FAQs - Victory Amps

My Kraken is feeding back, what should I do?

What you’re hearing may be feedback or it may be a microphonic valve in the V1 position.

Does this feedback sound happen with the guitar unplugged from the input socket of the amp? Try switching between channels at rehearsal or gig settings without your guitar plugged in and if it still does this, changing V1 (the preamp valve nearest to the input) for a low noise and low microphonic valve will help.

If the amp is well behaved with no guitar plugged in then have you tried turning your guitar’s volume control down when you’re not playing it or switching to Gain I?

Guitars will feedback given the chance: for all the years that I’ve played gigs and having used many different amps over that time, I’ve always made sure that I’ve turned my guitar volume down when not playing and any high gain channel or overdrive off, between songs.

It will, of course, depend on the type of music you’re playing so if you’re perhaps playing music like Slipknot’s you may need, as Jim Root and Mick Thomson do, a noise gate but with a reasonably high threshold setting, which allows them to stop playing without turning their guitar down. If it’s less intense music that you’re playing, turning your guitar down etc. should do the trick.

Here’s a short video from Victory’s Chief Designer Martin Kidd that might be of interest too

My Kraken makes a honking noise on Channel 2 when I stop playing, what should I do?

Channel 2 on the Kraken can be a bit fierce and it does need selected valves for positions V1 & V2 to tame the feedback.

Martin has been using one live and he says that it is essential to zero the volume knob on the guitar as soon as you’ve stopped playing to avoid any feedback squeals if you have the gain turned up.

However, there are things you can do to reduce the gain. If you replace any or all of these: V1, V2 or V3 with an ECC81, (12AT7) or a 5751 you’ll get a gain reduction.

Derek at Watford Valves is very helpful so if you tell him what you are trying to do, he can recommend the best valves for the job.

As each valve is a dual triode changing any of them will affect both channels but you can balance up any changes using the Gain controls.

You won’t do any harm just swapping preamp valves about so a bit of experimentation could get you the desired results.

For the best results, only ever make one change at a time though so you can clearly see what makes the most difference.

What fuses do I need for my Victory amp?

Victory exclusively use 20x5mm UL-approved ‘Timed’ or ‘Slow-Blow’ fuses rated at 250V in all amplifiers. The value of mains fuse will depend on your country’s mains supply but the values are clearly marked on the rear of all amplifiers near to the mains inlet. The mains fuse is located in a small tray right next to the IEC mains inlet socket and this can be removed using a small flat blade screwdriver.

The HT or ‘High Tension’ fuse protects the high voltage for the valve supply. If this fuse blows, the first step is to replace it with an identical T500mA 20x5mm fuse.

The HT or the mains fuse may sometimes blow due to ‘flash-over’ inside an output valve. This is where during the manufacturing process, not all of the gas is removed from the glass envelope and the ‘getter’ inside the valve, usually made from barium or magnesium oxide, will burn or evaporate these remaining gasses resulting in the common silvered internal surface of the valve. This process, which is more likely to happen with new equipment, draws high current momentarily and can blow the HT fuse or the Mains Fuse. It will rarely cause any damage so just replacing the fuse is sufficient to get the amp running normally again.

However, if the HT or Mains fuse blows multiple times, it may indicate a serious valve failure where internal parts of a valve are shorted and in this case the amplifier needs to be checked by a qualified engineer to assess the problem.

Once my Victory amp is preheated (after >1min in preheat with main switch on), can I switch freely between the three positions “Low-Preheat-High”? Or is it necessary/recommendable to turn down to 0 the volume or master and/or to wait a little bit when passing from Low to high or vice versa?

It’s best to wait a few seconds, (only about 5 is needed) if you are going from Low to High or high to Low for the Bias voltage to stabilise or you may get some funny unwanted noises.

Can I switch between single-ended mode V4/V5 and full-output mode while I am in Preheat? Or is it necessary/recommendable to only change this when the amp is turned off completely?

To switch into Single Ended mode you can have the amp fully on, it will not harm anything as all it does is switch one or the other tube off.

Here’s a short video from Victory’s Chief Designer Martin Kidd that might be of interest too…

I have a quick question re the V40 Duchess – which tubes will break up first, EL34 or 6L6? I would like to know which tubes I can get the most headroom out of.

The 6L6 has a slightly better frequency response than an EL34 so will give a perceived higher clean headroom. There’s not much in it and you wouldn’t notice until the amps is really cranked right up, (you’ll need to be in a big room as those this will be very loud) but in our opinion, we’d recommend the 6L6s.

