This is probably the most versatile amp I've ever played. I'm a huge KISS fan, and I can get the tone I need for it. This amp is also great for any metal player. Many complain that there's not enough distortion. They obviously don't know much about EQ.... The reverb has a weird sound to it, and prepare for quite a bit of hum when you plug something in the effects loop. Other than that this is a great amp.

I bought this amp about 2 years ago, and I absolutely love it. the clean channel is great, warm, bright, everything you could want from a clean channel. The overdrive channel sounds even better, good for virtually any kind of distortion you want to dial into it. I played with this amp in a metal band last year, and once I dialed in the tone it sounded beautiful (in a heavy, dark kind of way). I didn't think of it as a metal amp before i bought it, but it definitely passed the test. It's crazy loud too!! the other guitarist (who took tone very seriously, and owned a Mesa Rectifier) was really impressed with the tone I got out of it also. I'm playing in a punk rock band, gigging regularly, and the amps still doing everything i need and more. We play a lot of covers, from pop-punk to hard rock, and the amp is still delivering the tone i need. I can get so many amazing tones out of the amp, its extremely durable, and I would recommend it to anyone.

One other word of advice, if you want really good heavy distortion, buy a tube screamer or overdrive pedal and put it in front, it really adds the extra attack and bite you need for metal.

i play hardcore music (the devil wears prada) and some metal have owned this amp around 8 months and its still going strong, its really loud and has a strait up AMAZING clean channel normaly that would have nothing to do with an intense hardcore/ metal sound HOWEVER running any kind of high gain distortion pedal into this amp sounds unbelivable and ive noticed that with the bright switch on you can get a super intense cuting high gain sound with a pedal far better than any other amp ive used with the same distortion, i use a didgitech tl2 hardwire distortion and when i run it into this amazing amp it sounds like nothing ive ever heard before, and ive used my pedal on many other amps b4 and i can not describe how much more amazing this thing sounds, if you use a distortion pedal and are looking for a powerful awesome sounding amp and play HIGH gain music look no further, my only complaints is that this amp is HEAVY and its own built in distortion isnt that great

I have owned my Valve King 212 for over 2 years and use it for practice and live gigs. The amp does what it neeeds to and will give you a good guitar tone at for any gig you have. I use passive humbuckers,active humbuckers and single coil pickups, and for all, the amp is a little generic sounding on the clean and lead channel. The two problems I have with the amp is #1 the Reverb. In no way does it compair to a Classic 212 or a Hot Rod Deluxe. I have even replaced the reverb tank, but with no real improvement. The 2nt thing is, with most tube amps the louder the amp, the better it sounds. The Valve King is a loud amp but the sweet spot is hard to find and it doesnt reach that (GREAT!!) tone. I think that the amp sounds better at a lower volume. When you turn the volume past 4.5 on both the clean and lead channels the amp gets messy, not smooth and creamy. Also it is brittle sounding like the amp is working to hard. I have had little luck trying to adjust the tone or the Texture controls to solve this problem. The amp just loses its warmth. For the most part the Valve King is a great tube amp for the money but if your looking for that (Warm,Smooth and Creamy) guitar tone and using the Valve King 212 you will need to rely more on your oun guitar,fingers and style.

Im into heavy music and blues for the most part. For blues its absolutely perfect in my opinion, and that goes for the clean and dirty channel. I gave features a 4.5 due to the reverb, but thats no biggy to me, i just crank it when necessary. Most of the heavy music I dig, hails out of New Orleans, i.e. Acid Bath, Crowbar, Soilent Green, and many more. No w, I dont want to duplicate anyones tone; I want my own tone, which is what I get from this amp. Im still messin with some distortion and overdrive units, but I think Im gonna end up with a sonic maximizer going thru the loop on this; maybe a tubescreamer too. If you spend a little time with adjusting this, it really kills. In addition, I was blown away, when I heard how loud this thing is. I have a Mapex Rock 24 kit, and this 212 stays with the kit between 3 and 5 depending on what were playing. All in All, this is an amp to have....Im a tone freak, and will probably have other amps going forward, but this one is definitely staying with me. Do yourself a favor if ya go try it out...spend more than five minutes tweaking it. Dont just play as is...set it to your preference and go from there.