Peavey Valveking 112 Combo

I am giving this a 6 because what amp is sold without a footswitch when there are multiple channels. Besides that It has a lot of buttons to play with

I honestly couldn't get a good sounding distortion through mine, and it has recieved a lot of good reviews here. Mine might have been a bad amp. That happens when they are made in China. To me the distortion was all fuzz. Also sounded muddy, unless you turned up the mids and highs, and rolled back on the lows, but then came the sizzle.

I tried onboard and outboard effects to try and clean it up. I got close to getting a good sound but not close enough for my liking. It wasn't horrible, but wasn't great either. It is loud as hell though. There wasn't much play room in the volume knob in it. at about 3-4 it jumped way up in volume. The AB knob in the back of mine didn't really do much. The website says it may reduce output by 60%, maybe on mine it was about 6%. Didn't sound great at bedroom levels, and only alright at loud volumes.

When hooked up to a cab, it sounded 10 times better. Most of the fuzz went away, and so did the high end sizzle. Actually sounded pretty good, through a good cab, but I wanted a good small combo.
I use a gibson Sg and Les paul through it and play mostly classic rock/80's metal.

took it back after three days, but it is Chinese built so who knows.

na

I have been playing for about 10 years. I have owned numerous amps in that time. None of them top dollar, cuz the only band I have been in broke up after a year, and now just a bedroom guitar player. This was the fourth tube amp I bought though, and wasn't thrilled with the sound. For 350 bones though it is a tube amp. I bet you could mod this out to get what you needed for a lot less than buying a good one, I just didn't want to do that.

Well, you probably know the features by now, but if you don't here they are from the Peavey website:

* 100 watts (rms) into 16, 8, or 4 ohms (switchable)
* Four 6L6GC and three 12AX7 tubes
* Two independent footswitchable channels
* Separate EQ for each channel
* Footswitchable gain/volume boost on lead channel
* Dual paralleled speaker jacks
* Two 12 inch ValveKing speakers
* Reverb with level control
* Buffered effects loop
* Resonance and presence controls
* New TEXTURE? variable Class A simulation control

This amp obviously has a lot of nifty features, but I'm gonna have to bump it down a couple points because it doesn't include a necessary footswitch. I e-mailed Peavey about it and I have to buy a special Valveking footswitch for $51.99. $51.99!!! for a freakin' footswitch that the amp shoulda came with in the first place!!!! Oh well, I'm gonna try to use a different (cheaper) footswitch but I'm not all that optimistic- I've heard of a lot of problems with the valveking switching with a cheap footswitch such as popping noises and delays. Everything is pretty much the same as on the Valveking 112 except instead of a tight/loose switch on the back you get a Resonance knob and a Presence knob. These help you fine tune your sound pretty well. Also, just like in reviews for the 112 the volume boost does nothing whatsoever, but that's alright becuase if you need to cut through, the gain boost works just fine.

I used this playing with an American Strat with a Seymour Duncan JB jr mini humbucker in the bridge. The first thing I'm gonna cover is the clean channel which is really good. There's not much I can say about it other than it is sorta dark, but still nice, without the bright switch and well... bright with it on. Otherwise, the clean channel seems well rounded and full, nice and glassy. It also sounds excellent when you add reverb. The reverb on this amp is really nice, not quite in the Fender 60's reverb range, but it seems a lot better than what reviews for the Valveking 112 would indicate. Noone's going to accidentally think your playing through a Fender Deluxe Reverb, but I can't see what you couldn't like about the sound, really. The only problem I could find with the clean channel is that it seems breaks up surprisingly soon considering there's 2 speakers. Now, I haven't really turned it up too loud, and I had just been playing with the distortion full on probably damaging my hearing (they were sorta ringing), but if my ears weren't decieving me it seemed as if it started breaking up with the volume around 5-6. It sounded like a really nice breakup, but I was sorta mad it couldn't get any louder, but it coulda just been my ears ringing. Either way, it still was loud enough at around 4 to play with the band.

