NAD 94 Tone King Imperial (now with gut shots)

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fostewi
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NAD 94 Tone King Imperial (now with gut shots)

Post by fostewi » Thu Apr 05, 2012 10:50 pm

Here is my new to me tone king imperial. I actually got it about 2 months ago but the baffle was damaged in shipping so I sent it to mark@tone king for repairs and he replaced it and repaired/modded the amp for me soliciting my input throughout the entire process. To be honest, as much as it sucks to buy an amp, have it arrive damaged and have to wait for it to be repaired it is probably the best thing that could have happened as mark made many improvements beyond the basic repairs to make sure the amp was the best it can be based on my needs. I can not commend mark enough for his customer service....even before I bought the amp he answered several emails to help me with my purchase and then worked very hard to improve and taylor the amp to my personal tastes.

By the way I don't even have it back yet...its in the mail...I really can't wait.

Here are some pics...

Custom baffle (he actually tried 2 designs to find the best approach) and added a beam blocker to address my concerns about potential ice pick/beam...
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Guts shot....according to the serial number this is the 3rd imperial made! (and one of only a handful that were point to point hand wired)...
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And mine (right) next to a new model mark used for comparison testing....
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And lastly here is a pic with my jag I took before I sent it away...
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Last edited by fostewi on Mon Sep 17, 2012 9:47 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: NAD 94 Tone King Imperial

Post by sookwinder » Fri Apr 06, 2012 12:54 am

nice looking amp ... when you get it back can you add a photo of close up on the control panel...

I know nothing of these ... are they based on a fender design or something completely dfferent ?

What valves do they run ? is that a 6V6 I see in one of the pics ?
relaxing alternative to doing actual work ...

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Re: NAD 94 Tone King Imperial

Post by Joeleo » Fri Apr 06, 2012 4:16 am

Wow man those Tone Kings are serious amps. Congrats! I bet it sounds excellent

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Re: NAD 94 Tone King Imperial

Post by duncanjames » Fri Apr 06, 2012 6:17 am

http://www.toneking.com/products/imperial/index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Here's the specs for the current Imperial amp. I believe it's more or less the same as fostewi's, albeit not handwired. Still, the current PCB construction is very heavy duty, if anyone was wondering... I really, really want one :'(

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Re: NAD 94 Tone King Imperial

Post by dinosaurkale-> » Fri Apr 06, 2012 6:34 am

i LOVE tone kings...played one in a pawn shop and another in a music store in toronto...i wish i could afford one...

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Re: NAD 94 Tone King Imperial

Post by fostewi » Fri Apr 06, 2012 7:10 am

Yes, the link http://toneking.com/products/imperial/index.html explains everything very well. It's a 2 pre-amp channel amp like a deluxe reverb with 12ax7, 12at7 and 2 6v6 for about 20 watts, mine has slightly different pre-amp tube arrangement he since optimized to remove a tube. Traditional Fender reverb but bias trem unlike the DR and available on both channels. The clincher for me (besides the looks!) was the second channel which has volume (more like gain), tone and proprietory mid-bite control which basically allows for tweed to early marshall grind. Can not wait to crank this in practice...

Here are a few demos I found....pgs had a great demo but it seems to have been removed for some reason but they do use one now for most of Andy's pedal demos over the last year or so.

Not exactly my style but great demo: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jitvKJuPF1E" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Country twang: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUcY5icuR_M" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Long but entertaining  (demos all TK amps except the new falcon): 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzyQR7KnCco" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Short one by mark himself: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-u8GwvAKI0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And lastly a couple singer/songwriter demos that don't really feature the amp but are of my actual amp in the store before I got it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clxujKi-YcQ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwQzRqltJkE" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There's a few more if you look around.

And slightly unrelated but the new tone king falcon amp looks killer (supro/tweed style)!

