the Metropolitan User Manual
Contents
1. Tone King Metropolitan User s Manual R1 4 8 25 2015 Tone King Amplifier Company Inc 4401 Eastern Avenue Bldg 46 3G Box 38 Baltimore Maryland 21224 www toneking com mail toneking com Note from the Builder Thank you for choosing this Tone King Metropolitan guitar amplifier The Metropolitan is the last in a line of amplifiers starting with the Meteor and then the Meteor IJ which add modern qualities to the vintage sounds explored with the older models such as the Imperial and Comet The idea was to retain those same great vintage tones but to add refinements such as more clarity and detail a more room filling three dimensional soundfield and certain features to provide more flexibility One of these features is the new Phase 4 Output Power Control Circuitry This proprietary circuit allows control over the amount of power produced by the output stage allowing you to obtain overdriven sounds at lower volume This unique circuit operates differently than an attenuator master volume power scaling or any other scheme that Iam aware of It is a particularly good match for the Metropolitan which is intended as a more modern take on vintage sound because it reduced power supply sag as you reduce the output power resulting in a more powerful attack I ve composed this User s Manual as a means of describing the features and operation of the Metropolitan If you have any questions which are not covered here2. please feel free to contact me personally at mail toneking com Mark Bartel Tone King Amplfiers Contents 1 Front Panel Controls Gain Switch Rhythm Channel Lead Channel Channel Switching Reverb aw fb WN NY ND Output Power Controls 2 Back Panel Controls AC Power Fuse Power Switch Standby Switch Footswitch oN NN NN Speaker Jacks Impedance Switch Ke 3 Tube Installation and Replacement Installing Tubes Choice of Tube Types and Brands Tube Quality 11 4 Warranty 12 1 Front Panel Controls P N INPUT GAIN VGEUME BRT TREBLE BASS CHAN VOLUME TONE MID BITE Gain Switch The Gain switch controls the gain of the first stage of the preamp which is shared between the Rhythm and Lead channels Thus it acts as a global gain control which helps match the overall gain level to the output level of your guitar s pickups I almost always suggest using the high gain setting unless you have particularly high output pickups or you want a lot of headroom The higher gain setting seems to give the amp more punch a faster attack and more clarity Note that you will hear an audible thump when you switch between the two gain settings This thump is a result of the switch acting on a very sensitive part of the circuit Any means of reducing the thump would degrade the purity of the signal path so it was decided that it was best to allow the thump and maintain the pure signal path This is g
3. preamp the Bass and Treble controls simply give you a different flavor of the same basic tone The Metropolitan s Bass and Treble controls have a more prominent effect they alter the actual voicing and character of the tone Because of this you should experiment with them fully to understand their effect on the Rhythm s channel s overall voicing Although the Rhythm channel has no midrange control it offers more flexibility than most similar preamps even those which include a midrange control because of the way the Bass and Treble controls transform the overall character and voicing Here are a few sample settings You may want to start with these settings and tweak the bass and treble controls to taste Blackface Clean with Tweed Mids Volume Bright Treble Volume Bright Treble men Ts f oa o oa o o e Lead Channel The Lead channel starts out with a Tweed style preamp which drives a proprietary tone shaping circuit built around the Mid Bite control a unique Tone King feature This proprietary circuit transforms the basic tweed tone to more of a crunchy rock tone as you turn up the mid bite control This is accomplished by simultaneously tightening up the bass rolling off the very high frequencies increasing the gain and developing a pronounced upper midrange peak The Mid Bite control is the key to dialing in your own particular sound on the lead channel so you may want to experiment and observe its effect as you rot
4. For example if you are using both the internal 8 ohm speaker connected to the Main speaker jack and an additional 8 ohm extension speaker connected to the Extension speaker jack then the total combined impedance will be 4 ohms so you should set the Impedance switch to the 4 ohm position 3 Tube Installation and Replacement v1 V2 V3 v4 VS ve Y7 V8 Y v10 Choice of Tube Types and Brands I currently suggest the following tube types No Type and Brand Function V1 TAD 12AX7A C Tung Sol 12AX7 Stage 1 Rhythm Lead Stage 2 Rhythm V2 TAD 12AT7 Reverb Driver V3 TAD 12AX7A C Tung Sol 12AX7 Stage 2 Lead Stage 3 Lead V4 TAD 12AX7A C Tung Sol 12AX7 Reverb Receiver V5 TAD 12AX7A C Tung Sol 12AX7 Phase Inverter V6 V9 TAD 6V6 Output Tubes V10 TAD Sovtek 5AR4 Rectifier 6Y6 WARNING The following brands are NOT recommended as we ve experienced a high rate of red plating and short circuit faults with these e Tung Sol 6V6GT e EH 6V6GT manufactured after December 2014 We had been recommending EH brand 6V6s for years These were great tubes but some time around December 2014 the manufacturer changed the design and they now appear to share the same construction as the Tung Sol 6V6 After the design change we noticed the same reliability problems as the Tung Sol 6V6 so we no longer recommend using the EH 6V6 of current manufacture 6Y6 Tube Choices I prefer the TAD 6V6 for its warmth smooth compression an
