The Boogie Board

So I've had a bit of GAS lately and I ended scoring a 20 watt VKII on eBay for a nice price. Pretty neat little head with a lot of useful features. It has direct recording via XLR or USB with cab sim and is also switchable between 20, 5, and 1 watt modes. The clean channel is quite nice, very clear and articulate. With the clean "gain" cranked, you even get a little grit out of it. Cranking the master makes it even sweeter. The drive channel has quite a bit of gain on tap as well as a gain boost, which seems to me like diode clipping but still produces a nice sound, like having an OD built in. I really like the 5 and 1 watt modes with the master cranked around 6-7. I've run it through both my 4x12s and it definitely sounds better through the Carvin with V30s. Amusingly enough, though, it sounds best through my Mark III combo speaker (EVM12L) so that's where it is sitting now.

It will never replace the Mark, but it's a pretty cool little toy to play with and the option to plug into the PC with a USB cable to record stuff silently is nice too. Peavey also has a 6505 mini head that would be cool to check out but they are still fetching a high price.

Those Valve King II amps have bang for the buck. As a home or studio amp, I think they're cool. I just have a hard time believing they'd put up with gigging, if that was the intent for the buyer. They look nice, but the parts have to be consumer grade to come in at that price point. Construction isn't an issue if it is handled with care. Tube guitar amps are a low fidelity technology, so cheaper parts don't automatically make something crappy.

The boost function does use diodes and it's setup kind of strange. I'd compare it to a Silver Jubilee, but puts the diodes later in the path. They are placed where a cold clipping stage could be and it gets an even clip, instead of the asymmetrical clip of a cold biased 12ax7. I don't mind that as long as it sounds good and Peavey made it sound good to me. They are in series with the signal and working like an overdrive (ala TS and others), rather than most "Metal" distortion circuits.

The class A to class A/B control, DI, and power soak are great features. I watched a guy play one at a local Mom and Pop shop and I was impressed. When I get around to shopping for another amp, I'm going to test drive one for myself.

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2007 3 Channel Dual Recto w/loop mod

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Thanks for the info on the clipping. It's definitely not harsh or unmusical, very much like stepping on a tube screamer with the level cranked and the "drive" off. The one thing that I have noticed is if you use a lot of reverb (6-7 or higher), you really start to notice it's digital nature. It almost has a kind of chorus like effect at high levels too. I don't have much reason to use it that high, just thought it was worth mentioning. Overall, I am very happy with this little amp. It's got it's own sound and really is a lot of bang for the buck.