Next I'm going to cover the distortion channel which is nice, but is kind of strange because it sounds different with the band than when you are by yourself. At first when I got the amp I thought the distortion sounded way to fuzzy and noisy. When I got with the band it sounded really nice. It didn't seem as noisy and fuzzy and really roared. It has a lot of Marshall like qualities and is great for rhythem. The only problem was that it can get muddy, but you have to be patient and EQ it properly, and I recommend you use an EQ pedal too. I had some problems cutting through at certain times, but I didn't have an EQ pedal or a footswitch to turn on the gain boost, which I'm certain would have fixed the problem. You can get a whole range of distortion sounds out of this thing, if you use the Texture knob you can go from Clean to blues to southern rock to Metallica. It probably can't do really intense stuff like Dimmu Borgir and the like, but then again, you never really need as much distortion as you think you do so this could probably meet all your needs. The Texture knob really helps you get a lot of sounds. It takes power away from 3 of the 4 power tubes until only one is powering the amp. When you have it at full power (A/B) it has the most distortion and volume possible, when you have it at this setting and the distortion on full you basically have an old school metallica sound. When you have it to the lowest power setting with only one tube working (A) there's no as much gain or volume, but it seems like the amp is working harder and you get a grittier sound, better for more low gain stuff like blues or southern rock. So you have a lot of tonal possibilities, more so than probably most amps, especially in this price range. The only problem is that when the amp is idling, there is A LOT of hum, it sounds like when you accidentally hit the AM/FM switch on the radio and it turns to an AM frequency without a station and you get all that static. It is really annoying if you don't turn on the Standby. It even shows up when you are plaing if you turn the volume knob on your guitar down too low. This could probably be fixed if you get a noise reducer and put it in the effects loops so it will clean it up the signal before it gets to the speakers, but you would have to be careful that it doesn't cut out stuff like sustaining notes. Another thing I'd like to add is that this amp has Sovetek 6l6GC power tubes and Electro Harmonix 12AX7 preamp tubes. This would probably make the amp more noiser sterile or w/e than it should/could be and if you invested money in JJ tubes at eurotubes.com and possibly better speakers then this thing could probably rival any combo out there, much less comprably priced ones. I can't be certain of this, but this amp is really nice already so there isn't any need to rush out and start putting money into it right of the bat.

Well, this amp seems really solid, but it had a problem right out of the gate. The first time I tried it and turned on the reverb, I would hit one note, then turn off the volume on the guitar, and the amp would start feeding back more and more unless the reverb was shut off. I didn't want to send the amp back over this and loose it for weeks/months if i could fix it myself, so i checked out the reverb tank. First off, it was barely screwed down and was moving all around. I took the tank out of the amp and had a look. The reverb unit consisted of a plate with two long springs extending to either end, long ways with some electric stuff at the end. The whole plate was being suspended in the tank by four small springs so it didn't touch the side. One of the springs had a broken loop at the end that hooked it to the side of the tank. I had to twist it around to make another loop in it so it could hook on to the side of the tank again. This solved the problem, and I'm glad I solved it becuase the reverb is nice, but I have my worries about other things going wrong due to this. The amp seems solid, so I probably would gig without a backup, mostly because its the only amp I have

Never dealt with Peavey, other than when I emailed them about the footswitch. They responded quickly, but I don't think its enough to rate them on.

Well, this amp is really nice, its really loud, I had the distortion channel on halfway and it easily kept up/dominate the rest of the band. It could handle a small/medium sized venue without being miked. Possibly in the outdoors venue. Anything bigger and you will be able to mic it anyways, so thats not a problem. It sounds great and gives you the opertunity to get you any sound you want aside from something extravagent like really hardcore death metal, or a Dick Dale surf sound. Don't get me wrong, this thing will let you cover Miserlou or Wipeout with no problem, but if you're only gonna play surf music and nothing else, you should probably look for a Fender amp. So far I am happy with this amp, I haven't had it too long and only played with the band once, but it seems like a winner. For this price, an all tube amp of this caliber for $560 cannot be beat. Really, all your other options in this price range are solid state amps that sound like crap, modeling amps that have cheesey or plain bad effects or are hard to use, or a faux-old school tweed tube amp that really can only handle old school blues or rockabilly. I highly recommend this amp, even over the Valveking 112 since it can't really handle the band setting too well. I'm rating this an 8 because, even though this amp is excellent it isn't the best amp out there bar none which is the only time I'd give it a 10. Also, it has a couple little problems, such as the useless volume boost, extranious noise, footswitch not included, and that reverb issue. If the footswitch was included and this amp got better tubes and speakers, (although you don't NEED to upgrade those since it is awesome already), you would be hard pressed to find a better amp at any price. But, as it stands, this amp already had one part broken, although an easy fix, and it was made in china. This leaves some questions that only time will answer, but I would have to say this amp is worth the money for sure. This amp probably has everything you're looking for so just buy it already.

