Victory Kraken MKII

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nightlight

nightlight

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This is an amp I need to check out. I really dug the MKI version I had, but it had no proper clean channel and had this weird squealing sound if you turned the mics up on channel 2 (stupidly, I didn’t think that it could have been a bad tube), so I moved it on.

Checks a lot of boxes for me. Perhaps the next amp I’ll buy (a long, long time from now). Well, either that or a KSR Orion, since I need a good lunchbox amp.

Here’s a demo by Rabea:

 
I've always heard they were a bit noisy. Some of the demos didn't sound like that was sorted out.

I had an Orion and I plan on getting another one or maybe another Ares. Great amps.

Honestly if you want a Kraken I would wait a little bit until some people get it and see what they think.
 
ClintN667 said:
I've always heard they were a bit noisy. Some of the demos didn't sound like that was sorted out.

I had an Orion and I plan on getting another one or maybe another Ares. Great amps.

Honestly if you want a Kraken I would wait a little bit until some people get it and see what they think.
Click to expand...
Yup, good advice. Will wait and see.

The reviews of the Orion on the other hand seem to be great.
 
I had some interest in the Kraken a while back, but that faded pretty quickly once I started looking into it more. Not that it's a bad amp, sounds like crap, or anything like that. For me, there were better options out there; a KSR being one of them. I ended up with a Gemini. Compared to a couple of other amps I own a Kraken MKI is meh and the MKII generates little interest.

Clint's right though, especially if you're on the fence about getting one. Wait until more reports come in then decided.
Seeing as a KSR is on your radar too, if it were me I'd obviously go for a KSR. Maybe not a Gemini if I did it again since it can be a little overwhelming with all the knobs & switches. But maybe an Ares or Orthos as those are less complicated versions of the Gemini.
 
Played a Kraken past Sunday. Really liked it, but the noise factor was brought up.
Wonder if it's any better in vs II.
 
I have one of these - apparently I'm on a quest to play every high gainer ever made and Kraken has been on the list for awhile. Stayed away from Mk I for whatever reason but grabbed the new one from Sweetwater.

This amp is pretty insane. 50 watt, 3 channel amp at 20 something pounds. It's extremely small - like half the size of the 50 watt EVHs.

Martin Kidd and Rabea make no secrets the lead channel is derived from the 5150 and the crunch channel from a JCM style amp. I can hear that but it's got its own thing going. Not the rawest amp I've ever played but I really like the voicing of both channels. Palm mutes are punishing and there's a shit ton of gain on Gain II. Mk II also adds a true clean channel.

One of the biggest complaints of Mk I was no presence knob and that has been remedied here although it doesn't act like a typical presence knob. To me it feels more like a contour knob on the Wizards, shifting the mid point. It's actually pretty awesome and makes the amp feel very versatile. There's also a mid shift button on the back...leads to a metric ton of combinations between the switch and the knob.

I need to spend more time with this as I just got it but feels like there are a ton of tones here. Vintage to modern high gain, 50 watts in a tiny package. Sub $2k. Early days but very impressed with it. Oh yeah, I've noticed zero noise issues. I'm running it next to a VH4, 2203 and Recto and it's quieter than all of those amps to my ears.
 
MadAsAHatter said:
I had some interest in the Kraken a while back, but that faded pretty quickly once I started looking into it more. Not that it's a bad amp, sounds like crap, or anything like that. For me, there were better options out there; a KSR being one of them. I ended up with a Gemini. Compared to a couple of other amps I own a Kraken MKI is meh and the MKII generates little interest.

Clint's right though, especially if you're on the fence about getting one. Wait until more reports come in then decided.
Seeing as a KSR is on your radar too, if it were me I'd obviously go for a KSR. Maybe not a Gemini if I did it again since it can be a little overwhelming with all the knobs & switches. But maybe an Ares or Orthos as those are less complicated versions of the Gemini.
Click to expand...
If you don't need a clean channel the Ares is freaking nice af. I know the Orthos is supposed to be a 2 channel Ares but the Ares had a little extra aggression to it. The Orthos has a clean channel that you can tell wasn't put in as an afterthought. It sounds great IMHO. The Orion is a really cool amp too. Tough call between that and an Ares. I usually keep a KSR on hand. The only reasons I've sold any of my KSR stuff is cause something screwed up somewhere like a car break down, need to move on short notice, etc. They are a company that I trust completely. I can buy something sight unseen and know I'm going to dig it.

Also it's nice to be able to reach out to Kyle, Corey, etc and know who I'm dealing with. Victory you really have no clue who built it and from the gut shots I've seen I'm not completely comfortable that it will be reliable. I'm not basing that on real world experience so take my comment with the smallest grain of salt. I have heard good things about them apart from the noise.
 
I played a friend's Orthos Mk I recently and was very underwhelmed. I was GASing hard for one of those Orion's when they came out, but the Orthos honestly turned me off completely from their amps. I'd have to try another one in person to even think about spending money on one. Kyle is a really cool guy, though and he seems to know his shit. I'd definitely try one again, but first impressions were not favorable.

The Victory, on the other hand, I've played the Mk I and thought it sounded great, but I needed a clean and the price of the Super Kraken introduces a ton of really great amps, so I wasn't really interested in it for long. Odd they didn't add a resonance to the new one as well, every amp should have presence and resonance...
 
Looks like @Bad.Seed just dropped his video on the Mk II

 
Played the first model last weekend. Really liked it. The amount of noise was talked about. Otherwise, I dug it.
I may check the new one out.
 
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