Peavey ValveKing 112 Guitar Combo Amplifier (50 Watts, 1x12")
The Peavey ValveKing 112 is a powerful, great sounding combo amp. With sweeping switchable A-A/B operation, the ValveKing 112 is not your typical amp.
Overall User Ratings (based on 51 ratings)
Submitted May 20, 2011 by a customer from hotmail.com
"Peavey today is not the Peavey of old. They are way ahead of the curve in the music electronics industry and the ValveKing is si"
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Honestly, if I were doing a Blindfold test and someone plugged me into this amp, I wouldn't have thought Peavey had made this amp. But Peavey today is not the Peavey of old. They are way ahead of the curve in the music electronics industry Simply Stunning in my ears!
Sound
I've been pretty much a Hard Rock/Metal guy for a long time, but in the last year I have diversified a lot. I unloaded lots of different gear and started looking for "my sound". As far as this amp is concerned, it nails that perfect tone that I've always had in my head, but it goes way beyond that. It takes you from Clean to Blues to Modern Rock. I love my Naylor amps and I totally dig my Bogner Ecstacy and my Modded Marshall JMP, but I would take the Valve King and a Visual Sound V2 Jekyll and Hyde over any amp that's out there at the moment. Why? Because I have nailed MY perfect sound. If I were shooting for Fender tones there are better setups, if I wanted a Metal machine there are better setups but this inexpensive combo is just simply awesome at what it's able to pull off and it's probably the most versatile, best sounding combo that I've ever plugged into. Like one of the other guys said below, nothing competes with it dollar for dollar when you consider ALL the factors of power, tone, volume, versatility, durability, and cost. It's a totally different animal than a Mesa or Marshall or Fender. That's what I love about it.
Features
Although this amp has all the stardard features you would expect plus more, the TEXTURE feature is quite amazing. The ability to not only switch from a tight Class A/B tube setting to a true Class "A" setting which gives you that loose, creamy, bluesy type overdrive that just is't available any other way AND then be able to blend the two anywhere in between is a feature that is simply NOT available in any other amp at this price point. While the difference may seem subtle at first, with just switching between guitars, volume settings, pickups selection, pedals, or EQ settings you can totally exploit this feature and hear it's maximum effect. All with the turn of a simple knob on the back panel!!! Big tight crunchy bottom end for flat out Metal and Hardcore from your Gibson humbuckers, all the way to shimmering, lazy, wavy, and relaxed tones for your favorite Strat.
Ease of Use
Well laid out controls, tubs are easy to access, speaker is easy to swap out. This amp is fairly average as far a weight goes for a tube amp. Good strong top handle.
Quality
Excelent quality, all knobs and switches feel solid and function well. Power switch and Standby switch are switch-craft type. Super tough tolex like all Peavey's, quality steel corner protector, thick rubber feet, high quality grill cloth, removable logo plate.
Value
I truly don't think there is a better amp value on the market. Jet City Amplifiers JCA20 would be a close second, but I don't like their plastic logo. A small detail I know. Both of these amps are an amazing value. Very different sounds.
Manufacturer Support
never needed it
Musical Background:
Active Musician
Musical Style:
Indie Rock, Rock, Blues, Classic Rock
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Submitted October 29, 2012 by Todd Thorson in Elmhurst, IL
"This is the amp to get!!!"
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I was looking for a tube amp to replace my solid state on stage as I was beginning to grow and looking for more tone. I was looking to stay a little different then my lead guitarist that only runs Fenders (currently a Deluxe). This amp delivers. Plenty loud for the venues we play, plenty of tone for me. A Tube Screamer in front of it really makes it sing. Clearly durable, built well, have had no problems with it. Wish it would have had the foot switch with it, and the footswitch itself is light plastic (anchor it with velcro on your pedal board and it will be fine). This very amp ROCKED the House of Blues Chicago on 10/13/12..... Love it... Get it..... best bang for the buck out there in tube amps. Even my "Fender Tube Snob" lead guitarist likes this amp!!!