Update to previous review, see features there

In a previous review I mentioned that there is a big delay when using the button on the front panel to switch between clean and distortion channel, this does NOT occur when using the footswitch, everythings okay. When using the button on the front of the amp I have experience the amp switching from distorion back to clean even though the button stays depressed for distortion mode, cheap front panel buttons, may become an issue as the amp gets older.

Okay except the front panel buttons.

Have noy used them yet

Still like it despite the button problem

Update to previous review

Tested amp with strat style guitar with humbuckers and all was pretty well. Then I got around to trying Les Paul scaled guitars (3/4 scale neck) and could not get a good sound. The amp lost all the nice distortion and characteristics I liked. No matter what I did the amp responded as if I plugged the guitart into the second input the LOW input. Well I changed out the tubes and put in some JJ high gain 12AX7's and now the amp performs well again. With the Les Paul the stock speaker sounds boxy and cardboard like and depressing the speaker dampening switch makes this worse (this was not that appearant with the strat using humbuckers). I used the external speaker jack (which cuts off the internal speaker when used) and plugged in my Emminence Red Fang speaker and things got much better. The amp is still weak on the bottom end lows so palm mutting is not as tight as it could be but fair (another speaker choice may help in this area). The mids and highs are great and the amp gets a nice singing sustain, chords arpeggios stand out well. Now satisfied with this amp and for $400 It's a bargain.

Not sure

Have not used them

For $400 dollars it's hard to give it a low rating but a Classic Peavey 30 could probably blow it away, Classic 30's can crank but their overdrive is not as refined as the distortion on this ValveKing.
The valveKing has that problem of pausing when kicking in the Distortion boost and that should not occure this day and age with amp technology as advanced as it is. What other tube amp is out there with all the features this one has and if a tube and speaker swap is all thats needed as an upgrade (something more expensive amps often need) I find it hard to give it a low rating, I give it an 8 do to the Distortion boost hestitation and what seems to be looseness in the bass at times (an inability to have a real tight speaker response in the bass (closed back cabinet may handel this)).

Made in 2005, two channels, clean has bright switch, dirty channel has volume boost and distortion boost. Effects loop, extra speaker output jack (8ohm), footswitch and speaker dampening switch. A knob to dial in class A or class A/B power output (great feature and sets the amp appart from others).

I use strat style guitars with humbucker pickups, clean channel is very nice (Fender like) and the tone controls work great to shape tone, bright swith works very well. I have compared the clean channel to my Peavey Ultra 12 and to my Pignose G60V and it sounds as good or better. It has that tubish three dimesionall tone and chime, the channel is NOT flat or sterile sounding. What makes this amp sound so good is the A to A/B knob. I have a Crate V30H all Class A tube amp, this means that there is no cross over distortion in the power tubes and it makes for a real smooth tone, even with tons of high gain pre-amp signal being driven into it. The Peavey ValveKing gets that class A smoothness with it's A to A/B knob and it definitly helps the amp sound better than other amps that are only class A/B. Using this knob can be comparable to having your amps Bias set right, warmer smoother sound from your amp. The dirty channel has plenty of gain thats not fizzy, very usable distortion and great sustain, you can dial in dark tones or bright ones as the tone controls are very responsive. It's not a Fender amp or Peavey Classic 30 overdrive but tends to be more like Peavey XXX or Marshall style distortion. No heavey bottom end, and this is where it seems have Marshall charateristics in that it is strong in the midrange, not much bottom. With the class A dialed in highs are smooth (not harsh like some peavey class A/B amps that are Biased cold). With the distortion boost on one can get some great feed back. It will do Metal but not New Metal as this amp does not do the Mesa Triple rectofier sound. Distortion and overdrive pedals work well on this amp and this is where the speaker dampening switch becomes noticable, it helped to firm up the speaker and tighten up the sound, glad to have it. The speakers not bad and this is the first time I did not feel I had to immediatly upgrade the tubes, the amp actually sounded nice right out of the box. I did notice that when you swith between clean and dirty channel using the button on the amp that there is a BIG delay. This does happen with the footswitch. However when you use the footswitch to engage the distortion boost there is a moments hestitaion, if you can't have this then you may not want this amp, it's okay by me but it is a disapointment. Reverb is digital chip driven rather than tube and can sound like it at times. It's not a bad reverb but if one is use to the real thing they may not be fully satisfied by it. As one other person mentioned switching to a Les Paul or similar type guitar the sound was muddy and had to be re-dialed in (strange). I have had no problem with dialing matching volumes between channels but I have only been using it in the studio and have not had the amp maxed out. For the money it delivers a lot.

