The BEST musical purchase I have made in MANY, MANY YEARS.... a marriage savor !!!

[Kuz]

Tone King Ironman II 100-Watt Reactive Power Attenuator

I did a lot of research on attenuators.  Some suck tone incredible bad.  Others are designed for more direct to the board recording.   I couldn't find one bad review on the Tone King Ironman II.  I have four vintage Fender and a 12-15 year old Headstrong Lil' King (Princeton reverb clone).   I am a huge pedal fan and prefer all my OD/distortion tones come from pedals.  But I also do think (as everyone pretty much does) that tubes cooking to the point just before breakup makes the amp's cleans & overdriven tones (even with OD pedals) sound best.  WOW, does this attenuator sound flipping AMAZING!!!  My amps are 12 to 35 watts and to turn the volume up to "3-4" is still incredibly LOUD.   With the Ironman II the attenuator is based on reactive power attenuation so it sounds AWESOME at even -25 to -32db!!!  I was very suspicious of the claims of "little to no loss in BOTH tone & feel" even at below bedroom volumes, but it is absolutely true.  If anything, now that I can cook the tubes to volume of 3-4 at a reasonable (or even below reasonable) volume, the cleans sound richer & fuller and the OD pedals make the dirty/distortion tones sound thick and smooth.   Many touring bands are using this unit LIVE as well to control the stage volume, but maintain the rich tube amp tones on stage and mic'd to the PA.

Yes, this unit is pricey but more than worth every dollar.  Using the Tone King Ironman II allows me to play/practice more often at anytime of day or night... even with the wifey at home!!!!   Truly and amazing unit and I can't recommend it high enough!! (I just wish I would have bought it years ago!)

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PXVLFDS?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

[rockabilly69]

On 3/2/2025 at 10:46 AM, Kuz said:

Tone King Ironman II 100-Watt Reactive Power Attenuator

I did a lot of research on attenuators.  Some suck tone incredible bad.  Others are designed for more direct to the board recording.   I couldn't find one bad review on the Tone King Ironman II.  I have four vintage Fender and a 12-15 year old Headstrong Lil' King (Princeton reverb clone).   I am a huge pedal fan and prefer all my OD/distortion tones come from pedals.  But I also do think (as everyone pretty much does) that tubes cooking to the point just before breakup makes the amp's cleans & overdriven tones (even with OD pedals) sound best.  WOW, does this attenuator sound flipping AMAZING!!!  My amps are 12 to 35 watts and to turn the volume up to "3-4" is still incredibly LOUD.   With the Ironman II the attenuator is based on reactive power attenuation so it sounds AWESOME at even -25 to -32db!!!  I was very suspicious of the claims of "little to no loss in BOTH tone & feel" even at below bedroom volumes, but it is absolutely true.  If anything, now that I can cook the tubes to volume of 3-4 at a reasonable (or even below reasonable) volume, the cleans sound richer & fuller and the OD pedals make the dirty/distortion tones sound thick and smooth.   Many touring bands are using this unit LIVE as well to control the stage volume, but maintain the rich tube amp tones on stage and mic'd to the PA.

Yes, this unit is pricey but more than worth every dollar.  Using the Tone King Ironman II allows me to play/practice more often at anytime of day or night... even with the wifey at home!!!!   Truly and amazing unit and I can't recommend it high enough!! (I just wish I would have bought it years ago!)

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PXVLFDS?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

You are going to laugh at this Kuz, because a few days ago I also bought an attenuator for my Marshall that I've been recording with. I already had an Ultimate attenutaor in my studio, but it is only for 8 ohm amps, and my Marshall is set up for 16 ohms, but I bought a Rockcrusher Recording for the house. Unfortunately it hasn't been delivered yet because i missed the postman on Saturday (I was day gigging). 

I'm sure the Tone King will sound great with your amps, it's a fantastic attenuator.

[Steiner]

Everything I’ve read about attenuators agrees with your assessment.

Your enthusiasm is catchy, thanks and congrats.

Oh, it does work, happy NADs.

[Kuz]

22 hours ago, rockabilly69 said:

You are going to laugh at this Kuz, because a few days ago I also bought an attenuator for my Marshall that I've been recording with. I already had an Ultimate attenutaor in my studio, but it is only for 8 ohm amps, and my Marshall is set up for 16 ohms, but I bought a Rockcrusher Recording for the house. Unfortunately it hasn't been delivered yet because i missed the postman on Saturday (I was day gigging). 

I'm sure the Tone King will sound great with your amps, it's a fantastic attenuator.

The nice thing about the Ironman II is that it is switchable from 4 to 8 to 16 ohms.

[rockabilly69]

26 minutes ago, Kuz said:

The nice thing about the Ironman II is that it is switchable from 4 to 8 to 16 ohms.

That is a nice thing. The Rockcrusher Recording is also switchable (8 or 16 Ohms), and that will handle all my needs.

The nice thing about the "Recording model" is the Speaker emulation side with the 11 band tuned EQ. It does a great job of emulating all of the speakers that I use in my amps when I want to play in total silent NO SPEAKER mode, using just the LOAD box feature of the Rockcrusher. I record at lot in the very early morning 1 AM through 4 AM, and the only thing separating my recording room from the master bedroom in our house is a small bathroom, so I have to be whisper quiet when I record. And sometimes I like to record rhythm tracks with my drummer, and it's great to be able to sent him a rhythm track in his headphones, but when he's gone, I could wipe the track cause it didn't bleed into the drum mics. Then I can build the song up with his drum track, but re-record the rhythms when I can crank the amps!

 

 

Edited Tuesday at 07:52 PM by rockabilly69

[rockabilly69]

I made a short little demo with no speaker cabinets, just the di straight in for both guitars and the bass...

 

[Kuz]

NICE!!!

[bolero]

Pretty neat!

I use a small MV Marshall solid state amp from the 80s when I'm playing quiet. Saves the tubes too.