Victory Amplification

The V4 pedals are genuine valve preamps in a floor box, built to replace an amp's preamp section and feed its power section directly. The V1 pedals are simpler overdrive pedals that put the same amp voices on a pedalboard without valves. Both series are made in the UK⁴.

From valve amps to V4 pedal preamps and the V1 series

Victory built its reputation on valve amps, and the company says it was keen to make its pedals sound as close to the full-bore valve amps as possible⁹. The pedal story began with the V4 series of all-valve powered pedal preamps, which started life with a quartet of NOS (new old stock) CV4014 valves⁶. Victory describes them as the first pedal-format guitar preamps to feature four valves and an all-valve signal path¹⁰¹¹.

The V4 pedals are two-channel preamps with four valves running at full plate voltage, designed to bypass an existing amp's preamp section and go straight to the power section via the effects return or power amp input⁶. Pete Thorn, demoing the series, called them "full on legit tube preamps (4 tubes running at high voltage)"¹². The series has proved very popular, and the line later grew to include the V4 The Copper, an all-valve pedal preamp with an EC900 and CV4014 valves running at high plate voltage¹⁰.

The V1 series came later, in September 2022, and works in the opposite direction: where the V4 pedals are large-format valve preamps, the V1s are compact, straight overdrive pedals with no valves. On That Pedal Show, Dan and Mick described the lineage plainly: the series "began with the V4 tube overdrive preamp large format pedals" and Victory "worked backwards" to the V1s¹³.

Amp-in-a-box pedals for all five amp lines

Victory's five amp lines map directly onto its pedals. Each V1 and V4 model takes one amp and distills it into pedal form³⁴².

The V1 series launched with five pedals based on the Duchess, Jack, Kraken, Sheriff and Copper amps³¹⁷. Each comes with controls for Volume, Gain, Bass, Middle and Treble, a three-band EQ layout shared across the range³⁴. All the V1 pedals have a steel chassis and true-bypass switching, and they are made in the UK⁴. GuitarPlayer's Dave Hunter noted the semi-wedge-shaped folded-steel enclosures with a purple amp-style jewel light on top, a visual nod to the amps themselves¹⁸.

Sweetwater's Nick Bowcott, walking through the range, framed the appeal: "the company now offers each of these five very different tasty tonal flavors in a compact amp-in-a-box option"¹. On the Kraken V1, he noted that the pedal "captures the feel of its full-size amp sibling in a compact stompbox size" and that each one is handbuilt in Surrey, England, as stated on the underside of the pedal⁸.

The Copper family is the deepest: the V1 The Copper completes a three-member family of pedals inspired by the Copper V35 amplifier¹⁹. The V4 The Copper adds a treble booster and an overall tone control compared to other Victory preamp pedals, alongside the three-band EQ found across all of Victory's preamp pedals²⁰.

Martin Kidd, chief designer

Martin Kidd is Chief Designer at Victory and the man behind the original amps⁹⁷. The V1 series pairs him with Adrian Thorpe MBE of ThorpyFX: Thorpe designed the pedals in conjunction with Kidd, who designed the amps they emulate⁴.

Kidd explained why the collaboration made sense. Victory was, in his words, "to an extent, venturing into the unknown" with compact pedals, and Thorpe's design experience helped the company appeal to players who like a clean amp platform and get their sounds from pedals⁷. He also noted that working with Thorpe meant being more precise in order to do the Victory amp designs justice in solid-state pedal form¹⁵.

What reviewers said

Guitar World's Nick Guppy, reviewing the V4 The Copper, called it "another triumph for Victory's V4 preamp pedal series," praising a pedal that distills full-sized Victory tone into a pedalboard-sized steel case with real valve power at proper high voltages²¹. MusicRadar's review team likewise positioned the V4 series as the British boutique amp company's tones made pedalboard-friendly²².

Guitar.com's Matt McCracken, reviewing the V1 The Sheriff, described it as a distortion pedal made in the UK, based on Victory's Plexi-inspired amp that "does everything from 60s Blues to 80s hair" tones²³. GuitarPlayer's Dave Hunter found the five-pedal V1 series covers Vox, Plexi and modern high-gain territory alongside the Duchess and Jack¹⁸.

The range (11)

Questions