“A pedal that sings with harmonic richness and blooming touch response”: Tone King offers up boutique tube amp tones for your pedalboard with the Imperial Preamp

Tone King has unveiled the Imperial Preamp, a “high-voltage tri-tube” preamp pedal that takes the tones of the Baltimore, Maryland high-end guitar amp brand’s Imperial MKII combo and repackages them in a pedalboard-friendly format.

This is a serious bit of kit. The tones on offer range from classic Tweed and black panel Fender amps through to vintage British tube amp sounds.

The product itself is 21st-century meets golden age amp design, with onboard Impulse Response support on a unit that’s powered by a trio of 12AX7 preamp tubes operating at high-voltage. The design is resolutely faithful to the amp that inspired it.

“It features the exact preamp section and phase inverter circuitry of the Imperial MKII amp, as well as Reverb, Tremolo and Attenuation, resulting in a pedal that sings with harmonic richness and blooming touch response,” says Tone King. “This preamp delivers the amp’s sound, responsiveness, and exquisite interaction with your pickups and effects.”

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This has all mod cons. There is a headphones output. There is MIDI connectivity. There is a cornucopia of input/outputs on the back of the unit that make it easy to integrate it within your setup, with balanced XLR connections with ground lift and a stereo effects effects loop.

There are two channels to work with, both serviced by the digital stereo convolution spring reverb and tremolo. The Rhythm channel is inspired by ‘60s Fender combos. You know the drill: reference-quality cleans and spankiness, dynamics, and the warm heat of overdrive when you turn up the volume.

The Lead channel is a little more gnarly. Think Fender Tweed amps. It has controls for Mid-Bite, Tone and Volume, and if you dial up the Mid-Bite it’ll take on a classic British voicing, “focusing the low-end, while adding high-end presence and gain”.

TONE KING IMPERIAL PREAMP - ALL TUBE, 2 CHANNELS, IR'S! - YouTube

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The design of this is on-point, cream chicken-head dials on a black panel, three footswitches, and it looks relatively straightforward. Dial in your spring reverb via the Reverb and Dwell knobs. Tremolo is controlled by Depth and Speed. Each channel has a three-way toggle switch for your cab sim.

There are 15 IRs included with the Imperial Preamp, all made by OwnHammer, and each channel is pre-loaded with three Tone King favourites. Further IR edits can be made via the Tone King Editor software, and you can use the software to manage your sounds, with up to 128 presets available via MIDI.

The Imperial Preamp is available now, priced £/$599. Head over to Tone King for more pics and details and watch the venerable Pete Thorn demo it above.