		4.8 (3)
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Peavey ValveKing 100 Head

Peavey Valve King amps feature a patent-pending, variable Class AA/B control called Texture, which allows sweepable selection between Class A and Class A/B power structures, as well as any combination of the two.With this feature, guitarists can ...

Price: $549 to $650

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Searched Peavey ValveKing 100 Head in Reviews

The Best in its price range.

Sound	I play in a heavy metal band. I use an EMG 85 in the bridge and an 81 in the neck of one of my guitars, I have it tuned to Drop D Down 3 semitones (B, F#, B, E, G#, C#). I currently have Harma ECC83/7025 DR250 Cyrogenically treated preamp tubes in all preamp positions (from Watford Valves) and Electro Harmonix 6L6EH Tubes in the power amp section. It sounds insane. The other guitarist in the metal band currently has a line6 spider 3 and he wants a Valveking. A guy I knew had two marshalls (JVM 205H and DSL 50) and I prefer this over those no contest. It handles metal without a distortion pedal and cuts through BETTER THAN BOTH MENTIONED MARSHALLS (no experience with any other marshalls). However, to get this amp to achieve its potential, you HAVE TO PUT A JUMPER ACROSS THE FX LOOP. Without this, it just doesn't sound the same. Another guitar I have has (Neck/Middle single coil/Bridge) Dimarzio Air Norton/Blue Velvet/AirZone, and this also sounds amazing through this amp.
Reliability	CAN YOU DEPEND ON IT? Simple answer, yes. I've had this amp for a good couple of years now and the only ever problem was tube wear and tear (which is completely normal). I couldn't ask for more reliability. I have gigged with it a fair amount of times and it's NEVER let me down.
Customer Support	No experience sorry.

Liked about it

Top three things about this amp:
-Sounds never cease to amaze me
-Reliable
-100% Tube Signal Path

Didn't like

Top three things this amp lacks:
-Footswitchable FX loop that you don't need to 'bridge' to get this amp to give out what it REALLY HAS.
-Master volume, although this could be sorted with an attenuator/some kind of volume device in FX loop.
-Adjustable Gain/Volume boost, the boost (volume & or gain) is a nice feature, but can be a bit extreme for me- I would want an adjustable one but I am NOT complaining.

Overall satisfaction:

5.0

By Guitarist-Jonny
Aug 09, 2009

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Great amp for the price

Sound	using either a custom telecaster with bareknuckle pups, a strat with custom wound BG pups or an old japanese ibanez RG with SD JB and Jazz pups. through a marshall 4x12 (JCM 800 series). great cleans, very fenderish, good drive sounds, can do metal and all that. all in all for the money a very versatile amp. can get loud, and i suppose the overall sound depends on what cabinet you pair it with. built in reverb - which is pretty decent sounding. effects loop is useful but would be better mounted on the rear of the amp. all in all a basic tube amp head which sounds as good as more expensive amps.
Reliability	i blew it once after attaching a dud footswitch to it. peavey repaired it for free in a month.
Customer Support	very helpful and quick.

Liked about it	price, versatility, overdrive sounds.
Didn't like	no footswitch included, looks a bit drab, effects loop on front.

Overall satisfaction:

4.5

By ceedee
Jan 02, 2011

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Price: $549 to $650

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Great amp for the money

Sound	Good variety of tones. Main guitar is a Gibson Chet Atkins Tennessean, which sounds good through anything. Also used a Hamer Korina Standard XT, Ibanez RG550 and RS400. All sound very different through the amp. The "texture" knob on back makes quite a difference in grittiness. Can dial in a good old school vox / fender type overdrive to full on metal madness. Footswitch can be used to channel switch and also to kick on either a gain or volume boost (or both). Very useful for solos. I've gotten many compliments on the tone from gigs, most guitar players can't believe it is a $500 head (new) I run through a Marshall 1960 bottom cab. The tone can be a little harsh when compared to a Marshall head, but what do you expect for this price?
Reliability	Very reliable. I purchased because my JCM 2000 was cutting out and became unreliable. Haven't had one problem with the Valveking.
Customer Support	Haven't ever had to call them. Which says a lot, because I have owned a LOT of Peavey equipment over the years.

Liked about it	Reliable, good tone, good price. It's no Marshall or Mesa, but solid as a rock and way, way, way less money.
Didn't like	Tone could be a bit "sweeter" I guess. But for the price I can't complain. There are many mods possible, which I've read can really improve the tone. Haven't had enough of a problem to try any of them yet.