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Tone King Sky King... maybe
I've been wanting to pick up a high quality amp for some years but haven't pulled the trigger on anything. I was leaning towards a Fender Vintage Reissue '65 Twin Reverb. Hard to go wrong with the classics, right? But then I came across the Tone King Sky King and I'm a bit smitten. Any of you folks have any experience with this amp?
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Jim 2023 Iris ND-200 maple/adi 2017 Circle Strings 00 bastogne walnut/sinker redwood 2015 Circle Strings Parlor shedua/western red cedar 2009 Bamburg JSB Signature Baritone macassar ebony/carpathian spruce 2004 Taylor XXX-RS indian rosewood/sitka spruce 1988 Martin D-16 mahogany/sitka spruce along with some electrics, zouks, dulcimers, and banjos. YouTube |
#2
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And some companies have, over the years, put out a TON of amps. A ton of great amps. And they are available at a savings used. My Favorite brand for used pro-level gear at a great price is Mesa. I always urge folks to wade through massive Mesa lineup of available used amps. The Marks, Express, Lonestar, Trans-Atlantic, Roadster/Roadking, the newer Fillmore and California Tweeds. The list goes on and on. A little bit of research and you are likely to find a used Mesa you love. Because they have put out such a variety that there literally something for everyone! Yeah, there are often a lot of controls, in some cases too many! But there are simple ones too. The Fillmore and Cali Tweeds are straightforward and awesome and relatively close to the Tone King. My personal choice for my post gigging (never a serious touring situation, just you local gigs and festivals) "amp for the rest of my life" is a Transatlantic TA-15, and I'll stack it up against any 5 to 15 watt boutique amp. I paid just around $700 for the head including shipping. A Mesa California Tweed 40W (6v6) will run you $1,900 new. A Fillmore (6L6) 50W will run $1,700 new. Go used and save more. The Tone King is awesome. But a $1000 more awesome? That's up to you.
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I only play technologically cutting edge instruments. Parker Flys and National Resonators |
#3
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Only by reputation and a few review which are pretty good .
Then again in the $3k price there are a number of boutique offerings to choose Off the top of my head, you may want to also check out Red Plate amps for example They basically have either Tweed or Blackface type offerings and for example Allen Hinds plays their Blackline series and makes great tones (if,,, that is any recommendation in your book) https://www.redplateamps.com/amplifiers.html
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Enjoy the Journey.... Kev... KevWind at Soundcloud KevWind at YouYube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...EZxkPKyieOTgRD System : Studio system Avid Carbon interface , PT Ultimate 2023.12 -Mid 2020 iMac 27" 3.8GHz 8-core i7 10th Gen ,, Ventura 13.2.1 Mobile MBP M1 Pro , PT Ultimate 2023.12 Sonoma 14.4 Last edited by KevWind; 10-14-2020 at 10:18 AM. |
#4
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#5
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At that price I expect the Cessna 310 to come with it - fueled up and with all the hourly inspections up to date.
Bob
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"It is said, 'Go not to the elves for counsel for they will say both no and yes.' " Frodo Baggins to Gildor Inglorion, The Fellowship of the Ring THE MUSICIAN'S ROOM (my website) |
#6
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I appreciate the suggestions for alternatives. All but the Red Plate were amps I'd investigated at some point. I went back and took another look but they're not quite what I'm looking for. I watched almost all the video reviews for the Sky King and the clean tones that amp produces really do blow me away. The Reverb sounds to be a step above also.
The advice I always give to people looking to buy a guitar is to buy a guitar that inspires you. I can't think of a good reason why that shouldn't be the case with buying an amp. The Sky King inspires me. I'm not going to rush into the purchase though. I'm hoping to get some first hand opinions on what's good or not so good about the amp. I know there's no fx loop insert point but that doesn't bother me as it would some players. Other than that, I'm not seeing anything that raises any red flags for me.
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Jim 2023 Iris ND-200 maple/adi 2017 Circle Strings 00 bastogne walnut/sinker redwood 2015 Circle Strings Parlor shedua/western red cedar 2009 Bamburg JSB Signature Baritone macassar ebony/carpathian spruce 2004 Taylor XXX-RS indian rosewood/sitka spruce 1988 Martin D-16 mahogany/sitka spruce along with some electrics, zouks, dulcimers, and banjos. YouTube |
#7
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I bought a Tone King Falcon Grande earlier this year after trying a Gremlin in the store.
