Tone King Sky King... maybe

[rockabilly69]

Originally Posted by jim1960

I'm mainly interested in clean tones. On rare occasions I'll use a bit of overdrive but that's not really my thing nor does it work for the kind of music I write. As for a player reference, I'm not looking to emulate anyone's tone. I'm really looking for the tone I feel would incorporate well into my own music. I've listened to a lot of amps along the way ...a LOT of amps. Many have been suitable but none have really grabbed my attention as much as the Sky King.

I'm not one to rush into a purchase. I've been mulling this over for quite some time and giving my interest a chance to wane. Sometimes that happens, sometimes it doesn't, but that's how I typically make bigger purchasing decisions. So I'm either buying this amp or I'm not buying an amp in the near future because if I don't pull the trigger on this one, the process has to repeat itself.

Your method is very similar to mine when picking amps, and I generally like to let a choice mull over a bit before I pick something. And I also know the frustration of starting the process over. Fortunately I have all the amps I will ever need now, but before I got to that point I just kept looking and looking. One thing I noticed after auditioning lots of amps in my studio is that I needed an amp that delivered it's signature tone at a volume I could live with. One thing I hate is when you get the amp into the zone and it's so loud that you have to turn the mix up in your headphones too loud just to compete. I would go home with headaches. Finally I found the Victoria Regal II. It's kind of an oddball amp as it's Parallel, single ended. Meaning that, even though it typically uses two power tubes, you can pull one out and just run it with one. And because it features an adaptive transformer, you can use it with virtually any rectifier tube. In laymans terms that means you can run it with a 5Y3 rectifier, and one 6V6 tube for a Fender Champ like volume (5 watts), or run it with a 5U4GB rectifier and two 6L6s (of EL34s, or 5881s) and get a solid 35 watts with more clean headroom. I've never heard an attenuator knock down a volume without changing the tone of the amp, but this ability to swap tubes makes this amp a tonal chameleon, which goes from vintage Fender tweed, to 60's Blackface, to Supro. It's really amazing. Check out this article.

https://www.vintageguitar.com/3745/v...-ii-amplifier/

In the studio this thing sounds great. And it's funny I've never really bonded with 15" speakers, but the 15 in this one sounds perfect. I've used both speakers that were available with it at the time I purchased mine, a Weber Alnico, and an Eminence Ceramic, and they both sounded great, but I've been a sucker for Altecs for their smooth clean tone so I put a brand new in the box 418B in mine and it sounds gorgeous. Currently they aren't offering the Weber as they think sonically it wasn't holding up to the Eminence (which I agree with), but they will build it with other speakers, and they will also build it with a 12" speaker baffle if you're not good with a 15" speaker!

Here's some clips with the stock Eminence speaker, and 2 6V6s power tubes and 5y3 rectifier in it, and none of the volumes were ear bleeder volumes.

clean fender single coil neck pickup


clean gibson firebird bridge pickup


crunchy gretsch filtertron pickup (a little tremolo on this one)


nasty gibson p90 pickup (I cranked the amp here to hear it sounded lie a cranked tweed)


These are built to order now, although you may find a dealer with one in stock that has one in stock to try. Their biggest dealers are CMI and Humbucker music.

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by rockabilly69

Your method is very similar to mine when picking amps, and I generally like to let a choice mull over a bit before I pick something. And I also know the frustration of starting the process over. Fortunately I have all the amps I will ever need now, but before I got to that point I just kept looking and looking.

I've been years in getting to this point. I bought the Super Champ X2 early on just to have something to play through. At some point after Fender came out with the Pawnshop amps, I started picking them up on the used market. They're fun and quirky but none of them are the sound I'm looking for and I didn't buy them with that intention anyway. I've been on the hunt for an amp I really want to be my studio amp for a long time. Along the way, a bunch has come to the top of the list only to fall off a couple of weeks in. The Sky King has stayed there a lot longer than any other amp except the Fender Twin Reverb but that was always a sort of default choice that I could never bring myself to pull the trigger on. I think I've always known that buying the Fender wasn't going to really do it for me.

Originally Posted by rockabilly69

One thing I noticed after auditioning lots of amps in my studio is that I needed an amp that delivered it's signature tone at a volume I could live with. One thing I hate is when you get the amp into the zone and it's so loud that you have to turn the mix up in your headphones too loud just to compete. I would go home with headaches. Finally I found the Victoria Regal II. It's kind of an oddball amp as it's Parallel, single ended. Meaning that, even though it typically uses two power tubes, you can pull one out and just run it with one. And because it features an adaptive transformer, you can use it with virtually any rectifier tube. In laymans terms that means you can run it with a 5Y3 rectifier, and one 6V6 tube for a Fender Champ like volume (5 watts), or run it with a 5U4GB rectifier and two 6L6s (of EL34s, or 5881s) and get a solid 35 watts with more clean headroom. I've never heard an attenuator knock down a volume without changing the tone of the amp, but this ability to swap tubes makes this amp a tonal chameleon, which goes from vintage Fender tweed, to 60's Blackface, to Supro. It's really amazing.

Honestly, the idea of swapping tubes everytime I want to attenuate the sound would get old real fast for me. One of the things the Sky King gets high praise for is the attenuation knob. I know lots of amps get that wrong but people go out their way to point out that Tone Master has gotten it right on these amps.

Originally Posted by rockabilly69

In the studio this thing sounds great. And it's funny I've never really bonded with 15" speakers, but the 15 in this one sounds perfect. I've used both speakers available with it, a Weber Alnico, and an Eminence Ceramic, and they both sounded great, but I've been a sucker for Altecs for their smooth clean tone so I put a brand new in the box 418B in mine and it sounds gorgeous.

