Peavey 5W Valveking $99 @ Music123

[duhvoodooman]

An all-tube amp from a respected name for $99...and free shipping, to boot:


http://www.music123.com/Peavey-ValveKing-Royal-8--5W-1x8-Tube-Combo-Amp-481661-i1383113.Music123

They've got a bunch of other stuff on sale, too.....

[piebaldpython]

Nice amp, good reviews of it. I had some serious love in that direction and nearly got it. If I wasn't getting a stellar tube amp shortly, I'd be all over it.

[M29]

Man, I should not have spent all that money I had been saving for something special like this..............That looks like a nice amph.:cry:

[bigG]

Geez, for that $, it's worth buying one even if you're not in the market right now! Set it aside and grab it when you want something new and different down the road! Or, gift it to someone who could use a nice little amp! Hell, buy two! If I had ANY $ right now after that recent Martin purchase, I'd get it! Or two of it! :dude

[R.B. Huckleberry]

I want it. I have the money. But I am between jobs. Still, that could ease my depression about being between jobs...

[bigG]

I hear ya, RBH. Tough choice. In my case, new gear usually wins! Not saying it's right OR smart on my part...just the truth...

[duhvoodooman]

New gear gets you through times of no job better than a job gets you through times of no new gear! :rotflmao:

[Bilsdragon]

Nabbed one. I bought both, the Bugera V5 ($132) and the Peavey Valve King Royal 8. I ended up trying them back to back and like different things about each so I'm keeping them both. The peavey has much more gain and is better for heavier music. I'm ordering a Jensen Mod8 speaker to get rid of the slight squawk though. I think I'll be fitting a Mod10 in the Bugerea over the winter. I love these inexpensive amps, you can afford to do some mods and still keep the price down.

[bigG]

Nabbed one. I bought both, the Bugera V5 ($132) and the Peavey Valve King Royal 8. I ended up trying them back to back and like different things about each so I'm keeping them both. The peavey has much more gain and is better for heavier music. I'm ordering a Jensen Mod8 speaker to get rid of the slight squawk though. I think I'll be fitting a Mod10 in the Bugerea over the winter. I love these inexpensive amps, you can afford to do some mods and still keep the price down.

Nice buy, man! IMHO, a bit more abt that Bugera would be nice. It's been mentioned alot on here, and I think some of us would be interested in your take on it. (I think the Peavey is pretty well-known as a winner, especially for the price. Such a deal!) :cool:

[Bilsdragon]

It's my buddy Stoneattic's fault. Lee liked the Bugera, and I liked the Peavey. We played them back to back. I'll get him to post his take. He gave me a pretty good description the day we played both. Two tube amps for $239, who could beat that with a stick. I must say the Bugera does seem to be well built, it just has a bit less gain without a pedal. There looks like enough room to put a 10" speaker in there also. I plugged my Jensen Mod10 in my Champion cabinet into the Bugera and it was quite sweet from the volumes I could get away with at work. (lunchtime)

[FrankenFretter]

Nabbed one. I bought both, the Bugera V5 ($132) and the Peavey Valve King Royal 8. I ended up trying them back to back and like different things about each so I'm keeping them both. The peavey has much more gain and is better for heavier music. I'm ordering a Jensen Mod8 speaker to get rid of the slight squawk though. I think I'll be fitting a Mod10 in the Bugerea over the winter. I love these inexpensive amps, you can afford to do some mods and still keep the price down.


I nabbed one too. I plan on replacing the speaker with a Jensen Mod as well. Tried to pick one up @ GC, but they don't stock them at the store I was at. The Mod seems like the best way to improve the sound, from what I've read.

[jim p]

I bought the Peavey and am looking into modifying it not big on the overdriven sound stock. But my real question is on the Bugera V5 have you looked inside at all and do you have a schematic? I see it is a digital reverb wondering if they used the Belton digital reverb in the amp. Also by the pictures the output transformer looks like it is reasonably big, bigger then the Peavey is that the case?

