Tone King Imperial Mark 2 Users -questions

Gassage

I've owned 3. Or maybe 4, can't recall.

My preference is the NON HW MkII - for some reason the tweed channel is miles better on them.

One of my fave amps for clarity, low vols, detail. Doesn't quite have the punch of a J20 or 40 though.

Fuengi

Gassage said:

I've owned 3. Or maybe 4, can't recall.

My preference is the NON HW MkII - for some reason the tweed channel is miles better on them.

One of my fave amps for clarity, low vols, detail. Doesn't quite have the punch of a J20 or 40 though.

That's what I have noticed in my Falcon. It's almost digital feeling, does not have a lot of response. 

Having said that, I like the core tone better than any other amp I have owned. It's silent noise even with several pedals in front of it. It's perfect for the home studio. 

DB1

A few quick observations, then - just a few things I've noticed, albeit at a billionth of a watt, so it really is 'bedroom volume'.

I've been fiddling about with the Falcon Grande, the Imperial Mk 2 and my Rift PR18.

The Falcon first - to me it has more of an immediately vintage tone, which I like because that's my sort of stuff - blues with a bit of jazzy stuff thrown in, I suppose.  I find it a warm sound, maybe with the lo-fi aspect of a lot of the earlyish guitar sounds that I like. The attenuator on the Falcon seems a bit more friendly to me than the one on the Imperial. The Reverb/Dwell dual control makes the reverb system the best out of the three for me.

The only negatives that I find are the lack of separate treble and bass controls which make, for example, my Gretsch 6120, ES-165 and 1950's ES-165 a bit boomy, and the fact that I have to fiddle about at the back of the amp for the on switch and standby, but that's me being lazy. I like the tweed setting, and the rhythm setting is good for an almost acoustic feel - it reminds me of a Varitone-type effect. I'm not keen on the lead setting - nothing wrong with it, it just doesn't suit my 'style', such as it is.

The Imperial - perhaps not quite as much of an immediate vintage sound, but a lovely range of tones nevertheless. The sound is quite rich and expansive, no doubt in part due to it's size - it's miles bigger then the daintier Rift. The attenuator on the Imp is slightly more difficult to get along with (although I'm assuming that it's the same as in the Falcon) because the lowest volume setting makes it very easy for the sound to break up, but the next setting means that volume 2 or 3 is as far as I want to go.

It has the advantage over the Falcon of separate treble and bass controls, which cut the 'thump' from the guitars mentioned above, so is more versatile in that respect. The reverb doesn't have the dwell facility that the Falcon has, which is a shame, but it does have the tremelo facility, which is nice, but wouldn't be a buying factor for me. The rhythm setting is great for me, but again I'm not a fan of the lead setting, which doesn't do much for me due to the way that I play. The on/off and standby switches (still at the back) are more easily accessible than on the Falcon, although that's a minor issue.

The Rift - a very pretty, well-built amp, which exudes quality - not that the TK's don't, of course. All three of them (to me) look sensational in different ways - the Rift being the Aston Martin to the Tone King's Cadillac, sort of. It's a bit unfair on the Rift as it doesn't have an attenuator, and it's loud(!), so I'm operating at volume 2. At that  volume, it has a deeper, more enclosed feel and sound, which is lovely and gratifyingly old-school in a different way. This particular amp has the advantage of treble, bass AND middle, which is useful, and reverb/tremelo.

I don't know which I prefer out of the three, unless the answer can be 'all of them'.  I suppose my perfect amp would be the vintage warmth that I've found from the Falcon, combined with it's reverb and the properties of it's rhythm setting, the looks and treble/bass control of the Imperial, the middle control, layout simplicity and tremelo of the Rift.

So, yes, all of them. Which doesn't help that much, I suppose. They're all bloody lovely, but maybe, just maybe - the compromise amp of choice might be the Imperial. Possibly. I think.

* Walks off arguing with himself and punching his own head *

fretfinder

Very nice review. I have a Rift PR18 that was custom-ordered with a Dwell control on the reverb and I love the extra flexibility it gives you in shaping the reverb sound. No Mid control on mine though as apparently there isn’t room on the front panel for both Dwell and Mid controls - I believe the standard PR18 comes with neither.

I’d love to try a Mk2 Imperial someday. I had the handwired Anniversary model (bought from Gassage) but found it a little bright, plus it struggled with clean headroom at some of our gigs, albeit unmiced. I never used the lead channel either, as using OD pedals through the rhythm channel sounded better to me.

DB1

Thanks - as an update, and a couple of days later, I'm gravitating more towards the Falcon Grande, because there's just that bit more warmth about it - the Imperial isn't overly bright, by the way, not at my low volume anyway.

However, I think the Imperial is 'suffering' with the same problem as the Rift - at my tiny volumes,  the attenuator (at it's quietest setting) is too quiet to maintain a clean sound at anything other than whisper quiet volumes.  Turn the attenuator up a notch to the same setting as the Falcon, and I can only reasonably get to 2 or 3 on the volume control. Interestingly (well, to me!) the Falcon will get up to about 6 and still keep nice and clean, in a 'vintage' way.

It's odd, because they're both the same wattage and presumably carry the same attenuator, but the Falcon is more usable to me for my needs.

No slur against the Imperial by any stretch of the imagination, but I think the Falcon Grande (with the compromise maybe of a EQ pedal) is perhaps the best bet in my setting.

mattacjones

Just seen this thread ... I have a TK Imp Mk2, I think it's fan-f*cking-tastic, and I've had it a few years. Once you get your sound dialled in (which is easy as they are all brilliant, but difficult because they are all brilliant), the attenuator to match the band volume level is so simple. I love it and it looks fan-f*cking-tastic as well. I have a neo speaker in mine, so it's even lighter weight.

srato

Nice amp the TK Imp but ridiculous price.

Wazmeister

srato said:

Nice amp the TK Imp but ridiculous price.

Sadly mate, you have to pay for the best !

DB1

I'm enjoying it at the moment, and I've found the settings that I like, so I'm happy with that. As it happens, I did sell the Falcon Grande to a forum member, but realised that I really liked that as well (for a slightly different, vintage, feel and sound) so the Imp has a little turquoise sister on the way.