Here’s a short video from Victory’s Chief Designer, Martin Kidd which may also be of use…

Just bought a V40 Deluxe. Can I run 5881 output tubes, specifically NOS Tung Sols in the V40 Deluxe?

The quick answer is you should be OK.

The 5881 historically is just the US Military name for a 6L6 however, different manufacturers of these tubes claim different plate voltages.

Older 5881s were rated at a max plate voltage of 400V whereas the JJ 6L6GC that we use has a max of 500V.

Many companies run the 5881 at much higher plate voltages, (up to 460V) with no problems but we cannot guarantee their usage in a V40 which runs at around 420V on the anodes as this does exceed the specification slightly.

To be honest though, we spent a great deal of time trying different tubes and finally selecting the JJ 6L6 for the V40D amps as this was the best for the job. You are unlikely to hear much difference between these and a 5881 and even then it won’t be until you have it turned up to maximum.

The tubes we’ve installed in your V40D have been through 3 levels of testing including a 2 hour full power soak test to ensure the best possible reliability so we wouldn’t advise changing them until they wear out, anywhere between 12 months and 5 years or so.

Then you could try the Tung Sol 5881s but be aware, if they fail catastrophically with a dead short circuit, they might burn some resistors out which would need replacing and this would not be covered by our warranty.

If I’d just spent all that money on a V40D, I really wouldn’t mess with it.

What make or brand of valves do you recommend for my Victory amplifier?

We always recommend replacing valves with the same ones that the amplifier was originally shipped with.

Here at Victory we spend 100s of hours trying different valves for tone, noise, microphony, reliability and musicality. It is a worrying misconception that amplifier manufacturers just use the cheapest valves they can get hold of.

This makes no sense at all as it is in our interest get the amplifiers sounding as good as possible straight out of the box and we certainly don’t want to have to replace poor quality valves under warranty as this would be very uneconomical.

So, for the preamplifier, all Victory amplifiers are fitted with either JJ ECC83Ss, or PM Components ECC83s. In sensitive positions, like first and second gain stages, we use selected valves that have been graded for low microphony and low noise.

If they are PM type, they will be printed up as E83CC to identify the grading.

Some Victory amplifiers use ECC81s, (12AT7s), for driving the reverb or for use in the phase splitter circuit. These parts of the circuit benefit from a lower gain valve and so we use the PM ECC81 as it is reliable and has 40% less gain than an ECC83.

They have the same pin configuration as an ECC83/12AX7 so are interchangeable.

For output valves we use JJ in all Victory amplifiers: EL34s, 6L6s & EL84s. We have found these to be the most consistently reliable and many out there are now over 4 years old.

I own a V45, when switching from the OD to clean channel I get a massive boost in the return of the effects loop briefly. I have asked about and it sound like there are others who have experienced a similar issue with their V30s.

This will happen if the effect used is a Reverb or delay or anything that puts a slight delay on the signal because the instant you switch, the signal takes a bit of time to come back into the effects return.

This is the same for any similar amp and isn’t a fault with the amp, it’s just one of those things that happens as a result of using effects.

The effects loop itself in a V30/V45 is just a pair of jack sockets that break into the signal path; there are no other components so nothing that could in itself boost the signal at all.

Indeed, this is the case for all Victory amplifier effects loops.

I have a Sheriff 44/Sheriff 22 and would like an option to boost either of the two channels. I’ve tried an EP booster and a Mini Spark in the loop but without the required outcome …… i.e. negligible volume increase! Putting them in front just seems to saturate rather than boost!

Unfortunately, as the master volume on the Sheriff is a post phase splitter type, a fair amount of the amp’s overdrive comes from the phase splitter stage of the circuit, which is after the effects return stage and immediately before the power valves. This type of circuit was chosen deliberately, as the Sheriff was designed to give the overdrive sound of the non-master volume amps of yesteryear, where a great deal of the tone was generated in the output stage; with the flexibility of being able to control the volume.

Returning to your original question; the only way Sheriff users have had some success in achieving a volume boost is to attenuate the signal going into the effects return socket and switching this attenuation off for a volume/gain boost. Something like the Electro Harmonix Signal Pad or a volume pedal may give you the desired results. The effects send level from the Sheriff 44/22 is around -10dBu.

Here’s a short video from Victory’s Chief Designer Martin Kidd, which may be of interest too…

I am inquiring to find out what the year of production on my V50 is. If there is a guide that you all have to assist in reading all Victory serial numbers?