[jim p]

I just got done swapping the controls around in the Valve King so the tone and gain control are after the second triode. Then the volume control is between the first triode and the second triode to become the gain control. Also added a 220pf cap across R17 and changed C1 to 150nf for treble boost feeding the second triode. I did this by just lifting components and jumpers from the PCB with no cuts so I could put it back to stock. Like the overdriven and the clean sound this way better then the stock set up so will probably change it so the controls are what they say they are. Only thing that is off is I think you need just a bit more gain to really get the right overdriven tone, so may try to add a jfet stage with a gain of approx 5 in the front end. Forgot on the tone stack I changed C6 to a 2.2nf capacitor also. If anyone wants to try these mods I can post a marked up schematic and picture of the PCB.
The speaker in the amp is a Weber sig 8 4 ohm think I will try the stock one again just to see how it sounds.

[Bilsdragon]

Jim, It says the stock speaker in the Peavey is an 8ohm. I can open up the Bugera on Monday(amp I keep for lunchtime at work) and take a picture for you to see. I haven't found a schematic as of yet.

[jim p]

I knew the stock speaker in the Peavey is an 8 ohm it’s just that I had the stock speaker from an Epiphone Valve Jr sitting around that I thought would be better (it’s a Weber I think). I checked the transformer turns ratio to see what the impedance should be and it is a 25:1 so 8 ohms is equal to 5 k on the primary. At the Bugera web site and from the picture of the V5 that is actually a drawing it looks like the transformers may be the same ones as in the Peavey. I see that they have the tubes in a cage the same as the Peavey. I did e-mail Bugera to ask for a schematic (no phone number listed) and see that they are in the Virgin Islands, ya man, fine sun baked amps made in China. Also I wonder if the digital reverb in the amp is the Belton module it may be the first amp to use it.

[Bilsdragon]

Yeah, I uncaged the tubes on the Bugera since it buzzed like heck. I think if I put silicone in the corners that should keep that from happening. I didn't want to bend the cage since the mounting screws line up perfectly on the underside of the chassis.

[duhvoodooman]

I knew the stock speaker in the Peavey is an 8 ohm it’s just that I had the stock speaker from an Epiphone Valve Jr sitting around that I thought would be better (it’s a Weber I think).
According to a post I saw from Ted (GRHS), the speaker in the Valve Jr's (at least the early ones) was not a Weber, though it had clearly been manufactured to look like one.

[Bilsdragon]

Here's a few. Jim, I can email you the full res pics if you like. Just pm me.

These Bugera V5 pics.

[Bilsdragon]

a couple more

[jim p]

Some of the components look the same as the Peavey and the tube and transformer placement is the same as the Peavey. The Peavey also has a cage around the tubes maybe the same manufacture in China. Do the transformers say who made them?
I looked at my old e-mails (2006) and the old VJ combo did have a Weber speaker according to Ted Weber a ceramic sig 8 smooth cone was in the amp.

I Forgot to add that I posted some pictures of the Peavey over at Sewatt web site in the Valve Jr section.

[Bilsdragon]

They both say NRE on top of what looks like Chinese characters.
The smaller one says part no. ID:E10278 (R11)
The larger one says part no. ID:E10289 (R10)

[Bilsdragon]

Just an update on the speaker swap in the Peavey. I got the Jensen Mod8 20w at 8 ohm. I noticed a lot of the buzzy fuzz was gone immediately. If I back the gain down to about 10 o'clock and use a distortion pedal it really rips. I still haven't cranked it too loud, but the sound is improved. Now changing some of the circuit like Jim P. mentioned may really make this a great little amp. I was impressed that while playing power chord type rythm and than switching to a lead fill in between chords it really sings with clarity.

[Duff]

I picked up a brand new Peavey Mini Colossal with the power sponge for 149 dollars at a place that was eliminating all Peavey stock and discontinuing thier distribution of the line.

The Mini Colossal is very awesome. Wonder how it would stack up to the valve king five or the Bugera five watter?

The mini colossal HAS a weber eight inch speaker and sounds better when hooked up to my Epi So. Cal. cabinet w four twelves at sixteen ohms, matched.