Tone King Imperial Preamp pedal at NAMM 2025

[newholland]

Perfectly fine with that, but in case of this very thing, for me it's much more about providing a decent base to build things around. And I think that it's very likely doing that extremely well, regardless of style (it may obviously not be the greatest choice for metal, though). I for one am looking for some core sounds allowing me to do pretty much anything I want with, and for such endeavours it's quite essential that it's dynamic, sitting well in whatever context and what not. Which seems to be what the Tone King is doing extremely well.
Fwiw, for the same reasons some amp topologies have become icons, such as a clean(-ish) Fender kinda amp, certain Marshalls, Vox amps and such. All of those serve as excellent platforms for pretty much any kinds of music without trying to deliver any tone on earth (which is what most modelers try to be doing) or limiting themselves by being made to suit a certain kind of style (such as quite some metal amps).
That Tone King thing seems to be along those lines, as in "you can go anywhere". Which is pretty much up my alley.

nah im with ya and get it, and i know its business and theyre marketing to certain demographics that can afford a tone king. not that any of it doesnt make sense. it does. but it also speaks to the stasis of music and my other point- if music gear is gonna continue having a market but for rich old white dudes, its gotta keep moving, and i think the 'guaranteed markets' are gonna die off at some point. i def know most 'kids' arent super interested in boutique amps these days- but maybe finding and representing newer uses for cool things like this outside just old hat (speaking to the universality of a great, toothy chewy mid full killer amp) would expand those markets some.

i dunno- im sure its a meaing of life thing, and namm sure isnt about the philosophy of musicmaking

 

[Sascha Franck]

nah im with ya and get it, and i know its business and theyre marketing to certain demographics that can afford a tone king. not that any of it doesnt make sense. it does. but it also speaks to the stasis of music and my other point- if music gear is gonna continue having a market but for rich old white dudes,

You know, I'm certainly not in any of those camps, I never really wanted a boutique amp and I also never cared about any "authentic" tones or whatever.
But what I do want is something to - as said - "go from there" and not care much about the main tone platform anymore after that as I just know things will work. And if that happens to be what would be considered a boutique amp tone, be it so. I will happily modify it using whatever pedals and stuff so nobody would ever accuse me of being a boutique gear nerd.

 

[newholland]

You know, I'm certainly not in any of those camps, I never really wanted a boutique amp and I also never cared about any "authentic" tones or whatever.
But what I do want is something to - as said - "go from there" and not care much about the main tone platform anymore after that as I just know things will work. And if that happens to be what would be considered a boutique amp tone, be it so. I will happily modify it using whatever pedals and stuff so nobody would ever accuse me of being a boutique gear nerd.

nah- no accusations of anything personal meant- straight generalities of demos and marketing implied. i love when i see any guitarists working completely outside the box with just great tools and crushin it. THAT inspires me to dig and learn the craft of playing better. economics and marketing is.. well.. economics and marketing.