The one thing I missed on the Falcon attenuator that I didn't expect is it doesn't have a line out / headphone out from the attenuator unlike the Gremlin. However I believe the Sky King has those features. I will say that in equivalent price range I also picked up an axe fx iii that I run through studio monitors and as much as I love the Tone King the axe gets most of my play as it is so much easier and has so many good tones available as well as the convenience of one touch tone to setup a new preset. Diving in with all the technical details has also helped me learn how to work with the Tone King controls better to dial in my tones on it as well. Any rate the Sky King also looks tremendous and I love my Grande You may also want to take a look at the amps being built by the founder / former lead designer from Tone King under his new brand Bartel amps. Quote:
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#8
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Carr amps are very good too. Are you gigging where you can use the power? Most people I know buy too much amp. If you don't need the power, why buy it only to attenuate it.
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2007 Martin D 35 Custom 1970 Guild D 35 1965 Epiphone Texan 2011 Santa Cruz D P/W Pono OP 30 D parlor Pono OP12-30 Pono MT uke Goldtone Paul Beard squareneck resophonic Fluke tenor ukulele Boatload of home rolled telecasters "Shut up and play ur guitar" Frank Zappa |
#9
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The Carr Rambler was an amp I considered for a time but I think the Sky King is a better fit for me and the attenuation function is a big part of why that's true. The ability to dial down the volume without significantly altering the tone is a big plus in the studio and that's the primary function this amp will serve. The answer to your last question is tone, tone, tone.
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Jim 2023 Iris ND-200 maple/adi 2017 Circle Strings 00 bastogne walnut/sinker redwood 2015 Circle Strings Parlor shedua/western red cedar 2009 Bamburg JSB Signature Baritone macassar ebony/carpathian spruce 2004 Taylor XXX-RS indian rosewood/sitka spruce 1988 Martin D-16 mahogany/sitka spruce along with some electrics, zouks, dulcimers, and banjos. YouTube |
#10
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Last edited by rockabilly69; 10-15-2020 at 02:11 AM. |
#11
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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.
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Jim 2023 Iris ND-200 maple/adi 2017 Circle Strings 00 bastogne walnut/sinker redwood 2015 Circle Strings Parlor shedua/western red cedar 2009 Bamburg JSB Signature Baritone macassar ebony/carpathian spruce 2004 Taylor XXX-RS indian rosewood/sitka spruce 1988 Martin D-16 mahogany/sitka spruce along with some electrics, zouks, dulcimers, and banjos. YouTube |
#12
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Also, If you live with people and don't want them to have to hear the 497th playthrough of that part you're trying to make automatic so you can sing over it, you may change your mind Just saying, it's a fabulous feature to not need an outboard loadbox/attenuator to use headphones.
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I only play technologically cutting edge instruments. Parker Flys and National Resonators |
#13
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Hiya Jim. I had a sky kind for about a year. I loved it for the clean tone, but ultimately it didn't work out for me. I was playing lead in a country band at the time and my findings were that amazing clean tone gave way to a more compressed, almost ratty sort of distorted sound when the volume went above 4, which is where I needed it to live in a live band situation. I could see where that tone would be useful in a different kind of band - Jack White could make use of it for sure. I didn't really get too much into the different voicings, and stayed on the rhythm channel for the most part. So it didn't work for me. In retrospect a twin reverb would have better suited what I was trying to do with it at the time.
Now, for studio, volume below 4, it has an amazing clean sound. Lot's of sparkly, full, bold, tons of note bloom. Tons of character too. Just make sure that unique sound will work in the context you will be using it in. Hope that helped. |
#14
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That's is helpful. Thanks. Your description of the clean tone is the impression I've gotten from the videos I've watched. I'm pretty convinced this is the tone I've been looking for. In my head it works.
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Jim 2023 Iris ND-200 maple/adi 2017 Circle Strings 00 bastogne walnut/sinker redwood 2015 Circle Strings Parlor shedua/western red cedar 2009 Bamburg JSB Signature Baritone macassar ebony/carpathian spruce 2004 Taylor XXX-RS indian rosewood/sitka spruce 1988 Martin D-16 mahogany/sitka spruce along with some electrics, zouks, dulcimers, and banjos. YouTube |
#15
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Those are two very different amps for sure. If you are into clean Tone you cannot go wrong with the Twin and you will for sure have a very lush spring reverb on it. Years ago I chose a Twin for that reason too, it's very clean and has a lot of power so if I want to dirty it up I can throw a pedal on the floor and it can handle it.
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