All Victory serial numbers have the month and year as the last digits.

For example 00027-0716 is the 27th amp final tested in July 2016.

What are the main difference between the V30 Countess and the V40 Duchess?

The main differences are that the V30 is a general purpose amplifier with a high-headroom clean channel and then an overdrive channel for full-on valve distortion.

The V30 will cover all types of music and the channels are footswitchable.

The V40 was designed as a ‘pedal platform’ so it really only has one clean channel which does crunch up a bit when driven hard. The idea is that you get all of your required tones using pedals or rack-mount effects processors.

The V40 has a single footswitch to turn the internal Reverb ON/OFF.

Both amps produce around 42Watt RMS output power as they use the same transformers.

They are both loud amps when turned up!

When using my Victory amplifier there is some hum coming from the speaker; is this normal?

All of the compact heads have a bit of residual hum, it’s unavoidable. This will vary depending on many other factors, mains voltage supply, environment, quality of cables & instrument etc.

It will also be much higher if the Master is fully open but the amp isn’t playable at that setting so it shouldn’t be a problem.

We get quite a few questions about ‘too much hum’ from customers and it’s usually because they are unfamiliar with valve guitar amplifiers. They are not zero-gain Hi-Fi amplifiers!

What is the power consumption of my Victory amplifier?

All Victory amps have a V.A. rating screen-printed near to the mains inlet. This is a Voltage x Current rating which is a Wattage measurement. i.e. 160 V.A. equals 160 Watts.

I have a VX Kraken. Is it possible to use the effects loop only to simulate a direct to mixing board set up with a sans amp pedal? I.e. guitar – sans amp – effects loop. Is the effects loop pre power section?

Yes, you can use the effects return socket of the Kraken and so have the power amp section acting as a slave amplifier, effectively.

The loop, in common with nearly all guitar amps comes just before the power amp but the Kraken’s master volumes come after the effects return stage instead of before the effects send, as is the case on some amplifiers so the two master volumes on your Kraken will still be at your disposal, if used as a slave amp.

Is there any way I can I preserve the consistency of the power going into the amp from the mains as I get intermittent interference in my location along with voltage fluctuations?

There are many power conditioners on the market and they range in price from reasonable to ridiculously expensive.

We recommend a trip to your nearest high-end HiFi dealer and see what they recommend as these things are very common in the HiFi world.

There’s no need to spend more than £100-£200 on a conditioner as you only need it to run one unit.

My Victory amp started making some very loud and random crackling noises and I could clearly see a valve was glowing so hot it looked like it was about to blow.

You have a failed output valve. The glowing RED is called ‘cherry plating’ and this is what happens sometimes when a valve fails.

It loses the bias voltage probably due to an internal short circuit inside the glass envelope and this allows the valve to draw lots of current and get extremely hot very quickly – the plates inside start to glow red through heat.

The average life expectancy of the output valves is around 2 years but this can vary between a couple of months and 10 years but occasionally, they will fail earlier.

If I buy a Victory V40 Deluxe from the USA, will it still be usable here in the Philippines where we run things at 220volts?

All Victory amps can be played anywhere in the world, you just need to switch the small voltage selector over to the voltage for the region you want to play in.

The 120V setting is good for the USA and for Japan, (anywhere from 100V to 125V) and the 230V setting is good for the rest of the world, (220V to 250v).

You also need to change the mains fuse from T2A (USA 120V) to T1A (220V).

This information and more details can be found in the owner’s manuals which are all available on our website: www.victoryamps.co.uk

I see people trying to find the centre of the speaker cone when miking up all the time. If victory amps had a nice badge or some type of mark on the speaker grill cloth this would be made easy.

We did actually consider this but badges or marks at different places on the grillcloth didn’t look very good and spoilt the cosmetics.

However, almost everyone has either an iPhone or Android smartphone these days and these have flashlights as APPs.

If you shine these on the grill cloth of any Victory cab or combo, you can clearly see the centre of the speakers for accurate mic placement!

Will the Victory V40 combo sound the same as the V40 head and V112VC cabinet?

The V40 head & combo have identical amplifier sections so there is no difference in tone.
All of our 1×12 cabs are open-backed so the tone is very similar to the combo as well.
The V112C is the 1×12 that is designed to go with the V40 head.

Any hopes of a smaller 5-7 watt combo amp coming any time?

The problem with low power combos is the price.

It takes just as long to make one as it does a say a 50W combo so even factoring in the reduced parts cost, the amps end up being expensive.

