Peavey ValveKing 112 Combo

I did a review on this amp when I first got it. So this is an update.
First off on the Texture Control... This effects the clean channel.
For those that don't hear a difference try it again and do this test.
Turn the amp up to about 12 o'clock on full power. Play your strings lightly and then play them hard. Single coils will stay clean and Hums will break up only slightly hitting hard. Now turn the control full to the other direction. Still clean when strummed lightly with a little less roundness in sound. Now hit it hard, hear that nice Blues Break up? NO? Then you've played too much loud RnR, LOL. This works best in my opinion with speaker setting on loose.

Just A/B'd this against my 65 Twin Reverb.... You can definatley hear the similarity in the use of 6L6's in the Power Section. The Twin has a little more definition but this is mostly due to the use of 2 speakers and the difference in sound of the speakers. For a 3rd of the price if you want a nice light package with a Fender BlackFace Twin Reverb sound, the ValveKing is an excellent way to go.
I'll be putting in an Eminence Texas Heat Speaker and will get back to you all on the difference in sound if any. The Peavey Speaker will be going into a Tweed Cabinet to be used with my Classic 20.
She gets a 9 only because it doesn't sound EXACTLY like a Twin.

I still have a 22 year old Peavey KB100 Keyboard amp and a 15 year old Peavey PA head that work great.
They Have the usual problems with solder joints but my guess is this made in China Tube amp has tighter quality control than the old Peaveys did.

Always helpful in answering questions when calling Techs. Have never needed service from Peavey and have had a PA Head, KB100, Bandit, TKO bass amp and an old 4 track cassette recorder. Still own a 1983 T-60 Guitar I bought new.

'07 VK112 switchable 2-channel with treble, distortion, and volume boost buttons (available foot switcher) tube amp. 3 X 12AX7; 2 X 6l6.
Chinese.
Two inputs, one attenuated.
1 X 12" combo amp. Decent sized speaker magnet.
Both channels have their own treb; mid; and bass tone controls (passive).
Class AB - class A capability.
Fairly light to carry. Looks like real plywood used in cabinet.

Bright sounding.
Good power.
Clean sound has a Fender quality to it (2 X 6L6, go figure).
Speaker handles the output well enough.
Gain channel has a couple buttons for more, and still more.
Clean channel has a bright and vol boost button.
Back panel has a tight/loose damping button and a pot to sweep from class AB/class A (rolls off one of the output tubes gradually).
The controls do what they say they will.
Good range of tone and distortion control. Pretty versatile.
I think the reverb sounds decent though I don't use it much on jobs.

Looks well built.
I have used it outdoors (un-mic'd) at its limits with no problems. Keeps up with another player's 100w tube amp (Seymour Duncan Convertable with 2 X 12 cabinet).
I usually keep a spare amp in my car, plus a repair kit with tubes, fuses, solder, connectors, tape, etc.
No extraneous noises, buzz, hum.
Well behaved but can rock out.

5 year extended warranty (if you send in the marketing survey).

I've had other Peaveys. Never had a problem, even when they're ancient.

Playing guitar almost 50 years. All styles.
I suddenly needed a cheap, loud amp, so despite being Chinese I tried this and like it a lot.
It does what a tube combo 1 X 12 amp should do, without nuisance features.
I like that it's light enough to carry for its power.
The gain and distortion are better schemes than Fender's current tube amp line up, and the controls aren't as notchy.

I'd replace it with the same if something happened to it, even though I'd rather buy American made stuff usually. It's cheap for what it delivers ($400 out the door).

My version of the Peavey ValveKing 112 was made in 2007. I play blues, country, classic rock, sometimes METAL ;-), and this amp can handle all of my playing nuances and styles without a hiccup. Two channels with a volume boost that acts as a sort of a third channel, optional footswitch, two instrument inputs (high and low gain), and an effects loop. The output jack defeats the 12 inch speaker (bummer) but this amp really takes off when jacked into a 4x12 cab.

The little ValveKing 112 is loaded with useful tools and deceptively small- much smaller than pictures online and similar 1x12 tube offerings would have you believe. I don't use the footswitch much. I've played out live without being miked, and also used it in a studio setting, and had nothing but a smile to add as a review, so the trend continues here. The amp has excellent power, the ability to go from 50 to 30 watts with the turn of a knob, and fantastic tube tone. Loaded. 9/10.

I was addicted to the lightweight nature and crunch of Pignose G40V tube amps for years, but was looking for something with a little more versatility, a little more style, and perhaps a little reverb. So, I went into my local music store looking for the little Peavey Royal 8 recording amp to buy (and hopefully crank), saw how small the 1x12 ValveKing was, plugged it in, and took it home the same day.

The clean tone with full power is fantastic, and the reverb is spirited, indeed. You can go halfway volume-wise, add a quarter of reverb, and enter single coil heaven that doesn't deafen those around you like playing a Twin at three on the volume knob tends to do. Humbuckers sound great, also.

The gain channel, especially with the boost engaged, is absolutely unreal. Shred Zeppelin, eye-popping unreal. Some of the distortion fades as the volume increases, but that's the way a lot of tube amps saturate as the power amp tubes get involved. Mind you, this amp crunches like a wrecking yard with only three preamp tubes, as well. Easy on the wallet when it comes to replace or upgrade the tubes.

Slick, wicked, little amp with mucho cajones. 8/10.

Made in China (from a USA design) at a cost, but all of the work, jacks, and components are high grade construction. A rock; Peavey-style. 9/10.

5 year warranty when registered (I did mine online), and magnet dealers are everywhere. 9/10.

I've been playing for the better part of a decade, and use heavily customized Ibanez GRG170DX's straight into my Peavey. Blues are my thing, even though my setup looks metal. I'm happier than I have ever been with my simple rig that consists of 2 guitars in flight cases, a simple tuner, extra picks and strings, and my ValveKing 1x12.

I run my ValveKing mostly in Class A simulation: Clean Low at 4, Mid at 5, Treble at 6 with the Treble Boost engaged. Gain channel Gain is run at 6, Treble at 6, Mid at 0, and Low at 6 (666, eh). Reverb is around 4.

This amp is a no-brainer. It's like buying an AC30CC, a Hot Rod Deluxe, and a cranked B-52... all in a little, silver, boxy package with wings. And, on top of that, it's got the reliable Peavey name with a 5-year warranty. The best amp under $1000 I've played in years. Solid tube tone, classic looks, and everything you need to practice and gig without breaking your bank or lower back. Buy one. Or perhaps two. 10/10 overall.

See all the others!

Awesome sound for the money. Clean channel is Fender-like. Distortion is perfect for my playing, probably will need a stomp box if you are a metal player. I use a LesPaul Standard with Duncan Alnico Pro II's installed and sounds killer, dare I say Slash-like! My Ibanez RG4EX1 with DiMarzio Evolution and Breed pickups sounds pretty good too, but not as good as the Gibson. That's what you would expect though, Ibanez can't hold a candle to a Les Paul! I installed an Eminence Texas Heat speaker, made a world of difference, original speaker breaks up a bit at higher volume.

Never a problem with this and previous Peavey products.

Never used, but I bet they're pretty good!

I love this amp, I would like to get the 4x12 half stack some day when I play out again. I use an MXR M-108 10-band EQ thru the effects loop, a Electro Harmonix chorus and Boss Flanger at the input. I recommend the EQ and speaker change, it turned this little amp into a fire spitting monster! I think Peavey is an emerging power in guitar amps, you don't have to spend thousands, unless you really want to.

All tube - 2 channel. I can't see anything of great importance missing. If I was using it in a different way - ie: without my Zoom G9 for rock gigs or without my Fender RI Reverb Tank for surf, then I would probably moan about not being able to set different reverb levels for the clean and distorted channels. Also I wish the external speaker socket didn't cut off the internal.

All i can say about the distortion channel is that it sounds fine to me when playing it at home because I didn't buy this to use for rock gigs (I use a Peavey Delta Blues with a 2x12 Celestion G12H cab for that) so all I am writing about is the clean channel. People have very different ideas about what makes a good distortion anyway - as any Harmony-Cental user product review for amps will show you.

I bought this to use for Surf Guitar. Although I was looking at the 100w one this went on e-bay very cheap so I bought it. I was looking for a loud 'Fendery' clean sound with plenty of headroom so that the reverb from my outboard 'tank' would be reproduced faithfully. I have owned pretty much every type of 'standard' amp (ie not boutique) in my 30-odd years of playing pro and semi pro - Fenders, Marshalls, Vox, Peavey and more and I can tell you these are damn good. Comments in some other reviews here that the speaker or the reverb are 'crap' are both untrue and unhelpful - what they mean is that they don't like them, whereas I quite like both. The speaker has a very warm character which I can quite believe gets muddy with high output humbuckers - but I think it sounds great with standard single coils. The reverb is bright and splashy and quite usable at the lower settings - it isn't a Fender spring but it isn't rubbish. Tone controls and bright switch work well. It's very much an amp with it's own character I think which can't be a bad thing. It doesn't sound at all like a Marshall, It doesn't sound like the Peavey 'Classic' range and it sounds a little bit like a Fender. The closest in tone (but not that close) I think I can compare it to is a Fender with JBLS (although it's 10 years since I owned one) which is just fine for me. It doesn't have the top-end sparkle or brute muscle of those but I felt the response was similar. Warm round and smooth - but by no means dull or without zing - at least with a single coil guitar. There's a slight boxiness to the sound in comparison to a 2x12 - because it IS a small box. As Scotty said - 'ye cannae change the laws of Physics'.

Bringing me back to my earlier point, few people would describe a Twin Reverb as 'crap' because it's no good for death metal - It's just unsuitable and that may be the case here. In summary; warm, round and smooth are the adjectives I would use to describe the clean tone. The distortion you will have to decide for yourself - but as someone said earlier, you can always use a pedal. If you crank it right up (and it stays clean a long way round the dial) the clean channel will start to break up in a very pleasing way for blues/country.

I have had an excellent experience with pretty much all the Peavey stuff I've owned (and that's a lot). I must have done several thousand gigs by now using Peaveys without a 'backup'... The only blip I ever had with Peavey reliability was years ago with the old 'Scorpion' speakers which used to blow regularly in both a Peavey Special I once had and a Stereo Chorus 2x12. I swapped them out for Celestions (The G12H is my favourite) in the end as I didn't like the sound of the Scorpions much either. The reliability of both the Sheffield and the Blue Marvels has been superb. Too early to say for the Valve King.

Peavey's after sales is brilliant - certainly in the UK at least. The have bent over backwards to be helpful in the past.

I've been playing for 35 years both pro and semi-pro . I own lots of other stuff because I have chronic G. A. S. :) 17 guitars and 7 amps - 3 of which are Peavey.

I think this range is stunning for the price. If you want a great clean sound or a cleanish blues sound you should try this for sure.... I'm just not qualified to comment on the distortion sound on this particular amp beyond home use where it sounds pretty good to me. I'll get round to trying it for a rock gig sometime - but I'm really happy with my current setup for that.

I like this so much I'm probably going to buy the 100w 2x12 as well!

It has all it needs for a tube amp. As stated by others.

I play RnR, RnB, Country, ect. I changed the speaker to an Eminence 8 ohm Swamp Thing and the preamp tubes to NOS 12AT7's. "Holy Crapload of Distortion peddels, Batman". This thing puts out like a 58 year old whore in a dateing contest.It makes any style of music sound like anything you want it to. Loud, clean, wonderful break-up right where it should be. This thing is gonna go a Gigging with me from now till it dies. Then I will get another......20 points here.

Hopefully it will be durible and reliable. Look OK.

Have yet the need after several months of ownership.

Been plaing for 35 years through all kinds of amps. An awful lot of good ones and a good lot of awful bad ones. But for around $400 plus $150 in upgrades, this one cannot be beat. I hope it's durable because it's got everything else. 30 points awarded here.

You can dial in the tone you seek with just the turn of a knob. Volume boost, Gain Boost, Class A, Class A/B, Bright, Reverb, and the list goes on. You can get almost any sound you want out of it with a little tweaking.

This amp can go from great clean to decent distorted. I'm not much of a fan of on amp overdrive, more of a pedal kind of person myself, but this amp's lead channel isn't bad by any means. Sure beats the hell out of my old hot rod deluxe. Where this amp really shines though is if you have a good overdrive or distortion pedal because you can crank up the volume to get that nice tube grit and then distort the hell out of it with a nice pedal. I currently use a Russian Big Muff distortion pedal and lets just say things get ugly when I hit the stomp box. One feature I love though is the fact that every guitar you play on this amplifier has it's own sound. I didn't pay for an Gibson SG for it to sound like my mini hollow body Jay Turser, and that's pretty much where I was at with my old Hot Rod Deluxe. I had replaced the speaker, the tubes, everything and that beast just sounded the same with every single guitar I plugged in. I took it down to Guitar Center and took a look at all their combo amps they had in stock. I played with B-52, Vox, Crate, Fender, Mesa, and out of all of those the only one that came even remotely close was the Mesa Stiletto (comon it's a friggen Mesa what do you expect?). So I traded in my old Hot Rod for the Valveking 112 combo, still toying with replacing the speaker or maybe getting a 1/2 cab for it but it has plenty of balls and it's the best small tube amp I've seen outside of $1500 boutique amps.

This amplifier is cheap, and a tone monster, but also it depends greatly on guitar. Where as with a Mesa or Vox you could plug a stick with rubberbands in and it would shred like no other, this amp rely's greatly upon the guitar's voice to give you good tone so if you have a shitty guitar this amp isn't going to give you great tone. But if you blow a few bills on a decent guitar and get this amp you will not be disappointed.

This is a great tube amp. It has 2 channels, clean and overdrive. The clean channel features a bright switch (not footswitchable tough) which really boosts the treble. The distortion channel features a volume boost and a gain boost.
The amp is pretty basic, the only effect built in is a nice reverb.
There are however two features which are pretty unusual, cabinet response and class. If you turn you amp around you find a switch to set you cab response from thight to loose and a turing knob to dial any tone between class A and A/B (nothing spectacular though but it's a nice feature)

The sound out of this thing rocks!
I play a 1984 Fender American Strat directly in my Peavey Valveking 112
The clean tone is super, i always use it with the bright switch engaged. This way it has a nice twang to it (especially with my TBX built into my guitar)
The distortion is just enough for rock tones. I'll be honest, you can't get super distorted tones out of it but that's not what it was built for.
The reverb is also pretty nice.

