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Oh, I hate it so much when a title says nothing more but 'New amp day' and you've gotta go inside the thread to read what's cookin, only to find out it's about a Roland cube. Or something... //Rant
Back on track.
I got my new amp yesterday! I've been eye-balling Victory ever since I ran into Rob Chapman and was allowed a go at his lovely Silverback amp. I wasn't sure about the 50w power section, though, and I felt the reverb wasn't up to my spec wish list: it's one master reverb on or off and I want to be able to adjust the reverb per channel. The tones, though, were a m a z i n g.
Fast forwards, almost 2 years to this day.
I have the V100! The V100 is the bigger sibling of the "The Earl" 50w head, which in turn was the basis for the Silverback. I chose the V100 because of its power section, the dual reverb and the fact that the the tone is very similar and it didn't have those crazy add-ons the Silverback has (the knob guard and the valve trap door on top).
Tones!
First channel. Clean. Can go from clean to clean to clean to clean and oh, slight breakup... it eats pedals like Cookie Monster munches on chocolate chip cookies. It can go from spongy to sparkly by simply adjusting the EQ section (which is super responsive). I compared it to my Soldano SLO and they are very, very similar. My to-go clean amp was my Mesa Mark 3: that one was spongy and sparkly but on two different channels so I could have both. I have it set up now for supersparkly, chimey cleans and I juice it up with a Guv'nor.
Second Channel. Dirty, plus optional gain boost. The gain boost is an interesting feature cause it boosts the gain but also changes the entire feel of the amp. I'd like to compare the second channel to a plexi running hot. The gain boost tightens up the entire feel, adds gain and saturation. I have my second channel set up to just be able to get a squeel and the gain boost boosts it all the way up to mayhem-territory (think Metallica old school, Megadeth, Iron Maiden). It's not a gainmonster, it's a TONE monster. I felt that the gain boost on 10 and the channel gain on 7 gives me the best of both worlds: open voiced c0ckr0ck without and tight, screaming metal with the gain boost.
I also run an 808 in front which acts as another, overall gain boost. With the 808, palm mutes will rip your balls off. It's just like a block of concrete, sonically, but it's NEVER mushy, never woofy. Every note comes through super clean and articulated.
This is a true player's amp: no stupid toggles and whatnot, just plug 'n play. It's easy to dial in a good sound but work a bit harder and you get an epic sound.
I won't go so far as to say that it will replace my SLO, my JCM800 or my Mesa Mk.3, but it will be my to-go amp for day-to-day use.
Oh, and some gratuity pics of the collection and a mandatory unboxing vid!
Back on track.
I got my new amp yesterday! I've been eye-balling Victory ever since I ran into Rob Chapman and was allowed a go at his lovely Silverback amp. I wasn't sure about the 50w power section, though, and I felt the reverb wasn't up to my spec wish list: it's one master reverb on or off and I want to be able to adjust the reverb per channel. The tones, though, were a m a z i n g.
Fast forwards, almost 2 years to this day.
I have the V100! The V100 is the bigger sibling of the "The Earl" 50w head, which in turn was the basis for the Silverback. I chose the V100 because of its power section, the dual reverb and the fact that the the tone is very similar and it didn't have those crazy add-ons the Silverback has (the knob guard and the valve trap door on top).
Tones!
First channel. Clean. Can go from clean to clean to clean to clean and oh, slight breakup... it eats pedals like Cookie Monster munches on chocolate chip cookies. It can go from spongy to sparkly by simply adjusting the EQ section (which is super responsive). I compared it to my Soldano SLO and they are very, very similar. My to-go clean amp was my Mesa Mark 3: that one was spongy and sparkly but on two different channels so I could have both. I have it set up now for supersparkly, chimey cleans and I juice it up with a Guv'nor.
Second Channel. Dirty, plus optional gain boost. The gain boost is an interesting feature cause it boosts the gain but also changes the entire feel of the amp. I'd like to compare the second channel to a plexi running hot. The gain boost tightens up the entire feel, adds gain and saturation. I have my second channel set up to just be able to get a squeel and the gain boost boosts it all the way up to mayhem-territory (think Metallica old school, Megadeth, Iron Maiden). It's not a gainmonster, it's a TONE monster. I felt that the gain boost on 10 and the channel gain on 7 gives me the best of both worlds: open voiced c0ckr0ck without and tight, screaming metal with the gain boost.
I also run an 808 in front which acts as another, overall gain boost. With the 808, palm mutes will rip your balls off. It's just like a block of concrete, sonically, but it's NEVER mushy, never woofy. Every note comes through super clean and articulated.
This is a true player's amp: no stupid toggles and whatnot, just plug 'n play. It's easy to dial in a good sound but work a bit harder and you get an epic sound.
I won't go so far as to say that it will replace my SLO, my JCM800 or my Mesa Mk.3, but it will be my to-go amp for day-to-day use.
Oh, and some gratuity pics of the collection and a mandatory unboxing vid!
this is the 6l6 version if I recall correctly. I wanted to ask them to swap them for el34's, my favorites (or so I thought) but Dave Murray and Guthrie use 6l6's, so I figured... should not ***** about this and go with 6l6's too. And I do think that was the wiser choice but still... Curiosity kills me
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