Tone King Metro

[goodandswarty]

Thanks to my lovely wife, I ordered-up a sweet, new Metropolitan today from Chuck's in Baltimore. I happened to be in town for Christmas.... and looks like i got the best gift! Now i wait.

I'll fill you guys in with details once i get it.
Hope everyone had a nice holiday.
-nik

 

[amphead777]

Looks like a smokin' amp!!! nice gift, cool wife, Happy New Year.

 

[Crowder]

Just got an Imperial and it's sweeeeet.

 

[riffmeister]

Congrats!! It's a neato amp for sure! Here are some clips I made:

https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/543607

 

[goodandswarty]

i got a feeling that it's gonna be a long, long wait ; )
hope you post some sweet sounds of your imperial.
-n

 

[goodandswarty]

thanks riffmeister. i got a bit nervous when i read another poster was dying for his then dumped it right after he got it. it's hard to base decisions on other's recommendations.
this is also not typical of how i buy expensive gear.

 

[riffmeister]

Yeah, I know who you are talking about, that was a saga, for sure!

I wound up selling mine, too. But only because of my 4 year love affair with a Meteor II. The two amps are similar, each has strengths over the other, and the Meteor wound up being the keeper by a nose.

Which Swart do you have?

 

[mondaythursday]

Tone King's stuff is really nice. I have a Meteor II.

 

[goodandswarty]

riffmeister.... i've got the AST MKii head and single 12 cab. actually ended up buying 2 new guitars because that amp made them sound so good. i was demoing the amp and happened to grab a nash strat with lollars (i've never liked strats) and holy crap. i've truly never had such a toneful, dimensional amp. even at super low bedroom volumes that thing sounds beautiful.
you guys are making me nervous about the metro now... both you and songman dumped them right after buying them : (

 

[riffmeister]

If you like Fender amp sounds and play at lower volumes, the Metro with it's wattage controls should really float your boat. I rarely play at low volume and judge an amp on its performance in a live setting with the band. Both amps did very well but there are a few nuances with the Meteor which edged it out. For an 'around the home amp' it probably would have gone the other way.

edit: the other thing is....Mark has made a few 'tweaks' to the Metro since I had mine. I have to think he's made a fantastic amp even more fantasticer.

 

[goodandswarty]

that's actually why i'm planning on buying the metro.... i need a good versatile gig amp. i thought with it's cool volume output control and good mix of cleans and drive. it would be perfect.

 

[riffmeister]

i need a good versatile gig amp. i thought with it's cool volume output control and good mix of cleans and drive.

The wattage controls allow you to balance the lead channel volume with the clean channel. So in that respect its a real improvement over the Meteor. I use the clean channel + pedals only, the lead channel is too loud when its saturating nicely.

I predict you wil be very pleased!

 

[trainwrecker]

Played with it with my band last week, phenomenal. The guys even remarked it was the best amp they'd ever heard. I haven't played a Swart, but I've played most everything else, you made a good choice.

 

[goodandswarty]

thanks trainwrecker...sounds like you made a good choice as well. it's hard to get a good sense of equipment here.... one person's love is another person's least favorite. The idea of clean, dimensional tone is never the same for two people.
So many choices nowadays for really good amps... selecting gear can be quite overwhelming.

 

[snoggin]

I bought songmans metro and have been very happy with it so far.. i play rock pretty much and run the clean channel with a klon set pretty low and kick on either an ocd or the lead channel for solos or heavier stuff.. Still messing with it but for low volume gigs it cant be beat.. I know it has lots of capabilities i havent tapped yet .. I think it sounds great cranked up too.. I usually have it louder at rehearsal than I can get at the gigs lol. but i mic it and it sounds pretty huge even at lower stage volumes.