This thing is built pretty tough. The tubes are well protected. I've had but one little 'accident' and that is that my second guitar input is jammed (so no big deal)
I've had it for about a year now and i haven't had to replace any tubes so i gues that's ok.

I haven't had to deal with them but i know that peavey is pretty helpfull. But the reason I gave it a 10 was because you get 5 years warranty which i think is pretty long

I've only been playing for about 3 years but i find this thing pretty ok. I can get some real nice tones out of it and i haven't had much problems with it.
Overall an ok amp though I recomand you buy the 212! It's just 50???+ and it has way more tonal possibilities!

this is a relatively new amp, I've had it for a few weeks, purchased in early 2007 but the serial number starts in 06 so I'm assuming it's a 2006 model. The amp has a number of features, all have been reviewed earlier. I'm not much into channel switching, boosts and all that stuff. When I bought this amp I was looking for a decent, inexpensive back up amp which had a good clean channel and reverb. That's what I got. I use this amp primarily at band practice but lately I've been using it at small club gigs. This amp has all the features I would need plus some so I give it a decent rating.

I can get a good fender type clean tone using this amp with the texture control on A/B, as the texture knob is turned it gives the amp more of a vox typer response. Now note this is very subtle and shows up mostly on the clean channel. Some have reviewed this feature and said it made no difference, then they classified their styles as Metal - well duh, read the manua and experiment a little on the clean channel with the gain not maxed out. Anyhow, I find the amp offers a few good sounds. I don't use the overdrive channel, I prefer a good stomp box so I'm not going to make any comments on the tone, I personally don't like preamp overdriven tones from any amp. I use several guitars with single coils and humbucking pickups, this amp will take either/or without a problem but be prepared to tweak the controls some if your swapping guitars - or set up the two different channels (one for singles, one for humbuckers). This amp suits most rock and blues styles just fine, it's what I play and it works great. Unlike some other reviewers I find this amp to be very quiet, even at high volume settings - but then when you've got the gain cranked all the way and the extra gain button pushed in would it surprise anyone if the amp wasn't noisy??? Get a noise gate..... I give this amp a 7, not because it sound bad, it sounds fine for an inexpensive tube amp but it pales in comparison to my other amps.

I use it as a back up now, it appears to be built well. I've been using it pretty regularly for a couple of months without any issues. Nothing is perfect... but the quality of this amp is better than where it's priced.

No dealings so I can't answer.

I've been playing for a long time, over the past 10 years I've gigged regularly, had a variety of different guitars and amps, nothing cheap. This amp is the least expensive purchase I've made in quite awhile, when I went looking for a backup/practice amp I was expecting to get a Deluxe Reverb Reissue, but at half the price this amp sounded as good.

Like I said earlier, I'm looking for a good clean tone, if I get that and the amp handles pedals well then I'm set. This amp did that out of the box. After having the amp for a couple of weeks I put in a Weber Classic British speaker, it improved the overall tone of the amp tremendously, some folks have an issue changing tubes or speakers - but sometimes to get a better tone that's what you need to do. I've done it with $2,000 amps so popping in a new speaker on this budget amp is probably a must do. I haven't fiddled with the tubes, right now they sound fine.

One thing I like about this amp that I didn't like about others is that the volume control can actually be turned up past half way without maxing out. On my amp a good club volume is at about half way up, it doens't really start to break up much until almost maxed out. My other amps have a major volume spike after getting to 3 or so on the volume knob. Peavey got that right.

I compared this to a DRRI and some crate amps that were in the same price range, the Peavey sounded better than anything in the $400 class and as good as the DRRI at twice the price. Some may argue but hey, those who don't believe me can go check them out.

Although I don't channel switch I do believe the amp should come stock with a footswitch, I think it's a little cheap on Peaveys part to not supply one - To reach a customer satisfaction level equal to their competition this should be a given, as such I'm dinging them some for that.

Overall, it's a good sounding rock or blues amp at a great price - if that's what your looking for then try one out.

This is a 50w all tube combo, It has an A/AB class adjuster and comes preloaded with 3-12ax7 and 2-6L6GC's. It has two channels and a master reverb. A footswitch is optional. My model is a 2005 model and has a very nice responsive but loud sound.

The clean channel on this amp is CLEAN! I have had it to about 6 and it does not get muddy or distorted, I have playeed once live with this and it has a great high volume tone as well as a low volume tone. The Gain channel is very versitile also it has a wide range from Blues bite to a not too heavy Metal distortion. The class control really changes the sound alot it gets from smooth and less violent to very aggressive. A very good sounding amp I would give it an 8

I have had no problems and I got it for christmas in 05

Never Dealt with them

I have been playing for 4 years and play many styles including Rock, Jazz, Metal, Blues and others, the amp is very good sounding for everything, I also have a decent Multi-effects pedal run through it beacuse the reverb lacks a bit.

Earlier reviews have already described this amp in detail. I've had mine for about 3 weeks, now, and still haven't found anything disappointing, except the lack of an included footswitch and a cover. I tried it out in the store, first, and then took it home. Both places I was pleasantly surprised by the sounds I could get. Since I bought it, I have used it for a few live gigs. This is one of the few amps I've had that sounds great, right out of the box, at home, and at a gig. Let me add that I already knew what sounds and features I was looking for, so I zeroed right in when I saw this combo.

Most of the reasons I bought this amp were the nice clean channel, and the lead channel. This amp sounds great on the clean channel with a pick turned around so you're hitting the strings with a rounded corner. Sounds even better being played by fingers, alone. I didn't really care, initially for the reverb, but it has grown on me, especially after trying out a few outboard reverb pedals. The disortion channel sounds good for my use. Again, I knew what sound I was looking for, and this does it for me.

So far, no issues with repairs. I would, and have used it for gigs, already. I baby this amp and I do plan on keeping it on a real good maintenance program.

I did the survey, so I have the 5 year warranty in effect. No problems, yet, so no contact with Peavey. I did inquire about the specs on the speaker, and got a courteous reply back almost immediately. Having owned a couple of other Peavey amps in the last 25 years, I will say that I never had a breakdown.

I've been playing 42 years. I've settled into this amp, and I'm using a Gretsch 6118-120(Double Anniversary 120th Year Anniversary) through it, with a Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man delay pedal.

I would replace its loss immediately with the same amp.

Love the sounds I can get from it. Can't find a thing to hate.

I've tried out many amps and combos over the years, and this is one of a few that immediately impressed me.

I would like it to come with an included footswitch(I just ordered mine). But I realize that this was probably a cost issue, and also some customers may want a choice, if they don't need the footswitch.

The price included delivery, so what a bargain. Made in China, USA design. Mfd at a guess in late 05 or early 06 possibly, bought in Feb 2006.

Channel switching all-valve guitar amp at a knock-down price (only ??50 more than the Bandit), not too many unnecessary frills. Can go very loud and keeps fairly clean. At rehearsal and gigs the volume is at between 4 and 6 ('Clean' channel) depending on the guitar I'm using. Rated at 50 watts RMS which is loud enough for anything. I don't know if I could stand to be in the same room or on the same stage if I cranked it any further, and that's just the 'Clean' channel.
The Lead channel is very useable, if that's what you like. It's all so subjective anyway, but if you want to wind it up and control the volume/saturation from your guitar you can do that.

Features include the usual footswitchable two channel stuff, plus two twiddly bits on the back: one to change the valve sound from Class A to Class B ('texture'), a difference I can barely discern, one seems slightly quieter but cud be my imag. The other twiddle ('resonance') changes the speaket sound from loose to tight. Loose sounds best I think. Id rather they'd put an effects loop in, or better still a line-out. No headphone socket, so you'd best use the POD at night. There is a speaker socket, presumably for another 16-ohm load as it cuts out the amp speaker. What's that about?
Never mind, it is a very pleasing design with a nice old-fashioned feel about it and the front panel is thoughtfully laid out. A spring reverb is bolted to the bottom of the amp (in my case with only one screw insted of two), sounds as all guitar spring reverbs do. No s/state built-in effects or effect/amp modelling, praise be.

The two preamp valves are probably 12ax7s, but more interesting is a pair of 6L6s for the output stage which as any fule no, have been useed historically in fender amps... so, loud clean, then. The amp is an open-back design with less wood at the back than I'm used to, in fact just the chassis at the top with a steel cage around the output valves (which isn't the case with my (made in USA) Pro Junior as I found when I unseated one of the preamp valves bending two of the prongy things in the process). It came with the footswitch which apparently some people who have reviewed this amp have had to pay for as an extra. Pointless really, as I only want the clean channel.

I've used this amp for 10 months now. It's been my practice amp at home (was 3-4 times a week now down to 0-1), my rehearsal amp once a week, and my gigging amp.

Well, it 's a valve amp. It sounds good, plenty of poke, defined, warmish but not Vox-y. Valve amps are funny, if you change the valve components everything can change. Sound is subjective. Guitars all sound different. This amp can give a very loud fenderish noise on the clean channel, or a blues crackle, or overdriven lead. For wacked out metal you'd probabaly want a pedal.

I use pedals for drive, distortion, along with modulation etc so I don't use the Lead channel although I think it does sound as good as anything else I've heard.

I play in a functions band, we play all styles from James Brown (RIP) to Santana. I use a Jap Strat with original pickups, or my mashed-up Aria Knight Warrior with Kent Armstrong Screamers, or my SG200 with stock but brutal humbuckers (back-off the amp volume to 4-5). My own personal style is basically old-school blues/rock. It seems to marry well.

It can get noisy with unscreened (unpotted? haven't checked) single coils, and CS2 into DS-1 into TS-10 (compressor into distortion into overdrive). Which is what you'd expect without a noise gate or noise reduction.

Compared to an AC30 it can go a lot louder and stay clean, compared to a Marshall TSL100 it's not far off. Very possible to do convincing loud clean solos.
Using half-decent distortion and drive pedals you can get warm blues drive SRV tones with a strat or searing Santana with feedback.

Weeeeeell... practicing a few days ago, loud hum, lights died and the sound went. On inspection one of the tubes was glowing red-hot.
I unplugged it and took it for repair a few days later.
Here's where my friendly neighbourhood repairman gave me some insight.

The weakest point on any valve amp is probably the valves. In most combo amps the valves are upside-down - incidentally heating-up the printed-circuit board - and exposed to the vibration caused by pressure waves emanating from the speakers and surrounding baffle. According to Jesse, a rogue particle had probably dropped into the inverted valve at some point and cause the malfunction. On replacing the 2-amp chassis fuse, all was found to be well, the amp powered up and tapping the valves did not produce any microphonic noise.
It is recommended, therefore that I carry a spare two-amp fuse - and probably a five-amp plug fuse as well - and source a matched pair of 6L6s from Watford Valves. In future I will carry these as backups.

So, I'm not blaming the amp, particularly, for this, as I believe it is a fault more attributable to this style of amp design, ie upside-down valves within a speaker cabinet.
My previous long-term experience with a combo amp is with two concecutive AC30s over a period of about twenty years, which never exhibited this problem, so it all seems to make some kind of sense as the valves in 70s AC30s stick upright.
Makes you think though, maybe a backup amp for gigs - never have done, maybe I've been lucky?

Is it fair to mark the amp down for this. If I'd been at a gig it would have been an embarassment, to say the least so I'd have to say, yes. After regular but kind use over ten months I'm disappointed.

Contacted Peavey with a warranty query, they responded promptly.
Took the amp to a trusted repairman rather than get involved with carriage to the dealer (Sound Control Birmingham) and then warranty stuff. Fixed while I waited, had to force ten quid on the man for his time.

I reckon Peavey would be OK or their UK agents, they are pretty much up there with the main names these days.

1/10 to Sound Control Birmingham though for not sending me either a manual or the form to apply for the Peavey extended warranty in Europe, despite requesting twice. I've given up now.

I'm giving a 5 for the Sound Control thing.

Been playing xx years eek
oh man it can't be that long. I'm still trying to learn.

Other gear - currently marshall tsl100 halfstack, fender pro junior (very rude) homemade pedalbox with assorted pedals. Fender jap reissue strat, jap squier strat, yamaha sg200. Plus the PA.

Have owned loads of stuff.

D'you know what, if it was lost/stolen/worn out I would replace it with something else, probably a Bandit - or two. Not that I'm unhappy with it but I think that my priorities since the 'temporarily blown valve' sketch have changed. Reliability and freedom from hass is number one.

I like it, for its flexibility, tone, power, portability and affordability, but the valve thing (and the valves are Russian Sovteks, not Chinese) has definitely got me thinking - it's not as if I've thrashed the thing, never over halfway-ish anyway, I take care of my gear.

Sorry Peavey, a reluctant 7, I do like this amp.

Made in late 2005 / early 2006 - I suppose. I'd say it's pretty versatile - should cover all of the needs of a modern guitarist. Plenty of gain, warm clean channel, boost, separate EQ's, effects loop, a very neat texture pot (which I use all the time - extremely useful!), resonance switch, etc. No headphone / output jack - other than the external speaker cabinet output.

I wish it comes with a footswitch, and maaaaybe a headphone jack. (but it wouldn't do it justice since it can't sound that good through headphones)

Also, a gain control for the gain boost would be useful, but that would almost be like a third channel.

I never use the resonance switch, and the volume boost - it does absolutely nothing.

I use this amp at home, only cranked it once at a friend's house, pretty loud - I have the texture all the way down and still never play it above 2/10 if the gain is set a bit higher.

Overall - I'd say the features are great, it's a very versatile amp.

This amp can make all kinds of sounds - including crystal clean, bone crushing distortion, classic overdrive, crunchy cleans, etc.

The clean channel tends to get a bit distorted at high volumes, though.

The distorion can be VERY brutal - even with single coil pickups.

Unfortunately, even after 6 months of having it, I still haven't tried it with a decent guitar, just my Squier Strat and a few low end Ibanez's, but it still sounded decent.

What bothers me a bit is the drive channel - it seems to be a tad bit muddy - so I have to bring out the treble more than I usually would. (but that could also be the fact that I play it at low volumes and with a relatively bad guitar)

It suits my music style well - blues, rock, a bit of heavy stuff.

BUT, if you're aiming only at low-gain stuff like blues and classic rock - I do suggest a Classic 30 / 50 instead.

This amp is NOT noisy. I stop playing and turn it up to 5 and still not hear a thing - and I'm sitting about half a meter away. (ofcourse, not with single coils) This is what surprised me the most.

