Tone King Metropolitanfasrdial

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more.. Gear • Reviews • Tone King • Amps • Combo • Tube Combo • Videos • July 2013

Tone King Metropolitan Reviews

Tone King Amplifiers are some of the finest on the planet and each amp is built to perfection! Mark Bartel tests and retests countless wood, component and configuration combinations until he hears that exquisite vintage sound worthy of the name Tone King. We are very proud to be the largest Tone King dealer in the world for 5 years running! Tone King all-tube amplifiers and attenuators are proudly built in the USA using hand selected components. Each vintage-style design takes you on a tonal journey to the familiar sound of yesteryear. Mark Bartel’s frequency compensated attenuators are featured in every amp we offer, allowing you to reduce the speaker volume from stage to whisper level without losing an ounce of luscious tone. Make Framus Part of Your Next “New Gear Day” and enjoy it for a lifetime. This past Christmas, right before things got dicey in the world, I received a gloriously awesome gift from the CEO of TheToneKing.com: a gorgeous Framus dreadnought acoustic/electric.

It’s doubtful there has been another timein electric guitar history when you couldchoose from so many amps based on classiccircuits. Many of these are near-perfectrecreations built with newer, more reliablecomponents. Others, though, take thestreamlined simplicity of old amps and addtasteful and functional features that lendversatility—easing the maintenance commitments and space issues attendanta stable of vintage units. You can file ToneKing’s new Sky King in the latter category.

Fast

The Sky King is the first handwired ToneKing amp in 20 years (along with the 20th-anniversaryImperial), which is exciting foranyone who digs the vintage-inspired workof this Maryland company. But some ofthe biggest news here is the inclusion of apentode/ultralinear switch, a distinctly non-vintageoption that really expands the sonicpalette of this 2-channel, 6L6-equipped 1x12combo. The result is a simple and incrediblyversatile 35-watt amp that’s at home onstageor in the studio. With just a little effort anda few switch flips, you can coax the Sky Kingto deliver everything from smooth jazz tonesand R&B colors, all the way to the mostsaturated, raunchy rock sounds.

Flights with the Falcon
In the year or so since he introduced theFalcon amp, Mark Bartel (the tone kingbehind Tone King) came to love the soundand feel of an output stage wired in ultralinearmode. Bartel was listening to a lot of JoeMaphis and Deke Dickerson, and diggingthe thick mids and silky top end in theirsound. Like the Falcon, the Sky King wasconceived as an amp having an ultralinearoutput design. But in the latter stages of theSky King’s development, Bartel decided thatplayers might like the option of having themore conventional sound of pentode mode,which, by comparison, is more responsive,so he added the pentode/ultralinear switchto the back side of the chassis.

The rest of the control layout is simpleenough. You can select either the lead orrhythm channel using a control-panelswitch or the included footswitch. The backpanel has controls for the built-in attenuator,pentode/ultralinear switch, and speakerimpedance setting, as well as the power andstandby switches.

Outwardly, the amp is reminiscent ofFender’s early tweed amps (the so-called“TV fronts”), and the silver-and-blackgrille cloth adds a touch of blackface style.The Tone King logo, which is shaped likea ’50s television set, even harkens back toTone King’s own history and the company’searliest amps, which are among the most’50s kitsch-influenced amps ever built. Thescript for each knob is bold and easy toread, which is a big plus for dark stage use,and as the Western rope motif on the controlpanel suggests, Maphis and Dickersondid more than influence the sound of theSky King.

There are separate Ironman attenuatorsfor each channel, which allow the playerto dial in more preamp-tube saturationat lower volumes. While both attenuatorswork well, the plastic knobs on my testexample were a little loose and made thevarious selections on the click-position potfeel a little indistinct. In addition, our testunit’s rather heavy chassis was a little loosewhen I unpacked it, which led me to wonderif future versions might benefit from areinforcement baffle. [Bartel says the latterproblem was actually due to the lack oflocking nuts on our test unit’s chassis bolts,and he assures us that the issue has sincebeen addressed on all production units.]

Sonically Spanning Decades
Though there’s no shortage of sounds ontap from the Sky King, you can make acase that the ultralinear setting on thisamp is where it sounds best. The amp’sultralinear output has a surprisinglyblackface-style voice (particularly giventhat it’s supposed to have response morein line with a tweed circuit), and plentyof clarity and headroom, thanks to theCelestion G12M-65 Creamback speaker.I was very impressed with the thick midsI heard from a Stratocaster plugged intothe rhythm channel, and the high end hasplenty of bite without a trace of harshness.The EQ is subtle, but because the voice isso naturally balanced I was able to get allthe range I needed out of the bass and treblecontrols and wasn’t left wanting moreadjustment in those frequencies. I did longa bit for a midrange control, however.

Plugging in a humbucker-equippedGibson SG yielded a very rich, jazzy tonein the neck-pickup position, which was apleasant surprise. And the Sky King/Gibsonpair was willing and able to provide thetones of early Butterfield Blues Band orPeter Green-era Fleetwood Mac records—biting, punchy, thick, and musical.While the Sky King’s manual statesthat pentode mode is most like a vintageblackface amp, my ears tell a different story.I found the pentode setting to be veryaggressive and punchy, though it also hasexcellent definition. With the Stratocaster,the pentode mode in the rhythm channelreminded me of the clean tones you’d hearfrom a Marshall plexi. The lead channeltone stack, meanwhile, generates the creamydistortion and front-and-center midrangeresponse that drove early rock ’n’ roll (checkthe raunchy solo tone that Chuck Berry goton the 1955 recording of “Maybelline” forreference). The lead channel has just a singletone control and a Tone King-designedmid-bite knob. Together, the two controlslet you increase the mids and gain whilerolling off high frequencies and compressingthe low end. I found the pair allowedme to dial in both harmonically rich modernand classic rock sounds.

Ratings

Tone

Pros: Incredibly versatile with a wide range of tones.

Cons: Expensive. Could be a little more road-worthy.

Tones:

Tone King Metropolitan Fast Dial Irritrol

Ease of Use:
Updates line.

Build/Design:
Unblocked everything games.

Tone King Metropolitan Fast Dial Calipers

Value:

Street: $2,995
toneking.com

Tone King Amp

Fans of rich ’60s reverb textures willlove the tube-driven reverb, which is lushand sounds superb. In fact, I never wantedto turn it off! There’s simply no substitutefor the tube-colored drive and dimensionalityof a reverb circuit this good, and ifyou want to cop the rollicking excitementof the mid-’60s Rolling Stones or MagicSam’s haunting vibe, the Sky King’s reverbis where it’s at. The tube-driven tremolosounds great, too, though I wished itweren’t quite as subtle as it is.

Tone King Metropolitan Fast Dial 999

The Verdict
With two channels and the very cool pentode/ultralinear switch, the simple, stylish,and sonically satisfying Sky King is the verypicture of tonal versatility. And it’s full ofenough sounds—from buttery smooth tofilthy—that you could classify it as a does-it-allfor practically any style of music. The onlydown sides are that the steep price tag will putit out of reach of a lot of players, and thereseem to be a couple of lingering constructionissues that could be fine-tuned in orderto make the amp better suited to the rigorsof the road. But when all’s said and done, ifyou’re looking to tap into a virtual Big Muddyof vintage tones and need an amp that’s powerfulenough for just about any size stage, theSky King offers one very big bag of tricks.

Watch our video demo: