Peavey Valveking Head

This is a 2009 model. The features have been covered adequately below so I'll only mention them when I need to.

I play something I'm calling "Adult Neo-Contemporary". I wanted to make a new kind of music for we middle-aged types (besides oldies) that's fresh and interesting to listen to. I grew up on progrock but have kind of outgrown it. Nonetheless, my style incorporates progressive influences such as light fusion, electronica and classical and combine them with generally soft rock with an acoustic singer-songwriter core. However, my music ranges widely in texture, often alternating between soft passages and powerful ones (got the idea from Beethoven), so I do need a versatile amp. I tried out the little ValveKing 112 combo and learned a lot about the design, then decided to go for the head. The ValveKing does have certain limitations but you can get around them with minimal effort and get excellent results. I find the design to be both simple and flexible.

My electric style requires a pristine clean tone with various modulation FX for which I use the same flat-picking style I use on acoustic - a la Roger McGuinn or Alex Lifeson. I often use that soft-breakup Rush rhythm sound also. For my soloing I typically use (here come the cliches) a "singing", sustaining tone not unlike Larry Carlton or Carlos Santana. I'm no chop monster but I'm no slouch, either. When most players say they're "melodic guitarists", they mean they have fewer chops than a kosher butcher shop, but I've got a good ear for melody and my prog background lets me toss a fast line in there occasionally to spice things up. I like guitarists with a dark, moody, spooky tone like Trower, Blackmore and Gilmour. All "feel" players. I don't consider myself a "shedder".

I've used Peavey gear forever, as a guitarist and a sound man. "Bang for the buck" and excellent customer service pretty much sums them up. The only issue I've ever had with Peavey amps is that they can't seem to resist being gimmicky. Funny-shaped bass amps, diamond plate with naked women, light-up logos... It's like they don't realize their equipment is pro quality and have to make up for it. Personally, I'd like to see different color options and grill cloth without paying a "custom shop" price. This time, it's a texture control that simulates Class-A operation (sort of) when a half-power switch would have been more useful, but it is good for something...

My main guitars are a '97 Fender Deluxe Strat Plus with a custom set of Lace Sensors and a Godin xtSA with stock pups that I plan to replace with Bill Lawrences (the *real* Bill and Becky ones).

I'm using the ValveKing head with a THD 2x12 cabinet. I'm not a stack kind of guy; I need a sound that's very balanced and focused. Out of the box, the ValveKing actually had too much gain for me and a tone that lacked character and complexity. Nooooo problem. I expected it to sound that way with the stock tubes. For the kind of original music I play, it's essential that I have a "signature tone" so sounding like everyone else wasn't an option. I had some preconceptions that I learned were impractical from the 112 combo. I had contacted Peavey regarding the power tubes I wanted to use. I was going to go with KT66's because they have lots of headroom and brightness like a 6L6 but lack the "gravelly" mids. They're warmer, rounder and have better noise and power-handling specs. They also have HUGE glass that won't fit in the ValveKing. Time for plan "B". I thought the fixed bias might be a problem until I perused the reviews at thetubestore.com. The ValveKing is a cold amp but there *are* 6L6GC's that actually sound better cold, such as the TAD 6L6WGC-STR (my choice) and the Tung-Sol 6L6GC-STR (better for hard rock or metal). Of course, I also replaced the preamp tubes. I honestly had no idea what a "phase inverter" was so I did some homework, then contacted the Tube Store. They were very helpful and responded the next day. I like the idea of cutting down the front-end gain to get a little extra articulation. That's what the 12AT7 at the front end of an old HiWatt does but I didn't want *that* much cut, so I opted for a JAN-Phillips 5751 for V1 (I got a matched pair because I also intended to use one in my tube overdrive box, which is how I get my high-gain tone). The JAN-Phillips has a lot of complexity so it was good for tone, too. I put a Tung-Sol 12AX7 in the V2 spot and a Sovtek 5751 as the PI because the elements are well balanced and they provide a warmer tone than a 12AT7. Apparently, cutting the gain at the *back* end lets you push the preamp harder, and since I've got a lot of digital FX in the effects loop, I need to get ALL my distortion from a combination of the preamp and a stomp box. The power tubes have to remain clean. Yeah, I know. What kind of self-respecting rock guitarist wouldn't overdrive his power tubes? One with a heavy electronic influence in his music.