Musical Background:
4 years - professionally
Musical Style:
rock and blues
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Submitted October 26, 2006 by a customer from netscape.net
Peavey ValveKing 112 Customer Review
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You simply cannot beat this one.
Sound
I paid much money for a El Diablo and the VK112 blows it away in EVERY possible way...so for the 300-500 range I seriously doubt you can pick up a new tube amp that even comes close...
Features
Has verb. EQ and boat loads of gain. What more do you need?
Ease of Use
It took me literally 2 minutes to dial in a killer tone...actually less than that...about the time it takes for the tubes to warm up...thats how long it takes to tweak a great sound.
Quality
Seems tight. Id gig with it.
Value
You simply cannot beat this one.
Manufacturer Support
I emailed peavey once for a cable on my JSX head. They are QUICK!
The Wow Factor
Its a classic set up noting thats going to go out of style in a few years.
Musical Background:
Active Musician
Musical Style:
Metal, Prog, Rock
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Submitted October 25, 2006 by a customer from netscape.com
"bad little combo"
best bang for the buck ever.will suit myneeds for a long time
Sound
sounds pretty good/really god for the price. sounds best for blues,country,classic and southern rock. not really a hard metal or jazz amp but with an external distortion pedal and or overdrive it it can acheive some pretty decent metal tones.
It;s all tube {good all tube quality} for the price of upper end solid state Thats just amasinh
Features
pretty basic features but not bad for the price
Ease of Use
very easy to use even for a novice
Quality
great tube quality for a solid state price. best durability out there
it is well built like most peavey gear it will probaly last forever except changing tubes.
Value
cheapest all tube 112 on the market and sounds better than most mid level tube amps and as good as some of the top shelf pro stuff
Manufacturer Support
dont know
The Wow Factor
it donsnt have a bunch of chrome its just sweet and to the point.
Musical Background:
semi pro musician,
Musical Style:
everything and anything
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Submitted April 18, 2006 by a customer from yahoo.com
"The best amp in the world"
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I will always be satisfyed witht his product and it never ceases to amaze me.
Sound
One word to describe this amp: AWSOME. It is sooooooo great.
Features
It didn't in clude the foot switch... :(
Ease of Use
It is extreamly easy to use and get a variety of tones from it/
Quality
Very well crafted.
Value
Great value.
Manufacturer Support
I have had no problems.
The Wow Factor
This is the "sexiest" amp I have ever seen.
Musical Background:
Active Musician
Musical Style:
Rock, Blues, Freeform Jazz, Classical, Metal, Punk, Country, Classic Rock, Alternative.
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Submitted December 6, 2007 by a customer from aim.com
"Got me hooked"
The only time I would sell this thing is either to get the 212 version or the stack with the head. If anything happened to it, I'd either buy it again or upgrade to the stack.
Sound
I love the sound this thing makes. The equalizer is great, but even better is the boosts. Peavey has the absolute most wicked distortion I've ever heard. I use the treble boost for leads and the bass boost for rhythm, and it really screams. And even though it's a high-gain amp, it takes quite a bit to get it to feedback, which is good in my case.
Features
The options are awesome. I haven't had an amp with Class A/AB distortion in a long time, and this amp has all that and then some. The equalizer and treble/bass boost are a godsend, and even though I rarely use the reverb, (I have a Boss FDR-1 for that) it sounds decent.
Ease of Use
Obviously, you're not gonna give it to a four-year-old and see if he can mess with the EQ and turn on the tubes the right way, but for guitar veterans it really is easy to use and very maneuverable. I get sounds from BB King to Cannibal Corpse after messing with the equalizer and boosters.
Quality
When I first got it, I had the company replace the tubes because they were broken on arrival, but after that, it hasn't given me too much of a problem. You might want to tighten everything up on the control panel, though, before you start messing with it. The washers and nuts/bolts tend to come loose if you mess around with them too much, and they're a pain to get back in position if you let them fall in.
Value
For the price, it kicks Marshall out of existence in my book. It's a little pricey for a 112, but you'll understand why when you hear it. I had a Fender FM212R and this thing blew it out of the water.
