VICTORY AMPS AND their chief designer, Martin Kidd, have enjoyed a sterling reputation for high-quality British-made boutique amplifiers for nearly a decade. From their stunning aesthetics to the careful selection of tubes, transformers, speakers and voicings, there are reasons Victory amplifiers like The Duchess V40, The Sheriff 22 and the VC35 The Copper Deluxe have won over players like Guthrie Govan, Richie Kotzen, Joe Gore and Chris Buck. Built (and generally priced) for pros, Victory’s goods surely belong in the top echelon of modern-day amp makers.
That said, being a notable maker of Class A tube amplifiers in the age of modelers and profilers may not be the most mixed portfolio an amp company could have. It’s perhaps to address this new market that Victory last year added The Duchess V4 Guitar Amplifier to its Duchess line, the company’s ode to the dreamy cleans and light overdrives of classic Fender amps. With essentially the same preamp section you’ll find in the widely admired The Duchess V40 Deluxe full head and the V40H lunchbox head, the V4 follows the same basic design map of Victory’s widely admired unpowered V4 preamp pedals — including the Sheriff, Kraken, Jack and Copper models — if with a slightly bigger form factor, and with its own internal power.
SPECIFICATIONS
The Duchess V4 Guitar Amp
CONTACT
victoryamps.com
PRICE
$699 street
CONTROLS
Bass, middle, treble, volume, master volume, tremolo depth/speed, reverb
POWER
180 watts, ICEpower solid-state
TUBES
Preamp tubes only: 1 x Mullard EC900, 3 x CV4014
EFFECTS LOOP
low-impedance series loop
EXTRAS
Tremolo and Reverb footswitch (optional)
CABINET
Esta historia es de la edición November 2021 de Guitar Player.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición November 2021 de Guitar Player.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
How I Wrote..."Year of the Cat"
AI Stewart reflects on his beguiling hit, some 10 years in the making.
UAFX
Teletronix LA-2A Studio Compressor
LINE 6
POD Express
MAN OF STEEL
He brought the Dobro to centerstage with his dazzling talent. As he drops his first album in seven years, Jerry Douglas reflects on his gear, career and induction in the Bluegrass Hall of Fame.
HIGH TIME
The new MC5 album took more than 50 years to arrive. The band members have all passed on, but the celebration is just beginning.
58 YEARS OF GUITAR PLAYER
As Guitar Player moves full-time to its online home, we look back at some of its greatest stories in print.
DRAGON TALES
In a Guitar Player exclusive, Jimmy Page sheds light on the amplifiers behind his Led Zeppelin tone and how they live again in his line of Sundragon signature amps.
CLOSER TO HOME
Rehearsal space, studio, vessel and abode Diego Garcia's boat is the home base for his new album, as well as his musical life as the seafaring Spanish guitarist Twanguero.
Funk Noir
With The Black Album, Prince made his greatest-and most infamousmusical statement.
Medium Cool
Striking the middle ground between its Thinline brethren, Gibson's ES-345TD remains a versatile, if underrated, gem.