5. In this case if you don t want to use the reverb effect then you should turn the reverb control down to 0 Output Power Controls The Output Power controls give you unparalleled control over the tone and volume of your amp These controls determine the actual output power produced by the power tubes of your amp via Tone King s proprietary Phase 4 Power Control circuitry Separate Output Power controls are provided for the Rhythm and Lead channels The following diagram shows the approximate output power at various settings of the Output Power controls Output Power on the Rhythm Channel On the Rhythm channel I suggest always using full power Output Power 10 for clean tones regardless of how loud you are playing It s always best to have the most possible headroom for a good clean tone even if you are only playing at very low volume For clean tones at low volume you may find it necessary to use the low gain preamp setting and to set the volume control down quite low but you should use the full output power setting for maximum clarity and dynamics Output Power Controls Cont d The only case in which I suggest using a lower power setting on the Rhythm channel is that in which you are pushing the Rhythm channel harder for some edge and breakup Naturally the only way to control the volume in this situation is to turn down the Output Power control Output Power on the Lead Channel The Lead channel is primarily de
6. al specifications have been applied to the following families of products Imperial Metropolitan Galaxy Falcon Sky King Royalist Imperial MK II Falcon Grande Manufacturer Importer Date 8 25 2015 Signature fusslerhey ly hom we Name and Tite avte to pher W Fle ute UP PRojEct EN c peer ine Approved By Chandra Garudachar President CES LABORATORIES Prepard By Jyotsna Bedi 23361 Cypress Pt Mission Viejo CA 92692 13
7. ate it from O to 10 Lead Channel Cont d Here are a few sample settings which demonstrate just a few of the tones available on the lead channel Tweed Edge of Breakup Channel Switching You can switch between the two preamp channels with either the front panel Channel switch or by using the footswitch When using the footswitch make sure that the front panel Channel switch is in the Rhythm position When using the footswitch you ll notice that the LED on the footswitch indicates the channel selected When the LED is lit the Lead channel is selected When the LED is not lit the Rhythm channel is selected Reverb The Metropolitan includes a built in 3 spring tube driven reverb circuit Reverb is applied to both the Rhythm and Lead channels In order to compensate for the higher gain of the Lead channel the reverb drive is reduced slightly on the Lead channel This reduction helps to match the reverb level when switching between preamp channels with just slightly more reverb on the Rhythm channel The reverb level is controlled by the front panel Reverb control which adjusts the amount of the reverb signal from the reverb receiver which is mixed into the signal path The footswitch provides the ability to turn the reverb drive on and off An LED on the footswitch indicates whether the reverb drive is on LED on or off LED off When the footswitch is not plugged into the amp the reverb circuit is always active
8. d balanced top end The JJ brand 6V6 is another acceptable choice The JJ 6V6 has a bigger fatter sound than the TAD but is a bit less lively sounding and has a more muted top end It sounds a bit more like a 6L6 than a 6V6 Choice of Tube Types and Brands Cont d At this point in time I believe that genuine vintage tones can only be obtained by the use of vacuum tubes Although tubes sound great there are very valid reasons why they were abandoned by the electronics industry over 40 years ago Tubes are fragile generate a lot of heat are sensitive to mechanical vibration and subject to manufacturing defects I have selected the particular tube types and brands in the Metropolitan because of their particular tonal qualities I feel that they provide the most well balanced tone which works well with all guitars and all settings However some customers find that they wish to tailor the tone of their amp to their particular tastes by using different brands of tubes so Ill offer some comments on my experience with various tube types 12AX7 Tubes Both the TAD 12AX7A C and the Tung Sol 12AX7A are a great match for the Metropolitan Both have a nice balance of detail and warmth with the Tung Sol having perhaps a bit more transparency in the top end and the TAD having a bit less glassiness but still a nice presence in the upper mids EH 12AX7s are very similar to Tung Sol 12AX7s both are very quiet with very low microphonics and ar
9. e fully up to spec and operating perfectly However you must be aware that the majority of tube failures occur early in their life and may come about as a result of the jostling and jarring that an amp can receive in shipping In spite of the exhaustive testing I perform at the shop early life tube problems cannot always be found in such testing The first two months or so are the most tenuous period for any set of tubes Most manufacturing defects will be revealed in the first two months of their life but many are not detectable in initial testing even after a burn in period If you notice any noises cracking or any other odd behavior of your amplifier in this period note that it is most likely to be the result of a defective tube and should be debugged as such 11 Premier Builders Guild LLC Limited Warranty Premier Builders Guild Tone King Amplifiers Division 201 S Highland Avenue Box 204 Pittsburgh PA 15206 This warranty gives you specific legal rights you may also have other rights which vary from state to state There are no express warranties except those listed below Length of Warranty This warranty shall remain in effect for five years from the date of sale of the product as shown on the original bill of sale What is Covered This warranty covers all defects in material and workmanship in this product with the following exceptions 1 Damage or deterioration of the cabinet or any other cosmetic damage wh