It's new, made in China, will have to wait and see

have not used them

I have bought plenty of amps and I am always looking for a good bargan and for $400 dollars this amp delivers a lot and sounds as good as much higher priced amps.

this is a response to an earlier review that
gave a reliability a three. As a genral rule
about peavey combos 1x12 (owning a bandit 112, an Peavey Triumph, A peavey Deuce VT, A Peavey Envoy 110, A peavey PAG 60, A peavey Revolution) peavey amps have a huge problem with there foot switches with Amp with gain book.

Made in March, 2005 in Peoples Republic of China. Tubes were made in Russia, making this a complete communist amp! Power tubes are Russian made Sovtek 6L6WXT+ which are supposed to have 20% more output than standard 6L6GCs. Preamp tubes are Electro-Harmonix 12AX7s in Preamp, Gain channel, and driver/phase inverter positions. Switch on back for tight/loose (open/closed-back) simulation. Texture control reduces voltage to power to both tubes. I believe this dial on the back reduces plate voltage from the full 360 degrees of the input conduction cycle by cutting off one one side of the tubes for a portion of the cycle, while the other side (class A) remains full voltage, thus class AB. If the voltage is cut off during half the cycle, it is class B, the dial will be at 12:00. Since the signal is cut off one side, there will be less volume, but less crossover distortion. When the dial is in the class A mode it will sound cleaner becuase each power tube is amplifying half the signal, then are joined via the phase splitter and transformer. One tube amplifies the upper half and one the lower half of the waveform. When the dial is on class AB mode, both tubes are pushing more plate voltage and amplifying slightly more than half the signal each, resulting in distortion, the good kind. It also has a spring reverb which is solid-state driven, a gain boost switch, a volume boost switch, and a bright switch. An effects loop is also located on the front panel next to the on/off and standby switches. The second input jack is attenuated 6db. Both channels have full bass/mid/treble conrtols. The reverb works on both channels. On the back, we have a socketed power cord, texture switch, tight/loose switch, and a nice external spekaer jack that cuts the internal 12" speaker rated at 16 ohms. The cabinet is made from 5/8" thick MDF and uses a plywood baffle.

I use a strat with Jeff Beck noiseless pups, an Mexican tele, and mostly a Les Paul Classic with '57 PAF humbuckers. Sounds incredible with the LP as expected, both clean and dirty. I crank the gain up to 10, hit the gain boost, set the texture control to class AB, bass on 10, mid on 3, treble on 3, and little bit o' verb. Very Frenderish. The speaker looks and sounds like a Jensen C12N, very sweet, but distorts due to smallish voice coil. Rather heavy magnet, speaker weighs in at 8 pounds. I replaced it with an EV12L, but this is overkill. The clean channel sounds thin with the single-coil strat and tele, as expected. Here is the the shocker: crank the gain to 10 on the dirty channel and my strat will sustain for days and get that Clapton "woman" tone - even at very low volumes. The dirty channel seems twice as loud as the clean channel even with the volume boost and gain boost switches off. I did not notice any significant boost in volume with the volume boost on. I did notice about a 6-12db increase in gain with the gain boost on. Lead channel is very loud and does not hum when cranked, but I use all humbuckers. These is a rather loud hum when the amp is idling, not sure why. It can be anoying if I am playing clean at bedroon volume, which I often do. The tight/loose switch is probably just a low-end EQ cut switch, not a true negative-feedback attenuator. Same with the texture control. probably just a voltage pot/bias pot mounted on the back. It does very little to change the overall sound, but does help with distortion. Overall a very smooth, balanced sound, but no thump or thud. Chunkage may be obtained using an LP and cranked, but I am not sure it would be loud enough for a gig. Great practice amp.

It looks extremely well built. Transformers are very small for a 50 watt tube amp, hence the 16 ohm speaker which requires less transformer windings. This is the only area I see that is skimped. There are four separate PCBs inside, all of which are smallish. I am not sure how long the tubes will last with the voltage changing. I could not find a bias pot inside, so that's why I assume the texture switch changes the tube configuration from class AB to class A by limiting the voltage to two of the pins on the power tubes, basically like having built-in Yellow Jackets.

