Tone King introduce the Ironman II Mini, a compact power attenuator in pedal form, for amplifiers rated 30W or less.
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This stand-alone power attenuator is described as precision reactive, designed using proprietary technology that maintains the natural tone characteristics of a cranked amp at lower volume levels.
Even if you wanted to, the reality of life prevents you from cranking up your amp, so in many cases, you have to practice with uninspiring low volume tone. Power attenuators are designed to solve this problem, letting you get full-on tones at neighborhood friendly levels. Tone King’s Ironman II Mini, does just that, designed for small to medium sized amplifiers rated 30W and below.
Conventional power attenuator designs use basic resistive loads to simply lower the volume of the audio output coming to the speaker. However, the Ironman II Mini has a different design in that it has tuned reactive load mirrors which mimic the impedance curve of real speakers, resulting in a more natural tone. And interestingly, they were able to fit both the resistive and reactive loads into a compact and portable floorpedal unit that is 5 lbs light.
To further enhance the tone consistency as you apply different levels of attenuation, Tone King equipped this unit with a volume compensation circuit that adjusts the tonal balance depending on the attenuation “step” or range. This means that you get deep, rich and punchy tones across the entire range of the attenuator, and that it reacts accordingly as you adjust.
There are 6 available steps that are selectable via the Attenuation knob, with each stop having three possible attenuation levels, controlled by the range switch and the solo button. The Solo switch works like a boost pedal by letting you switch between two different attenuation levels, which is useful for soloing and other parts that must be heart above the mix. The Range switch lets you choose the relative attenuation level when the solo function is inactive, and it also determines the amount of volume increase when the solo function is enabled.
There’s also a presence switch that provides subtle control over the brightness and compression for custom tailoring the sound of the amp to match the room your playing in, and it can also be useful for taming bright sounding amplifiers.
Another nifty feature of the Ironman II Mini is the use of a damping factor correction circuit that tweaks the speaker performance, making it sound more natural even at the bedroom volume levels.
The company concludes, “Our goal has always been to focus on innovation and genuine engineering to bring new and unique products to market,” said Mark Bartel, Tone King founder and master craftsman. “We design our products with an instrument mindset rather than an amplifier mindset. This way, the amplifier becomes an extension of the guitar as an instrument rather than a separate component that complements a player’s style.”
Other features of the new Tone King Ironman II Mini includes, a line out jack for re-amping or D.I. functionality. The new Tone King Ironman II Mini is currently retailing for $395. For more information and the complete specifications, you can head over to Tone King.
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