10. e a bit on the bright side with an extended top end Tung Sols seem a bit warmer than EHs The Svetlana 12AX7 a short plate tube has nearly the clarity of the 12AX7EH and slightly more bottom end but is a bit congested in the midrange Years ago I had selected this brand as the brand of choice for the Meteor II amp but later changed toa combination of the 12AX7EH and the 12AX7LPS Sovtek 12AX7LPS this long plate 12AX7 has a big warm sound that comes close to a good NOS long plate 12AX7 However this tube can tend to be microphonic Alternate Tube Choices You May Want to Try Reducing Gain If you find the preamp too gainy and you find that you re setting the volume controls down quite low to get sufficient clean headroom you may want to try swapping in a 12AU7 in the V2 position You can reduce the gain further by swapping a 12AU7 into the V1 position as well 10 Installing Tubes When installing tubes you may find it helpful to lay the amp on its side on a table and shine a light directly into the back of the amp to aid in locating the position of each tube Tubes must be installed in the correct orientation The smaller all glass tubes have a blank space in the ring of pins which must line up with the blank space in the ring of tube pins in the tube socket located on the chassis The larger bakelite base tubes have a small cylinder with an indexing key in the center of the ring of tube pins and this indexing key must matc
11. enerally not a problem as you will typically find that youll use one setting or the other with a given guitar no matter how the two channels are dialed in You may want to turn the volume control down all the way on the selected channel when switching between gain settings to eliminate the thump Rhythm Channel The Rhythm channel includes controls for Volume Treble and Bass as well asa Bright switch This channel is voiced somewhere between a typical blackface preamp and a typical tweed preamp and has a wider range of tones than either of those preamp types A typical blackface preamp can be quite lean in the midrange which can give youa deep lush sound when playing in isolation but this type of voicing can get drowned out and sound thin when played in a band situation A typical Tweed preamp has a sweet and vocal midrange but can tend to sound boxy on clean tones The Metropolitan s Rhythm channel preamp straddles the line between these two preamp types With the bass and treble controls set to their nominal values you ll get a clean tone that combines a prominent and present midrange with a lush and shimmering overall response Rhythm Channel Cont d Getting to Know the Bass and Treble Controls Youll notice that the Bass and Treble controls affect the tone quite differently than the Bass and Treble controls of a conventional blackface style preamp With a typical blackface
12. everb switch LED on Reverb on When using the footswitch make sure to set the front panel Channel switch to the Rhythm position Speaker Jacks Impedance Switch When only one speaker is being used e g the internal speaker it must be plugged into the Main speaker jack The Extension speaker jack may only be used if there is also a speaker plugged into the Main speaker jack Inside the amp the Extension speaker jack is wired in parallel with the Main speaker jack The Impedance switch allows you to match the output impedance of the amp to the combined impedance of the speaker s used or to intentionally mismatch the impedance if desired to change the tone The internal speaker supplied with the amp is rated at 8 ohms impedance so you should normally use the 8 ohm impedance selection if you are using only the internal speaker You may safely mismatch the impedance by as much as doubling or halving the selected impedance Mismatching beyond this is not recommended For example if the Impedance switch is set to 8 ohms you may use a combined speaker load as low as 4 ohms or as high as 16 ohms When using two or more speakers keep in mind the way in which the combined impedance is computed from the individual speaker impedances When using two or more speakers with the Metropolitan they will always be effectively wired in parallel so the effective combined impedance will be of the impedance of the individual speakers
13. h up with the corresponding slot in the socket on the chassis Replacing Output Tubes The output stage of the Metropolitan is fully cathode biased and no bias adjustment is necessary when changing output tubes The design of the Metropolitan s output stage allows for a fairly wide variation in tube characteristics so any known brand of 6V6 can be installed and will work properly and be appropriately self biased Tube Quality Currently available tubes are not of the same quality level as in the 1950 s Recently manufactured tubes are built in China Russia or the Czech Republic and are not built to the same quality standards that say RCA used to manufacture tubes in the U S in the 1950s It would seem that the obvious solution would be to use new old stock tubes from these older periods However I ve found that many of these new old stock tubes have gone gassy or developed other problems As a result we musicians must recognize that while we prefer to use vacuum tubes because of their tone they can be imperfect devices and are most certainly the least reliable component in the entire amplifier Tube problems generally reveal themselves as a crackling noise which can occur continuously sporadically in response to mechanical vibration or in response to your playing e g a crackling or other type of noise which occurs only when you hit a note I subject all tubes to a thorough burn in and test procedure to ensure that they ar
