Peavey valve king

[hatori]

Hello guys its been quite a while since i posted on here.
Im interested in possibly buying a Peavey valve king 100 watt all valve head as i am looking at something that will cover both bass and lap steel.
I have owned both superbass and superlead heads (Marshall) in the past and so wish i hadnt sold them on.
Does anyone out there have experience of the valve king..i would appreciate your views.

[Mr. Foxen]

They cheap out on the transformers, which is bad for bass, unless you want the Lemmy thing. Reckon there are better heads to get, that aren't aimed at lots of gain. Come try some of my vintage heads for purpose, not far away.

[hatori]

Thank you kind sir i shall certainly keep that in mind..hope you are well.

[Dad3353]

Our music shop lent me a Valve King for trials, a few years ago, for bass. The trials lasted about 3 minutes (maybe 4..?). Very low power (certainly not 100w valve juice, into a Bassman 2 x 15 cab...) and a constant low-level 'disto' on whatever gain setting. No 'clean' sound available. No 'bass boum'.
Peavey make some excellent amps (I still have a 130w PA head, which I've used for bass in the past...), so nothing against the company. The Valve King does not, however, live up to it's name, imho. It's not very expensive, on the other hand. Would that be a clue..?

I bought a Hartke 3500 instead.
We use, since, a Hiwatt DR203. No comparison.
Hope this helps.

[Mr. Foxen]

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1338055003' post='1669111']
a constant low-level 'disto' on whatever gain setting. [/quote]

That sounds like a bias/phase inverter issue causing crossover distortion (basically the bit where the graph crosses the 0v line has a kink).

[hatori]

Thanks DAD thats useful stuff, i shall think on.