I set my clean channel for a bright sound and use all the headroom so it naturally compresses a little (The 5751 greatly improves that), and I set up the lead channel to give me a nice, smooth mid-gain overdrive. I have a Nady TD-1 tube distortion box driving the front end when I need high-gain. I have it set up with the tone controls set as transparent as possible, just enough drive for some edge that fades to clean, and a modest 3-4dB level boost. It behaves as part of the amp, adding an extra stage of gain for my high-gain tone. The TD-1 has several useful tone-shaping controls to give me plenty of variations. It's very similar to a Tone Bone. I use the "Texture" knob in lieu of a half-power switch to play at low volume. Since this increases the distortion, I turn the pre-gain down to compensate.

Set up this way, I wouldn't exactly call the distortion "brutal". I'd use different tubes if I played metal. But the tube swaps gave me excellent results and I base my rating on that.

Peavey's sound gear is rock solid and I still have the Pacer 112 practice amp my grandparents gave me as a H.S. graduation present in the 70's. I haven't had the ValveKing long but I expect it to outlive me.

You call their Meridian, Miss. factory and a nice lady with a southern accent answers the phone. You tell her what you want and she puts you straight through to the factory and if you need parts they're in the mail tute suite. Email them and you get a response in a couple days. I did go overboard with the questions on one occasion and didn't get a response. I can't blame them for not wanting to be my pen pal. But overall, you won't get better customer support anywhere.

I've been playing about 35 years, mostly at home but I have played some live, paying gigs.

If it were lost or stolen I'd buy another one. I've read some of these reviews. I'm a peaceful man. If I caught the thief I wouldn't kill him - just break a few bones to make a point.

I don't hate anything about this amp. What I love is the price and, after a bit of tweaking, the sound. I see no reason to pay thousands of bucks for a boutique amp. To my ears, my sound's better than Santana's with his Dumble. Go to some boutique amp sites and listen to their sound bites, then go to Peavey's. No question. The ValveKing sounds better.

Instead, I'm considering getting a second one so I can have a stereo rig.

I bought it used, don't know what year it is. It has 2 channels, clean and overdrive with volume and gain boost on the overdrive channel. It also has an a to ab power knob. I use it with live with my band and it delivers what I want. Its plenty powerful, I never turn it past 2 or 3 and but it is usually mic'ed.

I play with an Ibanez SZ520 with a duncan distortion in the back and the stock pick-up in the neck position. My band plays a sort of an alternative rock meets metal kind of music and it works. For rythym and lead through-out the song I use the bridge pick-up and the gain turned to about 2:30 and its plenty of distortion for me. Its chunky and tight, not overdistorted and muddy. For solos I kick in the gain boost and switch to the front pick up and its very liquidy and smooth. I changed out the stock ruby tubes for JJs and am very impressed. The clean channel is okay. Its nothing great but if your like me you want use it much anyway. I can crank my guitar volume and get a nice grind for bluesy kinda stuff with it...I pretty much just use it for goofing around between songs.

I use it with out a back-up and have never had a problem with it. Our stage show gets pretty crazy with water bottles spraying and lots of kicking and jumping around. It gets wet every show and never quits. Its gotten knocked off the cab once and the power cord came out. I plugged it back in and turned it on and it was fine. I've heard good things about Peavey and from my experience with this amp those things are true.

Never called 'em...