I'm not sure on this one - since I've only used it at home, but it seems pretty well built and reliable. In the past 6 months - it has never broken down, nor did I have to go to service.

I did send some e-mails - and they replied quickly. Nothing other than that.

I have been playing for a little over 4 years now. I haven't own much equipment - I have a Squier Strat, a Squier Dreadnought and an Ibanez AEG10Ebk electric-acoustic. The amp I had before this was a small Squier SP10.

This is my first 'real' amp so I don't really count as being objective, but I have played a lot of tube amps in the past couple of years and I can say that it's certainly worth the money (even though it is much more expensive in Croatia), because I've played amps that cost three times as much and almost don't sound better at all.

I like its versatility, but kinda dislike the muddyness on the drive channel.

If it were stolen, I'd probably go and try out a few more before buying it again, because I haven't done that before this one. I'd have a look at the Classic series.

I compared it to a Classic 30 - and it seemed a lot quiter, the Classic 30 was more 'real'.

I've chosen this amp because it attracted me with it's versatility - I wanted separate EQ's - a bit more gain (than the Classic 30) - THE TEXTURE POT - etc.

My advice is - TRY BEFORE YOU BUY. (I didn't)

Don't get me wrong - I am not dissapointed, but who knows - maybe I could have gone a better way if I tried a few more.

If you're into heavy stuff - this could be the amp for you. If you're more into vintage-like sounds - I'd reccomend the Classic 30 or the Classic 50 instead.

This definetly IS a good amp for the money you'll play for it, though.

I bought this amp when it first came out. All the features have been stated before me in other reviews. This amp was bought for a 1991 gibson les paul studio lite with 496r hot ceramic and 500t super ceramic pickups. A very dirty and hot rock setup. So far its holding up for what I was looking for

As for sounds it is very well suited for the price. You can go out and spend an arm and leg and get the best but I was looking for an amp for 1 certain guitar and in the real world you cant just drop a ton on an amp that will only get used for one guitar. It took me about a year to get it dialed in just right. It may sound like I'm stupid but trust me, It just wouldnt dial in for the style I was looking for. everything from a twist of the dial to string types to diffrent calibrations on the neck to get it right. I play a great varitey of music and this is not used for any giging at all. I use this in my home studio and writing of originals. I also use a varity of pedals on this amp as well to give it a little spice. But in all honesty I have had poor luck with getting the sound I was looking for out of it. but again I am pretty anal about sound. It means everything. Like I've stated I am using a guitar with not so ordinary pick-ups with it. When played with one of my les pauls for the 70's with 490r and 498t pick-ups it sounds pretty good, but not great. Run through one of my vintage les pauls with soap bar 90's the sound quality lessens even more. Fender strat whether its a pre cbs to some of my newer vintage reissues and relics, its really hard to get bad tones out of. On my telecasters, not good. My 52' reissue sounds like crap my esquire sounds like crap custom shops sound like crap and the only tele that sounds a little better then crap on this amp is a j-5. In my opinion it really does matter what is being plugged into this amp for sound quality. It seems to like hot humbuckers. So i guessing ibenezes,jacksons and so forth would sound good through it. I would say If you has a beginer guitar up to a pretty good guitar, dont waste your money till you get that guitar you froth over just by hanging on the wall. Then take that guitar and plug in till you find the right mate for it. Great This is a great amp for certain guitars. But its also a shitty amp for certain guitars too. Dont just buy one and take it home to play for the first time. Take yor guitar with you and take my advise on this. Spend some time dialing it it in before you buy it. for as few options it has it is a touchy little bastard all in its own.Its not a classic series at all but it is a good little amp all in all

So far so good thats all I can say.

Never had to use it but I know my local little owner operated shop would take care of it if I did have problems. I only buy selected items at big box stores. Always support the little guy, and they will always support you. Try walking into a big box and borrow a high ticket item for the night to see if you like it, doesnt happen. thats the advantage of the little guy the 1 on 1, even low ball prices dont beat that that kind of customer service.

I am 31 years old and have been playing since I was about 11 or 12. Starting to get some notches in my belt. I started with a no name les paul copy with a no name amp and have worked my self to the point of where I have 1 off srv and my recentlyly aquired blackie relics. I have gotten to the point in my music life where I know I'm not going to be A platnium recording star, but it has done me very well in the aspect of being able to write and do session work with artists who are and will be there is fine to me. Theres alot of hopeful and ego players out there who know everything. I dont nor do I pretend to be. If I did my face would be on the cover of all guitar mags. But I do know what I play and for what I was looking for this works well for it. I do recomend this amp to other with the eception of it really does matter what oyur plugging into it. A $300.00 guitar is and always will play and sound like a $300.00 guitar. Play a $3000.00 guitar through it and theres a diffrence. So remember every intrument has quirks where others dont. Certain items work well with others as certain Items dont.

OK, here's an update on my previous review on this amp.

I own an Ibanez RG2570E and I never noticed how good this axe really is until I heard/saw a video of a guy with the exact same guitar. He did use some reverb and perhaps something else, but now that I know how my guitar is supposed to sound like, I can only say this.

This amp must suck bigtime!

I know, I know, I hear you all say: "what did you expect from an amp with a price-tag like that?"

Yes, well, from now on I will never compromise in tone again. This compromise is way to big!

I don't own one of these, but I did spend some good time researching and playing them in order to learn more. My main amp is a Mesa Boogie Tremoverb 2x12 combo, which I'm pretty convinced is the best sounding and versatile amp I've ever come across. I need a lighter amp for playing smaller things and that led me to research smaller all tube amps. This is definitely one of the best Peavey amps I've ever played in terms of tone. The cleans are great, it can pull of a nice vintage overdrive sound, and beef up for some kick butt distortion. I play a lot of kinds of music, everything from mellow to hard rock. For the money, this amp is definitely in a class of its own, with some awesome features (including a gain boost in the overdrive channel letting you beef it up for the choruses, solos, etc.).

Strengths: Decent tone across the board (much better than solid state "overdrive" and you can get a nice distinct, yet thick, hard rock tone.), great price, all tube, lots of options for clean and overdrive tone, only weighs about 45 lbs.

READ THIS BEFORE BUYING THIS AMP!!!
Weaknesses: A rather annoying part of this amp is that when you switch from the clean to overdrive channel, it fades the sound out and then back in. It's very quick, but there nonetheless. I can't believe that this amp made it to the stores like this. For all of the well thought out features and tones, I can't believe Peavey overlooked this. What this means is that if you often need to switch from the clean channel to amp distortion/overdrive, then you'll need to take a one beat rest of silence to not have an awkward channel switch heard. You could use an overdrive pedal instead of the amp distortion to make the switch smooth. No it's not a mesa, but I have to say it sounds really good and for the money, it's hard to beat. I haven't bought one yet, because I'm trying to decide whether this idiotic channel switch will drive me nuts or not. I hope Peavey fixes this for the next version of these.

Made in 2006, Tube amp, clean channel, distortion channel, separate EQ on both channels, Texture control for Class A / Class AB, bright switch, boost switch, effects loop. 50 watts, plenty loud.

The guard for the tubes is a big plus.

As is noted elsewhere in these ratings, this is a versatile amp. I play a Morgan Monroe PRS style electric with humbuckers.

I've been looking for an amp for several months (been playing through my effects processor>computer. I've played through various Marshalls, Mesa Boogies, Fenders, Sundown, and Peavey amps in the last twenty years, so I know what a good sounding amp sounds like. I play predominately rock and blues, and this amp delivers. It's not going to sound like a $3000 boutique amp, but it does have beautiful tone and a great distortion.

When I went to the music store to buy this amp, there was a Peavey Classic 30 for $369.00 (brand new - not used). I tried both amps because the Classic 30's price was so good. After about half an hour of playing back and forth between both amps, I decided to get the VK112 because of it's versatility and the distortion channel sounded sweet. I think the classic 30's clean channel was a bit better, but the VK's clean is good too.

I was a little nervous about buying it because at the music store I was getting a hum when I had the pregain cranked, but the salesmen told me it was their flourescent lights. I was thinking, "sure it's the lights". When I got it home I cranked the pregain up and there was no hum. I've played around on it for a couple hours and it seems to be pretty quiet.

Haven't owned it long enough to have an opinion. Seems reliable other than the knobs seem a bit weak (as compared to the Classic 30's knobs).

I got a two year warranty from the dealer and another three years on the warranty from Peavey for registering on their website (you can also fill out the warranty card and send it via snailmail). Five years on the warranty is pretty good.

I didn't give a rating because I haven't actually dealt with their customer support yet.

I've been playing for twenty years. As I said earlier, I have a Morgan Monroe PRS style electric. Also I have a Digitech 2120 VGS preamp/effects processor and a Behringer V-Amp Pro. I haven't hooked up the Digitech or the Behringer unit to it yet.

I gave it a nine for the overall rating because the knobs seem weak and the reverb unit wasn't screwed down tight when I got it out of the box. Other than that, this amp is a great buy. It sounds better than amps I've payed over $700 for.

As mentioned before, the Peavey Valveking 112 is an all tube combo. It features two channels with independent EQ for both channels. As far as all the knobs and such go, this is a pretty versitile amp and for my purposes, the simple layout makes me happy. I play mostly blues and classic rock, and everything I needed for my sound was there, including some very interesting tone tweaking knobs such as texture and resonance on the back panel. I didn't mess with those too much, but it's probably good to have that stuff there as you can get a lot of different sounds I'm sure. I bought mine around December of '05 if I recall.

As I've mentioned, I play classic rock and bluesy type music. I pretty much only used the overdrive channel, even though the clean channel was definately louder at similiar volume levels. My guitar army inclues Les Pauls, SG's, some Strats, among others. It seemed to go pretty well with all of my guitars, not seeming to favor one style of pickup over another. However, when I first had the amp for a good six months, the settings I had it on would allow for a very annoying buzz from the speaker when I would dig in and play any notes high up on the neck. I assume that the speaker wasn't able to handle the load I guess. Eventually, I found that by pinning the Bass, Mids, and Treble on the OD channel and leaving the volume at 5, and Gain at 2, I was able to eliminate the buzz 100%. But for $400 I love the amp and it isn't that much of a problem. The amp had a good solid crunch, probably more Marshally than Fender. It can get pretty gainy if you want it to, with the gain boost and actual gain knob.

I've had it for about a year, and so far there has been nothing wrong with it. I've played it out a few times and it seems solid as stone. It's put together very well.

I've never dealt with them.

I've been playing for nearly 7 years and I've collected a plethora of instruments and amplifiers. This Peavey has certainly served me well and I would recommend the amp to anyone looking for a quality tube amplifier for a reasonable price. If it were lost or stolen, I wouldn't buy another just because I just recently handed it over to my mother for her to have because I just commissioned the construction of a handbuilt 20 watt replica of the famed Marshall Bluesbreaker, which will serve as my new #1 amp. The only bad thing about the Valveking 112 is the speaker, but overall, it's a great little amp and I enjoyed the time spent with it.

I think mine is an '06
Versitle 2 channel
All Tube

Purchased in 2006.
The features and detail of this amp are well covered in previous reviews. What makes mine different is that the cabinet has been cut down so the unit is now a pretty neat head. Just peeled back the covering, cut the sides down, re-attached the bottom, re-glued the covering, some mods to the speaker board and cloth and voila'.
This amp is used in gig situations and has plenty of power coupled together with a seperate speaker cabinet with 2 x Celestion Vintage 30's fitted.

I only use the clean channel with pedals for distortion, chorus, delay ect. The reverb is horrible. In a gig situation I have only ever hade to turn the volume up to around 5. As far as guitars are concerned I use a Squier Tele Custom Deluxe (les paul setup) and a Cort G254 S/S/H through a Digitech Bad Monkey, Boss Blues Driver, Boss Super Chorus and an Ibanez Delay pedals.
I am presently in a duo using backing tracks so the music styles are hugely varied - 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's ect.
A previous critic of the Valve King stated that it hissed and popped, well so does mine. You can only hear the noises when you are not playing so I guess there is no problem until such time that you can hear them over the volume of the guitar. The Valve King speaker installed in the amp rates alongside the reverb - horrible.

I cut the amp down and converted it into a seperate head because I am of the opinion that combo amps cause vibration and premature failure of the tubes. I experienced this with my Classic 50. I did not want to cut the Classic 50 down and make seperate head so the Valve King fitted the bill quite nicely, although the sound of the Valve King is not a patch on my 81 Classic 50. Neither amp has ever broken down or left me in the lurch.

I have dealt with Peavey via e mail regarding details of my Classic 50 - age, wiring diagrams ect. They were super efficient and mailed me what I wanted the same day. Us guys in South Africa are not used to this level of service.

I am 55 years young, have been playing for 46 years and have owned too many guitars and amps to mention. Presently have in addition to the Valve King, an 81 Peavey Classic 50 VT series with 12" Scorpions. A Squier Tele Custom Deluxe (Les Paul layout)and a Cort G254 with a Dimarzio Norton in the bridge position.
In South Africa today gear is definitely more likley to be stolen than lost. Neverthless if it were stolen I would take the insurance payout and possibly purchase a new Peavey Classic 50 or pocket the money and carry on with my 81 Classic 50, if that was not stolen along with the Valve King.
Do not love or hate anything in particular about the Valve King. I bought it because it was flood damaged and was offered at a good price.I wanted a seperate head and the Valve King having stood in 1 1 1/2" of water for a few moments was easy to cut down and convert to a head. I then purchased some 3/4" plywood and made a speaker cab to house my 2 Celestion Vintage 30's.

I tried to do this review before but I must have failed the math test at the end. My valveking was made in 2006 I suppose. It's a very versatile amp and I play a lot of different music styles such as blues, blues rock, classic rock, country, hard rock, outlaw rock and southern rock. No sense in repeating all the features, they have been listed in many of the other reviews. I do like the saturation where you can go to Class A or Class B or in between. It makes it where you can get good tube tone at low volumes when you are playing at home. I use this amp in my music room at home and I don't have any complaints about the amp at all. Someone bitched because it doesn't have a footswitch but my God an all tube amp for $400? Give me a break man. I also get tired of hearing about Peavey just being a good amp for the money. Peaveys are damn good amps and if you blindfold people and have them listen to this amp and a Marshall DSL 401 side by side, chances are they aren't gonna be able to tell the difference. Excellent amp with tone that is equal to amps costing much much more. Features wise it has everything ya need.

