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Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.

This is a review of the hand-wired Premier Builders Guild, LLC. version designed / produced by Mark Bartel (the Tone King) from 2013-16. I can't speak to the newer MkII versions of the Sky King (produced by Boutique Amps Distribution) but after owning several top shelf boutique hand-wired amps I finally landed on the Sky King about 6 months ago and couldn't be happier. I primarily play country, funk and rock. Both channels and the dual attenuators work beautifully and the amp sounds and feels amazing under your fingers. There is a nice sag with the 5U4 tube rectifier yet it has a surprisingly great snap and percussive feel as well which really helps when I am challenging myself on stage. The dual attenuators bring the amp volume down to TV levels and retain the amp's feel and tone. To me the Rhythm channel sounds big and bold like a blend of blackface Pro Reverb / Super / Bassman, and the Lead channel sounds like a 60/40 blend of tweed Bassman and Marshall JTM. Super versatile and well-built amp!

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The amp did not work when I took it out of the box. Bad speaker cable. How was this amp tested, how did it pass QC? After contacting tone king and being treated like an idiot, I got the amp working (at my own expense with no help from the manufacture) and the reverb has a massive self oscillation , the amp runs EXTREMELY hot and it hums quite loudly. This amp is not hand wired, it is on a PCB, the tube sockets are also PCB mounted which is something very common to inexpensive amps. This thing is wave soldered for god sake. I was told by my sales guy that at the time of purchase there were six returned sky kings sitting in the warehouse. Worse yet, they don’t hold any value. $2000 on the used market and not moving. These are not selling they are being returned.Don’t take my word for it, there are two videos on YouTube by Psionic Audio, A very experienced amp tech, taking a deep dive inside a sky king that was in for repair. Similar issues to mine. Watch those videos before you buy. You won’t afterwards.

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My original review was the second on here. So I eventually got a double boxed amp sent to me. I brought it to a tech right away, just in case. The board got an A+ and wonderful sounding amp. However, what my tech found surprised us both. The components are fine on these. But everything that could be loose was. I had to have the entire chassis pulled to tighten up everything. After that added a felt liner between the back panel and cab. The backplate glue was found dried up, and not cured. So it had to be redone so it wouldn’t rattle on the back plate. So not catastrophically bad so far…then we find the speaker edges were dried out. That’s where QC comes in here. Putting it together and speaker inspection was the fail. So speaker was still good, but had to be re-felted. Or I buy a new speaker to replace, a warranty claim may happen. So far I’m getting some rattle up front at very loud concert levels only. This can be typical of a combo, but tech believes speaker here. So probably will claim warranty one month in.I’ll say this…the amp and technological here is great. The QC and build is off with whatever they have going on. After tightening up everything all the hiss, hum and previous issues in my last review…gone and vanished. So it’s worth having the amp for the sound. But hold the warranty responsible if you want to be sure. A tech is far easier than shipping when you already know the issue. But overall I have a good working amp, and had to pay $150 more to get that to a tech. I want to up my rating the fact this is still a good amp, and I hope Tone King will support me through any issues.

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Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.

I bought through a different retailer…a big box that starts with S. I first bought an Imperial MK2, no sound issues but was sent a used one with missing screws. The wait was long for that one..2 months waited. So I decided to upgrade, and they had the Sky King. Now it’s beautifully built but I can’t record this amp. I’ve used many amps in my studio, but both had a LOUD, hum on the Rhythm channel. Also the reverb has massive issues! With the volume at 0, turn the reverb up to a bassy pulsating hiss/hum. It’s there no matter what I do. If you attenuate this amp low, you can prob not hear it as much…but there goes your tone. It’s really bad, my first one blew a fuse and died day one.i bought new fuses out of pocket. Got it back up, and loads of hum and issues. So got a exchange just in case it was internal. Now the exchange is as bad, but didn’t blow a fuse. It’s very hot, the speaker pulsates when in standby. And at 0 there is hum, if touching the switch for lead and rhythm it will hum louder. I thought I was getting a top of the line amp here. My expert with the sound of the Imperial MK2 was decent…outside the build I was sent used with missing screws. My vendor already has many refurb returns posted. Online I see all these wonderful demos, and it sounds great. Maybe this recent run just is bad. I’m waiting to here from the manufacture. I have no idea what it is.. pre you’d review said speaker cable. I’m not sure I want to bring a $2900 amp I paid for to a tech to fix out of pocket. Tone King those hasn’t been the only one. I’ve tried Fender RI and they had mostly tube issues with the tune sockets. I can’t seem to get a working amp for some reason. But the Sky Ming situation is the worse.I now have 2 68lb amps, I have to drive 40min out one at a time…my car is to small. And ship back at this point….it’s been a huge letdown. If I decide on a amp only thing left really by a vendor is Victory Deluxe possibly. It’s very disappointing, and hopefully these issues are fixed. But it seems to be a current run, and may be able to be fixed by a tech. I myself am tired of worrying and playing tech, vs making music.