Members woodsmandan Posted January 17, 2006 Members Share Posted January 17, 2006 Hi every body... I did quite a lot of research here and elsewhere about these 2 amps, but i would like a short easy answer...maybe someone how owns both or tried both extensively?... In short, i need a good cheap 50W tube amp to bang around on stage... I play dirty blues to hard rock...with a hint of metal but not much...rarely use clean cleans, more a dirty clean kind... I was pretty set on the Valveking, but the V50 seems nice, a little more expensive but still affordable. And Billy Gibbons plays them V50, and he is my number one tone influence...but i dont care about built in digital fx...wont use them... So, are both in the same ballpark sonically?...V50 worth the extra money?..even if i dont use the fxs? Thanx ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members VanR Posted January 17, 2006 Members Share Posted January 17, 2006 Never played the Crate, but I own a Valveking and I love it for what I play. Mostly Classic Rock. I changed the tubes out to Chinese pre's and JJ 6L6's and replaced the speaker with a Celestion 70/80 and it was a major improvement. Great sounding amp. It has become my #1 amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GCDEF Posted January 17, 2006 Members Share Posted January 17, 2006 I have a Crate V3112. Great amp. I've never heard a Valve King in person, but in clips I've heard it seems to have a more modern aggressive sound, where the Crate is smoother and more old school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members h2oman Posted January 17, 2006 Members Share Posted January 17, 2006 I second what VanR says about the Valveking, I own the 112 combo and really enjoy it. Wide range of tones and I like to boost mine with a Bad Monkey for higher gain sounds. Does cleans and mid gain well for the price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members VanR Posted January 17, 2006 Members Share Posted January 17, 2006 Originally posted by h2oman I second what VanR says about the Valveking, I own the 112 combo and really enjoy it. Wide range of tones and I like to boost mine with a Bad Monkey for higher gain sounds. Does cleans and mid gain well for the price. Wow you must like a lot of gain because when I kick my gain boost and volume boost in for leads it gives me more gain than I would ever need otherwise. I generally run the gain knob about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way up. edit: Of course I am using EMG's so maybe I have more gain than most from them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members h2oman Posted January 17, 2006 Members Share Posted January 17, 2006 I run my gain knob at 11:00 usually with the boost on, then run the Bad Monkey as a clean volume boost. So with the boost I get a little more gain but to me it really clears the amp up and is less muddy. The thing i really like about the amp is that there are so many good settings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members woodsmandan Posted January 17, 2006 Author Members Share Posted January 17, 2006 thanks... So i should get more gain and a more modern voice with the Valveking, right? Anyone has tried the V50 ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members VanR Posted January 18, 2006 Members Share Posted January 18, 2006 Originally posted by woodsmandan thanks...So i should get more gain and a more modern voice with the Valveking, right?Anyone has tried the V50 ? Your WelcomeYesNope Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Zappa74 Posted January 18, 2006 Members Share Posted January 18, 2006 Gibbons is my biggest influence and I've got a Valve King. I briefly looked at the Crate, but I couldn't justify the price increase. With an eminence GB12 in it- it gets me as close as I need to be in order to mimic Billy's sounds. I'm very happy with it. Now if only I could play like him... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tarl-Saxon Posted January 18, 2006 Members Share Posted January 18, 2006 I have the VFX 5112 with the hemp tone tubby speaker and just love it. I compared it to the ValveKing and the Traynor YCV 50 blue. All are great amps but the V won out because it,s clean tone was better to me ( it breaks up nicely), the effects are actually useable and the dirty channel was more of what I was looking for for classic rock and blues. One caution , none of these amps would be great for metal without some pedal help. I,ve had no problems at all with the V even though I was skeptical about Crate products. Tarl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rushmore Posted January 21, 2006 Members Share Posted January 21, 2006 I have the V30 and love it. Has great versatility between a beautiful clean sound and a very nice distortion. These seem to be built very well too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mr. Diamond Posted January 29, 2008 Members Share Posted January 29, 2008 Hi every body...I did quite a lot of research here and elsewhere about these 2 amps, but i would like a short easy answer...maybe someone how owns both or tried both extensively?...In short, i need a good cheap 50W tube amp to bang around on stage...I play dirty blues to hard rock...with a hint of metal but not much...rarely use clean cleans, more a dirty clean kind...I was pretty set on the Valveking, but the V50 seems nice, a little more expensive but still affordable. And Billy Gibbons plays them V50, and he is my number one tone influence...but i dont care about built in digital fx...wont use them...So, are both in the same ballpark sonically?...V50 worth the extra money?..even if i dont use the fxs?Thanx ! WOW! I thought I was seeing things when I saw this post. Man, I find myself in the same situation right now. After using Randall 100 watt heads back in the day, I decided to go for a combo two years ago to make the trek to a jam less... painful. Picked up a Vox Valvetronix and am suddenly not as jazzed as I once was. I played a Valveking 112 the other day. Had that bad little box cranked failry well and it delivered. Seemed like the eq was lacking a bit though. I've been thinking about a V50 for a while - after hearing Mr. Gibbons playing through his. I know they were discontinued and now I look and it seems theres ar new Crate V series. Not sure as to how they compare with the older ones. So... how did your situation wind up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PurityS.L.G. Posted January 29, 2008 Members Share Posted January 29, 2008 Valveking. /thread. Trust me...I've owned it. ok so you don't trust me. The variable A/B class control is truly a unique feature with that amp. It's not ground breaking per se but it does allow you to tame or intensify the gain structure. Smokin' blues crunch to modern metal with ease. The only thing with that amp is the cleans are lacking a little character IMO. Not quite sterile but just nothing that gave me chills or stuck to my memory. I don't think you'll be disappointed from what you were describing what you seek. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Brick Posted January 29, 2008 Members Share Posted January 29, 2008 valveking, with an eq in the loop, you can thank me later Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hell Bites Posted January 29, 2008 Members Share Posted January 29, 2008 The Valve King is a pretty solid amp. It has a decent amount of gain, but it's no 5150. The metal tune I recently posted was all Valve King and a Vox AD30vt http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1872156 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mr. Diamond Posted January 29, 2008 Members Share Posted January 29, 2008 OK, so I'm getting Valveking recommendations yet I don't see anyone having it listed here... BTW... Have also considered tracking down a BlueVooDoo combo. So please add that to the recommendation mix. So it's CRate V50, Valveking or BlueVooDoo. What's the word tonechasers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Herald of Light Posted January 29, 2008 Members Share Posted January 29, 2008 So, are both in the same ballpark sonically? No. The Crate stomps all over the Valve King. There is no contest IMO. They are similar amps, but the Valve King just plain sounds low quality in comparison. It's muddy and fizzy and has no real discernable character of its own. All these people are always all, "ZOMG I PLAYED/OWNED TEH VALVE KING EET WAS GRAPE 4 TEH $," and yet, you never see any comparisons. It's probably the only more affordable tube amp they've ever played. I honestly don't understand why there's such a prevalent tolerance of that amp, much less any real appreciation. Every single last other tube amp I have played in its price range didn't sound so muddy and lame, despite some of them being even cheaper. You don't have to accept such a low level of quality just because of the price tag. There are several sub-$1,000 tube amps out there that would be worth hanging on to for your entire life. Even Peavey does better with SEVERAL other amps themselves. I find the whole thing pretty baffling. It makes sense that that sort of design would suffer the most at that price, but that doesn't mean that other types of designs don't work very well, or that something similar can't for just a little bit more, like the V50 (which still isn't 100 watts, a lot of the problem with the Valve King is that it's both 100 watts AND an attempt at a high gain channel switcher, which is NOT an inherently cheap design, so they cut every corner possible to make it that way.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted January 29, 2008 Members Share Posted January 29, 2008 The Crate by a long, long mile. The Valveking is not a very nice sounding amp to me. The Crate is sweet for the price. I'd much prefer a Windsor and whatever boost might be needed over the Valveking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mr. Diamond Posted January 29, 2008 Members Share Posted January 29, 2008 OK. Things are getting interesting here in our point counterpoint battle here. Now here's another thing... I was planning on the older V50 but now I see there's a new one. Anyone know if it's the same amp or were there mods made? When I look at the user guide for both amps, each has it's strengths but in terms of what is in the PDFs it looks like the Valveking has more going for it in terms of flexibility. And... Woodsmandan, give us a shout! Am hoping to hear what you ended up doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mr. Diamond Posted January 30, 2008 Members Share Posted January 30, 2008 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rushmore Posted January 30, 2008 Members Share Posted January 30, 2008 I would be suprised at someone hearing both amps and declaring that the Valveking is a better amp. But, I'm basing my opinion on the USA made V-series line. I haven't tried or heard the new ones that are made overseas. If cleans are important at all, then the V-series smokes the VK, and the V-series OD channel is pretty mean too....It certainly has more gain on tap than I use live, and we play several heavier types of tunes. A head version + a cab mixed with V30/G12H 30 = Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members woodsmandan Posted February 1, 2008 Author Members Share Posted February 1, 2008 Wow ! Reading that thread was quite a flashback ! 2 years ago, shopping for a new amp... Well, I ended up getting a Peavey Classic 50 212 a year and a half ago, and I never regreted it. Most versatile amp I ever owned. Seriously. I only use mainly the clean channel, with some dirt in front (namely: Sovtek Big Muff, Monsterpiece NPN, Boss OD3 and Digitech Bad Monkey). This beast takes pedals very well. When I want to venture towards 80's metal territory, the lead channel boosted with the OD3 does then trick quite well. And I love to have 2x12 speakers, nice wide sound projection. This may as well be the last amp I'll ever buy. It does what I need, and it does it extremely well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Herald of Light Posted February 1, 2008 Members Share Posted February 1, 2008 LOL I didn't realize this thread was two years old. The date was so close when it was bumped back up, I didn't catch that. But funny you should say this: There are several sub-$1,000 tube amps out there that would be worth hanging on to for your entire life. Even Peavey does better with SEVERAL other amps themselves. Case in point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Stephan1980 Posted February 2, 2008 Members Share Posted February 2, 2008 Ok my two cents... I have heard both valve king and crate v50. I like the crate sound much better. Was warmer, and fuller in my opinion. The valve king seemed like it was more suited to metal so if you want metal then i would suggest the valve king. If you want everything else then the Crate. About the Traynor I am realy considering getting one of those myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mr. Diamond Posted February 5, 2008 Members Share Posted February 5, 2008 OK. Well, I gave in and picked up the VK 112. When I first brought her home I cranked up and was able to get a nice powerful, not overly distorted sound with great tone. Took it ot he studio that night - after messing with it for 3 hours I was confident. Tried plugging it into a Traynor 4x12. Don't know what that cabinet was loaded with but it was all high end. Ended up playing without another cabinet. At first the amp was solid and doing exactly what I wanted. Dialed the volume up to about 5 and things got weird. At home I was running in A/B class, gain about 5 or 6, bass, 7, mid 6, treble 5. Had to completely redo everything to get a decent sound at the studio. Will be running additional test tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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