The British amp manufacturer expands into new territory
NAMM 2020: Victory has unveiled V4 The Duchess - a portable and compact amp in a pedal format - at this years trade show. The company hopes to enable guitar players to achieve the classic Duchess tone at a more affordable price and in a more compact and lightweight design.
V4 The Duchess features an all-valve preamp and 180W Class D power section, all housed within a small pedal-sized form factor. The amp weighs just 1.7kg / 3.75lbs, so will inevitably appeal to guitarists seeking portability while maintaining the tone of a much larger head.
In 2019, the company introduced the V4 pedal preamps, an ideal solution for players who want a pro-standard valve preamp/front end to augment their existing amps.
(Image credit: Victory)
“The new V4 Guitar Amp was the obvious way forward: let’s add a lightweight power section to that all-valve front end," said Martin Kidd, Victory's Chief Designer. "We knew we could design a superb sounding amp that wasn’t compromised by a lack of power, lifeless tone or burdened with endless options that you never use."
The amp also features an effect loop, an onboard digital reverb and a tremolo for ambience.
Victory has intentionally opted to exclude speaker emulation and IRs from the unit. Kidd said of the decision: "Everyone we talk to seems to prefer their own personal IR solution, whether that’s hardware or software. There are a great many options available and the pace of development in that world is vertical."
Sam was Staff Writer at GuitarWorld.com from 2019 to 2023, and also created content for Total Guitar, Guitarist and Guitar Player. He has well over 15 years of guitar playing under his belt, as well as a degree in Music Technology (Mixing and Mastering). He's a metalhead through and through, but has a thorough appreciation for all genres of music. In his spare time, Sam creates point-of-view guitar lesson videos on YouTube under the name Sightline Guitar.
