Kingsley Tone Baron

[jzgtrguy]

I've been thinking about getting one of these. Does it have an effects loop? If not wht not?

Owners, how are you running your effects?

 

[Steve Snider]

I've been thinking about getting one of these. Does it have an effects loop? If not wht not?

Owners, how are you running your effects?

Mine had a loop and I loved that amp. Wish I still had it.

 

[jzgtrguy]

Thanks for that Steve, Here is a photo from his web site. Is this what yours looked like?


I see Ch1 out, Ch2 In, line out and a foot switch.

 

[Tone Loco]

Mine had a jack on that back that took a Y cable with a TRS plug on the stem and two standard female phone jacks - one side is the send the other the return. Worked fine, although it also has a line out which you can send to another (power) amp for just the wet stuff, that worked well too. Keeps the dry signal to the speakers pure. Killer amp.

Probably worth an email to Simon he was the one who explained it to me, but it's been a couple years now.

 

[Tone Loco]

Found the old email from Simon, here's the relevant part:

you need a stereo to double mono y-cable. The stereo jack goes into the channel 1 send jack. At the other end the cable splits into two mono jacks. The one that connects to the tip of the stereo jack is the sen, so it goes to the input of your effect(s), while the other mono jack connects to the ring of the stereo jack and it is the return, which connects to the output of your effect(s).
One thing to be aware of is that this is a passive, non- buffered loop. As such, you will want to keep the connecting cables to the effect(s) in the loop as short as possible to prevent signal degradation

 

[james russell]

I always seem to chime in on the Kingsley threads because I love my amp so much. I've had a Kingsley Deluxe 32 for a few years and I still marvel at the tones every time I fire it up. I would love a Tone Baron because I know I would use the effects loop a lot. One of my favorite aspects of Simon's amps in addition to the amazing tone is that I find them to be super sensitive to pick attack and to volume pot changes. I could be happy with just one channel and the guitar volume control. Also, I'd like to point out that I LOVE the triode/pentode switch on the Kingsley. A lot of folks here say they don't find the triode setting useful on their amps, but Simon tunes his amps so all the options are very musical. I use the triode setting on my amp most of my playing time and it is addicting. Super expressive. Great, great amps.

 

[kcb]

What kind of tubes does he put in his amps?

 

[Quintus]

As you may have heard, the amp is extremely transparent when it comes to tubes. With my Tone Baron, vintage and NOS tubes make a noticeable difference in an already phenomenal amp.

Last I heard, Simon's tube config was as follows, but always good to check with the master himself:

Power: 4 TAD 6L6GC-STRs with a Sovtek 5AR4 rectifier

Pre-amp:
V1 - Tungsol re-issue 12AX7
V2 - Tungsol re-issue 12AX7
V3 - Tungsol re-issue 12AX7
V4 - Sovtek 12AX7 LPS (Reverb)
V5 - Sovtek 12AX7 LPS (PI)

 

[kcb]

Thank You.

 

[bluessyndicate]

I'll add;

The loop is an insert styled loop...so yes passive, non buffered. I have another amp with that same style loop and it works very well, sounds great!

The real genius of what Simon did on the ToneBaron is that the gain channel can feed into the clean channel, so by inserting time based effects between channel 1 and channel 2, you end up being able to add things like reverb or delay after the gain, so the effect does not get distorted. It's a genius approach which overcomes the problems of using reverb on high gain settings.

I played a tone baron several la amp shows ago when Simon and his wife Christine came down to participate. Simon placed a delay pedal right on top of the tone baron and ran the channels as I mentioned and it sounded phenomenal...that's one kick ass amp...as all his are.

James...glad your digging on the D32R still! I sure miss that one!

 

[jzgtrguy]

Thanks a lot. That answers the question. A few years ago I was considering getting one of these and I opted for an Axe-fx Ultra. I love the Axe. But here's the deal. All my presets sound very similar. No matter what amp I start with after I am through tweaking they all end up in the same zip code so I am really only after one sound...me.

Don't get me wrong, I love the Axe. It is the best single piece of gear acquisition I have ever made except for some guitars. But I'm plug and play sort of guy and I don't use tons of effects just delay and reverb and maybe occasionally some tremolo. Having 70 amps, 40 speaker cabs, a dozen mics and a hundred instances of effects is over kill, way over kill. I like the ease of set up though. I like being able to get good "loud" sounds at a reasonable volumes.

I guess I am just trying to decide if I should sell the Axe and the QSC HPR112 monitor to come up with a big chunk of a Tone Baron. Then I'd have to go out and get a couple of pedals also....hhmmmm decisions, decisions.

Again thanks for chiming in.

 

[jzgtrguy]

One more thing, is there a pedal that buffers a signal path?

 

[Tone Loco]

One more thing, is there a pedal that buffers a signal path?

Not sure what you mean but there is a footswitch-able boost pedal, which I think basically switches the pre amp EQ tone controls out (I think there is a similar switch on the front panel), and on the pedal he has a pot that allows you to control the amount of boost you are getting. I used it for a solo boost.

If you are talking about a buffered loop pedal I think fuchs makes one, maybe other people do too. Other than that you would probably be looking at a dumbleator type device. Basically an outboard buffered loop with send and return levels etc.

But it certainly wouldn't hurt to try contacting him directly - he was very responsive with me and I didn't even buy the amp new.

 

[jzgtrguy]

Thanks Tone-Loco,

I have been in touch with Simon and he is very helpful.

I'll check out the Fuchs pedal. If what the Tone Baron does isn't buffered I was just looking for a work around so I just thought maybe someone makes a pedal that buffers a signal chain allowing you to run longer cable lengths without degrading the signal.

 

[Tone Loco]

Thanks Tone-Loco,

I have been in touch with Simon and he is very helpful.

I'll check out the Fuchs pedal. If what the Tone Baron does isn't buffered I was just looking for a work around so I just thought maybe someone makes a pedal that buffers a signal chain allowing you to run longer cable lengths without degrading the signal.

Yeah, fuchs has two that do that,
one is a buffered loop,

one has built in reverb so you can kill 2 birds with one stone.

All the others I've looked into are rack units, but maybe there are other pedals out there.

 

[jzgtrguy]

Yeah, fuchs has two that do that,
one is a buffered loop,

one has built in reverb so you can kill 2 birds with one stone.

All the others I've looked into are rack units, but maybe there are other pedals out there.

Thanks for that! I'll check them out. I just need to make a decision to sell a lot of gear to get one. I'm not unhappy with the Axe it seems like over kill sometimes and all my pre sets sound very similar.

 

[djdrdave]

Still saving for mine. Been slowly putting away the cookie jar money for one.