Blues, Blues Rock, Country, Country Blues, Country Rock, Classic Rock, Hard Rock, Metal, Outlaw Rock, Southern Rock, Jazz, Punk, Grunge, Funk you name it, this amp can do it. Some thrash and death metal heads that are 15 years old might not be satisfied with it, but then again they will probably grow up someday. Clean channel is great and having the bright switch makes it a lot easier to go from chimey twangy stuff to warm clean. I haven't cranked it up all the way but it appears to have plenty of headroom. Distortion is great for me. You can have a little - which is one of the complaints I have about solid state amps or you can have a lot. With solid state amps, I could never find that slightly dirty blues tone ala Hendrix. This amp gets that perfectly. Turn the gain up, push the volume button and the boost and turn up the bass and the treble and cut the mid out and ya got good metal. I don't play metal but I've experimented with it. Now for me, the perfect setting is the gain on about 4 with lows at 7, mids at 4 and high at 5. This gives an awesome blues rock tone with just enough crunch to make things interesting. Keep those same settings and crank the gain to about 6 and you have good AC/DC or Jackyl type tones. It does everything I need it to do. I have a 61 fender strat with 3 single coils, a telecaster with 2 single coils, a tex mex fat strat with a humbucker at the bridge, an SG, hollow body Les Paul and Ibanez GAX70 all with two humbuckers. The amp sounds great with all of them but particularly shines on my tex mex strat. The only time there is any noise is with my single coil guitars. Awesome sounding amp.

It's a peavey. People talk shit, but they are reliable amps. I have been looking for a peavey valve amp ever since I moved to the Philippines and have had to settle for solid state amps until now. I have had marshalls, fenders, vox, washburn and Ibanez amps that all sucked and all broke. I had been using a laney LX65R solid state amp and it was ok - but still solid state and still not as good of quality as peavey. It's an american company and even though they are making amps in china, the quality is still there. Try one of those made in India marshalls out and you will see what I mean.

This is the 4th Peavey Amp I have owned. I have had a 5150, a Delta Blues and a Classic 30 in the past. Never had one break down so I have never needed customer support.

I've been playing for 40 years. I'm a guitar tech and I've played in several professional bands over the years. Aside from the stuff above, I've got several acoustic guitars. I'd get another one if it were lost or stolen and if it was stolen, they would have to give it to me in jail because I'd crack the guy who did it up side the head with my heavy old tele. I compared this to a Hartke Piggyback Rig (piece of crap) a Marshall AVT20 (not to bad for a hybrid) and a Hartke GT100C (another hybrid that was crappy) as well as a couple of Behringers. This one won heads over heels but of course, I was looking to buy this specific amp anyway because it is good for home practice and MORE than loud enough to gig with.

If you're looking for the features, go to the site. I think everyone knows about now. If you want an amp with all the imaginable pretty effects, get out. OR... buy this one along with a multi-board...

I won't rate a product on features. I mean, hey, if you don't like the features, get the heck out. Otherwise, stay tuned.

I must say that the sounds you can have this amp produce is (dare I say?) very versatile. And the distortion IS good. If you don't think so, why don't you try buying a guitar that is suitable for metal first, hm? I've got an Ibanez RG2570E, and I can make the amp do whatever I want.

I must agree with some person below, that the reverb isn't really exceptional. But, if you wan't to use effects, I suggest using a multi-effects board. Or you can allways go and buy a Vetta II.... And you may get yourself a Porsche while you're at it...

But seriously, the tone is good enough for me. Quite versatile. I haven't tried on real high volumes. The amp is not noisy.

At first, I had some smaller problems with the amp. I had a lot of feedback (with high-gain, of course) and at some point, there was sometimes this high pitched whistling sound. I had to let the tubes cool off to...uhhh... remove the sound. When I took it back to the dealer to do something about it, the dude played for some time on it, with somewhat higher volume, and the problem was solved. Both of 'em. Guess the tubes needed some more warming, or something....

So. I hear the Peavey amps are usually very reliable. I'm not very certain about this one. However, it didn't actually break up on me.

Never dealt with 'em.

I've been in the musical business (no, not professional) for about 12 years now. 2 of those I've spent with the guitar. After the spider II, this amp is a relief for my ears.
I think I would buy this amp again if it got stolen. For an amp with sounds like these, the price is rediculous.
I used to have an Ibanez SAS36FM. It produced an incredible lot of feedback. Now I have an Ibanez RG2570E. Nice sounds, no feedback (not anymore). So now you have a reason to go get yourself a serious guitar!

So, if you want an amp that has a gazillion type of effects, get out. If you're a no-fx player, like me, knock yourself out!

This is for a -06 peavey valveking 112 combo amp. It got my attention mostly because of the price wich was around $550, extremely cheap for an all-valve amp. the thing that struck me when i first tried it, was the extreme thickness in all the channels(2, +boost), it makes it sound lmost like a 5150 or at least close. I use it with a boss chorus ensemble in to the input, and it is definately the most impressive clean sound ever.(think 'nothing else matters'-intro). I play heavy/death metal, and the separations stringwise is awesome for an amp this cheap. with a 4*12 it sounds even better! best amp for the price!!! oh, dont care about the categories, all i'm writing is righ here!

got this thing 6 months ago. it is 50 watts all tub has 2 6l6 power tubs and 3 12ax7 preamp tubs and is supposedly class a to class a/b variable. i dont notice any diferancewhen going from one to the other.it has bass mid and treble 2 channles a gain boost and a volume boost as well as speaker dampining lots a features for a tub amp

the overall sound was good a bit muddy at times replaced the speaker with a celestion g12t-75 the factory speaker couldnt handle the power to much cone breakupthe new speaker is lots better makes it sound almost marshal like its more crisp more defined and less muddy. i am using an austin lespaul with humbuckers over all the sound now is great the factory speaker is kinda a peace of crap

mine died 45 minits after plugging it in.sinc it was the only on in stock the store checked it out and fixed? replaced 2 bad preamp tubs{came with electo-harmonix they put in crappy rubby tubs} made the amp sound overly bright,i replaced the rubbys with electro-harmonix. also the class a to a/b seams to have no efect at all to changing the sound seams usless. and the amp has good days and bad days never know how its going to sound some days it sounds sweet other days it sounds sick not vey happy with it traded in a peavy classic 30 wish i never did.

not at all happy with the support i got from henries music where i got this pile of junk

wish i would have not gotten .wish i kept my peavy classic 30 it may not have ben as punchy or had as much gain but never had any problems os any days that the amp sounded bad and my digitec df7 sounded better threw the classic as well will probably traid the valve junk in for a new classic 30 or even a 50 the vaveking i got is a $400 pile of junk

My amp is a new 2006 model, I think, I just bought it a couple weeks ago. The amp has all the features I need plus some I don't. All I had for amps was 2 half stacks so I looked for a nice all tube combo so I didn't have to always haul a half stack everywhere. I found some good reviews on this amp and liked the price so I bought one. One thing I wish the amp had was sepperate reverb controls for each channel. I like lots of reverb on clean stuff, but very little on distortion. One feature I don't need that this amp has is the texture control. I find that it sounds best at full A/B mode, I would give up this feature to have sepperate reverb controls. The 112 doesn't have resonance and presence knobs like the 212 and head has, but the reason I bought this was to downsize and I didn't want 100 watts. One thing I like about the amp is it uses the same tubes as my Mesa F-50 head so I can use the same back up tubes in each. I read a couple reviews where people complained about the tubes that came stock in theirs, but mine came stock with Electro-Harmonix pre, and Ruby power tubes, no problem there. Oh I almost forgot the real big feature that's missing, YOU HAVE TO BUY THE $39 FOOTSWITCH SEPPERATE!

My main guitars are an Epiphone Les Paul custom, and an Epiphone G-400 korina. I have a Boss Me-50, but for this review I ran no effects.
First I messed around with the clean channel. It didn't take long to dial in a nice clean sound. I run the bass at 8, mids at 3, and treble at 7, reverb at 2, and it has a nice chimey clean. It has plenty of head room for bedroom, practice, or small gig volumes, or would be great mic'ed for larger gigs. As a matter of fact this clean sounds as good as my Mesa F-50, could be because my F-50 runs into a closed back 4x12 so cleans are dark on it.
The distortion channel took a little longer to get a sound I liked. At first it seemed a little boxey sounding, but I now seem to have it dialed in pretty good. It's hard to brighten the sound up without adding to much treble causing the buzzsaw effect. Right now I am running the gain at 6, bass at 7, mids at 4, treble at 6, and it has a pretty good "old" AC/DC sound. Now kick on the gain boost to play harder stuff. On gain boost it seems to pick up more on the highs and I have to turn the tone knob back a little on my guitar to tone it down a little, but there is lots of gain on this channel with the gain knob only at 5 or 6. One problem I have with the distortion channel is when I have the reverb where I like it for cleans it's to much with the distortion, which is why I like sepperate reverb controls per-channel.
Non boosted distortion is where I can really tell this is a tube amp. With the gain turned back to 4 or 5, I play single notes and it sings with very little distortion, then when I hit a chord the distortion picks up more, (kind of like the old Santana sound).
After messing around with the texture knob on the back, I don't even care that it's there. The amp sounds best in full A/B mode to me so I leave it there.

Seems pretty solid. Haven't had any problems with it yet. Nothing was loose or anything, except the reverb tank, but that's supposed to only have 2 screws in it from the factory. If it bothers you put the other 2 in yourself.

Haven't needed them yet. I do wish the owner's manual had a little more infortmation in it though. It doesn't even talk about different speaker options or anything. It comes with a 16ohm speaker, but the speaker output jack says 8ohm min, so am I to assume it's safe to put an 8ohm speaker in the amp? Right now the stock speaker sounds fine to me, but I might want to swap it out in the future.
I guess you could count that as customer support.

I have been playing around 20 years. My other stuff is a Mesa F-50 head with the matching 4x12 cab, one of those B-52 solid state half stacks, Boss Me-50, Epiphone Les Paul Custom and G-400 Korina, Morley Bad Horsie 2, SKB rack, Furman power conditioner, BBE sonic maximizer.
It it were lost I would replace it with the same thing again. I would love a Mesa combo but they are twice as much(used), but the cleans on this amp sound as nice as my Mesa head and the distortion isn't far behind. The tubes sound so good together I ordered the same kind as backups and I plan on using them in my Mesa when the time comes. Mesa power tubes are $42 a set, Rubys are $29 and got really good reviews and they have the same 6 month garentee as Mesas.

What do you want to do ... spend over a grand for a retubed JCM800 that is over 20 years old? Ok fine, knock yourself out -

For non-Nu-Metal rectumfication rock studio recording buy 2x 2-12 100w combos and substitute the speakers for Red Zone Tonespotters or whatever you flav is, then get two of JJ tube sets:

Set 1: https://ssl.eurotubes.com/cart/index.php? ($73.50)page=view_products&category_id=8&sub_category_id=93
Matched pair of the JJ 6L6GC's and four hand picked high gain ECC83S's with one balanced for the phase inverter in V4. Very punchy and full with great definition! If you're looking for an EVH, Malmsteen, Petrucci or Satrani type tone then this is the kit for you.

Set 2: https://ssl.eurotubes.com/cart/index.php?page=view_products&category_id=9&sub_category_id=45($92.00)
Description: Are you kidding? You need more GAIN!! ( Of course! ) This kit includes a matched quad of the JJ E34L's and four hand picked high gain ECC83S's with one balanced for the phase inverter in V4. Very punchy and full with great definition!

If you're really bold, get a third combo and do the outer KT88 or 6550T thangy at half power (50 watts). See eutotubes website for this.

Self-biasing holmz - sell all your other shit thats been collecting dust for the past 10 years in your mildew closet

Now you have the best of most tone worlds!
Happy douchebagging!

All tube, 50 watt amp with clean and dirty with reverb. Two inputs for lower and higher output instruments. Seperate eq for each channel. The whole point of the amp though is the Texture knob on the back that lets you change from class A/B power(full) to A power(low). This lets you get more tube sag at lower volumes essentialy by lessining the output of one of the 2 power tubes. The tubes are 2 6L6GC power tubes(nice) and 3 12AX7 preamp tubes(nice). I myself play classic rock and require a great tube sag distortion to get my tone.

This amp doesn't produce many sounds. The reverb leaves much to be desired, any Marshall would beat it. Nowhere near Fender reverb. And yes, all reverb should be like Fender's. The Texture knob allowed for different amount of tube saturation on the clean channel, with full power being very clean all the way up, and low power being much dirtier. The distortion is a joke. It's hard to tell where the knob is at if your not looking at it, but suddenly jumps up on gain once you hit 10, which sounded good actually. To bad 1-9 sounded bad. The footswitch has a ridiculous delay and is made of plastic. The boost feature is nice, which can add more gain and volume, but not much. The clean channel sounds alright I suppose. Nothing like any amps know for their clean sounds aka Fender Twin. Now for the biggest problem of all. I own a Fender(who'd of guessed it) Blues Junior for practicing and recording. I absolutely love this amp to death. However, I wanted more power at home and a distortion channel, so the Valveking for 400 bucks looked like a good deal. Wrong. The Peavey is rated at 50 watts and my Fender is rated at 15. Clearcut winner volume wise right. The Valveking should blow this away, its got over 3 times as many watts. Well, not quite. The Valveking was QUIETER! Good lord thats a problem. I bought this thing for more power, not less!

I've been playing for quite a while now and know my way around tube amps and what a good one sounds like. The reverb is pitifull, as is the distortion and clean channels. I got my money back for this one. So quiet. Hope this helped convince you not to buy this pathetic amp.

Made in 2006. Same features that are previously listed. Great to have SEPERATE EQ for the clean and SEPERATE EQ for the dirty channel!
A lot of amps don't have this, and if they do, you're paying BIG bucks for it.

This is NOT a METAL amp, so if you want metal, get a Marshall and pay out your ass for it.

I think it sounds GREAT! Can't put the drive channel above 1 in the house, or it's TOO loud.

The clean channel is nice and warm, not high-endy and trebly, and actually has great presence. I bought this amp because of the gain
channel, but the clean channel is a plus! I have a Fender Blues DeVille that is a great clean amp, but no distortion channel to speak of.

