Peavey Valveking 212

[eddiechilton]

I recently recieved my 'King last Friday. I can recommend this amp 100% to anyone who wants that awesome tube sound that can't afford a Marshall plexi or a triple rect. I played ALOT of $700-1000 amps in my search for a new investment, and none of them came close. The only amp that did was another peavey, the 6505. It was a tiny bit different (a little better), but the extra $600 or so was not justified.

The clean channel on this amp is perfect. The knobs respond perfectly and the range of tones you can get is freaking crazy. Sounds kind of Fender Bassman-ish if you want it, or the thick SRV stuff, too. Nice pan reverb that complements the sound very well, too. I like it better than tube marshalls' clean sound, seriously.

I heard a lot of discussion on whether or not there was enough gain on the lead channel. If there is not enough gain for your band, I wouldn't like to hear it, because this amp fucking roars that metal sound if you want it to. I can't imagine needing more gain; this thing is a monster. The resonance and presense knobs help out A LOT with your hi-gain sound. You'll have what you think is this perfect thick metal rythm sound, then tweak those knobs and get transported somewhere else, way up in the realms of musical heaven.

I really can't recommend this amp enough. I got it locally with a footswitch for 600; you can't do better than that on the internet. If you want a 100w tube amp but don't have enough money for one of the famous ones, you won't be sad that you bought this. Awesome

[Tony Ramone]

I gotta agree with you - I bought one last year and it kicks ass! Might not go up against the monsters in our practice room - the other guys (the rich ones) have a 5150 and a XXX - but it's just perfect for me. One question though, since this is the first amp I've owned that has presence and resonance knobs: what exactly are they used for? I usually just leave them centered, but if I had a better idea how to tweak them, maybe I would.

[eddiechilton]

I had the same question when I got it and the answer will probably help you tweak your stage sound A LOT.

What they do is control the speaker dampening for lows and highs. Resonance affects how much the amp lets the speaker rumble/vibrate when lower notes are played through it. At a lower volume, like up to 3-4ish, I keep this high, because it gives a better, thicker bass sound. If you find yourself playing much louder, you might want to turn it down, because the higher the volume and the higher the resonance, the more muddy your bottom end will turn. The presence does the same thing, essentially, but it dampens the speakers' resistance to the high notes. For me, this doesn't actually affect the tone/playability of the amp much. I keep it around the middle, which is equally good for both solos and rhythm. I think if you are doing more shredding, a higher pres. is better, and the opposite if it's mostly chunky power chords and stuff.

I'd be curious to know your thoughts on the a and a/b texture switch. Do you make use of it? I can't justify doing anything other than just cranking it all the way to A/B.

By the way, I checked out your band and ya'll are pretty cool. I'm also Irish =) I hate spamming on message forums, so hopefully this won't violate that and make me a hypocrite, but you should check out my punk band <a href="myspace.com/thechiltonsarehorrible">The Chiltons.</a>

[Tony Ramone]

Thanks for that, and for the compliments Can't check out your tunes on this computer (no speakers at work), but will give ye a listen when I get home. Page looks good - I have high hopes.

I haven't made any use either of the texture switch - I set it to class A once and it sounded alright, but I didn't put any serious time into sweeping from one to the other and listening for the difference. I generally just leave it on full power now.