I've been playing for about ten years and this is my first tube amp. If it were stolen I'd buy it again. I tried out a few differnent amps before buying it and it blew everything else out in the price range. I guess thats about it...go check out my band if you want www.myspace.com/facetherock

I like the class A option

When i purchased this amp one years ago it sounded like a broken radio with all of my guitars and cabs. I immediately trashed both the crappy jj 12AX7 and the ruby 6L6GC. After 6 months of trials with different preamp and power tubes i found the configuration that is good for me. One JAN GE 5751 in V1, one RCA 12AT7 in V2, one Mullard/Amperex with balanced triodes in the driver position and a strong matched quad of SED Winged C 6L6GC. I plug the head to a 2x12 lopoline cab loaded with an Eminence Texas Heat and a celestion Vintage 30..a lexicon reverb, a line echo pro and a KLEINULATOR are plugged to the fx loop. My main axe is a 72 Gibson les paul and when i plug it to the dirty channel of VK the sound is AMAZING..great note separation, fast note tracking, very fat,clean,3D and explosive EVH brown sound..also very quiet. The kleinulator ( an active effect loop buffer i purchased from NIK of Ceriatone Amps) with the bright switch II engaged has a fundamental part on bringing back to life the Valveking head

Fire under one crappy stock ruby 6l6 tube after few hours of use..now everything is working fine from about 1 year.

Great support from peavey here in Italy

Actually i love this amp, very versatile but with his own personality. I wish it had a bias pot and i cannot understand why companies like peavey and mesa/boogie build their amps with fixed bias..this is a very stupid habit! Biasing an amp with a bias probe like compu-bias or weber bias-rite and make it to sound good is a thing that everyone can do without any problem...be sure to touch ONLY the bias-pot with a plastic coated screwdriver..don't touch anything else inside the chassis with bare hands if you dont want to die..go with slight movements of the trimpot and look at watt dissipation changes(compu-bias)if you dont want to damage your amp..dont go over 70% of watt dissipation..Good luck!

Dirty, Clean, 3-bant each, 4 6L6GC 100W, texture A/AB knob, Front FX Loop, Presence & Resonance, Footswitchable, Gain boost, Volume Boost, Bright switch.

If you play your Guitar, You dont need more.
(Cause you know... Some people play the Amp more than they play the Guitar) ;)

Very nicelly designed amp.

The clean stays clean till about 7 (1.5 o'clock) then the the PI & Power tubes start to clip. Not mentioning the A/AB texture control which can clip the PI even earlier (Nice AC/DC clipping).
All in all the clean is very nice sounding and takes pedals very good.
Crunches nicelly with High Volumes.
I'm using the amp at Stage/Rehearsal volumes all the time, so I know my Poweramp clipping intimately.


The Distortion channel is the reason I've bought the amp.
It is very versatile for my needs, The normal clipping is very Fat and Tubey. The EQ section is verry well calibrated (sounds good with everything at 5), means I can get nice distorted sound with minor tweaking. The Gain Boost is useful for metal riffing, It cuts some of the bass and adds gain before the clipping making palm mutes tighter with more gain.

The real magic happens in high volumes with some Power/PI compression clipping. This dynamic, touch sensitive, spongy distortion with some preamp gain is Heaven. I tell you.
Put some mids into the eq and play with pretty high volume, Its already been told million times: Your Amp & Ears will thank you for that.

Notes:
------
*Looking at the schematics, the Valveking is very identical to the Triple X in the clean & gain stages, But the XXX is with one more tube (gain stage) and one more channel (even the boost is similar).
The Clean channel design is "Stolen" from a Fender :) (As with Mesa).
The Distortion Channel is almost a direct copy of the Triple X.

*I use a 2x12 Framus with Celestion Vintage 30's (Speaker make HUGE difference).

*If it sounds like crap/noisy from the store... Its almost 100% bad tube.

Ahmm...
From the looks of it, it is: BETTER THAN MARSHALL !!!!!
You know why???

The new JVM and the TSL/DSL series Marshalls has: "Plastic Corners", "Plastic Pots", "Plastic Pot Shafts", "Plastic Jacks", "Plastic EVERYTHING".

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l400/Sgalaga1/IMG_1803.jpg
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t312/tobiahtayo/jvm4.jpg
Also Google Marshall TSL and look at some Plastic toys.

Marshall selling a 500$ amp for a 1800$.
"Made in Engles" ?????.
"Made in Chingland" is more like it.

Its all about Money and "Name".

What it means for me?
It means I've got a solid reliable amp.
With "at least" Metal corners & metal speaker jacks.

Read Above...

Very very nice amp for the money (Better than Marshall Quality) ;)

God bless knowledge.