I got this amp because of its size and gain channel. Great for blues,
70's-80's rock!
HINT: With ANY amp switching from clean to the dirty channel during
a song, is a pain, not just with this one. THEREFORE DO THIS:
Get a distortion pedal, and stomp on it if you have go from clean
to dirty during a song. If the song calls for distortion for the WHOLE song, then use the GAIN CHANNEL ON THE AMP! You should only
use the gain channel when you DON'T have to switch between clean
and dirty within a song.

This amp is PLENTY loud, kiddies....if you need more volume,
put a mic on it and pump it thru the PA system.

If you're dissin' this amp...you either got a lemon (it happens with
the best of products) OR you don't know dick about what you're doing....More than likely, the latter is the case.

Seem durable enough. Get a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe amp cover. This fits
it pretty well. Check it out on MF for about 18 bucks.

Good

I've been playing for over 30 years. Have had numerous amps, and this
is one of the best for my purposes. I play classic rock, hard rock and early metal. Like I said, if you want a real heavy metal sound, you can use this amp, and put a distortion pedal on it. A RAT or a digitech hot rod works well with it. Otherwise, get a heavy metal
amp.
This is probably my second favorite amp of all time, next to my Fender, and it's even better than that on the gain channel.
I play a Les Paul and SG thru it. Sounds great. Get one.

PEAVEY VALVE KING/VK-112 amp.(Made in October 2005).
Tube amp (with two 6L6 tubes and three 12AX7 tubes).
50 watts/rms thru one 12" (Peavey Vintage)speaker.
Two channels: clean (with bright sitch) and overdrive (with boost & gain switches) on the O.D. channel.
Belton reverb unit with master control.
Buffered effects loop on face of amp.
Footswitchable channels (with optional footswitch).
Control for "tight or loose" speaker response.
And a control for class A or A/B power settings (full or 60% less power).
This 50-watt Peavey has a surprising amount of power and good tube tone for the money!
It's very portable and can hold it's own with amps of similar and greater power ratings.
All in all: a good valued amp with nice tube tones.

My current guitar is 2003 Fender 70s reissue Stratocaster (with stock pickups and stock hardware).I chose the Peavey VK-112 beacuse I was tired of my solid-state Marshall amp that was noisy and had no usable distortion channels. The Peavey excels at clean and natuarl tube distorted sounds...very "real" after the bland solid-state Marshall tones I was used to. The Peavey responds like a good tube amp should: with a reduced volume or easy attack it cleans up and on heavy attack it breaks up nicely!
I play a mixed bag of rock, country, blues and jazz textures and the Peavey seems to repsond well to anything I do.
As far as the distortion goes- think along the line of Cream's "Disraeli Gears" and you'll have a good idea of the amps "natural" tone. The clean channel (with the bright switch engaged) is capable of a wonderful Fender tube amp "shimmer" (like a Super Reverb or Deluxe Reverb models).
The VK-112 is quiet!! My solid-state Marshall was noisy at all levels that had to be harnassed with a noise supressor.

Peavey has a proven track record with reliability and value. The VK-112 follows that thinking. I will use it without a backup amp.
The stock Sovtek tubes will probably be replaced with Groovetubes when they expire sometime in the future. For now, I'm happy with it's performance.
The 6L6 tubes are sheilded by a steel cage that protects them from damage in transport...the cage is very sturdy! The 12AX7 tubes are also covered with metal covers to protect them as well.
Peavey seems to have their homework with this amp.

I have never delt with Peavey personally but they have a reputation for fast & friendly service. I bought an extended two-year warranty from my dealer just to give me some "peace of mind" in the event something goes wrong.

I've been playing for 35 years and I've ownwed a lot of great equipment in that time. My Strat, VK-112 and Boss ME-50 make up my "gig rig" at this time.
I auditioned two VK-112s before I bought this particular one. I found one model that had a "rogue-reverb" that just could not be controlled. That particular amp also didn't seem to have power in the clean settings either. The model I purchased really performs well with tone and power that satisfy my needs.
Peavey amps have provided the backline for performers like: Lyrnyrd Skynyrd, Journey, The Buckaroos and Ted Nugent (on the recent VH-1 "Super Group" TV series). Peavey's "been there and done that" with their amps, guitars, basses, PA systems and drums!
In today's "world market" Peavey has found a way to compete with this series of amps (made in China with Soviet tubes). If Fender can build amps in Mexico and Marshall can build them in Korea then anything is possible. Gone are the days when all American amps are made in California or Mississippi...times have changed...
Hartley Peavey is man (like Leo Fender or Orville Gibson) with a dream and a passion for helping musicains to play their hearts out!
I'm glad to be a Peavey user today...thanks.

You've read the blurb elsewhere. The key features are the A/B texture blend and speaker attenuator. Very usefull.

I play with an 80'd ibanez RG550 with a moutherbucker in the bridge for thrash stuff and a stock dean Z79 tuned to B drop A for doom and stoner sillyness.

I find this amp works well for most metal tones and is great for doom. Metal wise it aint the highest gain amp so high gain freaks may do well to look elsewhere. Set the texture close to B with the speaker set to tight and you have a good fairly solid thrash tone.

For doom set the texture all the way to class A and get the speaker shaking on loose and up those mids to dirty things up. The result is a satisifying wall of filthy fuzz. Not for everyone but if you like to stray away from 5ths and arent shy of tuning to B or lower its great. With the dean I get a mastodonesque tone but just a little dirtier.

The clean is very clean. Fans of karate will like this channel.

Generally the amp is quiet and has lots of useable tones. My only complaints sre the lack of a master volume is a bit odd at first but you soon get used to it and the reverb. Ah yes. The reverb on this amp is shocking. Don't ever think of setting it above 2 or 3.

One major plus point is that you can get decent tones out of it at low volume. Good news for those of us with less than understanding neighbours.

I bought this Christmas '05 and have had no trouble.

Never dealt with them

I've been playing on and off for 15 years I have owned alot of gear. For the money you cannot go wrong with this amp and it out performs many similar combos that go for twice the price. If you're worried about power try the 2*12 which I think is 100W or buy the head and a 2*12 cab.

I love this amp and I'd buy it again if I had to. I'm happy with its performance. Its not often you can say that about your gear.

2006 model amp, very versatile mainly due to good built in gain, and a good clean channel. The texture nob is somewhat usefull. helps dial in certain tones. In my oppinion its the not the loudest 50watts ive heard. But it certainly will be plenty. Wish it were operating at 8ohms. Running it into a mixmaxed cab will kill tube life.

Currently running humbuckers through it. Gets plenty of distortion, but does not do modern metal in my opinion. palm mutes leave a lot to be desired. I get really good Suicidal Tendencies type tone out of it. does old school punk-classic rock best in my opinion.

would i gig without a backup? probably?? Really have not owned the amp long enough. A couple months is hardly enough to judge its reliability.

???

good amplifier. Receiving brand new unit for 380, that is unheard of. On top of that it is actually a pretty good amp. Buy used if you know exactly the type of tones you want. Be it a Mesa or whatever else you need. But if you need a little bit of versatility on a budget than I recommend this amp. Gets the job done, for a fraction of the price. Love this amp so much more than my old Solid state.

Tooooo many features for a blues player but I needed 30W in class A so I bought it anyway as it was DEAD CHEAP: US$400 for a brand new combo in Switzerland that's like paying $200 in the USA - a gift !

Usually I use Gibson GA15RV or even Epiphone Valve Jr 5W but with 2 conga players I need now more clean headroom for latino jazzy songs.

The only objection is that all is dark so you do not see what you've dialed once you are on stage ...

I give it 10 for sound to compensate for some ignorant non-objective people below, but in reality it is 9.

TOO MUCH bass in general - I have to keep it at zero all the time:
I guess they tweaked the bass for metal-kinds who love the bottom end.

So, the clean channel has too thick, artificial bass that was probably somehow tweeked in the preamp as this is not a natural bass sound of my Strat; still it is clean and with bright ON it is VERY CRYSTALLINE.

Not a Fender Twin clean, but more like Big Barnum circus pompy-clean. Usable but not as sexy and as classic as THE Fender Reverb ...

The distortion channel has more mids and overdrive and I can arrange some intermediate gain level and play the whole evening with just that setting ... when tubes warm up it is almost 10 for sound. I will change the tubes eventually and I guess I might change the speaker too if <i keep this combo - it has a potential and can satisfy a pro for any situation even though it is not my refernce clean tone.

Mind you I have THE best amp in the world THD Univalve and I used it as a pre-amp to Valve King and it makes Peavey cleaner and more articulate so I can gig with both: THD gives the fine pramp-sounds and OD while the Peavey does the amplification beyond my drummers :-)

Too new

No idea

A bargain. If you buy an extra speaker of your choice and the best valves in the world you will spend say $250, in total $650 and end up with a stunningly versatile gig-combo.

Yes, you can get some other used tube amps for $650, but if you need the versatility then this is a very good alternative.

I might exchange this & Fender Cyber Champ for fender Deluxe Reverb eventually but that's because I pay mostly blues.

For contemporary players . verify this combo but TEST IT as the quality control may vary in these Asian made amps.

2005, All tube, 2 Channels, Effect loop, Class A/Class A/B adjustment, "Tight" and "Loose" switch. NO footswitch (has to be ordered seperately)
I have owned this amp for about 4 weeks. I bought it because I wanted a clean tube-sound. I play in a 5 man band: Drums, bass, keyboard, singer and guitar. We mostly play 60's pop/rock for about 100 to 300 people at our gigs.
For smaller gigs this amp is loud enough. For larger gigs I plug the effect send into our PA.
For me an amp is an amp. Wanna use effects? Buy them seperately!
This amp has all that I need.

I use a standard US Strat with 3 single coils. (2 stock pups and a DiMarzio Virtual Vintage Solo at the bridge)
This amp responds very well to different settings on the guitar. It suits my music very well. The stock speaker however is rather "sterile"
for me (great at low volumes, But when crancked up it does tend to get very loose and deliver "fart-sounds" when playing loud)
It is surpisingly quiet. No problem there.
I havn't really used the distortion live, but this amp does have lots of nice distortion. The reason I don't use the distortion at gigs is: THERE IS A VERY ANNOYING DELAY ON SWITCHING!.

Well. Its a Peavey - They make good stuff.
Some have said that the fact that this amp is made in China, might be a problem. Why should it be a problem? Flip over your laptop, or look inside your PC! Made in USA??

Peavey has a very good website. Try it!!

Ok! this is actually a very good amp in my opinion (remember I just wanted a clean tubesound) Just don't play it too loud!
But here's a tip: Take out the stock speaker and drop in an EMINENCE "THE TONKER" speaker. I did that and now I'm able to play very loud and very clean. This is a HUGE improvement!
In my opinion The Valveking 112 with an Eminence Tonker is the perfect match!
If Peavey sold this amp with a Tonker, I would give a 10. But the stock speaker is to weak for me.

A good price / performance feature set, however see the reliabilty issues which completely undermine this.

I run a recording studio, so had some of the regulars, who are largely Marshall fans, audition three different amps in the shop. After 30mins of rocking out, the declare, somewhat surprisingly to all concerned, the ValveKing to be the winner.

I have several line 6 amps, Flextone III and spider HDs, they are great amps, but the peavey did seem to have that mysterious tube magic that modelling amps come close to, but still just don't cut it.

Some clients are suspicious of modelling (others love it) so being able to offer both is very important.

Oh dear. 10 mins into a try out in the studio and there are crackles and buzzes and the speaker sounds like is has a tear. Notice that there are two missing screws in the reverb tank, I take it back to the shop and they call Peavey next day, who say that there are only supposed to be two screws. I go back to the shop and go to try out the amp again, only this time it doesn't any sound. Take another and brave a gig with it, no problems, so I think oh well, perhaps I just had a duff. One week later, in the studio, from a cleaned power source, the amp is cracking like a pot has gone,except all the pots are down, but the amp is poping and cracking again. Back to the shop again :-(

Waiting, but may get a refund and go for a marshall.

Clearly some corners have been cut to achieve the price and unfortunately it shows. I wouldn't feel comfortable relying on this amp at a gig, two separate amps have let me down in a very short period of time. Reading the reviews here it seems that there are problems with the footswitch too.

A pity as there is a lot of potential, but somewhere poor decisions have been made on quality control, which will make me think twice about buying or recommending more peavey kit to clients.

I won't go into the features as it has already been discussed. I will note that the 1x12 combo doesn't have the resonance dial like the 2x12 and heads do. But it does have all the features you could want.

I've had the amp now 6 months so I figured it's time for a review.

* What guitar and pickup styles are you using it with?

I don't play any high end gear: I have a Dillion PRS copy that I modded with DiMarzio's and a Washburn IDOL WI64.

* How does it suit your music style (and what is that style)?
I like to play a range of things, from Dream Theater-type metal to Pearl Jam to BB King, so I want versatility more than anything. When I bought it I was hoping for a cheapy bedroom amp I could practise with and get some decent variety in tones, with the understanding this wasn't me dream amp (Mesa Mark IV, Fender Twin Reverb). I liked it initially but 6 months from now I can honestly say i'm underwhelmed by it. It's not a HORRIBLE amp, and you likely won't hate the sound (for the price), but for me there's just something missing. I keep getting the, "it's ok" feeling when i'm playing through it.

* Is it noisy? On what settings, and in what environments?
I found this amp can get quite noisy when cranked, but I haven't experience much of the rattling or anything out of the ordinary. Stock this amp was not cutting it so I replaced the tubes with JJ tubes and the speaker with a Celestion Vintage 30. This improved the sound only marginally.

* What kind of sounds can the amp make? How much variety?
The amp doesn't seem to have much variety in it's tones, and I'm really not liking the distortion channel as it doesn't seem to pick a niche. I dunno, not metally enough but not bluesy enough? To me it seems best for Van Halen-type stuff which is ok...but a few non-musicians i've demoed the amp to don't like the distortion channel. The clean channel is fine for an amp in this range, it's clean.

One major annoyance of mine is that unless have the volume boost on the gain the distortion channel seems very muddy, so i've been finding I need to have it on at all times and back WAY off the gain to no more than 1/4. I've tried different settings, different guitars, but it's always muddy and not very smooth. Dunno why. Perhaps someone could e-mail me some better settings or something.

Have had no issues with it yet.

Haven't had the need yet.

I've been playing guitar for 10 years now and it's more a hobby then anything. I have yet to own any premier gear but have circled the bargain wagons a few times over. If it were lost or stolen I would definately not buy this amp again, I would look at a smaller practise amp or save some cash and move into a higher tier of amps.

