scored a valveking 1x12 today!!!

walked into one of the local peavey dealers today asking if they were gonna have one in sometime soon, turns out one had just arrived and they were unboxing it right then

fired it up, liked what i heard, talked them down to $320 (cash) on it, because the silica gel pack had busted and some little beads were rolling around in the back

constructionwise it's about what you'd expect from a $350 peavey combo...very stout woodwork...chassis, tubes, etc. all look pretty nice...they cut some corners with the plastic jacks, pots, and knobs but they don't feel cheap/flimsy to me...overall it's a pretty sturdy amp for the $$$, but not something i'd consider terribly roadworthy

hi and low gain input (altho they're not labeled)

tonewise however, i think is where you really get your dollar's worth

as others have said, the clean channel is very fenderish...not as big sounding as a twin but very nice indeed, this channel is pretty sensitive toward what input you use, and seems to go better with the low gain if you want a really CLEAN tone...reverb is kinda useless past about 10-11:00 max, but not bad at all

the OD channel works pretty well with both inputs...like it says in the manual, the hi gain input works better with lower ouput pickups, and the low gain works better with high output pickups...this channel (boost off) with the gain REAL low can get a decent SRV kinda drive, a little more and you're in zeppelin territory...with the boost on it can go from early VH kinda gain, up to some old school slayer esque tones...pretty smooth sounding channel, but it does have some bite; nice saturation, it's got that rich/thick 5150 esque vibe for sure...i'd say i can hear some tamed down 5150 and classic series tones in this channel, doesn't really sound much like the XXX series

not sure what to make of the texture control on the back, i keep it around the middle for the time being...it just kinda does somethign odd to the tone when you have it maxed one way or the other, again i've not spent much time with it...just stuck it where i thought sounded good and left it

not sure of the stock speaker either, it doesn't sound bad at all especially considering it's an open back combo...i'm gonna try it with my cabs tomorrow at band practice and see how it compares

it's not terribly loud for a 50w amp, on the OD channel i can get the volume up to noon without nuking myself (altho it is a bit excessive for bedroom levels) the amp sounds pretty dull/fizzy at whisper levels, but you don't have to get it too loud for it to start sounding good...the volume at 10:30 sounded best to me on the clean channel, and right around 11-12:00 seemed to be the sweet spot on the OD channel

if i had to compare it to another combo, i'd say it sounds similar to a marshall DSL combo, slightly smoother, with a bit less gain

overall i'm a happy customer

here's some pics i snapped real quick, i'll try to get a few clips tomorrow

 

that part of it i understand, just not sure what to make of the effect is has tone-wise quite yet

after spending some more time with the amp now, i think with a closed back ext. cab and maybe an EQ in the loop it could definitely handle any kinda metal easily

 

pretty much as i stated above, the amp doesn't sound good if you try to play it whisper levels (i.e. the volume knob up JUST enough to make any sound come out) but it sounds good at reasonably low levels

also from zero to halfway on the volume knob isn't as big a gap decibal-wise as one may thing...the volume knob down low isn't too touchy, so you can dial it in pretty easy (as opposed to many tube combos that seem to go from off to LOUD, this one can sit in between pretty nicely) once you get the volume past halfway tho it starts to get a lot louder

this sounds about right volume wise for a 50 watter, maybe slightly more quiet, but then i'm not used to 1x12's either (always had a 2x12 or larger) i don't see why the 100w version packing four 6l6's wouldn't be as loud as any other 100 watter...but not having played one i can't say for sure

 

not sure, i'll double check the manual to see if it's there

 

i've found the amp warms up pretty nicely when the speaker has a bit of break-in time on it (amp has seen about 8-9 hours of action so far)

when you begin to crank the amp, the speaker breakup comes a little sooner than i'd ultimately like tho...still for the price, i'm 100% satisfied...we'll wait a few weeks for the honeymoon to pass and see if things change tho