elusive squeeky blues tone where your notes cry out, but do not overwhelm people's eardrums. I would put this amp up against any other clean toned amp. It is a bargain at the selling price.

This amp is immaculate, and I mean CLEAN. Wires are all dressed and tucked out of the way, each tube has its own thumb screwed holder, the cabinet is sturdy as a rock, and the tolex job is perfect. If quality is a sign of amp longevity, this amp will outlast most amps made today... excluding periodic tube changes, of course.

Mark Bartel, who owns and operates Tone King, is very responsive. For a 1 man operation he is only rivalled by Dr. Z for returning customer Email.

This fine amp was purchased from Andy at Alpha Audio in historic Mystic, CT (Thanks, Andy!). Small boutique shops are the best places to try out an amp like the Comet, although shops like Alpha Audio are few and far between. I have played for over 28 years, and I have owned most production amps and many boutique amps... but getting a supreme clean sound has always been a long time search for me. You could play a Sear's Silvertone guitar through this amp and it would still sound like butter. Tone King Comets are the best 6V6 amps made. Period. All boutique amps sound wonderful, and buying any of them is a pretty sure bet. But somebody has to be the best, and the best is Tone King. If a warm yet sparkling clean sound is what you seek, then look no further. It honestly is that good. It also sports a retro look that separates it from the crowd ... which makes owning this amp even more appealing.

This is a new amp, made this year. It really has only three features, yet these three cover all the ground I need. At 40 watts, the clean channel is true "Blackface." I know, I traded in a '67 BF Super Reverb for this. Yet the other channel takes you into true tweed land, and it does it at either 40 or 20 watts, as others have described here much better than I.

If you are a fan of the 6V6 tube, this is the ultimate amp. I actually went in to sample the Victoria Double Deluxe, which is also a 4 X 6V6 rig...and I ran into this. Sweet serendipity. We played the Double Deluxe...the Victoria "Bassman," a Holland...a whole bunch of high-end stuff and there was never any doubt which amp sounded the best. It was as if the others had covers on--this thing rang so sweet and loud and chimey--really a standout.

I've never seen anything built like this: go see one and look in the back.

This is the category almost as important (to me) as sound. I dealt with the maker, Mark Bartel, about a part and I have never been given better service and support on anything. Absolutely, totally devoted to what he does, he also stands behind his product. A first-class guy.

I decided that at age 52, it was time to look for something to replace my BF Super Reverb, which is not the easiest amp to throw and go. Plus, I had become enamored of the sounds of my little Supro 6V6 and Deluxe Reverb amps, hearing something in them I didn't hear in the big-bottle amps. This amp is light (38lbs); it is built to haul around and not worry (the tubes are all secured and shock-mounted); and it projects a 3D sound that has to be heard. All this, and it looks like the ultimate cowboyblues amp too. As mentioned above, I compared this to high-end stuff and it walked away with me. Playing it on the lead channel at either half or full-power is just pure fun...and yet when going over the the "rythmn" channel it's pure Fender land. Put a good OD pedal in front of either side and you won't hear your mama calling you.

New Tone King Comet 40A, 1x12 combo in very cool retro styled cabinet.
If you are reading this, then you already know what tone you are after. This is a clean/blues amp, and it is an answer to a long time prayer of mine...to have a loud clean available (40watts) and a crankable lead channel (cut down to 20) which gives you that cranked old amp sound, but at reasonable club volumes. This 1 feature makes this amp the leader in its category. I grew tired of blowing people's faces off just to get the "juice" out of the power section. Now you can cut the 2nd channel down to 20 watts, floor it, and enjoy killer blues leads .. and switch back instantly to a rich, chimmey clean sound for rhythm work. Two 20watt amps make this possible, and this design is impressive. Full tone is achieved this way. Great design!

I am not going to gush about this amp's tone ... but I will say it is as good or better than any other 6V6 based amp. Period. Any amp sounds good at low volumes with a little reverb ... but this amp gets sweeter as you turn it up. The clean is so full and warm sounding, that you will play for hours and not even miss using gain. Excellent reverb too .. not overwhelming surf noise, but a rich textured reverb that does not overpower the notes. All 6V6 amps suffer a little muddiness in the bass when floored, but I would not like the amp if it did not exibit this characteristic. Fans of 6V6 sound know that this gives notes a more bluesy sagging feel. Not hard rock by any means.

Too early to tell. However, this is a 1 man operation, and I feel good knowing I can talk to the builder directly.

Mark answered all my EMails, and was very friendly and helpful in tolerating my zillion questions and comments.