Manufacturer Support
Peavey is great with support. They replaced an entire amp for free with no hassle when I told them my Rage 258 blew, and they also replaced the tubes on this particular amp when they were dead on arrival.
The Wow Factor
I know the ValveKing isn't even Peavey's best amp. That said, it's phenomenal. The sound has allowed me to get some numbers.
Musical Background:
Active musician
Musical Style:
Anything
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Submitted April 29, 2008 by a customer from yahoo.com
"If ya need an amp to gig or jam for the money BUY IT"
would have got a ten but no footswitch
Sound
It took me awhile to warm up to amp as I have and am a Fender person. It gets a great sound on distortion or clean without haveing to buy a bunch of foot switches.
Features
Sell am amp without the foot switch. come on Peavy orther than that a great value
Ease of Use
like I said earlier took me a little to figure out but I am a newbie
Value
A great value. evcellent bang for the buck
Manufacturer Support
Havent had a need to use them so I can not rate
Musical Background:
Hobbyist
Musical Style:
Christian rock and classic rock
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Submitted September 8, 2010 by a customer from aol.com
"turns me on when i turn it on."
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i dont see any need for another amp for a very long time.
Sound
this is my 2nd amp. 1st was a fender 10 watt junker, now i know im in heavin caus the sound is heavenly.
Features
it should have come with foot switch. i have very little amp experiance i always played acustic, but this amp seems to have everything you need. i will be growing into it for a long time.
Ease of Use
like i said little exsperiance but i could still easily get great tones.
Quality
the cabinet seems to be made of partical board. its made in china that sucks but i got it in short order in one peace it came on nothing loose. what moore can you ask for?
Value
i priced and compaired till i was blue in the face. for me it was most bang for the buck.
Manufacturer Support
no problems yet, but i did try to order a hat from peavey web site 15.50 for hat 12.97 shipping. i told them to stickit.
The Wow Factor
i get hard every time i turn it on.
Musical Background:
novice
Musical Style:
good ol rock&roll
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Submitted May 25, 2013 by Igor L
"Great amp"
y torca - May 25, 2013Let's see... After doing a lot of research trying to decide which tube amp to buy between 40 to 60W, I decided to get this one used eventhough it's underpriced new at about 500 Euros especially for an all tube amp. Well, I bought it so I could modd it with new speaker and tubes, 'cause for this cheap and well built amp Peavey had to save somewhere. In original condition i found the clean chanel very good. The gain chanel was okay but the distortion was harsh and too thin. So I replaced the original speaker with Celestion V30 and replaced all 3 preamp tubes with new tung sol tubes. Haven't tried changing the powertubes as of yet. And look then!!! The Amp sounded much more alive and the lead chanel was smoother and fuller. I'm acctually amazed with the sound this gave me. A big thumbs up for the footswitch esspecially the boost function which not only raises the volume, it makes solos lead parts so smooth and gives it beautiful sustain. So I don't really need any pedals in front of this amp except my wah wah. For sone songs where I so need a chorus and such modulation effects I put them through valvekings fx loop. It has more then enough power for practice and small to medium gigs. In original condition I'd give it a 3-4 stars. With the mods I did definetly 5. It beats even my older Marshall JTM 60 that costs used at about 800 euros. I got the valveking used for 300 euros. Like I said, I'm loving it so much and can't stop talking about it. Should probably talk less and play more ...
Musical Background:
Playing guitar for about 20 years and occasionaly Bass and Drums. Recording own songs and playing with two cover bands
Musical Style:
Blues, Rock, Funk, Hard rock and some Metal
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Submitted February 24, 2011 by a customer from msn.com
"Not "All That" but not bad either. Just check your expectaions."
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Good starter amp but if you have more cash and are just being cheap then fork out the dig a little deeper and get a Classic 30 instead
Sound
The sound is good, not great but good. I great little entry tube amp for classic rock/hard rock and I actually would dissagree about the jazz thing with an earlier review. This amp does clean really well, in fact it is the reason I bought it to begin with. The lead channel is pretty week though. No headroom until you turn it up loud. I mean really loud.