This amp is good because it provides a feature-rich introduction into the world of tube amps. It is, however, very underwhelming in everything it does. In my oppinion Peavey needed to find a niche with this amp instead of trying to stick it in between practise amps and real tube amps. What happens is it's too expensive for beginners and underwhelms everyone else.

To be honest I didn't do a whole lot of comparing. I sat down with this amp and it sounded good in the store, but that's a mistake I won't make again. If I was reading this review I would take a hard look at what you REALLY want; if it's a practise amp spend less and get something smaller, if it's an entry-level tube amp i'd look to spend my money elsewhere (used). While I have a dream to one day own a Mesa Mark IV I just don't have 1500 to drop on a bedroom amp. But if you are looking at this Valveking, take a look at the Peavey Classic...it doesn't do metal, but at least it does the blues exceptionally and doesn't leave you as underwhelmed as the Valveking has left me.

2005/06 production. Features: As listed, 2-channel all tube amplifier with a clean and a gain/distortion channel. Control on back to fade from classA/B power to simulated class A ,(approx.50%power according to manual). A footswitchable volume/gain boost in addition to channel select. Effects loop....I eagerly awaited the arrival of this amplifier at local music store. If we are to judge features by 'claimed' features I have no choice but to give a high rating. It was the very features claimed for it that kept me in anticipation of it's arrival. The class A/B to class A fader control would seem to answer 2 of my desires for features in one offering; (the ability to switch to class A AND the ability to drop to about 20-25 watts) Also the volume OR gain boost feature(selectable) was just what I wanted as it would allow either a solo volume boost without gain or tone alteration OR a gain boost to thicken things up at my discretion. Nice idea. I do not use any effects either in effects loop OR in line to input. If an amp gives me the sound I want, I use it. This is not snobbery, I don't frown on those who successfully use pedals; I'm just a hopeless klutz and am more likely to hit the wrong button or fall off the stage than make a seamless switching successfully. So this amp had all I would DARE try and work without incident! So for me, if it lived up to hype, all the features I needed were there.

I use Stratocaster(s), all single coil with series wiring switches for boosts. Flying V, with my custom wiring. Showmaster sss. More, but this gives the general idea. Now..How does it suit my musical style AND what is that style? I find it a bit difficult to nail down my style. I was born in Memphis,Tenn. and Lived in New Orleans most of my musically formative years. I play Rockabilly,Country,Blues,Zydeco,50's,60's,70's and 80's Rock. Well, here lies the problem. The particular amplifier I took home was incapable of giving me a sound I could like for ANY of these! I must digress for a minute though to state that unlike some people who give revues..just because I don't care for something it is not automatically junk! In pouring over other revues of this same amplifier, I repeatedly read how loud it was! Well loudness is a somewhat subjective matter, but it is not nearly as open to individual interpretation as tone is. I can tell you that the particular specimen I had (briefly) had never even been introduced to loud, much less possessed it! This leads me to think that a bit of a quality-control issue lies at the bottom of the wide discrepancy in the tone of the revues posted on this amplifier.Having said what I just did about loudness you might possibly think that I was holding out unreasonable expectations for the amplifier which it just could not meet,but this is FAR from the case. I was actually looking for an amplifier that was NOT TOO LOUD, to use at practice. I had(and now still do use a Fender Blues Jr.) I was looking for something in that volume range (or ever so slightly louder), but with more features,channel switching etc. I figured with the Valveking set all the way over to class A, at about 20-25 watts it would be perfect. WRONG! Set to A/B at it's (so-called) 50-watts, my Blues Jr. would beat up on it something fierce! The Jr. was noticably louder! And I haven't even begun to mention TONE yet!The 'clean' channel had far less volume than the distortion channel, even with the distortion channel used very sparingly. The cleans were not pristine nor did they breakup smoothly. The distortion channel's voicing was ragged and uneven. Some notes blended into an indistinguishable mush while others stood out cold and toneless!WELL! I've got a ton of tubes, so I decided to see if some swapping would help! I KEEP ON HAND different grades of the most used tubes so I can find which bias range works best with any particular amp. I started with 'soft' power tubes that break up quickly. waemed the clean a little but sent distortion channel over the top!Went all the way up the scale..finally found some that made the distortion channel sound acceptable(JUST acceptable),but then the clean channel had crossover distortion and was as 'cold as ice'!By the way the stock power tubes are in my opinion pretty decent. They are Sovtek 6L6wxt+ 's. I use them in some amps and like them. They are protected in a little cage on the back assessable by 2 screws. Convenient, logical.NOT SO the preamp tubes. They are circuit board mounted deep beneath the surface of the chassis. As if this moronic design flaw were not bad enough, standard 12AX7 TUBE CAP SPRING RETAINERS ARE USED! These are mounted to the surface of the chassis, which leaves you about a half-inch of sloping slippery glass to grasp if you wish to remove the tube for ANY reason. The bayonet-catch base lock prevents a proper grasp. So what do you do to change, or check preamp tubes? Well that's simple, you just remove the entire amplifier chassis from the cabinet! TO CHANGE PREAMP TUBES! The tubes were Electro-Harmonix 12AX7's. No complaint there!But having been forced to this extreme to find out what they were I went ahead and did 2-different speaker swaps to see if that would improve sound. First I tried a Peavey Scorpion 12-incher(personally I have always REALLY liked these). Some improvement. Next tried Celestion Vintage 30, also an improvement. But no combination of ANY of these changes could raise the volume to adequate or significantly improve the tone. Having read all the other revues I noticed (and if you check them you will to) a reaaly big disagreement in people's opinion of this amp. Occasionally you see this, but I think it points to a quality or standards control issue, either that or half the revuers are idiots, the other half geniuses! YOU PICK WHICH HALF!I think some folks got genuinely good amps (at least I hope so) and the other s (like me) got the raw ingredients for a lemonade stand.Yhis is only the second 'new purchase' amplifier I've ever returned in all my 30+ years of playing. After playing a blackface Twin Reverb, I bought a new 1972 silverface..(without hearing it). I took it back too. I must rate the sound. For me it was NOT satisfactory, but some may have liked it..but it definitely lacked comparable volume to others in it's class. I restate this MAY JUST BE THE ONE I TRIED AND A FEW OTHERS..but I must judge what I heard.

I CANNOT JUDGE THE RLIABILITY ISSUE!I did not have but a weekend, A very dissapointed weekend. It looks rugged enough, BUT, If as I have theorized quality control issues are at play here then, reliability is going to be another victim of this shortcoming. IF,IF, this line survives and I hear some admission of 'guilt' from Peavey, and a sign that they are taking responsibility for the erratic behavior and shortcomongs than I will give it another try. I really DID LIKE THE CONCEPT! A point to ponder;You decide what it means to you: China Has embraced capitalism but with a fuedal twist.Large corporations make more money when labor is cheap. There is no cheaper labor than 'slave labor'.So the Chinese have made many things illegal so as to be able to arrest and imprison folks in 'work factories', Being an Evangeical Christian is a crime that can find you soon assembling circuit boards. If you or I were so treated might we not (just perhaps) engage in a little sabotage as protest?

I had always heard how helpful and friendly Peavey was so I was somewhat surprised by the reaction I got when I called about the volume isssue. When I suggested that if perhaps all amps were no louder than the one I was trying out, perhaps they should change their marketing approach to avoid creating irate 'Heavey Metalers' and cater more to the practice amp slot..and perhaps check the power rating as well. ..I must have struck a nerve! I was asked if I was suggesting that they were liars and had misrepresented their producr?! I was NOT asked this in a friendly OR helpful manner. There was no good natured chuckling to suggest he was just kidding either. I merely replied that I knew what I knew and no more. I didn't know squat about wattage ratings or measurements. I just knew that my Blues Jr' rated at 15 watts would eat their 50-watter for breakfast.

Been playing since 60's.Can't lose it I don't have it. I did love the claimed features, I didn't love the sound (or lack thereof)I wish it had the ability to sound like I thought it would.

2005 Peavey Valve King 112. All Tube.
I've been playing Classic Rock/Blues for 20 years and presently play in a 4 piece social band. My main guitars are a '91 modified USA Stratocaster and a Yamaha AES420 with a Bigsby. I've played through a hell of alot of different rigs (started playing in the early 80's so you can imagine!)and in the the past 5 years I have reverted back to 100% analog. The only effects I ever use is an old Crybaby wah on a few leads. Hell, I won't even use reverb if we're playing in a hall.
Anyways, just previous to this my main amp was a 100 watt HIWATT custom with a Force 212 cabinet. Don't get me wrong I absolutely love the Tone of this rig, absolutely nothing beats it when playing at master volume of 40% - except for the fact that at this setting the billion dbs it puts out completely drowns everyone else, I am forced to play at @ 15% and the HIWATT just isn't working hard enough to produce the edge I want.
So I chose to check out the 112 Valve king. I thought that playing a smaller amp a little harder would give me what I was looking for. I'm happy to say that I was right! What this amp really reminds me of is a Fender Hotrod Deville my buddy had back in the eighties. The 2 channels featured along with the class A/B texture control gives me a plethera of sound choices (Took a long time to come up with the 2 I presently use). Since I'm not a huge reverb fan I find the pan in this unit at @ 15% is perfect. I run master at 50% and achieve the tone/ring and dbs that makes everyone happy.

This unit is as hissless as any of the good tube amps I've ever played. There is the infamous 1/2 second delay when jumping on the overdrive channel when using the footswitch (I've read other users say it 1+ seconds, and I'd like to see them hold their breath for 2 minutes), but I've adpated to it with a little anticipation and it doesn't bother me.
I found with a little patience I obtained the exact sound I was looking for and can't tell you how much I appreciate that I can walk up to a gig with this amp in one hand and a Strat in the other and be pretty well evenly balanced.

I've had the unit for about a year now without so much as a crackle, as I do carry spare tubes, I don't need a backup.
As I'm not a big tube swapper (usually wait till a 12AX7 starts crackling) I haven't replaced any of the tubes. When I do, they will be matched NOS tubes which I'm sure the little amp will give huge justice to.
I do run the 212 (8ohm 75watts)Force cabinet at 16ohms (I put a 4/16 ohm switch in it) with this amp and have to admit that the sound of the amp improves signifficantly. If ever anything (even trivial) happens to the 16ohm speaker the unit came with, I'm sure I'll replace it with a TT Ceramic "40/40" - 12".

I've never dealt with Peavey and since the studio 112 I own has fallen down stairs and never had to go in, I probably will never have to.
It does have a 1 year warranty on it - here's hoping that's useless.

Said it all before this!

50 watts tube (3 x 12AX7 + 2 x 6L6), 12" speaker, knob to switch from class A to class A/B.

I like the tone and it's quiet, no static. If you're having a static problem with this amp, it's probobly not the amp, it's probobly your source of power. Get a power conditioner. It really surprised me for $400 out the door. I worked at a music store for a long time and I've tried just about every Marshall, Kustom, Roland, Ibanez, Traynor, and Fender amp that's been made in the last five years. Nobody makes a tude combo amp (or a modeling amp) that sounds as good or is as reliable as this amp in this price range. It's not out there. There are other combo amps out there that are better that the valveking, but get ready to drop about two grand for a marshall tsl and the tsl has a lot more tube noise than the peavey. This amp has a really smooth tone. The overdrive channel has the ability to get a lot of fuzz without losing tone. It does have some bite to it, but it's not as much bite as something like a Marshall. That's not really a problem though, just get a tubescreamer or a dod 250 or something if you need more bite. A lot of people on here have really put down the tone of this amp (probobly because it's not really for metal), but that's why we have overdrive and distortion pedals. If it dosen't have the exact sound you want plug in your poison of choice. FOR GOD'S SAKE IT'S ONLY $400!!

it's sturdy (like all peavey amps) and I've had no problems. all the tubes are covered and protected. some have said they've had problems with the reverb unit, mine is screwed down just fine. it's not loose or anything and it works great. if you're really worried about the reverb unit you can do one of three things: not treat your equipement like crap which is what you're suppossed to do anyways; drill in a couple more screws to hold it down more securely; or check your equipement every now and then and see if anything is loose. any peavey amp i've ever owned or had any dealings with has lasted forever. i expect the same out of this amp.

haven't had to deal with them at all. never had a problem with a peavey product i've owned.

You're not going to find a better tube amp for $400.

This amp is extremely versatile. With tweaking you can go from a Jazz Clean to Blues or Pop on Channel 1. Channel 2 will expand the "grit" from heavier Blues to Classic Jimmy Page. With the "Boost" pushed in you can get Van Halen. The amp also has a knob on the back that when turned in one direction gives Class A features and when turned in the other direction gives Class A/B. It can also be turned anywhere in between and does alter your sound. The effects loop is located on the front panel which IMHO is easier than the back. The only feature I wish it had was a Master Volume to conttrol the overall volume of the amp.

When I brought this amp home for the first time and started playing with my Strat, I thought " this one's going back". I'm very choosy about amps and the ValveKing sounded like a "glorified inexpensive solid state amp" with tubes thrown in. I was very dissapointed. However, the next morning before returning the amp, I thought I would give it another try. I decided on trying my Strat again along with my PRS to get the humbucker sound and single coil. I wanted to test the clean on channel 1 first, then channel 2 with slight gain, then channel 2 with heavier, Van Halen type sound. To my surprise, the ValveKing sparkled in each area of testing. What I discovered was this amp is very versatile if you play around with the EQ as well as the gain and volume. Just as important was the many variations by going from 10 on my guitar's volume to 8 or 6 and the same tweaking on the guitar's tone knob. Suddenly, I was liking this amp and was learning how to "tame the wild beast". What I really wanted when buying this amp was a lightweight, versatile amp that I could just plug into (no effects) and get all the sounds from clean to Metal and everything in between. I admit, a lot to ask of any amp in any price range. I got it!

Can't say about reliability. Peavey has confused me. They go the extra step to put a metal guard arount the power tubes and metal tube sleaves around the 12AX/7's but use only 2 screws for the reverb tank. Also, the amp does not come with a channel switching foot pedal (has to be ordered seperately), they took the time to give this amp many usefull features like the Texture Control, but then use knobs for the controls that seem flimsy. Time will tell but I really believe Peavey couldhave elevated this amp by some simple and inexpensive things like adding 2 more screws to the reverb tank and using sturdier control knobs.

