Sky King 35-watt 1x12" Tube Combo Amp with Attenuator - Black Review

Over a year later

I'm back to add to my review after having it for over a year. I waited a few months before reviewing it the first time, but I have to say that I keep on discovering new dimensions to this amp. First of all, the clean tone gets sweeter and sweeter the more the speaker breaks in. When in Pentode mode on on the rhythm channel, the clean tone has done nothing but get warmer without… read more losing any of it's boldness. In Ultra-linear mode, the difference in the speaker breakin is a little more subtle, but the amp feels more "Tweed-like." Finally, now that the speaker is fully broken in, the Lead channel is just heaven. It's a unique sound that has a lot of smooth mids no matter how much you crank the "mid-bite." Add a boost pedal that hits the upper mids a bit more and it's a perfect lead tone that is never harsh with either humbuckers or singles. The other thing that I love about this amp is that it is the ultimate recording amp. It can be a clean pedal platform, much like a cross between a Deluxe and a Twin (clean setting on the rhythm channel in pentode mode). It's amazing how easy it is to hear the subtle differences between pedals on this setting. But it has a ton of variety on its own. It can transform into a cranked blackface-style rocker (Pentode with the volume around 4 or 5 on Rhythm), a slightly-refined tweed rocker (Ultralinear on Lead channel with the volume and mid-bite kept pretty low), or an all out late 60's/early 70's Marshall (Pentode with volume on 7 on the Lead channel). It can even do an amazing almost-falling-apart fuzz sound with the lead channel all the way up. The attenuators make sure I'm never too loud for my studio. And all the while the amp is dead quiet. I mean absolutely dead quiet. If there's a sound, it's from my pickups or my pedals. It's truly incredibly how quiet the amp is. I have Vox and Dr Z amps in the studio, too. I love them, too. They are fantastic and have their place. But the Sky King is my "go-to" for most things. The controls seem so simple and yet they yield such a wide variety of tones. And the amp only seems to get better with age.

---

Cancel Comment

Come for the cleans, stay for the versatility

I've had my Sky King for about two months now and have really put it through it's paces in my studio. When looking for a new amp, I wanted something that would be familiar to session players and other artists who came into the studio while at the same time being a little different than the usual Deluxe Reverb. The Sky King definitely fits the bill. FIrst things first, the clean… read more tone on this amp is fantastic. Set the volume at 3 for single coils or 2 for humbuckers, the bass at 6, the treble at 4, the switch in the back to 'pentode' and enjoy big, rich cleans with full bass and sparkling-but-not-piercing highs. I've had some nice vintage Deluxes and Vibroluxes come through the studio and this tone fits in well with those amps. However, I'd say the Sky King is even more 3D with a tad more warmth in the low-mids (probably due to the extra power in the 6l6 tubes vs the 6v6s in Deluxe Reverbs). This setting is ridiculously responsive, takes pedals ridiculously well, and is otherwise a perfect tonal foundation for almost anything. I don't miss an FX loop at all. Delays, choruses, phasers . . .everything has sounded good right through the front of the amp. The EQ is expertly voiced and allows you to fine-tune the sound for any guitar. You can make the amp more mid-focused by cutting both the treble or the bass, or add more clarity to humbuckers by cranking the treble and dialing back the bass, a little. However, for most guitars I barely need to even touch the EQ. It's just a beautiful-sounding clean amp that is inspiring to play. It's cliche to say this, but I find myself bypassing my pedals just so I can hear the gorgeous sounds coming directly from my guitars through the amp. If that's all the Sky King did, it would probably be worth it, but the cost would hurt and there would be a lot more competition from less expensive amps. Luckily, the amp packs an insane amount of versatility into its simple controls. The clean channel starts to get some hair on it when it gets to 4 or 5. The edge-of-breakup tones are amazing here. Cranked up all the way (the attenuator is nice to keep everything at acceptable volume levels), you get immediately familiar American vintage overdrive tones that are just plain fun to play. I'm impressed with how tight the bass stays even on these higher gain settings. Flip over to the 'Lead' channel and it's like you get a whole new tweed-style amp. This channel starts to break up really quickly. The mid-bite knob adds mids while dialing back a little bass to keep it tight. I've seen some people complain that this channel lacks bass. That's not really true, though, it's just that compared to the deep, clear, rich bass of the rhythm channel, it lacks bass in comparison. In reality, this channel still has plenty of low end when I compare it to my other amps and the mid-bite knob keeps the low end tighter for more of the gain range than usually found on a tweed-style amp. As a studio-guy, I'm usually cutting low-end out of guitar, anyway, and this channel cuts through a mix without any processing. The tone knob on the Lead channel controls the treble. Don't be afraid to crank it all the way to get an open overdriven sound. Even though it breaks up early on the volume knob, it is still very touch-responsive, especially at lower gain settings. I got one of my favorite "clean" tones on a recording by using the tweed channel and then turning down the volume knob on my guitar until there was just a little bit of hair on the amp. Dig in and get a little more bite along with the Lead channel's sweet compression. With the mid-bite knob cranked, the volume at 5-6, and the tone knob set to taste, you can get a nice early-Marshall overdrive. Crank the volume all the way and take the mid-bite all the way down and it sounds like a cranked Tweed Deluxe. Crank both the volume and the mid-bite and you get into crazy fuzz territory that probably won't be useful for most applications, but for a fuzz solo, few amps can get such a fantastic sound without destroying windows. So far I've only talked about the amp in Pentode mode, but if you switch to Ultra-linear mode, the amp gets spongy and gooey . . . it's almost like an ultra-vintage switch that turns the amp into an old Valco or something like that. I use Pentode more frequently, but there are a lot of awesome tones to be had in ultra-linear mode, too. The same clean setting I mentioned above is great except now you can add more gain. The amp becomes super-elastic, absorbing louder notes and slowly letting them bloom. Overdriven sounds are a lot less tight but they have more character. I've always wanted an old 50's low-watt practice amp for the studio. This setting takes me to that place, but without worrying about maintaining a 60+ year old amp. Ultimately, I really love my Sky King. I couldn't decide between the Falcon Grande and the Imperial MkII. With the Sky King and it's pentode and ultralinear settings, I can get both amps in one plus two separate attenuators for each channel. I love that I can get so many sounds so quickly and easily with only a few controls. Anyone who has ever played a Fender Blackface amp could get a great sound on this amp in a matter of seconds. However, I love that I keep finding new uses for it. Recently, I've been experimenting with flipping the channels and using the Lead channel for edge-of-breakup cleans using my volume knob and cranking the rhythm channel for big, vintage overdrive. I keep a mic on this amp at all times and turn it on standby almost every morning when I walk in the studio so it will be ready to go the second I need it. It is an investment, but it has paid off. It is an inspiring amplifier that records beautifully. It's the perfect Fender-style amp for my studio.

---

Cancel Comment