if you want a rawer solo sound for instance and louder)
The clean part of the imperial (again it is really 2.5 amps in one-> bf deluxe, 5e3 deluxe and the knob that lets you dial in more britishy sounding sounds and all with one stomp button to switch and you can make it so that the levels are the same OR different. it pretty much stays 'in the trailer' for gigs & rehearsals and that is where I play it 90% of the time. I have never been a big fan of attenuators and I don't play my imperial that much at home. it is weird to hear of them being 'low cost' ha ha! at the time I got it, it was pretty expensive. I have an original imperial (pcb board, no attenuator). Is it manageable at bedroom levels? Do you wish you had the built in attenuator? From what I gather, most original Imperial owners are very happy but would like the attenuator option (probably why they now include it with the MKII). If you have an original build Imperial, I'd love to hear from you. Also, there's about a $600 difference (Imperial more expensive), which isn't much, but worth considering. So, just trying to decide between these two. It has an early Marshall-like quality in the lead channel, and IMO the best clean channel going which makes it super versatile, whereas the Royalist is a bit of a one-trick pony, but that trick is awesome. I love and somewhat prefer the tone of the Royalist, totally what I like (I miss my old JCM800), but the versatility of the Imperial is awesome. I would prefer to have the built in attenuator option so I can play at home (which rules out the cheaper original Imperial), which is where I realistically play the most, though I do practice in a band space and gig small clubs. I'd probably prefer the new Imperial MKII, but with the Aussie dollar at 0.79 USD, the exchange rate is gonna really drive up the price on the new MKII down here.
I've narrowed my choices to the 20th Anniversary Imperial and the Royalist 15w. Anyway, that store happens to be 700kms (400+ miles) away from where I live, so trying one out isn't entirely in the cards. Those are both great amps, but I'm looking for something really nice that will pretty much last me forever, and Tone King's seem to fit the bill for that.īeing in Australia, there's literally only 1 retailer in the entire country that sells them (they have an exclusive deal through the Premier Builders Guild). Really close to buying a Tone King and selling my Vox AC15C1 and Fender Princeton. I have another thread going but thought I'd go straight to the source. Tone King owners - wondering if you could maybe help me out. Help needed - first time buyer for a Tone King