Never had do deal with Peavey but based on others they sound as though they will support this product. I have had other Peavey's (Classic 30 and Classic 50) and never had a single issue. I believe the ValveKing comes with a 2 year warranty.

I've been playing 30+ years. Played Fender, Mesa Boogie, Marshall, Soldano, Carr, Crate and Peavey. I play a wide variety of music ranging from Jazz to Blues to Classic Rock and Metal. I am very picky about amplifiers. Some of the "big name boutique" amps do not justify their cost while sometimes lower cost amps like this Peavey deliver everything at a fraction of the cost. This amp cost me $399.99 but will go head to head with other amps costing 2 or 3 times this. I admit, I did swap out the pre-amp tubes for Phillups NOS 12AX/7's and I replaced the Russian 6L6's with a set of Groove Tube "white" 6L6's and this improved the sound quality a couple points. If you are looking for an affordable tube amp and are willing to "get to know it", this is worth serious consideration.

You should know the features.

I have been playing a long time (over 20 yrs). I've accumulated a lot of gear. My latest is a rack system (16-space) it includes a Boogie Mark IV, Marshall JMP-1, T.C. Electronics G-Major, various pedals and controlled by Digital Music Loop Selector and the Ground Control. Needless to say it's a pain in the ass to transport when I don't take my trailer. Now, having said that, this is where the search for a small combo comes in. I wanted a tube amp that wasn't expensive, 2-channels, small and wouldn't care if I spilled something on it. I ordered the Valveking 112 thinking it would fit the bill. I auditioned with my strat (texas specials) and my Les Paul (Burstbucker Pro's). The clean sounded pretty good, a little thin, not much punch or headroom. The distortion sounded the best. Since I didn't have the footswitch, I pushed the extra gain button, very cool, more sustain and usable. The volume boost is a good feature as well (wish there was a control for that). I thought it was OK but not what I was hoping for. Out of curiosity, I plugged my 1-12" extension speaker (w/Celestion c90,8-Ohm) into the speaker jack and what a surprise. The cleans took on a new dimension - better than those Fender Hot-Rod amps, the distortion was taken to the next level as well. Now I had a gig-usable amp. I was lucky and had an extra Vintage-30 speaker (8-Ohm) and put it in. I verified with Peavey about the 8-Ohm speaker, they said that would be fine. I must say, the 8-Ohm speaker is the way to go. I have more headroom in the clean channel. I play with a loud drummer and i haven't had to take it past 6 (no breakup). The next thing i needed was a footswitch - Peavey was out of the Valveking but they said the Rockmaster was the same wiring, so I ordered it -$43, I was not happy about the price. If it was a heavy duty switch w/LED's I'd be OK with it - but it's shit materials w/LED's. So I get the footswitch and when i switch channels there is this 1-second delay. After many days of playing phone tag, they suggest taking a resistor out of the circuit board on the amp. Well, I tried playing live with the delay - it was miserable. So I decided to play doctor and cut that mother out. (Peavey did send a schematic to help me) After cutting it out (wire cutters), that did the trick. It is now a contender. I was dissapointed that Peavey would distribute an amp with this glitch and also over-charge on a crappy footswitch. Never the less, I was determined to make this thing work. If i didn't have an extra speaker, I probably would have sent it back. But with the speaker upgrade (8-Ohm) it is much more enjoyable to play through. I play in clubs and auditoriums (miked) with it. A couple pedals in one hand and the valveking in the other - very simple and easy.

Peavey should be ashamed of themselves for having their customers play amp tech to fix their screw ups.

Peavey has been responsive.

2005 model I believe. Play mostly Punk,Metal,some rock and blues suits my needs just fine, its got a sweet tone to it, not your commercial sound like a Marshall(although similar), which is what I was looking for. 2 channels - clean channel has a footswitchable bright switch, overdrive has footswitable volume boost or gain boost or both. Effects loop located on front of amp, no headphone jack. Has 2 inputs 1 for high gain and another for low gain. Has a knob on the back that changes the amp from a class A to a class A/B or somewhere inbetween. I wish it had a master volume and a parallel speaker output(if you hook it up to another cab it disables the internal 12" speaker), I use this amp in band practise with a drummer, bassist with half stack and another guitarist with a Marshall AVT275 - it handles itself pretty well alongside the Marshall(its not as loud as the AVT obviously) and can definately keep up with a drumset. I used to use an AVT275 but kept hating to lug it around to gigs to only turn the volume up a quarter way, I needed an amp that could cut it in band practice as well as a medium gig(larger ones are just mic'ed up anyway) and something that doesn't break your back

I currently play a Gibson SG Standard with stock pickups and a Custom Fender Strat with a single EMG-HZ alnico pickup(no use for active system just yet). The amp does feedback at high volumes a little, but I use a noise gate to solve that...no problems. The sound of this amp is similar to something you may have heard but just can't place your finger on... Its not a Marshall sound, not a Mesa sound, Not a Vox sound but a different tone on its own, cause really if you want a Marshall sound-buy a Marshall. The 3 band EQ per channel is very nice, you can dial some good tone out of it. The Texture dial on the back is great and varies the tone ever so slightly but with a notible difference. The clean channel can be described as a dark-clean sound, not sparkling but settles right for rock music. Distortion is great, it can't do the whole mid-cut nu-metal crap, but does a solid rock tone, if you're looking for other sounds put a pedal in front...its not a brutal distortion but more a smooth flowing sound(depending on your texture knob)
Its an open back cabinet so doesn't have a huge bottem end but its still manageable, this will be killer if plugged out into a closed back 2x12 cab. but of course sound is purely subjective.

I would use it in a gig without a backup, hasn't broken yet(but I just got it) so only time will tell.

Its not a USA make but a Chinese make, but that doesn't bother me at all.

The reverb tank was loose when I got it but I just tightened the screws and all is well.

never dealt with them

I've been playing for 9 years, had almost every brand of guitar amp out there. If you're looking for value for money, you can't go wrong with the Valveking.

If it was lost/stolen I would probably get the 2x12 version or the head version.

I compared this to a Marshall DSL401 and a Fender Hot Rod deluxe, and the dsl was nice but it was a sound thats been heard before and you can't justify the price of Marshall amps nowadays. The fender HRD has a nice clean channel but the overdrive isn't the greatest(subjective of course)...

I will be hooking this up to a 2x12 1922 Marshall cab as this will just broaden the sound and give more of a punch.

I'd highly recommend this amp to someone who is looking for there first tube amp or even a higher end solid state. This blows solid states out the water, but don't expect it to be entertaining stadiums...

Brand-New 06 112 VK. Feature its LACKING that needs to be mentioned. The Ext. Speaker jack when in use, MUTES the internal speaker! Also the ext jack alone doesn't seem to put out adequate power? Amlifier is Single-Coil friendly but reacts negatively to GOOD Humbuckers. Gibson BB-Pro's, Dimarzio, Seymour Duncan. Texture control works OK to the left Class-A but the A/B to the far right tends to sound full of static.

The amp is a disappointment. After owning a Classic 30 I was expecting a much better tone from this VK. My Fault! OD leaves much to be desired and the clean is mediocre at best. Reverb is eh! iF YOUR LOOKING FOR BEDROOM LEVEL Volume, then this will work OK. But for something to play out with this amp leave's much to be desired! I'm sure it could be tweaked and upgraded with better tubes/speaker's but even that is only going to to do so-much. With SC's as I said it is not a bad amp. But Humbuckers ..... forget it!

Remains to be seen! Good warrenty from Peavey though.

N/A, But I will give them the benifit of the doubt. Comes with a 2-year extended warrenty also. So its 5 all together.

Been playing since the late 60's. I really wanted to like this amp. But it is lacking in the TONE dept. The head 100w or the 212 100w might be much better? I'm sure it will have at least more clean headroom. But the 112 is NOT a Pro-gigging amp. Better off with a Peavey Classic 30 ANYDAY. Much better amp IMHO! Peavey needs to take this one BACK to the drawing board! It was all here in the reviews! I just chose to ingnore it thinking I knew better. Fotunate I bought it new and was able to return it. Bought a Fender Blues Deluxe RI on the return. WHAT A DIFFERENCE. Should have did this to begin with instead of trying to save a few bucks!

Alot of features. I've read some people talk about "getting what you pay for" and "good for the money..." these people are crazy. For $399 this is the ONLY thing you should buy.
This is a real, 50W tube combo with 2 channels. Plus, it DOES NOT need biasing when you change the tubes - this will save the average player hundreds of dollars in guitar tech fees over the life of the amp (especially in new york city). Just pop them in yourself.
And a knob that switches from class A to A/B? Come on. For $399 you would need to be a complete novice to ask for or buy anything else.

This amp is very loud and sounds very warm and thick. The clean channel is beautiful and if you use a distortion pedal and a tube screamer you don't even need the distortion channel. I mainly use a 70's strat with a JB Jr. in the bridge, a tube screamer, a DS-1 and a Boss ME-50. I've heard about the footswitch delay problem, but I don't really bother with switching channels. One good tube channel on a Soldano or VHT or Bogner or whatever would cost as much as 5 or 6 of these amps and, to tell you the truth, they don't sound 5 or 6 times better. They don't even sound twice as good. This is a real, quality 50W tube combo and it sounds like it.

I use this amp for live shows in rooms from 15 to 300 people. What's the difference - you're putting an SM57 in front of it anyway. This amp has never let me down and never had any problem. It's more reliable and solid than ANY Marshall or Fender within 3 times it's price range, and I've had them all. In a "do or die" situation, I'd always rather have a Peavey behind me because, although they may not be the finest amplifiers in the world, THEY ALWAYS WORK.

When I replaced the tubes for the first time (they never went out on me, just felt like it was time) I emailed Peavey customer service about biasing and within a day I had a response that these amps require no biasing. I was very pleased with the response time and the answer! I guess they get a 10.

I can't believe this amp exists. Been playing for 15 years and don't like to carry around a van full of crap to play a show. This is a high quality, great sounding, loud tube amp for $400. There is nothing close to this on the market and if Marshall or Fender decides to compete, their product will, most likely be total crap compared to this thing. Even their $600 amps sound like junk and hardly work. If someone stole it I would laugh and buy 2 more. Buy this amp now.

I bought this amp in December of '05 because I wanted a smaller combo to be able to jam along with instead of lugging my 5150II halfstack around everywhere.
I play a range of styles from blues, to rock, to heavy. Overall, I am quite satisfied with how it sounds for the price I paid.
I am not going to go over the features, since they have been listed time and time again, but like I said, it gives plenty of options for the price I paid for it.
There is easily enough power from this thing to use at any event. If you are that concerned about how loud it is, buy a cabinet of some kind.

My main guitar is an Agile 2800DLX (les paul copy) with an EMG 85 in the bridge, but I also use a stock Fender Mexican Strat.
As I said, I play a variety of styles, using all brands of distortion as well as cleans, and this amp on it's own I have to admit is somewhat lacking. When I first plugged it in, I noticed that it seems to get along with my strat much more than my Agile. And so I was somewhat disapointed. Over the past few months however, I have had a chance to listen to a few other guitars being played through this amp. One of which was a Peavey Rotor EXP, and I must say, this guitar and amp combo sounded absolutely amazing when it comes to playing metal riffs.
I also decided to plug the amp into my cabinet that I use with my 5150II and I must say WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!! After plugging into the cabinet the ValveKing sounded like an entirely different beast! Absolutely amazing. After hearing this, I have decided that I am going to have to buy a replacement speaker sometime if I ever plan to use the amp on it's own because it's definitely not the amp that sounds like crap, it's just the speaker that comes in it.

Lately though, I have been just puttering away with the amp off and on, and I do enjoy it even on its own. Perhaps the speaker has not really had a chance to be broken in and the sound will get better with time, I guess we will have to see.

I will post an update once I do get a new speaker for it though. If anyone has any suggestions from their own experience, please feel free to send me an email.

So far, no issues, it seems to be solidly built. It was still intact after shipping, so I guess I can't complain yet.

As for gigging, I would certainly use it if I couldn't bring my halfstack for some reason. After all, that's why I bought it in the first place.

Never had to deal with them yet.

I've been playing guitar for 5 and half years now, and I have become relatively atune to what I consider to be good tone. I beleive that good tone is entirely possible through this amp, even moreso with a different speaker. Some people beleive that in order to play heavy metal they need to have the gain constantly on 10, and if you are one of those players, then this amp probably won't give you the sounds you are after, so save up and get a 6505 or a XXX. As for me, I can slam out a convincing metal riff even without the gain boost engaged, although it is nice to have in case I am feeling a little more raunchy.

This has already been covered quite throughly. I really wish it had seperate resonance switches for the gain and the gain boost channels. For that matter, a seperate eq, volume, and gain controll for the boost function would be nice, but that would make it a 3 channel amp. It would also be nice to have the bright switch as a footswitchable function. Oh well... The real issue with the features is the cut out when switching from the clean to either gain settig, or from low gain to high gain. The amp cuts out for about 0.2 seconds, which doesn't sound like much, but it's really annoying if you want a smooth transistion. I simply avoid this by not sustaining anything while switching, but it sitll sucks. I contacted Peavey about this and they said that it was normal for the amp and it could be fixed by removing one of the capacitors, but then it would pop every time you switched channels vis footswitch. Overall, the amp has an impressive feature list for the price, but anyone who rates this amp high in this category is simply lying.

