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| | ~ Tone King Amplifier Company ~ Designer Mark Bartel elevates guitar amplifier design to an art form unto itself, with a craft-based approach steeped in creative design, competent engineering know-how, and fine hand craftsmanship.
Mark graduated from Clarkson University with a degree in Electrical Engineering in 1988, and has nearly 30 years of practical experience in design and construction of vacuum tube and solid state analog circuitry. In addition, he has nearly 30 years of experience in fine woodworking, furniture making, and guitar building, and 25 years of experience playing guitar.
Mark approaches his designs with a craft based approach, recognizing the merits of classic amplifier designs, but endeavoring to develop his own unique creations in which each element of the design is critically scrutinized and incessantly tweaked to perfection. He believes that good design is a lot more than simply applying engineering and mechanical know-how, but also includes recognition of the importance of some subtle factors that are hard to quantify – the heart, soul, and magic of a good design.
Recognizing that the real magic in a design comes from these subtle factors, Mark has spent thousands of hours in research over the years to develop an understanding of the tonal effect of things such as wood type, cabinet dimensions, grain direction, screw locations, baffle board attachment, coating type and thickness (for cabinet design), and things such as component brand, component location, and wire routing (for electronic design). He's built literally hundreds and hundreds of prototype speaker cabinets to optimize the overall tone, dispersion, sound image, and feel, to create the unique Tone King sound.
After many years of repairing vintage tube amplifiers and developing his own designs, Mark started the Tone King Amplifier Company in 1993 and began selling his first commercially available amplifier, the Imperial. The Imperial was an immediate success, and was highly regarded by respected players (including several A-list artists who still use these early Tone King amps).
 | Over the years, Mark has honed his craft and refined his work, as he produced a series of new models over the course of the past 16 years, including the Continental, Galaxy, Comet, Meteor, Meteor/II, and now the Metropolitan – the pinnacle of his life's work in guitar amplifier design.
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Tone King Falcon - $1595
Tone King's all new 12W, 1x10 Falcon channels the simplicity and grease fired glory of pure old-school guitar tone. Inspired by the rounded, burnished tones and chunky grit of vintage tweed-era amps, the Falcon is a whole new type of Tone King amp....
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Tone King Metropolitan
New for 2009, the Metropolitan is a truly magical guitar amplifier with a sound all its own. The lightweight, resonant speaker cabinet is tuned and voiced as if it were a musical instrument unto itself, producing the perfect balance of warm, woody resonance and elastic feel, as well as power and punch. The ultra-pure signal path and automatically balanced and calibrated phase inverter give you an unusually effortless sustain, even on perfectly clean notes, and a bell-like clarity...
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Tone King Imperial
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...
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Tone King Galaxy
Tone King's Galaxy is the ultimate in authentic vintage tone and feel. Its 4x6L6GC output stage (cathode biased) is tweaked and voiced for chime, warmth, and a spongy, swampy, organic feel like no other Tone King amp. It is designed with an ultra-pure signal path that squeezes every last drop of tone out of its tubes...
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Tone King Ironman Attenuator
Tone King's IRONMAN takes attenuation technology to a new level, with its precision reactive load and 100% pure transformer coupling of both load and speaker at every level of attenuation. With this technology, your amp sees the same complex load impedance at every level of attenuation. The speaker is likewise coupled to the amplifier with 100% pure transformer coupling (no resistors!), for the most transparent and accurate coupling possible, at every level of attenuation...
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Tone King