It seems that very few people want to pay good money for low powered combos.

The V10 is a superb combo with great reviews but we’ve only shipped 90 in 4 years compared to say the BD1/RD1 heads which we’ve shipped 300 in 2 years.

I have a Sheriff 44 and I’m curious about the lower power mode. Is the low power mode output only 6w if I crank both channel volume and the master volume? I wonder if it would be safe to connect only one Greenback 25w speaker at 16 ohms and run the amp in low power mode?

Both power ratings are taken just before the output waveform clips so it’s measuring ‘clean’ power.

If you turn everything up into clipping distortion you will produce far more than the 6 Watts but this will sound terrible so you will know straight away.

You will be perfectly safe running a Greenback on Low Power mode. If you hear any nasty noises, (i.e. you’re pushing the output stage into clip), then turn it down.

Celestion speakers will handle far more than they are rated at as long as it’s not a clipped signal. Don’t confuse clipping distortion with normal valve overdrive distortion though these are very different things.

Clipping distortion is where the output waveform becomes flat at the top & bottom and this not only sound bad but it will quickly burn out the delicate voice coil in a speaker. This is because the speaker isn’t moving in & out in the top & bottom flat regions so not air-cooling the voice coil. In a normal unclipped sinusoidal waveform, (i.e. any musical signal), the speaker cone & coil move up & down smoothly and the coil is constantly being cooled.
For example, a 100W speaker can be destroyed by only a few watts of clipping distortion but a 25W speaker will handle a clean 40W signal for quite some time if not indefinitely.

Please can you tell me why do you indicate the same bias for EL34 and 6L6GC? (34mV/34mA)

The bias figures we use are based on a quiescent current for average EL34s and 6L6s that results in full power output with no crossover distortion. I refer to average EL34s and 6L6s, as although most modern 6L6s claim a maximum plate dissipation of 30W some types only have a dissipation of 23 or 26 watts. In fact some have as little as 19W.

Some bias charts suggest that biasing a valve for 60-70% of the maximum plate dissipation at idle results in the valve anode dissipating much less when running at full power; however, it is rarely the case, when using your amplifier at a gig or rehearsal, that you would play your amplifier as loudly as possible all of the time so biasing for cooler operation and longer life is our approach.

You should also consider that the bias chart you have included in your email is only one of hundreds of similar charts that exist; some will contain similar information as the table below but others will take a different view: Rob Robinette’s chart may be of interest to you.

It’s worth noting too, that if, for example, you were to speak to an engineer at the Marshall factory about biasing EL34s, you may well be told to bias a 50W amplifier with 450V on the anodes of the EL34s at 45mA per valve. Some Fender amplifier user manuals, on the other hand, suggest a quiescent current of 40mA per 6L6 for the best sound, 30mA for extended valve life and good sound but as low as 20mA per valve for the longest valve life.

Biasing valves is not something that is carved in stone, so to speak and the best way to hear the difference is to experiment with bias currents. Higher currents will result in shorter valve life but may be preferable to you, if you like to overdrive the output valves. If you like more headroom for cleaner sounds and to keep preamp overdrive a little tighter, I would recommend lower settings.

Here’s a short video from Victory’s Chief Designer, Martin Kidd which may also be of use…

Can I fit KT66s in my V30/V40/V40C/V45?VX?

KT66s can be fitted and the same biasing advice applies for these as 6L6s. However, check the height of these before fitting the cage as they do vary and some may be too tall.

Here’s a short video from Victory’s Chief Designer, Martin Kidd which may also be of use…

I want to be able to use my V30 at home. As it is it’s just too loud, could you recommend a good, reliable but affordable attenuator I could use? Have you thought about designing a Victory attenuator or could you come up with a “built in attenuator mod” for my V30?

Yes indeed, it’s a question we have been asked frequently so I’ve actually added a section in the owner’s manual that covers the topic of attenuation.

This is the one Victory recommend; it’s called the Jettenuator and is made by Jet City Amplification:

https://www.thomann.de/gb/jet_city_amplification_jettenuator.htm?glp=1&gclid=CKjxmLe- ktICFeqc7QodK6IInA

We have been looking at our own attenuator but the low cost ones are made in China and are very good quality. We wouldn’t be able to compete on price so we’ll have to add some other features to make it worthwhile.

A built-in attenuator mod is quite an undertaking on a 40 Watt amp. You’d need a huge 100W aluminium clad power resistor with a heatsink and there just isn’t the room for it.

Are you aware of any companies who make flight cases for the Victory amps?

