Valveking ii 100 head sounds very dull.

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Erkalump
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Valveking ii 100 head sounds very dull.

Post by Erkalump » Wed Mar 29, 2023 11:19 pm

Years ago I had a VK112 gen 1 and I liked it pretty well except the gain channel sounded like it had a heavy blanket over it.

Recently, I started to miss the little bugger. I ran across a nice VKii 100 head for a great price and snapped it up. Shortly after that I found another good deal on a gen 1 VK 412 slant cab. Bought that too!

I still experience that same dull sound on the gain channel with no clarity or sparkle in the upper frequencies. Running the bass at 3 with mids at 6 and the treble at 8.5 produces what I would call the brightest sound that isn't completely awful but it still sounds like I'm hearing it underwater or from the neighbors house. I've tried it with a different speaker cab as well as through the direct out into a mixing board and still the same thing.

I brought it to band practice once an my bandmates hated it.

This is also what I remember from the old VK112 I had. I know for a fact this is not malfunction. It is a normal characteristic of this amp. I believe this characteristic lives in the tone stack for the gain channel. I have reviewed the schematics for both amps and the preamps a almost identical with exactly the same tone stacks in each.

This amp has a solid design and I really want to use it, but I'm close to selling it off in favor of a Fender HRDeluxe or a Peavey Classic 50. If this amp sounded anything like one of those I would be happy.

I know how to work safely on amps and like to mod stuff. Does anyone have good first hand experience solving this problem?

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studiodtk5
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Location: Toledo, Ohio

Re: Valveking ii 100 head sounds very dull.

Post by studiodtk5 » Thu Mar 30, 2023 11:15 pm

I have a VK2 50W. I hadn’t noticed this. How do you generally set the lead section of the amp? I run mine with that channel set with a little gain, which is hard. I wish that channel gain was pull back a bit.
Darren
ITOC: 08-00190

Peavey stuff I have: Masterpiece 50, Custom Shop 212, Stereo Chorus 212, T-60, T-40, Signature Select, Odyssey II Prototype, Generation Custom EXP, Firenza P90-ACM, VB-2, Stomp Boxes, Radial Pro 1000, lots of mics, etc...

Erkalump
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Re: Valveking ii 100 head sounds very dull.

Post by Erkalump » Thu Mar 30, 2023 11:59 pm

I like a light to medium crunch. Typically plug my tele or my Charvel in to input two and set gain to about 2.5 or three. But I've set this thing all over the place and can't shake that under the blanket feeling. The clean channel is similar but not as bad.
When I use that tele with any other amp those upper mids will hit you right in the chest and the highs can rip your face off. With this amp it sounds like there might be an electric guitar somewhere in the mix.

Erkalump
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Re: Valveking ii 100 head sounds very dull.

Post by Erkalump » Sat Apr 08, 2023 2:15 pm

Problem solved.

I removed C66 which connects the output of the final gain stage directly to ground before the tone stacks. Apparently meant to remove high frequency noise from the signal.

This was the blanket darkening the sound. All the highs have returned and the sparkle is now in full force. The only negative is a small amount of hiss which is barely noticeable and still far less than other amps. Totally transformed this amp into a great rock monster.

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studiodtk5
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Re: Valveking ii 100 head sounds very dull.

Post by studiodtk5 » Fri Apr 14, 2023 10:26 am

I wonder if changing C66 to a different value would help the blanket issue and take some hiss out.

I haven't looked a the circuit to know this. Just wondering. It could be the capacitor is just too low of a value for you (cutting more highs out)
Darren
ITOC: 08-00190

Peavey stuff I have: Masterpiece 50, Custom Shop 212, Stereo Chorus 212, T-60, T-40, Signature Select, Odyssey II Prototype, Generation Custom EXP, Firenza P90-ACM, VB-2, Stomp Boxes, Radial Pro 1000, lots of mics, etc...

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