Tone King
Tone King is a manufacturer of vacuum tube guitar amplifiers and stand-along attenuators located in Baltimore in the U.S. state of Maryland. Tone King was founded by Mark Bartel in 1993 in Kingston, New York. In 1994 Mark moved the company to Baltimore. Tone King is one of the boutique "vintage" amplifier companies making Fender style amps. Bartel subsequently sold the company to the Premier Builders Guild,[1] although he still works as an employee of the company.
In January 2016, Tone King introduced the new Royalist 45 Mk II amplifier, an updated version of Tone King's Royalist amplifier, known for its low-gain British sound qualities.[2] Also in January, Tone King introduced an updated version of its Ironman attenuator, the Ironman II Mini.[3]
Critical Acclaim
Of the Tone King Ironman II Mini attenuator, Guitar Player magazine reviewer Dave Hunter said this in a June 28, 2016 review: "The Ironman II Mini will go down to whisper-quiet, and sound reasonably good in the process, but the better test was in knocking off a reasonable 6dB to 9dB, at which levels I found it impressively accurate and unobtrusive." [4]
References
- ↑ "Birth of the masterbuilt instrument - MusicInsider Magazine". Premier Guitar. February 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
- ↑ "Tone King Amplification Releases the Royalist 45 Mk II and the Ironman II Mini Precision Reactive Power Attenuator - Premier Guitar". Premier Guitar. February 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
- ↑ "Tone King Amplification Releases the Royalist 45 Mk II and the Ironman II Mini Precision Reactive Power Attenuator - Premier Guitar". Premier Guitar. February 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
- ↑ "Review: Tone King Ironman II Mini & Radial Engineering Headload Attenuators - Guitar Player". Guitar Player. June 2016. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
External links
- Guitar Player Ironman II Mini Video Review
- Mark Bartel demos Tone King Royalist 45 Mk II and Ironman II Mini at 2016 NAMM
- Official Tone King site
- Guitar Player review
- Harmony Central reviews
- Kenn Fox interview Describes using a Tone King amp.
- Guitarist James Bay references his use of Tone King amplifiers.