Here's some clips with the stock Eminence speaker, and 2 6V6s power tubes and 5y3 rectifier in it, and none of the volumes were ear bleeder volumes.

clean fender single coil neck pickup


clean gibson firebird bridge pickup

Nice. Those clean tones are very Jerry Garcia, aren't they?

[rockabilly69]

Originally Posted by jim1960

I've been years in getting to this point. I bought the Super Champ X2 early on just to have something to play through. At some point after Fender came out with the Pawnshop amps, I started picking them up on the used market. They're fun and quirky but none of them are the sound I'm looking for and I didn't buy them with that intention anyway. I've been on the hunt for an amp I really want to be my studio amp for a long time. Along the way, a bunch has come to the top of the list only to fall off a couple of weeks in. The Sky King has stayed there a lot longer than any other amp except the Fender Twin Reverb but that was always a sort of default choice that I could never bring myself to pull the trigger on. I think I've always known that buying the Fender wasn't going to really do it for me.


Honestly, the idea of swapping tubes everytime I want to attenuate the sound would get old real fast for me. One of the things the Sky King gets high praise for is the attenuation knob. I know lots of amps get that wrong but people go out their way to point out that Tone Master has gotten it right on these amps.



Nice. Those clean tones are very Jerry Garcia, aren't they?

Jim I leave one 1940's single 6L6G in there 99% of the time and the only reason it would come out is if I gigged the amp, which frankly I probably won't do as I have a bunch of other amps to grab. So you wouldn't grabbing for new tubes all the time. It's more of finding out what tubes work for you, volume wise, and tone wise. It took me about a month of playing the amp with different tubes to pre-recorded acoustic rhythm guitar tracks which I have on tons of from years of recording I know the tubes it likes and the microphone the speaker likes (Cloud JRS34), so when it's time to record, it's flip the switch and it record!

Actually I'm not a huge Dead fan, but I LOVE Jerry Garcia's clean tone and phrasing. I was actually thinking of him when I played the fills in this song of mine...

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by rockabilly69

Actually I'm not a huge Dead fan, but I LOVE Jerry Garcia's clean tone and phrasing. I was actually thinking of him when I played the fills in this song of mine...

Might be time to change your moniker to "rockajerry69."

[rockabilly69]

Originally Posted by jim1960

Might be time to change your moniker to "rockajerry69."

good one Jim!

[jim1960]

GC tells me they expect to ship my Tone King Sky King on the 8th. That would be a pleasant surprise but I fully expect it to be put off again. GC has taught me to lower my expectations.

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by jim1960

GC tells me they expect to ship my Tone King Sky King on the 8th. That would be a pleasant surprise but I fully expect it to be put off again. GC has taught me to lower my expectations.

Lowered expectations are not just with GC over the past year. Still, positive news about the 8th. Hopefully... !

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

Lowered expectations are not just with GC over the past year.

Very true. And even when things do ship, it's much more likely to take the scenic route these days.

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by jim1960

GC tells me they expect to ship my Tone King Sky King on the 8th. That would be a pleasant surprise but I fully expect it to be put off again. GC has taught me to lower my expectations.

Hi Jim,

I hope you do receive your Sky King amp soon. After reading through this discussion and listening to all the examples, I am excited for you. This sounds like it will be a very cool amp. Let us know if it arrives and how you are feeling about it. This is clearly a big step for you.

Be well!

- Glenn

[dnf777]

I know this may get me shown to the exit in this crowd, but if I were looking for a loud amp, I would give a close look at the Fender tonemaster models. A Twin Reverb at 33 lbs??

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by Glennwillow

Hi Jim,
I hope you do receive your Sky King amp soon. After reading through this discussion and listening to all the examples, I am excited for you. This sounds like it will be a very cool amp. Let us know if it arrives and how you are feeling about it. This is clearly a big step for you.

This could very well be the last amp I ever buy. I have a bunch of lesser priced amps but that clean tone I could hear in my head never leaped out at me as it did when I watched the reviews of this one.

The amps I currently own...
Fender Super Champ X2
Fender Vaporizer
Fender Ramparte
Fender Excelsior
Line 6 Spider IV 75

All fun to play around with but none have that clean tone I've been looking for. I'm looking forward to getting my hands on the Sky King.

Originally Posted by dnf777

I know this may get me shown to the exit in this crowd, but if I were looking for a loud amp, I would give a close look at the Fender tonemaster models. A Twin Reverb at 33 lbs??

I don't have a need for loud. I never play electric out. This is for my studio work. At 35 watts, the Sky King is more power than I'd ever need.

[jim1960]

At about 3:30 this afternoon, I went to GC to return the defective Sonzera. While I was there I asked the guy to look up my Tone King order and confirm it would be shipping today. His computer showed that to be the case.

I just called GC because the amp did NOT ship today. The new date is May 10th. And that was entirely predictable.

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by jim1960

At about 3:30 this afternoon, I went to GC to return the defective Sonzera. While I was there I asked the guy to look up my Tone King order and confirm it would be shipping today. His computer showed that to be the case.

I just called GC because the amp did NOT ship today. The new date is May 10th. And that was entirely predictable.

Ahhhhh........... That's too bad...

- Glenn

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by Glennwillow

Ahhhhh........... That's too bad...

I think it's simply a byproduct of this virus year. We can get toilet paper now but custom amps are an issue.

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by jim1960

I think it's simply a byproduct of this virus year. We can get toilet paper now but custom amps are an issue.

Yes, I'm sure you're right. It could be worse. We're still here, enjoying life...

- Glenn