Never dealt with Peavey, but this is only my second Peavey tube amp.

I have been playing since I jammed with Eric Clapton in the 70's. For the price you can't beat this with a 20 foot pole. If you want Marshall-like sound with sweet upper harmonics, nice crunch, great blues tone, tons of features, and a sweet clean channel - this one is for you. If you need major chunkage, look elsewhere. It doesn't sound like a blackface or a Marshall, but I think it sounds as good. I prefer this amp over my HR DeVille for practice, and over my Marshall for any day for low-volume crunch. The best thing is the cost. I know the price went up already since I bought this one. Finally, a small amp with enough gain to satisfy rock and blues without getting muddy on the low end. I don't use the word "sparkle" here becuase I think that is a Fender verb. It does not sound as constipated as my Deluxe Reverb, but it does not have that great "surf" tone either. If I had the money, I would buy the 100 watt version becuase it has a presence control, which I wish this had. That is my only complaint.

Two independant channels with their own EQ, all-tube pre and power sections, foot-switchable volume and boost (Very nice!), all pumped out of a decent Sheffield-voiced stock speaker.

Seperate tone controls for each channel is almost a must, and the foot-switchable gain/volume boost is a very nice touch. There is also what's called a 'Class A' potentiometer (a rotating button, just like volume) in the back, which gradually cuts the power to one of the 6L6 tubes. This is perfect for guys like me who always try to pull half the tubes in old combos and heads so the volume can be turned up loud enough to get the poweramp cooking. The VK112 also has a damping switch similar to that found on Peavey's higher-end amps, howeve rit's only a two-position switch for 'Tight' or 'Loose' though it really does change the sound.

All of these tweakable goodies ensure that no matter what your taste is in tone ... Marshall, cranked Fender, Vox, etc. you'll be able to find something you like in the amp. Also, the EQ controls are VERY useable, unlike many amps on the market in which the Bass, Mid, and Treble controls have to be dimed one way or the other to hear a difference. On the Valve King they are so good I thought they were active, at first. Excellent!

OK ... I always wait till at least one week is up so I don't post the usual 'Honeymoon Review'.

Well ... it's been almost two weeks and I still love this amp. As I said, with all the available tweaks for this little thing ... active-like EQ, damping, power section tube cutting, etc. anyone should be able to pull soemthing useable out of it.

The clean channel is very good for an amp with this much gain on tap. Quite useable in stick trim, even if not quite up to the Peavey Classics or the Fender sparkle. It's still very useable.

What it does best, though, is Marshall crunch. It was a little buzzy initially, but a set of 12AT7s in the preamp, instead of the stock EH 12AX7s, smoothed it right out and reduced the amp noise at the same time. There is still more than enough gain to play thrash metal, if that's your thing, but now it's smoother and sweeter. Just like an old master-volume JCM800 cranked hard.

I also replaced the stock speaker, which really isn't too bad. This isn't a Blue Marval, rather it is a useable Sheffield-voiced speaker and it's OK stock. I just have a thing for Greenbacks so I put an Eminence GB12 in it and as you can imagine ... it's now moving even closer to that Marshall grind.

Singlecoil neck p'ups are great in the clean and dirty channels, but a humbucker really brings the dirty channel to life.

In all ... solid cleans, a very nice crunch, and a screaming lead tone.

Dunno .. it's new. It does have a few chassis buzzes, but a weatherstipping job on all the joined edges is a must for small but powerful combos, anyway.

It's a Peavey, so if it doesn't die in the first week it will probably outlive me. I'll go on past performance for the rating.

Hmmm ... Peavey screwed me over on some tolex last year, and this year they are having a hard tiome getting the VK footswitches out to the dealers. Not good.

I'm 42 years old and have been playing since I was a little kid, and gigging since I was a teenager (underage :o). I've owned twenty-five or thirty amps, most of them tube amps but with a few SS Peavey's and Fenders in there.

I love the sound with the new tubes and speakers, but it was certainly workable when stock. I'd buy another if it was lifted, because you just can't beat the features and the sound at this price.