Im assuming its a 2007/2008 model. 100 watt Valveking head from Peavey.Its a surprisingly versatile head, you really need to use your volume control on all channels to see what this amp can do, its worth taking a bit of time playing round with it before using it at a gig. I did, and im 'very' happy i took that time! Pretty basic 2 channel amp with volume gain boost feature (good for solos) Effects loop on front, yes it could be better on the back but its the sound that really counts, not the look. I use this head regularly for rehearsals and gigs and it really sings. Get it turned up to release all the tone, 100 watts gives more than enough for a serious gig, never fell short yet!

My main guitars are a 2004 Gibson Les Paul Standard, an Ibanez JS1000 and a Hohner Arbor Series Les Paul with a Seymour Duncan Distortion in the bridge and a Bill lawrence (L500 i think) in the neck. My band play everything from QOTSA, SOAD, Ozzy, BLS, Maiden and it handles 'everything' With the gain on about 7 when playing live, its very quiet. My other heads a Marshall Mode 4 and this makes some noise compared to the VK100. The VK will go from crystal cleans (which would benefit from a bit of effect), through blues crunch, to full on kick in the balls distortion. All channels are clear at gig volume (and yes i play loud!)The distortion is big yet doesn't lose any singularity when shredding quick passages. All notes are individual and really cut through the mix well. Played a gig last week, Bass and Drums miked up, sound engineer didnt put a thing on the Valveking. It cuts through so well. My only criticism has to be the spring reverb. It does sound quite bad. It actually colours the original sound so does affect the tone somewhat. If you have it turned off, no problem, but just be aware of this!

I always carry a spare head to a gig regardless, but have full confidence in the Valveking. Built solidly, built to last, very reliable.
Ive been playing regular with this head for approx 3-4 months and done every show/rehearsal without a scratch.

Never had to deal with the company for support as yet so cant really comment as such. 2-way footswitch was out of stock when i bought the head, and it did prove quite difficult to find one. Got there eventually but it did take 3-4 weeks for one to arrive. Maybe get a couple, at 2??20-??30 a pop, i reckon they're well worth it.
Regarding the footswitch, the body is made from plastic and does look a bit frail. Its quite light too so does make you think, but does take a bit of stomping so not too bad. Would still prefer a big chunk of metal under my boot though

Been playing approx 16 years and collected a 'lot' of gear. Main guitars, Gibson Les Paul, Ibanez JS1000, Hohner Arbor Series, Parker P40, Ritchie Sambore Fender Strat, Jackson Professional, and others, Peavey Valveking Head, Marshall Mode Four, Marshall 1960BV Cab, Marshall AVT100 combo, Marshall MG30 dfx, Bass, Amp, Home studio and so on and so on!!!!!
I would replace this head if it were lost or stolen, and considering i paid ??250 for it 'brand new' it was a steal! Just think, a genuine all valve head for ??250, dont think you'll find something that cheap!
Think Peavey could possibly clean up the front cosmetically, put effects loop on back etc, but no big deal. My main and only gripe would be the reverb. Like i say, it does actually colour the tone and almost compresses it, so get this in your mind before buying

great features , i foumd my sound and keep it there

most awsome . ya gotta apprciate this amp while playing live . sweet , powerful and full and clear i mostly use the clean side and run pedals for accent

nice thing about this and peavey very dependable,im giging it with a boogie 5-50 in tandem..........

this amp is tops for what i do , i like it better than the boogie,its
warmer.........hey , to hear it in action go to www.youtube .com and
go to search and type in "catfish and the trollers ' CLICK ON WHO LIKES IRON BUTTERFLY , AND HEAR IT LIVE.

I suppose it's a 2008 model for I bought it recently.
I presume the features this amp has are known to most readers right now, but I don't read much about the the two "presence" and "resonance"-knobs. For me those are the most important ones, for they can really change the character of the sound..!!
And yes, effect-loop on the front.., bad idea! And true, the reverb is not that good!
But it does the job for me, because I wanted a two-channel all-tube head that I can use for blues/rock without any extra's but a guitar (maybe two..), a cab and a lead. I use it wih a 2x12" Framus cab with Celestion Vintage 30 speakers. A great combination!!!

