Re: Peavey ValveKing vs. Line 6 Spider
As far as tube tone goes, the Valveking will smoke the Spider. The Valveking desperately needs to be retubed with JJ's to sound good. The speakers are ok though. I tried replacing them with Celestions and did not hear enough difference to leave them in. The clean channel is not Fender Clean if you need that. I run the Gain boost switch on all the time on the gain channel, even when I am using very little distortion. It just seems to open the channel up more having it on. I really don't see anything wrong with the valveking, and for the price its a great amp. If you play it before the tube change, and spend no time tweaking the controls, especially the ones on the back (cabinet depth and class a/ab) then yes, it may not sound great. But then, neither will a Mesa Stiletto Ace which costs four times as much.
If I were going with a modeler for the effects, I would get a Vox Valvetronix 50 or 100 watt. If you had a little more cash, stepping up to the Vox Ad60vtx is an even better choice, being more flexible and more authentic sounding. Just depends on what you need....