Tone King Meteor II 1 x 12" vs. 2 x 12"

[mgctrat]

I am looking into buying a new Tone King Meteor II from Mark. Would you go after the 1 x 12" or the 2 x 12" version of this amp and why? I am leaning toward the 2 x 12" version. Not that much difference in price with the extra headroom. Has anyone compared the two amps? Also, how does the Meteor compare to a Super, Deluxe, or Pro Reverb in your opinion? Does it capture all these tones?

[Fretmaster]

I have a Tone King Meteor II head and 2x12 cab that is one of the best sounding amps I've ever heard in my life. This amp sounds absolutely incredible and feels fantastic under your fingers. Go for it you will be happier than you could imagine.

[Jarrett]

I've owned two Meteor I 1x12 combos and now a Meteor II 1x12 combo. If I were buying the amp all over again, I think I would go the Fretmaster route. Head and a 1x12 or 2x12 cab.

The Meteor I was like ~42lbs I think? And the M2 is around 50lbs or better once you through a couple of pedals and cables in the back. For whatever reason, the M2 seems a little bullkier to move around for me and makes me want a separate head and cab.

Also, the head and cab sound awesome together and separate. You may want to use the head with another cab or even another head with the TK cab. Right now I am running my M2 through an Avatar Vintage 2x12 (like Bogner oversized 2x12) loaded with Greenbacks and it sounds great. Take a good pedal, put it in front of the Rhythm channel going into that big closed back 2x12, and it packs a whallop.

Also, playing on stage right now, I am having a bit of a time hearing the M2 1x12 combo at my feet. If I turn it up loud enough for me to hear, its slamming the guy across the way, if I turn down where its comfortable stage volume, sometimes I have to lean in to hear the specifics. I tried putting it up on a second cab to get it off the floor. It worked great for volume, but really altered the tone a bit. Tilt back legs may help, but I bet the projection of a 2x12 cab would be really nice. **Note: I'm playing a church gig where stage volume is a priority. At a blues jam or something where you could dime the amp, this is probably a non-issue**

At any rate, these are minor complaints. As Fretmaster pointed out, this is a truly great amp. If you are going to do mostly home use, the 1x12 combo fills the room incredibly and yes it can do the best of old Fender tones. Right off the bat its like a perfect Deluxe Reverb. And even with the 6V6s in it, can cop some Super Reverb tones. But if you want the real 6L6 tone, just pop a couple in and rebias it and it *really* does the Super Reverb thing then. I'm a Super Reverb lover and this amp delivers that and then some.

And while it does the Blackface thing so well, it is so much more than that. This M2 model has broken free of the clone label and is very much its own thing and a very cool one at that.

[Joe Perry]

2x12

[mgctrat]

Thanks for the responses. I am finding the site most helpful.

Next week I'll be getting a Tone King Meteor 2 head and closed back cabinet in the mail to test out. Try before you buy.

I'll let you all know what I think of it. I currently have a Fender Vibro King to compare it to. I'll be testing it with two Don Warren guitars. The Classic II and the Arlen Roth Tele (www.warrenguitars.com).

I get a feeling that my Vibro-King is in trouble. If I fall in love with the Meteor the Vibro King goes up for sale to help fund the purchase. Based on what I have read, if you can only have one amp, the Meteor II is very versatile and covers quite a portion of the sound spectrum. So, you would be quite happy having this amp if you could only have one.

I like the Vibro-King a lot too. I don't think it has the ultimate Fender tone but it's very good. Maybe changing the speakers or tubes would help it. Not sure.

[mgctrat]

Today the Meteor II came in. I thought it was going to be a head but it is the 1 x 12 combo. I got an extension cabinet as well which I have not done any testing with it yet.