I have played for 28 years, and I have tried to play through every amp ever made. I am still on that journey...however, I have never been happy with the available club amps for clean/blues players. Either too loud when overdriven, or not enough headroom. This amp solves that problem for me, and sounds rich and full like an old PTP wired amp to boot. Mark Bartel has a great product ... maybe it is hard to get a hold of one of these amps, but tone is worth searching for.

Class A 40 watt amp. Two channels, Blackface and Tweed. The tweed channel has half power cabibilty via the footswitch. The amp has two output sections with each section being run on 2 6v6's. The reverb is common to both channels. It also has an extention speaker, effects loop(both series and parallel and a slave out. It is a circuit board amp. The Comet A is a 1"x12" combo and is extremely light. If you like Fenders this is the amp to own, it is not a rock amp, no high gain.

I like this amp with single coils and it sounds great with Teles and strats, I also use a korina Hamer with P-90s which sounds good but takes a little more time to find the sweet tones. I haven't had the amp that long so I'm sure I'll figure out all the sweet spots. Being that the amp is class A and puts out 40 watts it plays cleanly on the Blackface channel at high volumes more than good enough for most band situations. The Tweed channel is your gain channel and is made to drive the amp into distortion. The mid-boost feature works well to boost the mids but it does more than just turn up the midrange. That single control effects the bass characteristics as you turn up or down the mid-boost. I'm sure the web site does a better job of explaining it than I do. I do prefer this amp to the Continental and find it's sweeter and bigger sounding, in addition the extra speaker out is a plus. Earlier ToneKing amps used Sovtek or New old stock tubes and I could never get myself to like the amps no matter how hard I tried. The EH6V6's are the ticket the amp just sounds to me so much better and the highs no longer induce headaches. The reverb is great better than any Fender I ever heard. If you play clean stuff this amp probably does it as good or better than anything out there.

I don't know for sure, but I'm not a fan of switches that pop or input jacks that seem flimsy. It may just be a loose jack I tightened it and it seem to help, only time will tell. As far as construction I don't know how good it is, the quality of the cabinet and overall sound of the amp does inspire confidence however.

I do not know, sorry. I heard from Mike Flynn at Flynn guitars that it's a one man shop that's all I know.

If you got to have a Fender this amp delivers the goods and sounds far better than the new custom shop stuff Fender currently makes. The amp is light, sounds great, is versatile would more could you ask for.

Check out the review of the 40B for a full list of features. The 40A has 40W and 1-=12" speaker. It's quite light. The amp strikes a real nice balance between simplicity and having enough features to be very flexible. The rhythm channel, which I am on 95% of the time is pretty much just volume, bass, treble, and reverb. What more do you need? For effects, there is a serial and parallel (switchable) effects loop. I like the detachable power cord...nice touch! I wish it had a wood strip across the back as the tubes are exposed, but they are going anywhere as they are secured by unique, heavy duty retainers. I'll give it an "8", but, honestly, I don't need anymore features than it has.

I play a ash/maple Tele with Joe Bardens and an alder/rosewood Strat with 60's vintage style pickups through this amp. The Tele sounds incredible. The Strat sounds great too, but the Tele really shines. This amp is pretty much exactly what I hear in my head for perfect tone. It's fat, but articulate. Punchy, yet refined. It smoothed out the Tele, which, with Bardens, was a bit too bright through a SF Super Reverb. It has great Fender style tone. The reverb is nice and very subtle too. It seems to be more well integrated into the overall sound than many reverbs (for example, on 3 or less, sometimes I have to stop and listen to make sure it's actually on). It doesn't quite have the "clank" or metallic edge that a BF or SF Fender amp can have, but overall it's like the perfectly optimized 6V6, Fender tone with lots of headroom. I don't use the lead channel much as I believe that you need the volume over 6 to get the goodies out of this channel and the amp is too dang loud in most instances at 6 or more. Some people like it at lower volumes, but I find it too harsh and barky. Loud, it's beautiful, though. Normally I use a FD2 in front of the rhythm channel which works very nicely.

I've had two Tone Kings now without anything other than a power tube problem on the Imperial I used to have (it had the notoriously unreliable Russian 6V6 tubes...the first versions, not the new Elctro-Harmonix ones which are supposed to be first rate).

Mark Bartel does a nice job of returning e-mails promptly.

I love this amp! It's the best amp, for me, on the market. I have forsaken a Tone King Imperial and a real nice SF Super Reverb to consolidate to this amp. It sounds great, it's very portable, it has some real nice design updates compared to the original series (which are also great). I say git one!