Victory V40 Deluxe Week #2: Pre gig
For anyone on the Victory Amp Owners Club on Facebook you will note that I was thinking of buying a specific Reverend guitar this week. Well I absolutely proved that it is always best to try these things in person. I went from a Tricky Gomez (love the look, didn't like the sound) to a Sensai (loved the sound, didn't like the colours) and then discovered a Reverend Bayonet fitted with a Railhammer Hyper Vintage Humbucker and Railhammer P90. Normally I don't like P90s but this blew me all the way away. Many thanks, as always to Andertons for the incredible customer service. If you've not been: visit their website now!
Something else that's also been bugging me all week - The TC Electronic Flashback delay setting I use on the V40 head is sounding exceptionally digital / artificial through this amp. Now I know the Flashback is digital but this underlines my earlier comment about you get out of this amp what you put in and also emphasises even more that this is a different amp to my V40 head.
Welcome then to the Rock Orange Reverend Bayonet and the all analogue Moog Minifooger Delay!
This has transformed my opinion of the Deluxe. And absolutely reinforces my opinion not to ever underestimate the need to match guitars with pedals & amplifiers.Fortunately both the new guitar and the new pedal have also improved how my normal v40 head sounds! Friday night was spent in blissful haven of tone hunting. All I will say for now is the Moog delay sounds so natural through the Deluxe and the Railhammer pickups and Bass Rolloff are both genius ideas that the Deluxe eats up like a monster!
Saturday finds me tweaking all day. After an afternoon of getting the cleanest signal path through my pedals (the Deluxe demands this because it is SO quiet in operation ANY hum or buzz generated by a faulty PSU, cable, power lead or pedal is made very obvious) I find I want to use the ThorpyFX Chain Home in Boost mode as the tone control (missing from my mini Katana) really helps to nail the boosted tone. I then compare my Mooer Trelicopter to the Deluxe trem and realise I NEED the Deluxe's trem on stage. Remembering that this is a protoype, Victory have given me instructions on how to make the footswitch work to turn the tremolo on and off on stage and this now works. The updated pedal board is then tested to destruction and I lose most of the afternoon in a wash of the best tone I've ever had. I can see giving this amp back is going to be harder than I expected.
One almost silent pedal board signal path:
One other point to note before the gig - the Treble control on the amp has a sweet spot around the 1 o'clock mark. Less than that it doesn't really do much and a little bit more than that it combines with the high presence to be glass cutting. As this is an evaluation of a prototype I'm hoping Victory have made the Treble control sweep a little more usable on production models.
Next stop gig!
Simon is a guitarist in Salisbury Classic Rock covers band Break Cover.
Break Cover website
Break Cover Facebook
Something else that's also been bugging me all week - The TC Electronic Flashback delay setting I use on the V40 head is sounding exceptionally digital / artificial through this amp. Now I know the Flashback is digital but this underlines my earlier comment about you get out of this amp what you put in and also emphasises even more that this is a different amp to my V40 head.
Welcome then to the Rock Orange Reverend Bayonet and the all analogue Moog Minifooger Delay!
This has transformed my opinion of the Deluxe. And absolutely reinforces my opinion not to ever underestimate the need to match guitars with pedals & amplifiers.Fortunately both the new guitar and the new pedal have also improved how my normal v40 head sounds! Friday night was spent in blissful haven of tone hunting. All I will say for now is the Moog delay sounds so natural through the Deluxe and the Railhammer pickups and Bass Rolloff are both genius ideas that the Deluxe eats up like a monster!
Saturday finds me tweaking all day. After an afternoon of getting the cleanest signal path through my pedals (the Deluxe demands this because it is SO quiet in operation ANY hum or buzz generated by a faulty PSU, cable, power lead or pedal is made very obvious) I find I want to use the ThorpyFX Chain Home in Boost mode as the tone control (missing from my mini Katana) really helps to nail the boosted tone. I then compare my Mooer Trelicopter to the Deluxe trem and realise I NEED the Deluxe's trem on stage. Remembering that this is a protoype, Victory have given me instructions on how to make the footswitch work to turn the tremolo on and off on stage and this now works. The updated pedal board is then tested to destruction and I lose most of the afternoon in a wash of the best tone I've ever had. I can see giving this amp back is going to be harder than I expected.
One almost silent pedal board signal path:
One other point to note before the gig - the Treble control on the amp has a sweet spot around the 1 o'clock mark. Less than that it doesn't really do much and a little bit more than that it combines with the high presence to be glass cutting. As this is an evaluation of a prototype I'm hoping Victory have made the Treble control sweep a little more usable on production models.
Next stop gig!
Simon is a guitarist in Salisbury Classic Rock covers band Break Cover.
Break Cover website
Break Cover Facebook
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