Tone King Imperial

I bought a new Tone King Imperial amp in Feb 07. It is a light weight very simple one input , two channel amp with reverb and tremelo. For me the 20 watts of power is perfect. The color of the amp is beautiful like you had a 57 Chevy!

I've been playing 40 years and have never had an amp that delivered just the right tone. Well this is it! You can't get a bad tone out of it. I don't use pedals and just plug directly into it. Don't worry about EQ, just turn it up and play! Sounds awesome with a Strat, Tele. Jaguar, as well as my hollow body PRS. Blues, rock, country or jazz - This amp has tone tone tone!

Had one small problem with the reverb. Called Mark and got it fixed.

Really nice to just call the owner and chat about this great amp. In this day and age, that can't be beat.

I love playing again!! This amp is worth every cent in satisfaction!

2006 NOS. Single input, no effects loop, two channels one is a kind of black face deluxe the other is a tweed deluxe... it uses old school trem which is amazingly deep and rich. I knew what I was getting when I ordered, so no surprises... it is the one amp that I will say that you cannot get a bad sound out of it. it sounds great no matter how you twiddle the knobs.

It is like two amazing old deluxes in one. I play mostly americana music (chuck to george jones, byrds, country rock) and have and own teles, strat, paul, 335, tic tac bass etc... the clean tones are just gorgeous and plenty of twang! the 'hairier' sounds are rich like an old vibrolux and make you smile and play things you hadn't thought of... this thing sounds and plays awesome.

This thing is built like a tank. I have had it for 4 months and it has plenty of car miles on it on bumpy farm roads and it can take the hits! I do use it without a backup (well, I keep a JD10 in the trunk just in case, but I would do that with any amp. This is a well engineered and built amp...very solid

Contact Mark when I got a little tremelo thump and he immediately wrote back with a cell number and wanted to hear it... I got some very simple advice and we were back to normal.. Very very impressed! I will own this amp when I die!

I've owned lots of black and silver faced fenders which I have loved...but this is the finest amp I've ever played and it was well worth what i paid. For the kind of music I play and enjoy this thing is it. I would imagine it would do lots of different kinds of music and if you haven't seen one, they are gorgeous! I have the red and white one and I never fail to get favorable comments on them... both bass players (two regular gigs) I play with told me it is the best sounding thing they've ever heard and they are tough audiences.... I just love how it sounds.... I built a splitter box so that when I do have to use pedals (ugh, with this amp it is a crime!) the pedals are out of the loop for the majority of the songs.. A great, great, great amp! And thanks to the review above about the 1000th gig for emailing me back and verifying his review... this thing is cool.

One of the very 1st imperials made ptp in Kingston, n.y bsck in the 80's

use strat, tele, les paul studio w/ no 1 burstbuckers , late 40's es 125 + even my guild d 35 w fishman rare earth p/u !
Great for rock,country,jazz,blues,funk or any kind of "roots" music.
Very quiet for a tube amp only normal noise when cranked.
This amp brings out the personality in any guitar - the clean channel is "clean" up to about 10 o'clock but above this you can use the volume control on the guitar like you are supposed to do !
The distortion is perfect for me - nothing better than 6v6GT's being pushed hard and cathode biased....SWEET and inspiring !

Built with artistry and dedication - no worries ! Like any tube amp gotta change tubes with good ones every once in a while... you change your oil + tires, don't you ?

Mark is one of the nicest and most concientous people I have ever met - he stands behind his work 100 % !

been playing professionally 30+ years - lucky to have a bunch of cool stuff + Mark set me on the road of building my on stuff (helping me in the basement!)

Love this amp - if I only could have one it would be this or my @57 deluxe......

This is a reissue made in 2006. It has all of the features I need. It seems that alot of users wish it had an effects loop. I use a bunch of effects myself and own a Tonebone Switchbone A/B box. This box has a "drag" control circuit which compensates for the loss of tone associated with pedalboards. I highly recommend any effects loop junkies to check into Tonebone products.

