Victory amps, do we like them?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Kapo_Polenton
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Kapo_Polenton

Kapo_Polenton

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I came across their stuff online and damn does their Sheriff sound great. The whole amp in a box with SS power amp and IR's for 1300$ canadian but the 25 watt amps is 1900$ CAD. Seems like these guys price themselves well in a market that's full of 3k amps. They are cheaper than Marshall and provide more features. Anyone have the preamp or preamp/ power amp sheriff? Sounds fantastic to my ears. I'm tempted to grab one for recording.
 
I looked at Victory stuff a while back, but ultimately passed. I didn't think there was anything inherently bad about them. There were just other amps I liked much better that knocked them out of the running.
 
MadAsAHatter said:
I looked at Victory stuff a while back, but ultimately passed. I didn't think there was anything inherently bad about them. There were just other amps I liked much better that knocked them out of the running.
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What did you end up going with? I guess it depends also on availability and pricing per country. I feel like we get gouged on U.S gear here in Canada. I often get better prices out of Europe or Japan.
 
retrorack said:
Maybe it’s just the demos I’ve heard, but they all sounded darker/thicker than I was going for.
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I will have to listen for this, I like the Marshall bite. The sheriff preamp pedal sounds like it digs in but maybe Thorn's demo is throwing me. He makes everything sound good.
 
I really wanna try the copper but worry I’ll get bored of the clean and pushed clean thing and just go back to the modded marshall thing
 
I used to own a Victory Kraken VX, the Mark I version. It wasn't too bad an amp, imo. Very compact, and loud enough to keep up with a band. I'd have picked a 5153 over it though.
 
Kapo_Polenton said:
What did you end up going with? I guess it depends also on availability and pricing per country. I feel like we get gouged on U.S gear here in Canada. I often get better prices out of Europe or Japan.
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I had the higher watt version of the Kraken, Sheriff, and Copper along with the others in contention on my list. The first time around I ended up with an ENGL Steve Morse. Next time around I went with an ENGL Inferno over a Victory. After that I found a Peters Vega for a good price and picked that over Victory. It went that way a couple more times where I chose a Zinky MOFO, KSR Gemini, Mesa Mark III all over anything from Victory. For the money I kept finding amps I liked much better than anything from Victory until they fell completely off my wishlist.

During that time I also had a Driftwood Purple Nightmare, Omega Granophyre, Fuchs Mantis, and something from Grainger or MGL on my list as well. They're all good amps in their own right just like Victory, but like I mentioned I kept finding things I liked better which ultimately knocked them off the wishlist. Between the amps I ended up getting and eventually acquiring what I dubbed the unholy trinity (Headfirst Alta, Monomyth Skeleton Key, & Ground Zero Hellion) there's very few amps that hold my interest long enough to truly consider getting something else.

Now my focus with amps is building my own. I've built a simple Class A kit already and have a couple other kits from Allen amps and Ceriatone I'm interested in doing. Eventually I want to work my knowledge and skills up to tackling the MCII and/or MTL boards from Headfirst. Aside from that only 2 production type amps has held my interest long enough to stay on the list that I will eventually get them. Both are from the same builder who is actually local to me; Sonictone Patriot and SE12.
 
retrorack said:
Maybe it’s just the demos I’ve heard, but they all sounded darker/thicker than I was going for.
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That was kind of my take on them as well. I've only played a couple of them and for brief times, but they kind of gave me a Friedman vibe of being a bit too polished and polite sounding for my preference. Where a Marshall roar is piss and vinegar, the Friedman/Victory is more salt and vinegar
 
Aynirar27 said:
That was kind of my take on them as well. I've only played a couple of them and for brief times, but they kind of gave me a Friedman vibe of being a bit too polished and polite sounding for my preference. Where a Marshall roar is piss and vinegar, the Friedman/Victory is more salt and vinegar
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I forgot which ones I heard years ago, but to me, they seemed too much on the 'Orange' side of things; very wooly, thick, but kinda fuzzy/stoner sounding opposed to anything tight (e.g. Engl, Mesa Marks, 5150) and/or more Marshall-y that I prefer.
 
I had a V30 (original version) for about a week and returned it. It had one specific set of settings where it sounded great and anything outside of that was mediocre at best or horrible at worst. The "great" range was a bit less gain than I wanted so back it went. Honestly trying to dial it for high gain sounded like a bad fuzz pedal.

They've revised all the amps since then so no idea how the new ones are.
 
I have found nothing particularly impressive about them, others feel differently.
 
I had the Super Kraken briefly. Sounded cool, needed to be cranked and desperately needed a presence control. Looks like they have addressed some of this with the newer Kraken model. I'd like to try it sometime but not in a hurry.

I don't know about you guys but it seems like after a bit of a lull, there is now a ton of awesome new gear hitting the market and I can't keep up.
 
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