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Re: NAD 94 Tone King Imperial

Post by Fiddy » Fri Apr 06, 2012 7:56 am

Nice amp. Id like to see close up shots of the guts if you have time to snap some pics. :)

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Re: NAD 94 Tone King Imperial

Post by fostewi » Fri Apr 06, 2012 8:10 am

tribi9 wrote:Nice amp. Id like to see close up shots of the guts if you have time to snap some pics.
Sure, though may be a while...it's all tuned up and I will probably just want to play it for a while rather than mess with taking it apart. One thing i'll enjoy is trying different speakers WITHOUT having to remove the chassis like my other amps. It came with a 90's made in England green back reissue but mark found it sounded a little better and louder with the eminence made TK 33 custom speaker so I grabbed that too (based on the GB but more efficient it seems, i want to make sure it can handle band volumes). Also curious to try my eminence neo lil Texas (make the amp even lighter!) and wgs g12c (c12n clone) which I am loving right now in my DR clean but I suspect I may like the more British tone of the TK for the lead channel.

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Re: NAD 94 Tone King Imperial

Post by fostewi » Sat Sep 15, 2012 10:09 pm

tribi9 wrote:Nice amp. Id like to see close up shots of the guts if you have time to snap some pics.
Old thread but finally opened the amp up....
Image
photo by fostewi1971, on Flickr

Image
photo by fostewi1971, on Flickr

Not sure if these help but see some more close ups here http://flic.kr/s/aHsjC8xnzw

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Re: NAD 94 Tone King Imperial

Post by sookwinder » Sat Sep 15, 2012 10:41 pm

thanks for the link to those inside guts photos. the amp certainly seems to be built to survive....as we say down here ... built like a brick shithouse.

I must admit though being only in a Fender amp frame of mind (they're the only type I have worked on) I did find it difficult to follow (or even work out) roughly what each section was doing... I would definately need a schematic !
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Re: NAD 94 Tone King Imperial

Post by Despot » Sun Sep 16, 2012 12:40 pm

Wow - that's an awsome bit of kit mate!
One of the stores here has started stocking these - I've tried the Metropolitan and I loved it.

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Re: NAD 94 Tone King Imperial

Post by thearmofbarlow » Sun Sep 16, 2012 2:44 pm

Definitely not my tonal thing, but damn those gut shots give me a guitar boner. :derp:

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Re: NAD 94 Tone King Imperial

Post by fostewi » Mon Sep 17, 2012 9:53 am

sookwinder wrote:I must admit though being only in a Fender amp frame of mind (they're the only type I have worked on) I did find it difficult to follow (or even work out) roughly what each section was doing... I would definately need a schematic !
Ya, I am not aware of any schematics ...from what I have heard only the first 10 or so were made like mine and then he switched to PCB so i really doubt there are schems for this version. Not sure but maybe you can find something for the later ones online....he said the actual circuit path has changed very little since the first version (except for optimizing to use one less pre-amp tube and 12at7 for the reverb driver, I think maybe minor mods to optimize for higher gain tubes as well instead of the sovtek lps). Not sure it would help but there is a very high level block diagram in the manual.

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Re: NAD 94 Tone King Imperial (now with gut shots)

Post by Fiddy » Mon Sep 17, 2012 10:36 am

I want to build my next amp on strip terminals. For the one I just built, the board I got was a mirror image of what I needed so I had to change rearrange/relocate some of the components/wiring. Also I used a cap can instead of onboard caps. At times it got a bit confusing but It taught me how to rearrange stuff. I think I will have to give it a go.

Beautiful amp too. Thx for the pics. :)

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Re: NAD 94 Tone King Imperial (now with gut shots)

Post by Pulseadj » Sat Sep 10, 2022 4:52 am

Just discovered this old thread...great one. Wonder if the OP still has this Imperial? I really dig the Imperials, I’ve had a few of them and am always curious about the history evolution of the different variations of the amp. It’s kind of a modern classic that goes back to the early days of boutique amps.

The one I have now seems to be an early one but it’s hard to date it exactly. It has no serial number, but this thread had the new to me information about the 6 tube preamp design, so I checked mine and it has the six tubes. I wonder what the function of the extra tube was and how it was changed to eliminate the tube? Mine is a PCB circuit. I am also noticing there are 5 transformers on this one, and on mine. That is a lot, considering the usual Fender amps that these are based on have only three. What are the extra trannys doing? I also wonder what exactly is going on in the lead channel? What is that mid bite control circuit?

I do mostly like the original circuit without the attenuator as I don’t really need it, but I rarely if ever use the lead channel because it is so loud, but I can do everything I need with the rhythm channel. My amp did come with a schematic but I am not a tech so it doesn’t mean much to me.

Thanks for sharing the pics and info of your cool Imperial.

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