Tone King Royalist Preamp Pedal

[Sascha Franck]

Just turned up in a newsletter. Excellent stuff as usual.
I really wish they'd make this with one channel as is and the other delivering some Fender (Super Reverb, Princeton, Deluxe or Bassman) tones.

 

[Ed DeGenaro]

Check this one out

 

[laxu]

 

[laxu]

Seems like a good sounding product. I appreciate that it isn't doing Fender cleans and Marshall overdrive because I feel like there's so many products out there that do that. JTM cleans are great too!

At 699 €, personally I'd rather spend a few hundred extra for the BluGuitar Amp 1 ME - not very good direct (without the BluBox IR loader), but can plug into a real cab.

 

[DrewJD82]

What’s the deal with this Tone King stuff? I gather the Imperial was kinda somewhere between a 5E3 and a Deluxe, but I can absolutely say I have never seen that kind of hype/excitement around Fender amp tones at any point in my life.

 

[metropolis_4]

First thoughts:

• I’m skeptical of any Marshall style preamp that doesn’t have a Presence control
• I like the use of the label “Attenuator” implying these are non-master volume Marshalls
• Reverb seems unnecessary. I’d rather have that real estate used for Presence and bright cap controls any day
• It slightly bothers me that the marketing blurb seems to imply “Plexi” and “Super Lead” are two completely different things
• Seems like something worth a look!

 

[metropolis_4]

What’s the deal with this Tone King stuff? I gather the Imperial was kinda somewhere between a 5E3 and a Deluxe, but I can absolutely say I have never seen that kind of hype/excitement around Fender amp tones at any point in my life.

I never understood it either. You’d think they were the first boutique amp shop to offer a take on Fender models…

The only real TK I’ve ever played that I didn’t hate was the Gremlin

 

[paisleywookiee]

First thoughts:

• I’m skeptical of any Marshall style preamp that doesn’t have a Presence control
• I like the use of the label “Attenuator” implying these are non-master volume Marshalls
• Reverb seems unnecessary. I’d rather have that real estate used for Presence and bright cap controls any day
• It slightly bothers me that the marketing blurb seems to imply “Plexi” and “Super Lead” are two completely different things
• Seems like something worth a look!

I could be wrong, but I'm fairly certain there is Presence, but it's done within the digital emulation of the power amp, with the app.

 

[Whizzinby]

First thoughts:

• I’m skeptical of any Marshall style preamp that doesn’t have a Presence control
• I like the use of the label “Attenuator” implying these are non-master volume Marshalls
• Reverb seems unnecessary. I’d rather have that real estate used for Presence and bright cap controls any day

Nailed it. These are going to go on pedalboards which generally imply, “I got this” for effects. Having an onboard reverb that you won’t use, but then having to go to the editor to adjust the presence/depth controls never made any sense. Put it on the pedal bro.

That said, I think TK/Synergy are slowly getting these amp pedals fit to fight with the extra tube and zero watt power amp. My problem with the original IRX was that it was light in the pants unless you ran it into an actual power amp. The new formats seem wayyyyy better standalone. This Royalist sounds really nice.

 

[laxu]

What’s the deal with this Tone King stuff? I gather the Imperial was kinda somewhere between a 5E3 and a Deluxe, but I can absolutely say I have never seen that kind of hype/excitement around Fender amp tones at any point in my life.

The Tone King Imperial is basically a modded Tweed and Blackface circuit in one box with a built in attenuator.
The Tone King Royalist is the same concept, but with a JTM45 and I think Plexi circuit?

I've only played the Tone King Imperial combo, but I thought it sounded really great. Easily up there as far as Fender-based tones go.

 

[metropolis_4]

I could be wrong, but I'm fairly certain there is Presence, but it's done within the digital emulation of the power amp, with the app.

That’s lame. It might as well not exist if I have to use an app to control it. Presence is such a critical control on Plexis.

I still love my EAE Citadel, but I would kill for a Presence knob on it. I can’t use it for everything I want without it.

If someone ever makes a good pedalboard friendly analog Plexi preamp with Presence and bright cap controls I’ll be all over it! I’ll probably buy two of them!

 

[gearJunkie]

I’m skeptical of any Marshall style preamp that doesn’t have a Presence control

In general, amplifier presence control is part of a power amp circuit, so it would not typically appear on a preamp device.

 

[gearJunkie]

Presence control operates in the power amp stage of the amplifier. Unlike traditional tone controls (bass, mid, treble) that are subtractive, presence control is a high-frequency shelving boost. This means it increases certain frequencies rather than just cutting others.

 

[metropolis_4]

In general, amplifier presence control is part of a power amp circuit, so it would not typically appear on a preamp device.

Fair point, but so many of them claim to have some sort of power amp emulation baked in. This one in this thread has a 0 watt power amp, and it does have a presence control it’s just buried in an app.

 

[gearJunkie]

Pedal ordered

 

[Whizzinby]

Fair point, but so many of them claim to have some sort of power amp emulation baked in. This one in this thread has a 0 watt power amp, and it does have a presence control it’s just buried in an app.

Very few people buy these to run as a standalone preamp. These are largely for pedalboard amp rigs that leverage the digital power amp sim, so leaving the power amp controls purely in software isn’t really ideal. It’s not the end of the world as I’d imagine most just park it on one setting, but it would be way more useful on the pedal itself.

 

[gearJunkie]

These are largely for pedalboard amp rigs that leverage the digital power amp sim, so leaving the power amp controls purely in software isn’t really ideal.

Fortunately, I intend to run this on a pedalboard rig in 4CM with my Badlander 50 combo that has its own presence control.

Even though it's not as convenient as a physical knob, the desktop amp use case can access the software presence controls.

I'll check the manual regarding its MIDI implementation and see if the presence has a CC message available for external control. That could be beneficial for pedalboard direct rigs that already have some kind of MIDI controller on board.