Re: Peavey valveking 112
Any one modded this peice of crap for tubes/speaker?
I find myself going back to my bandit 112 w/ shefield smoother and just plain sounds better to me. Any help very appricieated!!!
I need to try something else before I trade it for a marshall s/s
You are a lot younger than me, obviously have been playing decades less time than I, with most probably a lot less exposure to real vintage tube amps than I've had. But, appreciate what you have. The grass is NOT always truly greener on the other side of the fence. My very first amp was a 25-watt 1956 St. George tube amp. Over the years, I've played dozens of excellent Fender tube amps, including blackface Deluxe Reverb, Bandmaster, Vibrolux Reverb, Dual Showman with JBL speakers, Twin Reverb, you-name-it.
Precious few of the solid state amps I've ever played, impressed me as being any better than a steaming pile of dog****, and that includes the Marshall solid-state. A total lump of crap!
I play professionally, and have a surf-music band with two other very pro-class players. We all have had extensive gigging and recording experience, and we all hold our tone as one of our top priorities. The VK112 is one of my favorite amps of all time. Not as good as my old '65 Deluxe Reverb, but, the Deluxe was no good at an outdoor venue unless it was miked and played through a powerful PA system. The VK112 has enough volume to cut through the mix, and handle a lot of gigs that lesser amps couldn't deal with. With an extension speaker, it really screams. The reverb on this amp is adequate for some playing, but not for all-out surf music. The Boss FRV-1 gives me all the splash I need for those wet glssandoes and vibrato-picking ala Misirlou. For under $200 used, this is one of the best amp buys of my entire life!
I am fussy about my sound - I used to take my Showman and Twin Reverb to Myles Rose at Groove Tubes, to retube and re-bias them for optimal tone. (FYI, Myles is the guy that Dick Dale's amp tech used to call for advice on how to tune Dale's amps to get specific tones out of them.) The VK112 features automatic rebias, which saves me a ****load of time and money whenever replacing tubes. The JJ tubes in the power and pre-amp sections are excellent, and were very highly spoken of by Myles at Groove Tubes. The speaker is better quality with more pump than the standard Utah and Jensen speakers that used to be standard equipment in Fender amps back in the day. In fact, I believe the only way to really significantly upgrade the existing VK speaker would be with either a JBL or EV speaker. That would be an upgrade in virtually ANY stock combo amp.
There's a very good reason why the average rating given the VK112 at Harmony Central, and Ultimate Guitar, is between 4.5 and 5 stars. The amp really is that good. I've had enough experience playing the best tube amps Fender ever produced, to appreciate the incredible value Peavey has built into the VK series.
