The update is free for existing Imperial MKII owners and comes with a 14-day trial for newcomers.
Neural DSP has announced Tone King Imperial MKII X, an update to its Tone King Imperial MKII plugin that adds a redesigned interface alongside new creative and performance tools.
Catch up on all the latest news here.
The plugin is based on the Tone King Imperial, the company’s first production amplifier, introduced in 1993. It combined the clarity of mid-1960s American amps with the grit and sustain of 1950s tweed, and the MKII refined its breakup and made rich, driven power-amp tones possible. The X update keeps that modelled amp at its core and builds new features around it.
What’s new
- Transpose: shift pitch up or down by 12 semitones without retuning, making alternate tunings easy to explore
- Doubler: adds a wider stereo sound inspired by double-tracked guitar recordings
- Presets: more than 120 curated presets from Jack Gardiner, Joshua De La Victoria, Rabea Massaad, Aaron Marshall and the Neural DSP team
- Preset Explorer: a dedicated browser with search, customisable tags, favourites and quick access to recently used sounds
- Live Tuner and Metronome: an integrated tuner, plus a metronome with adjustable time signatures, accent sounds and note values
- Global Lock: keeps input, gate, transpose, doubler and output levels consistent when switching presets
- Tooltips and Undo/Redo: contextual parameter descriptions in the bottom utility bar, plus an edit history for easily returning to previous settings
“The Imperial rewards the details of your playing – the strength of your attack, the way a note sustains, and the transition from clarity into breakup,” said François Barrillon, Lead Product Manager – Plugins at Neural DSP. “With Imperial MKII X, we’ve preserved that experience while introducing new tools that make the plugin more versatile.”
The amp itself is unchanged. The Rhythm channel delivers clear, full-bodied tones with generous headroom, while the Lead channel offers thicker mids, more gain and a softer attack. The Mid-Bite control moves between smooth, rounded overdrive and a tighter, more aggressive crunch. The Imperial’s bias tremolo, tube-driven spring reverb and Ironman II reactive attenuator are also recreated, letting players explore driven power-amp tones at a consistent perceived volume.
Around the amp sits a full set of effects and cabinet tools:
- Pre FX: a vintage-inspired wah, studio compressor and two overdrive pedals
- EQ: a nine-band graphic equaliser with high- and low-pass filters
- Cabsim: two speaker options, hundreds of impulse responses captured by 5×5 Studios, eight positionable microphones and custom IR loading
- Post FX: BBD-style chorus, stereo delay and an expansive reverb
“The Imperial has a character that guitarists have connected with for more than three decades, and capturing that experience in software was something we approached with tremendous care,” said Francisco Cresp, CPO and Co-Founder of Neural DSP. “This update builds around that character, making it easier to explore an idea, refine it and make it your own.”
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