Hello.
I have the opportunity to acquire a used Peavey Valveking 212 cheap. From what I've heard, these are not very good-sounding amps stock, mainly due to the speakers. I'd also probably want to do some valve replacement, but that's another issue. So, two questions.
1. Unless I'm mistaken, the VK212 has two 16 ohm speakers, presumably running in parallel. For a number of reasons such as weight and cost, I would like to take out the stock speakers and run it with just one quality speaker. This would have to be an 8 ohm speaker, right?
2. I'm leaning towards a more American mid-scooped sound, as I want to use this amp basically as a clean pedal platform for playing live (blues, classic rock). I don't envisage ever having to turn it up to more than half its output capacity, but I'd obviously need a speaker that could handle if not the full 100W, at least 75W just to play safe. What would you recommend?
I suppose I'd be looking at a G12C or G12C/S ... or not? Maybe an ET90 would do it ...
I'd be grateful for any advice.
Cheers,
Simon
Give it a try ... I've certainly seen it many times before ... what you end up with is a cab with a HUGE fronf firing port ... which generally gives a big boost in all frequencies below about 120hz. ... if you don't like it, cover the hole.
As for speakers ... even with the huge port, a single G12C will probably be too ice-picky for ya. ET90, sure ... but the clear winner would be an ET65 ... it'll help bring some organic goo back to that VK too! (MANY happy VK owners with ET65's on this forum!!)
Well dammit. (excuse me)
I scored a Roland Cube 80 XL (not the new GX model, the older one with speaker out and a brighter sound) €190, so my loud pedal platform worries are over. But thanks for the advice.
I still need to resolve a quandary that is a beautiful varnished 16 ohm 12" Reaper HP cab that I made for an 18W "British" head (sounds amazing), and now a 20W "American" amp build that I should by rights do as a combo with an 8 ohm speaker. Or maybe I'll combine the two into one head and go with the ported Reaper HP cab. Brownface channel 1 + JTM channel 2. Could work, right? I could always add a second 16 ohm cab later.
Thanks,
Simon
If you go with a 16-ohm load (speaker) and an amp that wants 8-ohms ... the result will be a lot less output and if it's a tube amp, you might even cause the output tubes and/or sockets to die a premature death ... so, definitely get your impedance properly matched to the amp :-)
The VK212 being open back to begin with, you're likely to achieve almost free air conditions leaving one slot empty. I'd for one would look into fitting a light weight, passive driver or a piece of board where the other driver was supposed to have gone. I think a quick-fix could be using a bit of acoustic foam cut just a touch larger than the hole and it will stay in place on its own.