I love my Kingsley ToneBaron amp, no doubt about it. However, I was having some doubts as to whether the tone I was getting out of it was really something I liked. Since, at the time I took possession of the amp, my only cabinet was my Bogner Over-Sized closed-back 2x12, I had only experienced the ToneBaron through that cab. Big mistake. The ToneBaron seems to require an open-back cabinet in order to sound the way it was intended (after all, Kingsley amps are built and tuned with open-back cabs).
Enter, the Two Rock 2x12. ;)
My buddy and band mate, Doug, has a lovely collection of amps and cabs and is always looking to flip gear for something else. When I met Doug it was at the local Guitar Center and he was looking to trade some amps and cabinets for some other gear... and he just happened to have this particular open-back Two Rock 2x12 with him. I liked the sound of this cabinet from the instant I played it and never forgot about it. So some time after I joined Doug's band I remembered the Two Rock cab and inquired about it (luckily he still had it). I wondered if my Kingsley might sound better through it than my Bogner cab. Doug offered to let me take it home and play it for as long as I wanted to make sure I liked it. And boy do I like it. :)
This is an older model open-back Two Rock vertical 2x12 cabinet, with two (Eminence made) "K&M 65-16" 12 inch speakers at 16 Ohms running in parallel for a total load of 8 Ohms. These particular speakers are said to basically be the same as the Eminence "Red White & Blues" speaker model. They have a fat, round sound with notched upper mids to keep fizz and harshness to a minimum. This is a great sounding cabinet. My Kingsley instantly lost all the fizziness and artifacting that was present on the Bogner cabinet, and the notes got fatter, juicer and more sustainful. The problem with a closed-back cabinet like the Bogner is that the notes are "choked off" by the sealed back design... they never have the chance to sustain and decay. On an open-back cabinet like the Two Rock you get a much more three-dimensional, widely dispersed and less directional tone with notes that ring out and sustain due to the speaker cone being able to vibrate to its full potential. The quick response and low-end of the Bogner 2x12 is great for fast, chunking metal rhythms but not so much for liquidy, searing leads on a Les Paul. The Bogner sounds great, but I think it will sound even better as an open-back cab. I have a spare back panel for this cabinet that I plan to cut to convert it to an open-back cab. Can't wait to hear it this way!
So I finally got to hear my ToneBaron on a cabinet that is much closer to what the builder originally designed the amp around. I have decided to purchase this cabinet from Doug, and I am happy I found it. My Boogie sounds great on it, too! And it is much easier to carry around due to its smaller size and low weight. This was an excellent find and a good purchase.
Monday, May 05, 2008
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