Features
The bells and whistles on this amp are fun but not entirely usefull except the gain and volume boost switches. I just wish they worked on the clean channel. I found the Bright switch to be a little harsh instead of glassy. In order to get rid of the harshness you have to turn down the treble and remove other highs that I missed. The texture control and and tight/loose switch are useless all together. If you think you are going to get a class A distortion out of this you are wrong. If on the other hand you like 6L6 output then keep it all the way in the A/B mode. For one thing when you go "A" it is going to get really farty on the clean channel. In addtion the tone controls all seem to center the Q on at the wrong spot. I know it sounds like I don't like the amp but the truth is I do. Those are just the down sides. For one thing I love the channel switching with the footswitch but you will have to buy it seperately and it's not cheap. It is also nice to have the effects insert but the reverb is not good.
Ease of Use
If you just forget about the tweaks it will make your life easier and get you a decent sound. I have owned mine for 3 years and have done everything but stand on my head to get different sounds. Its a classic rock workhorse. Don't pretend that it is anything else.
Quality
The pots are all wired into the PC board and not user servicable. After a couple of years they will start to get noisy. The speaker is not so hot either. I replaced mine with an Eminence Canibus Rex and that helped a lot but I do wonder if it would do better with a Texas heat or Greenback. Something with a bit more chime to it.
Value
Nice loud 50 watts of tube tone at bargain price but you get what you pay for. Don't expect a Mesa here but it is a versitile usefull entry level tube amp. Good bang for the buck in the end but a tube and speaker upgrade go a long way
Manufacturer Support
Hey, Peavey takes good care of it's customers. I have not used them for this product but had exclent experience wih others
The Wow Factor
Its pretty enough and has served me reasonably well
Musical Background:
Active Musician
Musical Style:
All over the map
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Submitted December 22, 2018 by Ben B in Griswold, CT
"Hit it wow"
I bought one of these because it was tube and inexspensive. I have been a guitar player for 53 years and i can say with all honesty that in this time i have never foynd an amp i really love,but i have now i cant wait sometimes to go into the studio and fire her up i like this amp so much i bought two more just to make sure im never without one weird right the sound is great clean dirty and in between im not much into pedals but i do use a boss delay with my nine strats im happy for this sound this amp is awsome thanks Peavey.
Musical Background:
53 years
Musical Style:
Blues and southern rock
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Submitted July 7, 2008
"Don't waste money on solid-state or modeling amps in this price range, just get this!"
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This review has been selected by our experts as particularly helpful.
I'm very satisfied with this amplifier. I don't plan to ever replace it, unless I decide to get the 212 version (no stack for me, too big and bulky...combos are actually plenty loud). Eventually I want to get a Peavey 5150/6505 but only as a supplement so I can more easily get some strong metal tones. This amp is perfect for bluesy hard rock, which is what I mainly play.
Sound
The sound is phenomenal, especially given the price of this amp. I replaced my old Crate solid-state half-stack with one of these a little over a month ago and the sound still amazes me. My Crate's clean channel was extremely clean to the point of sounding bland and sterile. This amp's clean is just a little dirty. It doesn't sound distorted, but it sounds slightly compressed, warm, and bluesy. A tremendous improvement.
The lead/distortion channel is nearly exactly what I was looking for. It can go from a smooth bluesy compressed sound all the way up to some screaming rock/metal distortion, without sounding excessively buzzy, thin, cheap, or nasty like my old Crate did. If I throw a Boss Super Overdrive in front with low drive but maxed level (clean boost), it pushes the distortion right up into the thrash metal/Metallica area. The only reason I rated sound a 9 instead of 10 is that I liked the sound of the 5150/6505's good Van Halen/brown-sound distortion better. But this amp is quite a bit cheaper, and nearly as good.
The low distortion area is awesome compared to my old amp. Being a solid-state amp, my old Crate's distortion was basically either on/off. If you fiddled with the drive you could get some low-distortion tones out of it, but they sounded nasty. This Peavey has it down just right, smooth, creamy, bluesy, and natural sounding.