I'm using this amp with an ES-135 with humbuckers and a Hofner Verythin JS model. I mostly play rock and jazz and this amp seems to cover any style well- very well. This amp is amazing! The rhythm channel has the classic BFDR killer clean tone. It starts to get some additional color when turned up to about 4 or 5. I mostly use the clean channel because I don't really use distortion much any more. The reverb and tremelo is right on. Lush reverb and nice tremelo flexibility. Every guitar player in the world could plug into the clean channel and absolutely love this amp! The bass response is just tight enough without being TOO percussive and in your face. The volume,treble and bass controls are very interactive. The treble and bass controls really come into play when the clean channel is cranked. I turn these controls down when playing loud and it helps minimize the gain. This amp is only 20 watts so it doesn't have a ton of clean headroom, but, I turn the amp halfway up with my band and use a light touch and it stays clean enough for me. I've always used 6L6 tube-based amps so I'm used to the HUGE clean Fender tone. This amp does the same thing without being TOO loud! The lead channel goes from cranked Fender to Marshall grind. This channel offers volume,tone and a midbite control. The mid bite adds gain as you crank the volume. Once agin, these controls are very interactive and alter the tone dramatically. This amp has an awesome 3D quality and can really fill a room thanks to the large, open cabinet. Great tone!

The amp has chassis-mounted tube sockets, pots and switches. Flying leads connect these components to a very neat,1/8th" thick pc board. The build quality is top shelf. This makes me feel very confident about it's reliability.

Mark is great. He responded promptly to any questions that I had.

I bought this amp because I'm sick of hauling over-powered combos around. I have an Orange Rocker 30 and a Heritage Patriot 112 combo. I love these amps but they're a little too heavy for my taste. I never seem to use these amps' to they're potential. My band plays at REASONABLE volumes so it's nice to carry a light amp that I can turn UP instead of DOWN!! The Imperial can be elevated or mic'd if I'm getting smothered. BTW- this amp is by far, the coolest looking amp ever!

I am writing this review to celebrate my Tone King Imperial's
1000th gig. Yup that's right, 1000. The red nagahyde is worn completely thru the whole bottom of the amp.
Mine has two channels, a lead channel that can sound like a tweed bassman or a plexi marshall.
Mine also has the old original tremelo that I like alot better than the newer models.
There is no master volume, and you don't need one because the amp knows
what you are thinking.

I am predominately a country player, but I do everything because I play on the road, in orchestra pits, and in studios. I am often the designated chickenpicker, but I've produced punk bands.

Everybody who has ever played thru this amp has attempted to buy it.

After 1,000 gigs, less than a third of which were on the road mind you,
the pilot light burned out. That's it.
I change the tubes yearly and I get then from the maker.
I carried a backup Mesa Boogie for years. I finally sold it because
it hadn't left my trunk in two years and it doesn't snow much here.

I used the Mesa Boogie .22 ONCE for fun. It blew a preamp tube.

Mark is a busy guy, but he makes the best amp ever. It's worth the wait.
When you do get ahold of him, he is one of the best people you will ever deal with.

I've been playing professionally since 1966. ( I know all the Monkees songs). I have owned one of everything, and this is about as good as it gets.

Mine is red, but you gotta see the blue ones. The only thing I have heard that i liked better was a red Tone King Continental head with a 2x12 cab, but I am far too lazy to haul it around!

this is a 2 channel amp with rev and trem. no fx loop. i use this amp to play out and it is loud enough. its all tube,2-6v6 tube rectifier, 412ax7's. i know a lot of players complain about features ,but to me if an amp sounds as good as these do, that's what really counts. fender, marshall,crate and others make swiss army amps for those applications.

i can't seem to get a bad sound out of this amp. there's no master volume, but at 20 watts you shouldn't need it. i first tried this amp at Lark Street Music when i was buying a '58 tweed Pro. i was amazed that the tone king sounded almost identical! a few months later i was back to buy the tone king. when i got it home, i really found out what this amp can do.(as of this review, i've had this amp for 2 1/2 years)
the clean channel is clean, sound like a twin reverb only you don't get told to turn down! all the way up, it sounds very much like a tweed bassman. some guys whove used this amp with strats love this channel over the lead channel. the tone controls really do shape the sound. you can go from jazzy sound and then turn the treble up and be in country heaven!
the lead channel works best whith a les paul or a junior. i usually play this amp with the controls at 7.(vol, treb,mid)this channel has useable sounds from 1-9 on the volcontrol, and then you and control the mid bite with the mid control. it really works!
i ran this amp thru a pair of '59 jensen p10q and it sounds like a tweed super, thru a marshall 4x12 with marshall Vintage speakers(not vintage 30's;but the ones that come in the 1960av) you can get the evh
brown sound, thru real green backs or the jensen R/I you can get the duane allman tone. guitars that i used the most with this amp over the years are 53 lp, 52 lp,'91 335, '93 classic 60 lp w/antiquities '90 mij fender strat.
everyone who hears this amp doesn't seem to be able to get a bad tone out of it. it just doesn't do metal well, just allmans to zztop.
i'm not kidding. at the 1250.$ i paid for it it was worth every penny to me. the boutique amp i bought from texas for 1995$ should have sounded this good, the tone king blows it away for tone.