2005 model brand new amp just came out. This amp can get alot of different tones from clean-heavey slayer kind of metal. I play anything from clean stuff to metallica. it has 2 channels a clean channel and a lead channel. doenst have a headphone jack has a line out. It has more than enough power for me i dont turn the knob past 1 on the volume knob. This is a ALL TUBE amp

Im useing a epiphone g-400 standard. This amp is not noisy at all you could barely tell that it is on. The distortion can get pretty heavey. I have to say the sound is a bit bassy but i really like it it sounds beautiful

It seems like i can depend on it seems very soild but then again it just came out and i cant really say much about its reliability just yet. It does come with a 2 year warrenty plus another 3 years if u fill out their survey. So you really cant go wrong with geting this amp. I give it a 5 because i dont really know yet i just got it

Customer support is very good they reply to all your questions before 48 hours the warrently is 2 years +3 more after filling out the survey.

Ive been playing for alittle over a year now and i own this valve king a dean markley amp, i got a strat copy and a g400. I have to say i love everything about it except for the fact it doesnt have a head phone jack. I compared this to the vox ad30vt i just loved this one more. I would really recommend this amp to anyone who wants a tube amp but cant afford a really expensive one this valve king will do the job for bedroom playing and giging its a really solid amp worth every penny.

This is a 2005 model Just came out.
Two channels plus a another channel which you use as a boost in the distorted channel .you can use just the distortion boost or only volume boost or both at the same time,there are buttons on the amp for selecting them, then you can control it from the optional foot switch.More about the foot switch later.
this amp can Be a class "A' or Class A/B it has a resonce button on the back which changes the sound only a little from what i could tell.
Has a speaker out.I give it a 7 due to no foot switch.

I Took this amp to practice and used a gibson."The Paul".and a Peavey
T-60. I could not find any problem with getting a good sound with either a humbucker or only useing a single coil with the T-60.
It will get pretty darn loud with out breaking up in the clean channel
The Distorted channel Kind of sounds like a marshal a little.
I have a old 212 Peavey speaker cabinet that i hook to it and i must say i like the closed back sound the best but thats just me.

Well now the bad news.
It seems very solid and probbably take the abuse as well as any other Tube amp but i will never know because i took it back.As i said earlier i tried this amp out at the store three days in a row and all was well with out useing a foot switch because there was not one to connect to it.I have many two button foot switches around and some are peavey.well hook one up and all is well when switching from clean to distorted and back,but switching to the boost channel while in the distorted channel the sound Completly drops out for a spilt second.Enough to throw you out of time.it does not drop out at all when you go from boost back to normal distortion and does not do it when you use the button on the amp.

The dealer called peavey. they said they would try to duplicate the problem and call back the next day. I was told they called back and said they could duplicate the problem and they could install a capacitor and solve the problem but then it would make a pop when useing foot switch so i just got my money back.
If you can live with out useing the boost channel or dont mind the drop out then i say buy it.you will not be disapointed in the soundof this amp

I am still learning to play after all these years you can never stop learning

I got mine from MF - at the initial reduced price - it was worth the wait and I am surprised. It features high and low gain inputs, clean channel and lead channel with gain boost and the A-AB knob on the back of the amp. The foot switch is not included and seems like a very disappointing and unnecessary cost cutting measure - unusual for Peavey. Over all the features that affect sound are very good. I really like the effects loop up front. There are no luxury features -footswitch or LEDs.

I am very please with the range of tones you can get from this amp even without all the tonal features of the 212. I tend toward metal, punk and blues and have found several tones to match my style moods. The clean channel has a bright button which provides a very glassy sound but with a rich strong tone. The lead channel is good and can cover a blues style to metal. It does not have the bone crunching thump of a Triple X but the range of sound possibilities is much greater. The lead channel can be a little muddy but tweeking the EQ and the A-AB knob seems to smooth out the distortion. The reverb is much stonger than the 5150/6505 or Triple X. It is kind of a return to prior amps (80's models) that featured very heavy reverb - I am not talking Dick Dale reverb but close. The amp is rated at 50 watts and sounds like that is what it delivers. The valveking speaker is capable of volume and decent bottom end.

Here is the big question - It feels solid but that remains to be seen. It is a new model and very "affordable". We'll see.

I have had good dealings with them in the past. I have owned several Peavey products and have been please with all.