Features
Not much by way of features. My old amp had over a dozen built-in digital effects, but honestly I don't really miss them. This amp has an effects loop and a spring reverb and that's about it. It can use a foot pedal to control channel selection and the gain and volume boosts, but it didn't come with one.
Ease of Use
On/off switch, standby switch, two channels worth of tone and volume controls. It doesn't get any easier. Also, in my opinion this amp sounds good on nearly any setting, so I don't have too much trouble getting a sound I like out of it.
Quality
So far so good. It's heavy and the switches and dials feel quite solid. I already have a severely microphonic power tube (replacements are in the mail), but that's not Peavey's fault, it's the tube manufacturer's fault. I'm sure it was a tube defect since my amp never moves or gets handled or anything. I wanted an exact make/model tube match to maintain my sound and avoid a re-bias and these were a little hard to find (Ruby 6L6GCM-STR power tubes, had to buy a matched quad since I couldn't find a pair :( )
Value
Awesome. This amp has that wonderful 70's/80's hard rock tone with plenty of gigging volume at a ridiculously affordable price. It sounds great, it's built tough, it has a wide variety of tonal ability, and it doesn't break the bank.
Manufacturer Support
Blah. Never dealt directly with Peavey, but I did purchase this amp from a local Peavey dealer. He didn't have any foot pedals in stock and I wanted one. He told me he'd look them up and call me in a couple days so I could order one. He never called me back. I'll just get one elsewhere sometime.
The Wow Factor
Well, it looks like a black box. Doesn't look great, but I never cared about amps' looks, I go by sound! If I lost it I would definitely replace it.
Musical Background:
Hobbyist
Musical Style:
Mostly 70's and 80's hard rock stuff, but a little blues and a little metal as well
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Submitted June 8, 2007
"A great amp for the price"
I really, really like this amp. That being said, if I could afford more I would probably have went with something else. You will read this everywhere and I will say it yet again: FOR THE PRICE, this thing is great!
Sound
Great sound for the price and loud to boot. You know you are playing too loud when the drummer tells you to turn it down a bit!
With the gain around 2 you can back off and sound clean, but then pick harder to dig in a little dirt. If you crank the gain to 10 and engage the boost, you lose most of your definition. The boost has a 'buzzy' quality to it. I find the best sound for me is with the gain at about 6 and the boost off.
Features
This would be a "10" if it came with the footswitch and the reverb wasn't so awful (anything over '2' gets really splashy). You're probably already aware of the included features. The class a/ab knob doesn't really change the sound a lot - it's very subtle - but is more noticable at higher volumes. I'm pleased with the speaker, bit I hear a lot of people are swapping in a vintage 30. I may try this at some point. It's nice that an effects loop is included - try throwing an EQ in there to really get a great sound.
Ease of Use
Very easy to use!
Quality
I had to tighten a few screws when I got it to eliminate some rattles. As noted elsewhere, the reverb tank is held in by only 2 screws although there is space for 4.
Value
Again, FOR THE PRICE, you can do no better.
Manufacturer Support
Haven't had to deal with them.
The Wow Factor
It is a relatively classy looking amp. The knobs feel and look a bit cheap. If you can get past the Peavey Stigma, it's a cool little amp.
Musical Background:
Hobbyist
Musical Style:
Heavy Rock - not quite metal.
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Submitted May 25, 2006
"MOST TONE FOR $$$$$$$$$$$"
I think this is probably the last amp I will buy
Sound
Most sound for money period.
Features
Nice and simple, everything does what it is supposed to.
Ease of Use
You can't go wrong with just the basic knobs
Quality
I have had peavey amps that have outlasted all my others no matter how bad I have treated them.
Value
The most tone for the money.
Manufacturer Support
Never had to use them.
The Wow Factor
I wish we could do away with name brands for a while. Then maybe everyone would look at a product for what it is. If you are biased against Peavey you probably won't like this amp, but if you heard it and didn't know what it was you would love it.
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