i haven't touched this amp servicewise, since i bought it. but then i didn't loan it to some guy for a week, drop it off the van, pour beer into it, or feed the lead channel with a metal pedal for a set.

really hard to get a hold of. i tried to call this guy about 5 times in the first 3 months i owned this to tell him what a great amp it is, but i could never get thru or the # changed. the dealer told me even he has a hard time reaching him. butthen again i had no problems so the point is moot.

i give this amp a 9 because 10 is perfect. there are no perfect amps. i would buy another one in a heartbeat. i don't hate anything about it.
with all smaller amps, you have to get it off the floor to hear it. waist to chest level seems to work best. on the floor a kick drum will wipe it out. i do mostly sit ins with other bands now and this is the amp i take. sometimes the lead channel is too loud and i use a daddyo pedal in the clean channel. i think it sounds useable but people say that farther out in the room it sounds good.

It's a really cool amp in a Deluxe Reverb kind of way; if you like the sound of 6V6's. you'll love the Tone King. The Imperial has two channels, one with volume, tone and mid bite, the other with volume, treble, and bass controls. Reverb and Tremolo are available on either channel. Power is supplied via 2 Sovtek 6v6's, puts out around 20 watts into a Tone King "33" speaker. Channel and Tremolo are foot-switchchable.

In many respects, this amp is like a Jim Carey impression of a Fender -- big, bold, brash and way over the top. It just doesn't get much better.
The lead channel has a variety of sounds that range from loud and hot to nasty tweed to a very Marshall like grind. The rythym channel sounds very much like a BF Deluxe, not real loud but great tone. Although small amps are known for great lead tones, the TK is a great amp to play ryhtym through. It's easy to set up a nice fat cushion of sound for the other guys to play off of - - very nice.
I generally play blues in small to medium bars, so I don't need to be super loud. I feel that 20 watts cranked up sounds a lot better than 40 watts turned down, just want to be able to keep up with the drummer. The amp "feels" great to play, and it sounds good enough that I was able to turn heads with the groovacious tone when I played out with it last week. That was cool; I also got way more attention than I cared for from other players. I had the amp set near the back of the stage, so it was hard for folks to see it from the bar. It seemed like every time I ripped into a solo, somebody would wander over to see what kind of amp I was using. Once there, you could see the look of lust in their eyes, and I'm not sure that is a good thing.

The build quality of this amp is very high. It's a pc board design; all tube sockets and sealed pots mount to the chassis and are connected via flying leads. The caabinet is pine, painted inside and out, and the 12" Tone King "33" speaker mounts to a floating pine baffleboard. The amp is covered in turquoise and white vinyl -- there are no overlapping seams as the covering is sewn at the seams. The vinyl is not as durable as tolex; I seem to find a new tear every time I take it out of the house, which I do often.

When I bought the amp the dealer had little information on it - - I posted a question or two to the gurus on alt.guitars.amps, and Mark Bartel, the amps designer, responded right away. He was helpful, answered my questions, and offered a phone number if I wanted to talk in real time.
Mark continues to be available an helpful - - seems to be a really nice guy.

The list price of $1400 is pretty scary, but I had a couple of things to trade against the amp to minimize the pain. The footswitch is an optional extra, as is a cover. In this price range I believe that these should be included with the amp.
If I had it to do again I'd probably look for the 40 watt Continental combo, as it is equiped with a half power switch. I don't Don't have any regrets, though. If late 50's to early 60's Fenders do it for you, you can't really go wrong with a Tone King!