Tone King Imperial

Design
Released first in 1993, the Imperial was designed to capture the raw tone and loose feel of a genuine well-worn vintage and, and take that sound even further than an original vintage amp. Over the years, it has proven to be a favorite among pros and amateurs alike, and can still be found on stage with many A-list acts across the country and abroad.

Each Imperial is built one at a time by designer Mark Bartel in his Baltimore, MD shop. The dedication to quality workmanship is unmistakable in all the details, inside and out. It's the kind of work that you would expect from a skilled artisan who performs all of the woodworking, upholstery, chassis assembly, and wiring operations himself, with care and precision.

Only the best quality components go into the Inperial. You'll find select Eastern white pine in the cabinet. stainless steel hardware in the chassis, and many Mil-spec electronic components inside.

While some amp builders choose to piece together their creations from off-the-shelf parts. Tone King chooses yto work closely with USA-based manufacturers to design custom transformers and speakers. These critical parts are the heart of an amp's tone, so designer Mark Bartel exercises total control over their design specification in order to create that unique Tone King sound and feel.

The Imperial is a unique design that doesn't simply reproduce a certain vintage design, but instead endeavors to creat those certain magical tonal qualities found in some well-worn vintage amps whci usually only develop after a lifetime of use and aging.

In developing the Imperial, and endless selection of cabinet woods, component types and circuit designs were tested and evaluated for their ability to create these warm, raaw, burnished tones. The result is a uniquely musical guitar amplifier, hand-built by a skilled and dedicated artisan.

Rythm Channel
The rhythm channel really delivers the classic blackface sound, instantly reconizable to fans of the Princeton or Deluxe Reverb, but with a more organic feel, like a really good vintage tweed deluxe. It gives you the shimmery clean tones and gritty, ringing overdrive that this style of amp is known for, but with an improved ability to control the timbre and expression of the notes with your fingering and pick attack.

Lead Channel
The unique and effective Mid-Bite control makes the Lead Channel a lot more versatile than you would expect from a channel with only 3 controls. The Mid-Bite control is an exclusive Tone King design feature which does a lot more than simply adjust the midrange level - it completely transforms the overdrive character.

With Mid-Bite fully off, the Lead Channel reacts much like a tweed deluxe. When played clean, the woody resonance of the cabinet, liveliness of the 5AR4 tube rectifer, and the expressive dynamic response of the cathode-biased output stage work together to give you the raw midrange, silky top end, and loose feel of a genuine well-worn tweed deluxe - perfect for honky tonk or blues rhythm playing with a tele.

As you dig in harder, you'll feel the sweet, round top end begin to develop a stinging bite. Crank it up into the distortion zone, and the tone gets even fatter, thicker, and looser. Think tweed deluxe meets vintage Supro. Compression from the cathode-biased output stage softens the pick attack as single notes and chords swell and sustain in endlessly evolving shades of thick, meaty grind.

As you turn up the Mid-Bite control, a midrange peak appears while the bottom end is simultaneously tightened up, which transforms the tone into more of an English-style crunch. The amp develops a tighter feel as single notes really start to sing, and chords become chunky with rich midrange overtones, a lot like an early Marshall.

Reverb
The Imperial's reverb circuit uses the same 12AT7 driver tube, 12AX7 receiver tube, and long-format 2-spring pan as those classic amps from the 1960s, to give you that same authentic spring reverb sound.

Tremolo
The Imperial uses a vintage tremolo circuit which creates the tremolo effect by modulating the bias current of the output tubes. Compared to other methods (e.g. the opto-coupler method used in the Fender "blackface" era amps), this method creates the most gradual, smoothest, and roundest tremolo effect. The tremolo effect can be turned on and off via the footswitch.