14. ich occurs after delivery is not covered by this warranty 2 Damage after initial delivery resulting from accident unreasonable use or neglect is not covered by this watranty 3 Damage resulting from the performance of repairs by someone other than the Tone King Amplifier Company is not covered by this warranty 4 Damage occurring during shipment or delivery of this product to the Tone King Amplifier Company after initial delivery of the product is not covered by this warranty 5 Vacuum tubes are considered a user replaceable item as they are expected to wear out and require replacement over a reasonable period of time Tubes are warranted to be serviceable for a period of 90 days from the date of sale 6 The speaker s in this amplifier has have been selected for use only with this amplifier If the speaker s of this amplifier is are connected to an amplifier other than the intended amplifier any warranty of this speaker shall be deemed void What We Will Pay For The Tone King Amplifier Company will pay for all labor and material expenses to fix or replace all items covered under this warranty The customer will pay shipping charges to return the product to the Tone King Amplifier Company Ifthe necessary repairs are covered under this warranty the Tone King Amplifier Company will pay any shipping charges required to return the product to the customer Limitation of Implied Warranties All express or implied warranties of merchantab
15. ility and fitness for a particular purpose are limited in duration to the length of this warranty unless otherwise provided by state law Exclusion of Certain Damages The Tone King Amplifier Company s liability is limited to the repair or replacement at our option of any defective product and shall in no event include incidental or consequential damages of any kind Some states do not allow limitations on the length of an implied warranty and or do not allow the exclusion of incidental or consequential damages so the above limitations and exclusions may not apply to you Obtaining Warranty Service If your unit requires service it should be returned to the Tone King Amplifier Company at the address listed above Before returning the unit you must contact the Tone King Amplifier Company and obtain return authorization 12 CE Declaration Premier Builders Guild LLC 201 S Highland Avenue Suite 204 Pittsburgh PA 15206 412 362 0309 cE DECLARATION OF CONFORMITY Report R070212 We Premier Builders Guild in coordination with CES Laboratories declare taking this declaration under our total responsibility that the below models are in conformity with the provisions of the following EC Directive s when installed in accordance with the installation instructions contained in the product documentation 2006 95 EEC Low Voltage Directive 2004 108 EEC EMC Directive 2011 65 EEC RoHS Directive And that the standards and or technic
16. roll off the high frequencies a bit as well At lower volume there is a tendency to hit the guitar strings harder and play more aggressively than you would if the amp were tuned up very loud It may take some time to get used to maintaining your playing style at reduced volume 2 Back Panel Controls AC Power Always use a grounded AC cord and make sure that a proper ground connection is supplied to the amp Never attempt to lift or defeat the ground connection to the amp Fuse A standard 2A fuse style 3AG should be used Power Switch Standby Switch When powering up the amp you should start with both the Power and Standby switches in the off position First turn on the Power switch This will apply power only to the tube filaments and the low voltage circuitry e g the fan After turning on the Power switch allow the tubes to warm up for about 1 minute then turn on the Standby switch The power down sequence is not as important as the power up sequence When turning the amp off you may turn Power off before Standby or turn Standby off before Power or turn them both off at the same time Footswitch Connect the footswitch to the amp with the supplied cable or with any standard 1 4 TRS to TRS cable The footwitch allows you to control both the preamp channel selection and the reverb drive on off LEDs indicate the current switching status as follows Channel switch LED on Lead channel R
17. signed for overdriven and distorted sounds and this is where the Output Power controls become essential for controlling the volume of your amp In general it s best to use the highest output power setting possible for your playing situation because of the factors mentioned below General Notes on Using the Output Power Controls Although the Phase 4 Power Control circuitry does the best possible job of reducing output power without changing the tone of the amp s circuitry there are other variables in play at lower volume which do result in some apparent tone change Here are a few factors that you should be aware of Speaker breakup and compression is a big part of the tone and feel of the amp when played at high volume At low power settings the speaker responds differently and does not break up and compress as it does at high power The ear s natural response curve varies at different volume levels which changes the way you perceive sounds at different volume levels Quieter sounds tend to give the impression of having less bass content One way to help compensate for the above two factors is to intentionally mismatch the speaker impedance via the impedance switch on the back panel At low power settings 1W or below you might try switching the impedance switch to the 4 ohm position it should normally be set to 8 ohms Doing this will give you a fatter thicker slightly more elastic tone The downside is that it also tends to
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