Yes, we recommend ABS cases as they specialise in custom cases with high quality and reasonable prices. https://www.abscases.co.uk/ Speak to Barry Smith.

We’d recommend a case with removable back & front so you can leave the amp in it when playing.

My 2×12 Creamback open back cab needs to be run with care as it gets quite bassy, is there anything I can do?

The amount of bass coming from an open backed cab is directly related to how far the cab is from the rear wall. If you bring the cab more into the room, the amount of bass will reduce dramatically.

Open backed cabinets tend to have a hump in bass frequencies around the resonant frequency of the speakers used. In this case about 75Hz. This isn’t really low bass but it’s a frequency that the human ear is sensitive too and can be overpowering.

A closed back cabinet has what is known as an infinite baffle which produces a lower resonant frequency from the cab but at a much reduced level. So, you might get some nice 40-50Hz bass which starts to flap trousers but not as loud as the open backed cab so it appears to not have as much bass.

The speakers are held much tighter in a sealed, closed back cab so don’t move as much air, hence not as loud at these low frequencies.

Here’s a short video from Victory’s Chief Designer Martin Kidd, which may be of interest too…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFQsUjO1bPQ&list=PLN3pfbxpwV_8jr1KcKJMfuDZniu2VJoeE&index=10

Do Victory amps work for bass guitars or do you sell a separate amp for basses?

At present, we only make amps for lead guitar. These are tailored to the response of 6-8 string instruments which is quite specific.

A bass amp ideally has a flat response and is full range rather like a HiFi amp and totally different to lead guitar amps which have reduced bass & treble response or they would sound awful.

Anyone who has played a lead guitar through a bass amp will testify to this.
They usually have full-range tone controls as well so you can tailor the sound of the instrument and EQ it for the place it’s being played in.

We may consider bass amps in the future but these require much more power as bass frequencies are much harder to amplify to get any real volume.

You need up to 10x the amount of power to compete with a 100W lead guitar stack and that’s why you find many bass players with multiple amps & speakers.

V40 Deluxe – can the 6L6s be swapped out for EL34s like on the Duchess?

When we were designing it, we tried various output tubes and decided that the 6L6s suited it best and decided not to put the option of switching to EL34s on it.

To be honest though, you don’t really hear any difference in output tubes until the amp is cranked right up full as up to that point, all the tone is coming from the preamp tubes.

When it is cranked, the 6L6s really sound amazing so that’s what we fit.

It just didn’t sound right with EL34s so we’d rather not compromise the tone by having this option.

Here’s a short video from Victory’s Chief Designer, Martin Kidd which may also be of use…

V130 Super Countess. Is possible to run 4 EL34s in this amp instead of the 6L6s it comes with? Will it have the same switch as the V30 that puts it in the bias range for EL34s?

When we were designing it, we tried various output tubes and decided that the 6L6s suited it best and decided not to put the option of switching to EL34s on it.

To be honest though, you don’t really hear any difference in output tubes until the amp is cranked right up full as up to that point, all the tone is coming from the preamp tubes.

When it is cranked, the 6L6s really sound amazing so that’s what we fit.

Here’s a short video from Victory’s Chief Designer, Martin Kidd which may also be of use…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3uSmk8bp9U&list=PLN3pfbxpwV_8jr1KcKJMfuDZniu2VJoeE&index=11

I recently purchased a Victory Sheriff 44 head. My question is whether it is necessary for the amplifier to be in standby to change bias (fixed-cathode or vice versa) or select high or low power mode?

You do not need to switch to Standby to change the Bias and it also doesn’t matter if High or Low is selected.

Here’s a short video from Victory’s Chief Designer, Martin Kidd which may also be of use…

My amplifier is buzzing; please listen to the supplied video and let me know what you think.

From the video, we can see that the buzzing stops when the guitar is turned down.
This points to the problem being that the guitar is picking up an external field from somewhere and then sending it into the amp to be amplified.

This could be anything from fluorescent lights to big mains transformers, computers, machinery or phone masts.

Pretty much, the rule is that if a particular noise from an amplifier is only present when an instrument is turned up but goes when the instrument is turned down, then it’s not the amp at fault.

All the amp does is amplify what it’s given.

To verify this, the amp needs to be played with all the same kit, guitar, leads etc, somewhere completely different.

How do I get the best from the Sheriff 22/44 FX Loop?

Here’s a short video from Victory’s Chief Designer Martin Kidd

Can I switch between low and high-power modes without letting the amp go into standby/preheat?