Tone King Royalist MKIII | Classic Guitar® journal GuitarContact
British tube amps from the mid ’60s and early ’70s have impressed numerous designs emulating their beloved tones. In 2014, Tone King Amplifier Firm launched the Royalist, its tackle the famed Marshall JTM45/JMP50 “Bluesbreaker.” In ’16, the Royalist MKII introduced a change from EL84 to EL34/6L6GC/KT66 energy tubes and a novel 6V6GT display screen regulator. To mark the corporate’s thirtieth anniversary, it has launched the MKIII.
We plugged into the 1×12 combo model of the two-channel/40-watt non-Grasp-Quantity amp, with footswitchable channels that share a tone stack with Bass, Mid, Treble and Presence. Unbiased controls for every channel embrace three-way toggles that change between period voicings labeled “1964,” “1967,” and “1970.”
The Royalist’s non-master design means overdrive and distortion are generated by turning up its Quantity management. With Bass and Mids at 5, Treble and Presence at 7, the 1964 voicing helped our Les Paul and Telecaster produce fats, easy, low-medium achieve tones hinting at a JTM45. The more-aggressive 1967 setting yielded extra treble and achieve, much like a basic plexi sound, and the 1970 “Tremendous Lead” voice introduced the very best achieve with extra maintain, treble, punch, and low-end tightness. The MKIII’s skill to emulate three basic tones with the flick of a change is spectacular, and dialing them to style was simple with the super-responsive Tone controls. Pull Fats (on every Quantity pot) modifications really feel by delivering extra low-end frequencies on the primary achieve stage of the preamp, including thickness for leads or to fatten single-coils.
The amp’s two built-in/six-setting Iron Man II attenuators supply controls for every channel, changing the only shared management on the MKII. It really works nicely lowering room quantity whereas nonetheless driving the tubes to their candy spot, and the HF change brightens tone when the attenuator is doing heavy lifting. Although the Royalist excels at soiled/overdriven tones, stunning clear tones are remarkably simple to get inside any of the voicings by merely easing choose assault or rolling down the guitar’s Quantity.
The Royalist MK III is a powerful British-flavored tone machine with the soul and DNA of revered Marshalls at your fingertips – at any quantity.
This text initially appeared in VG’s December 2023 concern. All copyrights are by the creator and Classic Guitar journal. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.