peavey valveking ii's

ICBM

spacecadet said:

Loads of stuff. All the switching (channel, boost, verb AND loop), USB audio out, direct out, power scaling and my favourite bit is the built in load box. Haven't had the opportunity to gig it yet but when I do, I will just take this, switch on the load and go direct.

Wow... that's really very interesting! The ability to go direct from just the head but still with an actual valve amp is very useful.

I'm assuming that being Peavey and made in China it will be well-built and cheap too.

I liked the sound of that series of old Trace amps, but they did suffer from build quality problems as I'm sure you were aware. A shame, because they had some really good stuff - I even liked the sound of the Tramp solid-state series, they were one of the better attempts at making a valve-like solid-state amp... when they didn't blow up.

spacecadet

Seems well made. Very solid for a little thing. There is a "tube status indicator" on the front which is helpful. Tells you when they are on the way out as well as when something is wrong. Accutronics digital reverb as well which sounds very nice. Doesn't get in the way of the sound like some can. I only ever had one Speed Twin go down which was an early one. They replaced it with a new one and it went round the world with no issues at all. Paul who is the designer is a genius. Apparently he had a fairly heavy involvement with the Tiny Terror as well.

ICBM

I doubt the problems with the Speed Twin-era Trace stuff were down to Paul, if he was mostly involved in the circuit design rather than the production engineering - they had more of the hallmarks of bean-counting in manufacturing rather than poor electrical design. I've got one of the V-type bass combos here at the moment, which had similar issues - it sounds great, but the construction is just way too flimsy and underspec'ed for the job really. A shame - the V8 is still one of my favorite valve bass amps for tone, but I've never seen one without serious issues.

Good to hear he was involved with the TT - I'm not a fan of the sound personally, but they're well-designed and reliable. It still puzzles me why it seems to be so hard for many companies to get it right - Peavey have always made reliable gear that isn't too expensive, so it's proof that it can be done.

Dave_Mc

ICBM said:

There's no doubt whatever that it looks much better than the old versions!

Very neat.

Agreed, but I'm not sure about the white knobs on the light grey panel.

Maxi

ICBM said:

I doubt the problems with the Speed Twin-era Trace stuff were down to Paul, if he was mostly involved in the circuit design rather than the production engineering - they had more of the hallmarks of bean-counting in manufacturing rather than poor electrical design. I've got one of the V-type bass combos here at the moment, which had similar issues - it sounds great, but the construction is just way too flimsy and underspec'ed for the job really. A shame - the V8 is still one of my favorite valve bass amps for tone, but I've never seen one without serious issues.

The production run was too small , they rushed to get it out on the market , I think they were hoping it would get the company out of trouble . The V8 is a truly great bass rig . Ive got one ! I had a couple of minor things done when it was new but its been good ever since . Admittedly the wiring looks like a rats nest , I might try to tidy that up a bit when I get around to it .

Maxi

ICBM said:

Yes, the boosted mode on the dirty channel engages solid-state diode clipping - not solid-state gain, that's still all-valve.

That's not what I meant though, it's that it has a bit of a 'flat', undynamic sound to it which you more often get with solid-state amps. There are other valve amps like this too - they still sound "like valve amps", but not as much as they should. It doesn't mean it's a bad amp, I just don't think it sounds particularly "valvey" (ironic given the name!).

The clean sound isn't even as "valvey" as my old all-solid-state Yamaha B100 combo really… (Which does sound something like a solid-state Fender Twin.)

I'll have check the schem again . I might be confusing volume boost switch with gain switch as it has both right next to each other .

No the clean channel is very clean I agree and pretty loud before it starts to colour the sound .Some people view this as a strength but others would prefer a clean channel to be warmer at lower volumes I think thats the reason for the texture control on the back so that you can drive it as Class A vs Class A/B . I never really got ito that side of it , just kept the cleans clean .

ICBM

I like loud and very clean, I just like it with dynamics and a more open tone - it's a cliché I know, but like a Fender Twin! Or even like an old Marshall running clean - both have more depth and 'feel'. Or even a Mesa Rectifier clean channel.

The Class A/Class AB thing is nonsense too, which doesn't impress me - it has nothing to do with Class A, it's a power amp symmetry control. Turning down the drive to one side of a Class AB power amp does not make it Class A… at all. Just marketing bullshit unfortunately - I hoped for better from Peavey since they don't normally seem to do that too much.

(Getting a bit off track here, but do you gig your V8? Most of the problems I've seen with them are probably the result of the too-flimsy construction - the chassis flexes under the weight of the transformers resulting in board cracking and arcing, the LT regulator heatsink coming adrift and frying stuff, etc. I don't think I've worked on one without burned traces around the PT connections to the main board either.)

close2u

I've got a Valveking 50 watt combo and it's the only 'big' valve amp I've had so can't compare it to others.

