Peavey Valveking212 Replacement Speaker Question

[valveking89]

I recently got a Peavey Valveking 212 100 watt Combo and am looking to replace the 2 speakers. I am thinking of mixing a Eminence Black Powder with an Eminence Man o War and was wandering if anyone could give me some advice on whether this is a good decision.

The Black powder is rated at 75 watts and has a sensitivity of 100 whereas the Man o War is rated at 120 watts and has a sensitivity of 102. I will be mostly after a thrashy,doomy metal sound e.g. mastodon, amon amarth, behemoth so the clean sounds will not be that important.

Any advice or opinions will be much appreciated.

Cheers
Jake

[cowboy]

Hi! From what I've read about those speakers and the Valveking, the impedance doesn't seem to match. Both speakers are rated 8 ohms, which when wired in parallel will result in 4 ohm, If you run them in series though, the impedance will be 16 ohms and it will work, but you will loose some output. Correct me if I'm wrong on the Peavy impedance!

Otherwise the speakers seems like a nice choice!

Best Regards!
JT

[mduke]

Hello,
I also own a valveking 212. I replaced my speakers with celestion vintage 30's and they sound amazing! There is an impedance switch on the back of the amp, so this allows you to select 4, 8, or 16 ohm settings. So I believe you can choose 2, 8 or 16 ohm speakers. my 212 original stock valveking speakers were 16ohm. so no worries on the impedance issue.

[Howlin' Mad Mac]

You can use any 2 speakers you like as long as they're the same impedance as the originals & you wire them the same way (although often tube amplifiers are forgiving enough to use a speaker choice that is a little higher impedance) and they should be rated high enough to handle the output. Now using 2 Celestion Vintage 30's (30w + 30w = 60w) in an amp with a 100 watt output will work but you had better not drive the amp full bore or you will burn up some voice coils. As far as what speakers are going to give you the sound you want & mixing & matching 2 different models... well that's the kind of thing guys love to debate & their opinions have the same aroma as yours & mine. Quit worrying about what somebody else plays or thinks sounds the best & use your own ears... if it sounds right to you who cares about what anybody else thinks or says. As far as tone for uber metal though those guys are usually using (if not Celestions) speakers with cones & voice coils made like British speakers as opposed to Jensen or Utah speakers like you would find in a classic tweed or black-face Fender for the more blusey overdrive crowd or a speaker like old JBL's or EV's with very high power ratings that don't tend to distort easily if you're after a very clean jazz or country sound. Also the cabinet design (open back, semi-open back, closed back or closed ported back) will make a big difference in your sound. Where you're going for a heavy distortion metal tone these players are usually using closed back designed cabinets & you're not going to get the same kind of bass response from a partially open back combo. Perhaps instead of swapping out your existing speakers try building a properly designed tuned closed back cabinet & see what you get both using just the closed back cabinet or a combination of the amp's speakers & your cabinet combined (just remember to set the impedance properly on the back of the amp.)

[mduke]

I think the 4, 8 or 16 ohm switch on the back of the amp means the amp is compatible with various impedance speakers. according to my research anyway. That means you can have 8ohm speakers even if the originals are 16. just as long as you move the switch from the 8ohm setting to 4ohms. am I correct in saying that?

Also my Vintage 30's are actually 60 watts, not 30. and yes, you are absolutely right about "using your own ears" to find your sound. everybody's different man. Sorry if I sounded like I was trying to push the Vintage 30's on anyone, that wasn't my intent.

[Howlin' Mad Mac]

I think the 4, 8 or 16 ohm switch on the back of the amp means the amp is compatible with various impedance speakers. according to my research anyway. That means you can have 8ohm speakers even if the originals are 16. just as long as you move the switch from the 8ohm setting to 4ohms. am I correct in saying that?

Also my Vintage 30's are actually 60 watts, not 30. and yes, you are absolutely right about "using your own ears" to find your sound. everybody's different man. Sorry if I sounded like I was trying to push the Vintage 30's on anyone, that wasn't my intent.

Cool... Silly me to assume reissue Vintage 30's would have the same 30 watt rating as the originals, Doh! Anyway you didn't come off as "pushing" the Celestions. They're great speakers & the kind of breakup they offer should do any metalhead proud. (Not picking on metalheads here either as I use to be one, just mellowing a bit as I slowy go senile from old age. lol) As for the impedance selector switch you are absolutely right. The amp's output transformer has multiple taps (3 to be exact, 1 for 16 ohms, 1 for 8 ohms & 1 for 4 ohms.) How you should set it depends on your total load so in the case of (2) 8 ohm speakers if they're wired in series you add their values (8+8) and use the 16 ohm tap or wire them in parallel (8/2) and use the 4 ohm tap. If it were me I would use (2) 16 ohm speakers wired in parallel & use the 8 ohm tap that way if I wanted to use the amp with an additional cabinet (say an 8 ohm 212 cabinet) you would simply change switch to the 16 ohm tap ((16/2)+(16/2)=16.)