The amp sounds fine and that's why I bought it. Clean is ok for me, but the crunch/leadchannel is the winning part. It really goes from a bluesy tone to more than enough gain (surely for me) and also on a low volume.
It's very versatile and I can change easily from Les Paul to Strat by using the two inputs (I use the low gain for the LP and the high gain for Strat, but not together...!!!) and the presence/resonance knobs!
So far I haven't done much with the eq. No real reason for it.
I also have the footswitch and couldn't do without it.

Peavey for me is equal to reliability. I once owned a Deltablues combo (nice, but not versatile enough for me and one 15" speaker... mmmm) but never had a technical problem with it.
The VK100 "feels" good, but I made a professional flightcase for it, cause it's all-tube and therefor more fragile than solidstate amps. But I don't have it that long, so "no opinion"....

I haven't experienced it myself, but I read good things about this.

I'm a professional guitarplayer from the Netherlands for more than 25 years and own a lot of guitars (among them a Gibson LP Standard '78, a '62 Strat and a '72 Tele) and some guitar-amps, stompboxes and 19" FX-units.
Still very happy with all those, but as I wrote, I also want to play with just an amp and a guitar.
I compared the amp in the shop with a Bugera 333XL 3 channel head (with much more features and just slightly more expensive) but the Peavey convinced me much more. Also tried some amps that are 2 to 3 times more expensive, but I wasn't tempted to pay that more money for (maybe) a little improvement. The VK100 is really very good!
If I lost it now I would get me another one. If I lost it in a few years I would first check out what's on the market then, but the Peavey so far is the first choice. And one thing about the looks of the amp: someone wrote that if you remove the "wings" around the Peavey-logo and just put the logo back on, it's much better looking. Well..., that's true!!!!

My Valveking head was made in 2008, and it a 100W all tube head... it uses 4x 6L6GC power tubes and 3x 12AX7 preamp tubes, has 2 channels and separate, passive EQ on each. it also has a volume and gain boost feature on the distorted channel, which is footswitchable... it has a spring reverb which is OK but not something you'd probably want to use on a recording.

the only downside is the fact the boost is one or the other or both you cant switch the gain boost and the volume boost separately, which is a shame because for death metal, you really want the gain boost on all the time but then you might want the volume boost for a solo to lift your guitar over the other guitarist, but you cant footswitch just the volume boost if you have the gain boost on.

I've had it for a while now and I've tried it with a number of different guitars... starting off with my Gibson Les Paul standard plus. this amp loves my Les Paul, with the distortion quite high I can get a decent rock tone quite akin to the intro to "epic" by faith no more. backing off the gain a bit and switching to the neck pickup and the amp turns quite bluesy and smooth, warm lead tones are abundant. I've also tried it with a Jackson RR3 with an active Seymour Duncan Blackout pickup in the neck and the amp at first didn't seem to like the extra output from the active electronics but after I plugged it into input 2 (low gain) it perked up quite nicely... many of the same tones as from my Les Paul were available but with a noticeable extra bite (no doubt from the active electronics)

As with most amps turning on the gain boost and turning the volume up results in feedback if you stand too near, but just generally the amp isn't as noisy, it doesn't have that constant hiss that a lot of amps tend to have at high gain settings.

the range of sounds this amp can do is pretty wide, from clean to crunchy to distorted to smooth leads... as with all tube amps if you play hard on the clean channel it will start to break up, but even this is quite pleasing to the ear and is not harsh.

the only thing this amp wont do is a High Gain sound at low volumes (especially without the gain boost.) however once you turn it up a bit the extra volume does wonders for the gain... I'd be quite happy using this for my metal band without a distortion pedal.

Cant really comment on this just yet, although this does seem to be built like a tank... metal grills on the front and back and it has a fair weight to it... 41.0 lbs

I don't think I'd have any worries about using this without a backup although I have a back up in the form of a crate power block I use as a power amp for a line6 podxt... but if I left that at home I don't think I'd worry about my peavey.

dealt with them once before, I was after a peavey predator 7 string guitar years ago, about 6months after they stopped making the guitar and I e-mailed them and asked if it was possible to get one and they e-mailed back the same day with details of the 3 they had left in their warehouse and a list of all the peavey dealers in Birmingham (England) where I could order one, which I did and when it arrived at the shop it had just been restrung (by peavey) and it was set-up perfectly and I cant fault them at all.