It does what I need.

At the moment I run it clean, no reverb, any effects coming from my Zoom G3X direct in.

I haven't started GASing for other amps yet at all.

Maxi

ICBM said:

I like loud and very clean, I just like it with dynamics and a more open tone - it's a cliché I know, but like a Fender Twin! Or even like an old Marshall running clean - both have more depth and 'feel'. Or even a Mesa Rectifier clean channel.

The Class A/Class AB thing is nonsense too, which doesn't impress me - it has nothing to do with Class A, it's a power amp symmetry control. Turning down the drive to one side of a Class AB power amp does not make it Class A… at all. Just marketing bullshit unfortunately - I hoped for better from Peavey since they don't normally seem to do that too much.

(Getting a bit off track here, but do you gig your V8? Most of the problems I've seen with them are probably the result of the too-flimsy construction - the chassis flexes under the weight of the transformers resulting in board cracking and arcing, the LT regulator heatsink coming adrift and frying stuff, etc. I don't think I've worked on one without burned traces around the PT connections to the main board either.)

OK... terminology always gets our goat especially when its misused in marketing ,  turning down half the power stage means you can drive the other half at reduced volume over all thats all I was getting at really .

Its a job for me to get to the bottom of how your defining things "open tone ,depth, feel ,Valvey" etc, and whether "sounding solid state" refers more to voicing or the harmonic distortion . I always refer to Valvey as the way something drives (subtle to obvious) and voicing is how it sits by default whether clean or saturated so to me Valvey often gets misused  

This topic is now overlapping with the SS valve thread .

As far as I can tell the clean channel sounds as good as the user ratings have always been , its the one thing that its always been praised upon .

Re the V8 I dont tour any more but took it out across Europe for 6 weeks so it was in and out of a sleeper coach every day during that time but it was properly flight cased and carefully handled . I think its the sheer weight of the thing it doesnt beg to be thrown around like a cheep SS bass head . I think most people treat valve amps with a little more care when putting them down but If your saying the board is flimsy then maybe your right . 

Ive just had a look at mine and the transformers seem very well secured to a thick metal chassis so it must be more to do with all those valves and Caps etc There are a lot of things on the board to add weight .

ICBM

Maxi said:

Its a job for me to get to the bottom of how your defining things "open tone ,depth, feel ,Valvey" etc, and whether "sounding solid state" refers more to voicing or the harmonic distortion .

Neither. It's the dynamics I mean - a good valve amp has a softness and 'bounce' to it when you play; most solid-state amps feel 'stiffer' and 'flatter'. To me, the Valve King (Mk1, I haven't heard the new ones yet) sounds stiff and flat, and hence more 'solid-state like' than a good valve amp should - it's nothing to do with the distortion, it's noticeable on both channels. It's not the only one - the Fender red-knob 'The Twin' is another one which sounds more like a very good solid-state amp than a valve Twin, to me.

Equally oddly, that old Yamaha amp really does have more of a 'bounce' to it and could probably pass for a valve amp as long as it's not distorting or being used with a solid-state overdrive pedal, which seems to show them up very easily.

Maxi

Yes I suppose its a rather odd situation when some Valve amps sound like SS and some SS amps sound more Valvey than others .

The boundaries between them can overlap in certain areas I expect . By stiff / flat for SS and soft bouncy for valve I suppose your still talking about something a bit abstract im just trying to put that together , I still think your comparing against Harmonic / soft compression properties of a valve stage or even "sag" valve  Rectification methods .  

Dont forget that the VK's were biased quite cold . I say cold but now I come to think of it im not sure what that means if the power valves have more clean head room . 

ddlooping

ICBM said:

His one ratted as well, it was the power valves.

And now you've ratted on them.

ICBM

No, I'm not talking about compression - it's obvious on clean sounds at low volume. In technical terms it's probably at least partly power amp damping factor, which is a lot higher on most solid-state output stages than most valve ones. This doesn't explain why some solid-state amps can sound more 'valvey' than some valve ones though.

I suspect you actually don't hear what I do in the difference - no disrespect intended! - since you're trying to describe what I hear in different ways than how I hear it... it's not voicing, distortion, compression or sag, all of which I understand and hear, but which this is not. It's actually interesting how differently we can hear things and it may explain part why I dislike some popular valve amps and like many solid-state ones which other people don't...

For what it's worth Mesa Rectifiers are notoriously biased cold too, and they very much do have that 'bounce' - more than any other high-gain amp I've ever played, and at volumes where the rectifier sag can't possibly be a part of it either.