I have been playing for 20 years and have never been a gigging musician but I love the electric guitar and searching for different tones. My main guitar is an Epi Les Paul. This is a very affordable tube amp that can deliver a wide range of sounds. On the other hand to make it very affordable you miss some of the little things such as LEDs on the panel that indicate active channel, foot switch and the knobs are pretty cheap. As for internal components I can't address their quality but keep in mind the amp costs $350.00 to $400.00. I would have to say that if you are a bedroom player this is a fantastic amp. If you are a gigging musician the jury is still out on the endurance of this amp and the Valveking line. If you are looking to make the switch from the brittle sterile sounds of a solid state I think this is a great starting point. If you are looking for great sound as well as creature comfort features then you should probably keep looking. Overall very capable in terms of tonal capabilities but sparce features to maintain the low price.

Features seemed to be already summed up pretty well already. For the price, and it's form factor, I'm rating this very high. My only gripe would be that the footswitch for the gain boost, channel switching, and volume boost is not included. For the money this amp costs, it's the obvious cost-cutting measure, but it would have been nice to get one with the amp. As it is, the construction of the amp is surprisingly well done. The knobs are sturdy, the covering has no flaws, and the amp feels very sturdy.

I play mainly hard rock/metal, and this amp is more than I could ask for. I'm using a Jackson SL2H and an ESP Eclipse II, and they both sound equally well through the amp. The gain on this thing is pretty amazing. Without the gain boost engaged, the most gain you'll get would be an AC/DC- ZZ Top sound. With the gain boost engaged, you can get most any metal sound, (Lynch, Van Halen, DiMartini, etc..) but you'll have to add a pedal to get the ultra gain scooped nu-metal sound. I'd have to say the distortion is not as honky as a Marshall, and not as dark as a Mesa, but has a unique quality all it's own. With the gain and volume cranked, there is some hiss, but much less than a Marshall or Mesa. I normally don't worry about the clean channel, but this amp does a remarkable job. Very clear and clean, with tons of headroom. Not as sparkly clean as a Fender, but with a nice chorus pedal, very nice. The EQ's for both channels are VERY responsive, and can make a world of difference in the tones you can make. On my Marshall, I normally dime everything out, but with this amp it was way too much. After some tweaking out some of the highs, this thing purrs. The texture switch on the back was intriguing to me, but the difference is very subtle. According to the handbook, it's supposed to allow a more cranked sound at low volumes, and actually reduces the overall volume by 60%. It also tends to make the sound a little flabby as well, so there's a sweet spot you need to find with it.

I have owned a few pieces of Peavey gear through the years, and they make the most reliable equipment you can buy. Now...this is a Peavey amp made in China, so the jury will be out for a while. Let's hope Peavey passed along their secret to the Chinese.

Never dealt with them.

I like this amp! There...I said it. I have to say I never thought I'd be saying that about an all tube, sub-$400 Peavey amp! The day I bought this combo amp, I was just going to the music store to get some strings, and a pedal. My dealer asked me if I had heard about the ValveKing amps Peavey was putting out. I laughed, and asked him why he thought I'd care about Peavey amps? Especially ones made in China? After some more talk, I figured I'd waste a few minutes and try it out just to get him off my back about it. After about 20 minutes I realized this amp was coming home. I really think it's important to remember that this amp is all about VALUE. For the money, there's nothing out there that can compete with this amp. In fact, I'll be very curious to see how all the other manufacturers will respond to this. I always said I wish someone would make an affodable tube amp, and here it finally is. I always have had issues with music manufacturers charging outrageous prices for tube amps that use technology back to the early 1900's! I own a Marshall JCM 800 50 watt, and an old Laney AOR, and this amp sounds sweeter to me than either of them. In fact, I like this amp so much I had my dealer order me the 100 watt head and matching 4x12. The ValveKing line is all about value, and it seems that Peavey has nailed it.

Brand new! Got lucky and bought one from MF before the price went up. 1-12" 'valve king' speaker, 2 sovtek 6L6 power tubes and 3 electro harmonix 12ax7 preamp tubes. Has a short tank reverb with only one master control for both channels. Each channel has it's own set of treble, bass, and mid controls. The 1-12 doesn't get the presence and resonance controls but it gets a tight/loose switch and still gets the class A-A/B knob. INCREDIBLE USABLE FEATURES FOR THE PRICE.

I'm using an 80s jap fender stratocaster and a samick Tr-2 SG. Both guitars sound great from clean to heavy gain on this amp. However if you try to crank the volume on the clean channel the speaker distorts before the power tubes saturate (only with the knob all the way to class A. With it to A/b it's clean all the way to 10) but the lead channel has great range from slight breakup to full out gain so it redeems itself there. The short tank reverb is just about perfect as is everything else on this amp for the tiny price tag. I'd say this is amp is the perfect size for anyone who wants to rock the house but has neighbors and doesn't want to rock the houses around them... 10 for the price.