I've been playing for about 11 years now, I've owned a small but decent number of amps so far, I've had a 100W Marshall Advanced Valvestate Head, a Crate Power block which I only really use as a power amp for a Boss GT-8 because the Power block on its own sounds awful but as a power amp its great, just makes my GT-8 louder without adding any of its own sound...a H&K Warp7 amp, which I could never get a great sound from... was always just "ok" and a squire 15w practice amp.

If it was lost or stolen I'd go get another one... I'm quite amazed that its as cheap as it is... it has amazed a number of friends that an all tube amp that sounds this good was under ??300. just wish it came with the footswitch but then again I suppose ??25 isn't all that much extra for a footswitch that adds so much.

the only thing I'd add to this amp is the ability to leave the gain boost on and still have the volume boost footswitchable.

overall I'm giving this amp an 8 because its great but the boost issue is a downside that I'm sure peavey could have got right while designing the amp.

Two channels, bright switch on clean, boost volume and gain on lead, resonance and presence knobs. I don't need more.

The sound is almost perfect for me. I have two guitars - Dean Vendetta 4.0 with Seymour Duncans SH6 in both positions and T.Burton ST7 (DON'T YOU EVER BUY ANYTHING WITH T.BURTON'S LOGO). When I play on Dean I set gain to 4 and use boost gain and volume to get very brutal yet selective sound. Can't say much about clean because on this guitar it almost doesn't exist, but in fact I don't use it very much. I won't say anything about using it with Burton because it's the ********* guitar I've ever heard. I've got it because I needed cheap 7-string for my other band. As soon as I get some cash I'll buy Schecter Hellraiser C-7 or Ibanez XPT707FX and then I'll see how it talks with a real 7-string guitar.

Dependable thing. It has never broken down so far.

I never have never had to deal with the company.

I've been playing for five years. I own a little Marshall MG15R and Metal Zone which I haven't used since I bought Valveking. I don't know what would I do if it were stolen. If I had more money I would probably buy something better. Maybe Engl, maybe something else, I don't know. The only thing which I don't like in this amp is the delay when I change channels. If you want to have really good sound, you don't want to use any dist/overdrive pedals and you want to save lots of money, go ahead and buy Valveking Head. You won't regret it.

First of all yeah the A/B switch is in the back and the FX Loop Jacks are in the Front but set that aside this amp is great. It has 2 channels consisting of clean and lead. The $50 dollar footswitch aint worth if but if you use both channels insted of stomp boxes its great. For the guys that say that there is a delay in the footswitch, that is ********. I switch back and forth and have never had a problem with it. The EQ on the both channels do the job but I added my MXR-109 in my FX loop to give it boost and tone that I want. The reverb is the only bad feature of this amp. They could have done better with that.

I play southern metal and hardrock and it gets the job done. I use a dean 79 ML FR with a Bill Lawrence at the bridge. There is a little buzz why using input one with a high output pickup but using the second input will quiet the buzz. It has great warm clean tone and a hard but clear dist. lead channel. The EQ on the both channels do the job but I added my MXR-109 in my FX loop to give it boost and tone that I want. The clean channel even at high volumes stay as clean as glass and the lead channel is pretty presistant at the high range also. I would say that this amp could put up against Dimes old Randalls. The distortion is very similar with the chunky, thick sound that is put out.

It is too soon to know.

I would have to say that the guys at Peavey are bone heads due to lack of information.

I have been using a CF-7, Metal Muff, Boss NS, Crybaby wah,MXR-109 EQ, and a Soul preacher compression sustainer. Been playing for 14 years. If it was stolen I would find the ones that took it and sacrafice them to satan. Love everything about this amp besides the reverb. It gives the 6506 a run for the money. I wish the fx loop was in the back so my cords would be all a mess.