I am comparing this amp to my Vibro King. My initial thoughts are they are two different animals. One may be not better than the other. Just different. I would say the Meteor is more versatile. I played mainly on the rhythm channel. The biggest difference that I am hearing is that the Vibro King seems to carve off high end frequencies (at least at my current settings) and be a little fuller sounding. I have not messed with the bright switch that is on the bottom side of the chassis. There is also a voice switch that may knock off some of those high end frequencies. I have a lot more comparing and testing to do.

I initially though that it would be one amp or the other but Maybe I keep both if I can justify the differences. One thing for sure, the Meteor is much lighter. I refer to my Vibro King as the 'Mother of Godzilla'. Where she sits, she stays .

The knobs on the Meteor seem much more sensitive. A little turn seems to have a noticeable affect on the sound of the amp. The amp is very full sounding for a 1x12. Loud too:RoCkIn.

The amp has so many options that it will take quite a few hours of playing to to get a good understanding of the amp. I am really pleased to this point.

I may put some audio/video samples and post them online. Maybe youtube.

If you have any comments or insight to this process that I am going through, please feel free to chime in : )

[lv]

Originally Posted by mgctrat

Today the Meteor II came in. I thought it was going to be a head but it is the 1 x 12 combo. I got an extension cabinet as well which I have not done any testing with it yet.

I am comparing this amp to my Vibro King. My initial thoughts are they are two different animals. One may be not better than the other. Just different. I would say the Meteor is more versatile. I played mainly on the rhythm channel. The biggest difference that I am hearing is that the Vibro King seems to carve off high end frequencies (at least at my current settings) and be a little fuller sounding. I have not messed with the bright switch that is on the bottom side of the chassis. There is also a voice switch that may knock off some of those high end frequencies. I have a lot more comparing and testing to do.

I initially though that it would be one amp or the other but Maybe I keep both if I can justify the differences. One thing for sure, the Meteor is much lighter. I refer to my Vibro King as the 'Mother of Godzilla'. Where she sits, she stays .

The knobs on the Meteor seem much more sensitive. A little turn seems to have a noticeable affect on the sound of the amp. The amp is very full sounding for a 1x12. Loud too:RoCkIn.

The amp has so many options that it will take quite a few hours of playing to to get a good understanding of the amp. I am really pleased to this point.

I may put some audio/video samples and post them online. Maybe youtube.

If you have any comments or insight to this process that I am going through, please feel free to chime in : )

fyi, that is an older Meteor. The newer ones have the bright switch on the top of the chassis. If you keep that one, you might want to ask for a discount.

[riffmeister]

I really dig my Meteor II 1x12, it works so well for the music I play (blues-pop-rock). Fantastic sounding reverb, chimey top end with just the right amount of cut, big bass with a little "give" when I dig in, midrange voiced well for a Fender-inspired sound and works so well with TS8-type OD pedals.

[chumley]

I really dig my Meteor II 1x12, it works so well for the music I play (blues-pop-rock). Fantastic sounding reverb, chimey top end with just the right amount of cut, big bass with a little "give" when I dig in, midrange voiced well for a Fender-inspired sound and works so well with TS8-type OD pedals.

My sentiments exactly.....

[mgctrat]

I have had a little time to work with the amp and cabinet. So far so good. The amp is very versatile. It's nice because my ears want to hear something different every day it seems. The amp is great by itself or with the 2 x 12 cabinet. I thought that I would need to keep my Vibro King until I plugged the combo into the 2 x 12 cabinet. That really filled out the sound. Because the amp is so versatile, there is a lot to try out and test. The possibilities are endless.

What is the difference between the 2 x 12 closed cabinet and the Meteor II 2 x12 combo as far as sound goes? The cabinet seems pretty deep sounding.

What do you think of this possible scenario? I like having the 1 x 12 combo because it sounds good and it gives you one solid amp but with the 2 x 12 speaker cabinet, It's like having an extra version of the amp. The combo takes on all new characteristics through the 2 x 12. If I can get away with the 1 x 12 at church (we are now shielding the drummer which of course cuts down the stage volume) maybe I get the 2 x12 speaker cabinet for use at home, for larger venues, and for tonal variety.