No idea how peavy is as far as reliability or customer support.

I hope I don't have to find out. The warranty is manufactures for 2 years +3 more if you fill out the warranty card.

I've only been playing for 4 years but I am a fan of all great guitar from the blues gods (SRV, Clapton) to the metal gods(old metallica and pantera). I've owned alot of the cheaper tube combos. Fender BJ, HRDlx 1-12, Crate VC30, crate V-50, as well as 2 P2P wired 60s Traynor ycv-30's. My first real amp was a fender cyber deluxe. This is day two and so far I'm in love and my 4 year amp search is over. The crate vc30 came close but its clean tone just wasn't thick enough. Feel free to contact me on aim or via email if you want sound clips or you have questions.

- I recently had the opportunity to try out a Peavey Valveking 1x12 combo at a local guitar store so I figured I would do a review.

You can read about the features online but for the price, this amp is a pretty good deal. It has 2 6L6 power tubes and 3 preamp tubes as well as reverb, presence, and resonance controls. Each channel has it's own set of treble, bass, and mid controls also.

I didn't check it out myself but I heard that it comes with a footswitch also. 1x12 speaker of course and open back speaker cabinet. The biggest feature is probably the texture control knob on the back, which allows you to switch back and forth between a Class A and Class A/B type of sound. More on that later.

I wish the amp was closed in the back but that is just my personal preference.

- I grabbed an LTD EC-400 guitar equipped with an EMG-81 and EMG-60 pickup set. That is the guitar I have at home. Overall I have to say that the tone is very much like what you would expect from a Marshall DSL or ENGL amplifier in that the mids play a bigger role than some other amps. You don't get that "scooped mids" sound out of this amp, that's for sure. I really expected it to sound like a Peavey amp but if I would have had my eyes closed I would have guessed Marshall. Before I personally tried the amp out, I heard clips, and they sounded like a Marshall to me.

Gain-wise there is no doubt this amp can do everything from clean jazz to metal. The clean sound is very clean. I was surprised actually. Probably alot to do with the open back cab. Sound was very full and clear. With the gain set in a lower range, you can get a great AC/DC type crunch. In fact when playing, I found myself hitting bluesier type chords rather than shredding, etc.

With the gain set higher and the scoop button engaged, it definitely can do metal but it is not a modern type metal sound in my opinion. I heard a guy doing "Slayer" clips and the amp seemed to lean toward that type of sound (Marshall JCM 800). Obviously, since it is a combo and not a stack, it is not going to have the thump of a Marshall stack but through a different cab I think many would be surprised.

Did seem pretty noisy but that is to be expected. I mean, the amp is below $400 for cryin' out loud. I think a noise gate pedal would do wonders for this amp. It didn't bother me at all, just wasn't silent. Amp definitely could get loud but I didn't crank it all the way. It is 50 watts of tube power so I'm sure there wouldn't be an issue. The reverb is a spring reverb type so too much of it gets you leaning into surf territory. Not bad, just needs to be used sparingly. I would rather have a closed back cab for a tighter sound but I'm sure the clean would suffer.

- Felt very solid, surprisingly. These amps are made in China so I think the reliability issue is up in the air. This is a very cheap tube amp so I'm sure they had to cut costs somewhere. I didn't see it though. The amp was built-well and didn't hear any loose parts or see any shortcuts in the building process. Seemed well made.

- For this price, you could have two backups and still be around $1000. What other amp could you buy and pull that off?

- Peavey seems like a great company. Up until the 90's, Peavey really did'nt have the popularity of other companies like Mesa, Marshall, Fender, etc. Then they started coming out with nice amps (5150, Triple-XXX, JSX) and now they seem to be climbing. Looks like they are trying to cover all the bases as far as sound goes. This amp definitely sounds different than their other amps. Seems like a great deal.

- This amp is a steal in my opinion. For $350, you can barely get a nice solid state amplifier. I don't even know what the cheapest tube amp would cost but I know that Peavey's tube amps seem to be the cheapest. Like I said, the jury is still out on how this amp will perform, hold up, etc. but from what I heard it really seemed like a nice piece of gear.