Victory V1 The Copper

The Victory V1 The Copper is a compact "amp in a box" overdrive pedal that puts Victory's VC35 Copper amplifier into a stompbox. Victory says the pedal "takes all the elements of the VC35 Copper and squeezes it into a pedal," emulating the sound of a quartet of EL84 output valves in the British tradition¹. Sweetwater's Don Carr described it as "packed to the brim with EL-84-style classic rock bite and jangle" and as Victory's take on the 1960s-era EL84 combo amps associated with the British Invasion bands².

It is one of five pedals in the V1 series, each based on a Victory amp: the Copper, Duchess, Jack, Kraken and Sheriff³. The Copper sits on the chimey, British-voiced end of that range, going from clean chime to crunchy 70s British rock as you dial the Gain up⁴.

An EL84 British amp voice in a pedal

The V1 The Copper emulates the tone of the Copper series of Victory amps, an EL84-powered British rock voice⁴. Victory describes it as "the ultimate Victory 'amp in a box' stompbox based on the VC35 Copper," aimed at classic rock and blues¹. Where some overdrives are built around a clipping stage alone, this one is voiced to behave like a complete amp: Sweetwater's demo said the volume and gain controls take you "from a light grit to a full-on blast of chime-filled crunch," with bass, treble and tone controls shaping the sound².

The Vox comparison comes up repeatedly in the press. Delicious Audio added the pedal straight in at number one in its roundup of the best Vox-style "Vox in a box" pedals⁶, and Guitar Pedal X's Stefan Karlsson called it "a fantastic Vox AC30 take"⁶. Guitar Pedal X also noted it "benefits from a Treble Booster in front for searing Top Boost tones"⁶, a pairing players of AC-style amps will recognize.

The controls

The control set is a slight modification of the gain, volume and 3-band EQ configuration on the VC35 Copper amp, with a tone control replacing the mids control⁷. Victory says the tone control is for a final high-end response tweak, and that the 3-band EQ can be used to thicken and cut the sound¹.

Power and connections

The Copper runs on 9V DC, center negative, with a current draw of 15.3mA according to Victory¹ (RockBoard lists 15mA⁴). There is no room inside for a battery: it is external power only⁷. Both the input and output jacks sit on the crown of the folded-steel enclosure, and the V1 series puts its single input, output and nine-volt center-negative jacks on the front face⁴⁷⁸. Switching is true bypass⁷, and the whole V1 range uses true-bypass switching⁵.

At 125mm x 43mm x 66mm including feet and 0.472kg (Premier Guitar measured the rugged, folded-steel enclosure at 4.75" x 2.5" x 1.5" and a 1.1-pound heft), it is a compact but solidly built box¹⁷.

History: designed with ThorpyFX

The V1 series was announced on September 29, 2022, five pedals based on Victory's Duchess, Jack, Kraken, Sheriff and Copper amps, priced at £199/$249 at launch⁹⁶³. Victory and Thorpy FX collaborated on the range: Victory's page describes it as "a collaboration between Victory and award winning pedal builder Adrian Thorpe MBE," with Martin Kidd, Chief Designer at Victory, working alongside Thorpe¹. Guitar.com reported that the pedals "were brought to life by Adrian Thorpe of ThorpyFX and Martin Kidd who designed the original amps"¹⁰, and Gearnews noted that all the V1 pedals are made in the UK⁵. Victory says the Copper is "designed and built in Britain, a true collaboration between two British companies"¹.

Within the range, the Copper's closest sibling is the Victory V1 The Sheriff, based on Victory's Sheriff amps. Guitar Pedal X, who ran the two as a matched Vox/Marshall-style pair on one board, found the Sheriff "very obviously Marshall in texture" with a fairly rich breakup texture, but not as immediately impacting as the Copper's overall character⁶. Other pedals in the line include the Victory V1 The Duchess and the Victory V1 the Jack.

What reviewers said

That Pedal Show gave the Copper and Sheriff their first sounds on video in November 2022. Dan and Mick found the pedals sound open and big, with headroom and great dynamic range, easier to use than some overdrives that sound small, and Mick noted that even maxed out it has "a really super usable amount of gain in a sort of classic scenario"¹¹. Dan singled out the chime: "the hardest thing to get right in an AC style pedal is the chime, yeah I think um Martin I thought you've done an amazing" job with it¹¹.

Guitar Pedal X's Stefan Karlsson wrote that the Copper delivers instant satisfaction and is one of his favorites of its kind, a fantastic Vox AC30 take overall⁶. Premier Guitar's reviewer noted the 1.1-pound heft "suggests it's pretty well packed with quality components"⁷. Dave Hunter, reviewing the V1 series for GuitarPlayer, found the pedals "extremely well-designed and well-built" and rugged and solid in feel⁸.

Sweetwater demonstrated the pedal, covering its tones and control set:

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And That Pedal Show's first-sounds video, which ran the Copper alongside the Sheriff, the EarthQuaker Special Cranker, the Fender Space Delay and the Empress Comp MkII¹²:

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Videos

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Questions