Hello Gearheads, Welcome back to another great day in the field as it were! Today I have the pleasure to revisit a new amplifier from one of my new favorite builders, Tonkraf Amps. You might remember my previous feature on the excellent Tonkraf Phoenix, which had quickly become a go-to amp for my sessions and studio work. If you haven’t had a chance to check that feature out, take a look here: TONKRAF PHOENIX.
Tim Thompson and crew have been cranking out some extremely toneful designs and the next amp in their line-up is nothing short of that evolution. The Falcon, or (“FALKI” in Icelandic) is more or less an older sibling to the Phoenix, taking on that harmonically rich tone and building on that tonal core. The Falcon is a 6V6 and 12AX7 powered platform that has the option of bringing in a deep switch for the EQ and a boost switch. As with all Tonkraf amplifiers, every single control matters and it each movement yield amazing and different results by working with each other in collaboration. As an artist who’s best work is made with collaboration, I find that extremely rewarding and I do believe it’s one of the reasons the Tonkraf sound has been so revolutionary for me.
Sonically, there are differences and similarities between the Phoenix and the Falcon. They both share a rich, textured harmonically sophisticated tone. They are both extremely touch sensitive and will reward a player’s nuance and touch. They both share the very useful FX Loop that can act as a headroom control. They both fit within the same form factor. How do they differ you say? That’s the true joy of being able to sit with both of these amplifiers, they have their own unique and tangible voice that brings out new and wonderful moments in your playing. The Falcon leans slightly more “American” in it’s voice and has a more fundamental round low end. The Falcon can still offer all the chime and grind you would like but there is a bit of a wider landscape of tone. The Phoenix is a live wire, hot and fiery. The Falcon is an evolution of that tone and feel while never forgetting it’s wild roots. Michael Nielsen of Big Hairy Guitars made a nice short video showcasing the differences between the Phoenix and Falcon, which I’ll post below for a tonal reference.
Feature set wise, the biggest differences you might see as a user are the DEEP switch and the BOOST switch. As I mentioned earlier, every control works in collaboration with each-other so, it’s valuable to find the best combination that make your notes the happiest. That said, I found running the DEEP switch on did indeed widen the EQ and landscape, giving you more room and air. If I needed to pull a part into focus better in a track, taking the DEEP switch out was very useful. Think of it like a lens aperture opening less or more. The BOOST switch offers a great preamp boost to get more front end gain out of the amplifier and in tandem with the master volume and gain controls, you have a huge margin of gain staging. You can of course turn the Falcon into a fire breathing saturation machine with this combination, but I also found very musical results from having the BOOST on with lower gain settings and with more headroom set via the FX Loop.
As a reminder if you’ve read my previous feature on the Phoenix or if you’re familiar with the topology of the Tonkraf line, the FX Loop is of two use cases. You can of course use the loop traditionally as any FX Loop, putting your favorite time based effects (reverb, delay, modulation) or you could of course add further gain devices or EQ. The other way that I prefer to use these loops 90% of the time is to make them a headroom control. This is achieved by simply running the loop ON with nothing in it. You can adjust the LVL control to clean up the headroom or to lesson it and add more gain to the circuit. This adds so much versatility to the Falcon to be used in a wide variety of gain environments or volume requirements.
In the demo below I used the Falcon for all the guitars in the song. All the gain and clean tones are from the Falcon solely. I did include a Chase Bliss CXM reverb in the loop for the solo section. I really enjoyed checking out the Falcon and cannot say enough great things about the Tonkraf line. I could easily see adding the Falcon to the studio for a total comprehensive rig between the Phoenix and the Falcon. In fact, I look to do so very soon! They compliment eachother so well and I can only imagine how great layering session tracks would be with both Tonkraf amplifiers.
I hope you enjoyed this feature on the Tonkraf Falcon and strongly suggest you check out their website on their full line and the new Falcon. Until next time, good tone and good times!
To learn more about the Falcon and Tonkraf, please take a look at these links:
https://www.tonkraf.com/store/p/the-falcon-head