OR

Is the 2x12 combo so good and it is the best version of the Meteor II and there's no better way to go? In other words, it would best suit my needs.

OR

Do you just go with the head/cabinet configuration?

This is really a great amp. I have played a decent amount of equipment in my time not a lot of vintage but some. This may be the best amp I have ever played. Very quite, Amazingly versatile.

[mgctrat]

I noticed tht the Vibro King has 6L6s and the Tone King has the 6V6s. What are the tonal differences in these tubes? DO you think the Tone King can match the Vibro King sound with tubes switched while running the 2 x 12 cabinet?

[KLB]

Get the 1x12 Tone King ext. cabinet and add that when you need MORE. Mark Bartel told me he prefers this setup to the 2x12 combo.

Turn the midrange to 7 and beyond for a fuller tone on the clean channel. Keep the bass at 4 or less. This works well live.

Experiment with bias levels.

Try 6L6 (Tung-Sol 5881 are sweet) with the impedence switch at 4 ohms going into the 8 ohm speaker. This is a fat tone with a bit more compression than 4-6V6.

[mgctrat]

Thanks everyone for your input on this process. I have found everyone's comments most helpful. I think that I am going to go the 1 x 12 route and get an extension cabinet to run with it. Either the 1x12 or 2x12. I am also inclined to keep my Vibro King. It sounds great too. I thought the Meteor II would replace it but I like all the air that the 3x10s and 60 watts are pushing. The Meteor is a much more versatile amp by far. One nice thing about the 1 x12 combo is that It's not to terribly bad to carry. Not ideal but not bad either. So it can be used at smaller venues. I hope to try the Meteor II at church within the next two weeks. Our drummer is shielded so I hope that I can get buy with this 1x12 combo because carrying the Vibro King is out of the question. Hopefully, I am not being too sentimental about the Vibro-King. When I compare the tone of the two amps, I think the Vibro King is brighter than the Tone King. I noticed that I generally use less treble on my guitar when using the Vibro-King and I decrease the treble when using the Tone King. I believe that the Tone King covers the sound spectrum better. The Vibro King is more of a one trick pony but it does its one trick quite well. I have never had new tubes put in the Vibro-King and never had the amp biased so who know how much that would help it. Oddly enough, I thought the bass was tighter on the Vibro King. The Tone King tends to distort with the bass way up. I am sure the Tone KIng handles the higher bass setting better while running with an extension cabinet rather than just the 1x12. I am going to put the amps through on more set of tests before deciding on any purchase/selling decisions.

Has anyone out there done similar amp comparisons and what were your findings.

[chumley]

I own both amps and my findings are similar to yours. The Meteor is smoother, more versatile, not quite as loud as the Vibro King. It isn't as bright, naturally, but could probably be adjusted to be, another nod to its versatility. The bass is tighter on the Vibro King, even while the mids and highs are more raw. Reverb is nice on both, but the Meteor's vibrato is much better. I also considered adding another 1-12 cabinet, but haven't so far. I found that I have to get the Meteor up off of the floor at gigs, where the Vibro King could be heard either sitting flat on the floor or tilted back. Both are great amps but the Meteor is much easier to carry around.

[harryjmic]

I had a VK for awhile and loved it...it is my favorite Fender. One thing I did was set the bias. I did this by ear and once it was set the tubes were running very cool. What this did was lose some of the overdone mids, and sweeten the highs. When I first heard the amp it seemed to be too midrangy, by lowering the current the tubes were idling at I effectively gave the amp more sonic range. I would highly suggest doing this before giving up on your amp.

The only reason I ended upreturning the amp is because I had the opportunity too get a Guytron GT-20, and I couldn't keep both. If the deal hadn't come along I'd still be loving the VK. Tone Kings can be cool to, I like the lead channel when playing out.