I have played this amp exclusively with my moded Epiphone Les Paul, which has PRS McCarty pickups, Tonepros locking bridge and tailpiece, push-pull tone pots for coil tapping the humbuckers to their outside coils only, and a few other mods as well. This amp is seems to fit a range of rock styles pretty well. With the gain at about the ten o'clock posistion and no gain boost, it yields a decent classic rock tone, but nothing outstanding. If you crank the gain controll with no gain boost engaged it has some standard hard rock tones. Engage the gain boost and the amp compresses quite a bit. This gives you more sustain, but if you don't have the resonance set to the "loose" posistion you end up with a rather thin, seething tones reminicient of 1980's metal lead tones. However, with the the resonance set to loose, the amp becomes much more bottom heavy and it yields more of a modern high-gain tone, but it still compresses quite a bit. That's all cool, but if you want to use the gain channel without the gain boost on and you leave the resonance switch set to the loose posistion, you get really flabby, unfocused low end. NOT cool if you want to use it for a classic rock or blues tone. Overall, the gain channel is about average. Not fantastic on any setting. It will give you anywhere from blues to moderately heavy modern rock tones, but not really a great amp for the modern metal player. I have found the overdrive to be a bit "buzz-saw" like, and not in a good way. I am considering switching to some lower gain preamp tubes, like 5751's, to adress that issue. Sweeter, and smoother gain tones come with the character knob set full to the class "A" side, but the bolder tones come out with the knob set to class"AB." The clean channel, however, is fantastic. It has a real smooth tone and is nice and warm with the neck humbucker and the bright switch off. It sounds really glassy and sweet with the bright switch engaged and the bridge humbucker. Also, with a digital delay, the bridge humucker coil tapped, and the bright switch engaged, you can get some great U2 sounds. I've heard the others say that the clean channel distorts when you really crank it, but I've never needed to go past half way on the volume so I can't really adress that issue. I almost forgot to mention, the eq's on both channels are really great. They give a really wide range of controll that is always smooth and mostly musical. Overall, if you're looking for a real tone machiene, seek elsewhere, but it far surpasses any solid state amp you're gonna come across in the tone category. In relation to my dream tone, this amp gets a 6.

This remains to be seen. The cabinet seems to be made of good materials, but it isn't the most solid consttuction. It probably couldn't take the beatings of a tour unless it was babied inside of a flight case. As others have mentioned, the reverb tank only has 2 screws. However, the inputs, potentiometers, and switches all feel pretty good.

When I did contact the company about the switching issue they were fast, curteous, and forthright about the problems inherient in the amp's design. The amp comes with a 3 year warranty (if I remember correctly).

I have been playing for the past seven years and have had the chance to play some nice amps, guitars, and the like. At this point, I am a college sutdent and I can't afford the gear that I would really like, but perhaps with a degree that will change someday. If this amp were stollen I would probably replace it with something in the 500-600 dollar range instead because this amp has some shortcomings that make it quite a bit inferrior to the amps in this range. If you want a amp that sounds better than solid state at the solid state price and can live with the channel switching issues, this is a good deal for you, but if you've got the cash for something a bit higher end, I'd spend it.

oh my lets talk about flexability,i can nail a KWS strat tone,,think KINGS HIGHWAY,and i get a pretty good PLEXI TONE,,think WARREN DEMARTINI,BUT A LITTLE MORE TRANSPARENT,,,,,,.THE REVERB IS NOT BAD,,TEXTURE KNOB IS WHAT REALLY GIVES THIS AMP THE MAGIC,,,AS FAR AS THE CH SWITCHING,WELL ITS THE WORST I EVER HAD,

I PLAY A STRAT & A IBANEZ SA160 WITH TEX SP IN THE NECK & DIMARZIO AIR ZONE BRIDGE,CLEAN BREAKS UP AFTER 6 WITH SINGLES,,DISTORTION ON THIS AMP,SINGS<IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN>SINGLE NOTE LEADS AND CORDS ARE VERY MUSICAL,NOT MODERM HIGH GAIN BUT MIDRANGY,LIKE A SOLDANO..I HAD A HR 50.I HAD A BUNCH OF AMPSTHIS AMP IMOP,IS A CROSS BETWEEN A 5150&XXX,,THE CLEAN IS NOT AS NICE AS THOES OTHER 2,BUT OK,DOESENT SUCK,,THE DISTORTION IS MY FAV,TURN DOWN YOUR VOLUME AND IT CLEANS UP,,THATS WHERE YOU GET THE KWS TONE,LEAVE IT UP AND YOUR GETTING PRETTY CLOSE TO THE WARREN TONE

KNOW IDEA,ITS ONLY 2 MONTHS OLD,BUT ?

IF YOU EVER DELT W/THEM,YOU KNOW 10S

OK HERES THE DEAL,,SOLDANO HR50,MARSHALL DSL 50 2204 30W ARTIST,PEAVEY 5150 XXX VALVEKING VMT60,LANEY AOR & CLASSIC,JACKSON JG2,MESA SINGLE REC,I CAN GO ON ALL GREAT AMPS,ITS JUST UP TO YOU,I LIKE A AMP THAT UNDERSTANDS MY MOODS,,THIS 1 AMP COVERS MORE OF MY MOODS THAN ANY OTHER,,IM CONSIDERING GETTING THE HEAD FOR MORE HEADROOM ON THE CLEAN CH,I TRYED ONE OUT AT THE MUSIC STORE,NOT REALDIFF FROM THE COMBO,JUST MORE VOLUME

Ok, features have been covered extensive already. Read the other reviews if you're not sure what this amp has. This amp has all the modern features that have become standard. Only things that are missing are a master volume, a presence control, a half-power switch and a headphone jack but no amp has to have everything. It's definitely loud enough.

primarily, I use guitars with humbuckers and I play rock music. I do need a really good clean channel though and this is where the amp does a good job. The clean channel has enough headroom and doesn't get gritty unless you push it. The EQ here also works very well so you can tweak many sounds.

The distortion channel is just awful. I think it has a horrible quality. It is very raspy and doesn't have any warmth to it, especially at higher gain settings. Reminded me of a tiny solid-state amp. The EQ still works fine and the gain and volume boost switches do provide extra tonal options, but the basic tone of this channel is horrible. Overall, the amp sounds very boxey as well, probably due to the speaker. As other reviewers have mentioned, there is also the volume dropout when switching channels. I did enjoy having the resonance switch on the back.

given the unusable nature of the distortion channel, I tried using distortion pedals with the clean channel, but that didn't work well. I wouldn't say the clean channel takes pedals well.

I bought it online and when it first arrived, the spring reverb wasn't working right; the tank was really loose and one of the springs broke off. Also, out of the 4 screws to hold down the reverb tank, I only had 2. I exchanged the amp and got one with working reverb, but still only 2 screws. Is this some cost-cutting measure for Peavey? makes no sense to me.

Construction seems sturdy enough though. Weakest link would be the reverb tank I feel.

I emailed Peavey about the reverb tank and they responded quickly and politely, detailing how I could get it fixed. Good enough for me.

I'm quite disappointed with this amp. The clean channel is ok, but the distortion channel is hopeless. I'm not the type that's overly picky about tone cos I believe you can always tweak things to work, but the basic tone of the distortion channel is just awful.

I returned the amp after a few weeks of trying to get it to sound right to me. Perhaps changing the tubes or the speaker would improve the tone, but I didn't want to buy an amp and have to modify it. I had high hopes for this amp and think that Peavey makes decent products, but I don't think this amp is right for anyone unless they intend to modify it.

3 12AX7A Preamp
2 Channels
4 6L6's
Texture Modeler
and standard eq reverb
50 watts All tube




pretty good tubes for chinese made amp (using russian tubes)

I play all styles of modern rock. I'm dissapointed
I've owened many peaveys, and am no novice to lower mid price range tube amps and tube hybrids.

I tried this amp for about 2 hours at Guitar center for about one week straight, with almost every commonly used guitar (Lespauls, Strats, Schecters Blackjacks, Ibanez prestige, Ibanez RG570, ESP, Peavey Wolfgangs ect. jackson DXMG) Have not been able to get a good sound of it. The bass is lacking, and is very bad for open string palmutes. The clean lacks the warm glassy sound of tube amps, or the full body. The distortion is extremeley higain, and fuzzy sound however, lacks the warmth of tube amps. I wasn't expecting a peavey 5150, but i was expecting this amp to match higher end solidstate peaveys, crates and randalls. Personally I've had more luck getting a warm tube sound, with articulate distortion from peaveys Transtube line. Any one looking into this amps should save another 150$, and look into the 550$ range you'll have more options there and will be able to find a few decent sounding amps such as Crate V30's and Peav



I've regularily used at some point in th past Peavey Triumph 60, Peavey Ultra 40, Marshall 8240 Valve State, Crate Vintage CLub 5212, Rockotron Eganator TOL 100, Peavey Duece II, Peavey Revolution Head, Pignose.

I don't know, havent purchased it
looks pretty solid tolex is slightly weaker
than older peaveys from 1988 or so

I've been playing 4 years. Like i said i've had plenty of experience wiht midrange tube amps, i'm not a tube snob or anything. The amp seems like a good deal on paper, and certainly unusable. It does provide the volume and cut tube amps have, however the distortion channel lacks articulation for the gain and the amp lacks bass, the amp maybe okay
if one were to run pedals on the clean, but the clean isn't warm or fullbodied as most other amps. Users in the 400$ braket would be better
to consider high end solidstate amps, including peavey's own for better tone, or save another 150$. Those who really want tube but only have 400$ should seriously look on ebay for Crate Vintage clubs (blues, and 70s rock players), or Peavey Ultra these amps typically sell used around the same price as the peavey and have a world better tone.

Let me start with how I came upon the Peavey ValveKing.
I currently own a Peavey Classic 20, a Fender 1965 Twin Reissue and a Fender 112 SE (Transistors)... I play Blues, Classic Rock and Country Music so my guitars range from an America Fender Strat and Tele to ES335 and Les Paul Copies (Ibanez and Agile) amongst the mix is a Peavey T60 and Fender 72 Tele Thinline Reissue both with humbuckers. I am partial to that Fender Tube tone and the depth of a 12" speaker. My Fender Twin has the tone, that real clean, deep tone that the amp is famous for. It has only 2 drawbacks. It can not get a dirty tube sound at any volume and it is way to heavy to cart around. The Peavey Classic 20 can get the dirty tones for great lead lines but has very little headroom for clean sounds and the 10" speaker to my ear is a little thin. Installing JJ tubes in it recently made a world of difference. Now the Fender SE at 160 watts is very clean and the distortion channel is ok for hard rock but not for blues. And on 1 it is too damned loud. So I went out looking for an amp that could cover the best of all worlds so to speak. I tried them all. Tubes, Transistors, Crate, Fender, Marshal, Vox, Behringer, Line6. Nothing sounded right. The only one that caught my attention was a Mesa Boogie and they start at over 1k... I had no intention of spending a lot of money and will sell the 112SE to offset some cost so I very carefully considered a Fender Blues Jr. But the BJ although better in clean tone than the Classic 20 just still did not have the headroom I was looking for and not much range in dirty tone. Then I came upon the ValveKing and I'll be damned if it doesn't do it all. This is NOT an amp modeler but the real thing. The amp has two channels with a gain boost almost as if you had 3 channels. With one draw back which I'll cover under Sounds below.

I love the sound of this amp with all of my guitars from single coil to humbuckers but enjoy it best with my Les Paul Copy. It is great for any song I play from Blues to Classic Rock to Country.
The amp is fairly quiet until you get it cranked way up but not as noisy as my Fender Stage 112. At those volumes you'd be going deaf and really should be miking the cabinet at a lower volume anyways.
(Get your drummer to learn feel and touch)
The clean channel stays fairly clean at high volumes but breaks up as any good tube amp should. 65 Twin excepted. You can utilize the A rated A/B rated knob on the back and get clean tones while picking lightly with varying degrees of breakup hitting harder, depending on where you set the knob. This is a great feature and accounts for the many different styles of music you can cover. The distortion channel can go from Blues to Heavy Distortion. Most of the tone comparisons I covered above. Sorry about that. Here's the draw back with the gain boost. Yes as other reviewers have said there is a slight pause when switching from the distorted channel to the boost. I don't see that as much a problem (gives you time to set up for your lead from rhythm.) as the fact that the increase in gain is too much. Way over the top instead of just enough boost to come up from the mix. As the pause is not there going back down it is my belief that this was put here to save your speaker from the huge spike in volume. I tried using a fender single switch and it is no problem going from clean to the second channel or back. The gain boost is just an added feature I don't need and is not a reason for not buying this amp. I use a Bad Monkey distortion pedal for an increase in boost anyway. And the line in and out on the front is very convienent for my Digitech RP50. The Fender amp's are on the front also. I don't really understand why anyone would want them on the back.

Too new to know about reliability but I've owned several PV guitar, bass, keyboard and pa amplifiers and know for a fact PV to be a reliable product.
In fact I still own a PV keyboard amp that is 21 years old. The American made PV transistor amps have a tendancy to get a little dirty in the solder joints and need a tweak on the head now and then.
My bet is this Chinese made ValveKing will hold up better in the long run. Sure you have to replace tubes now and then but don't let that concern you. My Twin was purchased in 1991 and still has the original tubes in it and my Classic 20 purchased in 1994 just had a tube change only to try and get more headroom in the front end.
Here I am rating PV a 10 (not this particular amp) due to the longevity of the PV amps I have owned.

I've never had to use customer support for repairs of any PV product.
But have on occassion talked to techs over the phone for stupid questions. They have always been very kind and willing to help.
Never rude on any occassion.

I've been playing guitar for over 40 years with the use of many different guitars and amps. (Started out as a drummer so guitar took second place for awhile) I've utilized tons of effects and pedals lightening the load down to a Digitech Bad Monkey overdrive pedal and a Digitech RP50. Basically I prefer a raw amp with reverb and tone have much appreciation for that bathroom digital sound. Although the RP50 is in line for when it is appropriate and for the built in tuner. I do use a Line6 POD in my recording studio for guitar and the line out of my Roland Cube 100 Bass amp for Bass and Keyboards. It is just easier that way rather than trying to isolate sounds to mike amps. Basically and truthfully the Peavey ValveKing 112 is an excellent value and has the best tone you can find for the money. Sure tone is subjective but I'd recommend this amp to anyone.

I may have gotten a lemon, but I'm not impressed at all with the tone.
I also know that that is relative, but it was missing that organic, warm
responsive tone. I was very disapointed when I got it home. Let me also say, it was very inexpensive and as I just said I may have gotten a lemon, but I am already having to send it back to get fixed. Anyway, not for me, but everyone's got an opinion.

I had problems with it from day one. As many reveiws have said, there is a very bad delay when switching chanels. And for me the switch box for the amp did not fix the problem. The construction is very poor. By the second day of gigging, the top was making a horrible noise. The only way to stop it was to put lots of pressure on the top of the amp. And now all the 6l6's are shot, and I've only had it two weeks. Let me stress that I may have gotten a lemon, but I will be getting my money back (hopefully) and just spending the money to get something I feel confident in.

Personally, I don't think this is the amp for a working musician. I'm not saying that it wouldn't work for other applications, but not something I can depend on. For the money, you can still get a decent amp
that will last. Hopefully I've not been to negative, but this has been my experience with this amp.