Victory V4 The Sheriff is a pedal preamp from Victory, a British boutique amplifier company. It is one of the three all-valve preamp pedals that launched the V4 series, alongside The Countess and The Kraken, and it carries the circuit of Victory's Sheriff amplifier into a pedal format1. The series takes the tone of Victory's most-loved heads and combos and houses them in compact, cigar-box sized formats2.
What it does
As a preamp pedal, it can sit in your signal chain in more than one way:
- as a preamp feeding a power amp, taking the place of an amp head's preamp section
- into the front of a conventional amplifier, as an ordinary drive pedal would
- through the Victory Four Cable Method, running into an amplifier's FX loop return so the pedal's preamp takes over from the amp's own6
Where it came from
Victory announced the V4 series in September 2018 with three models: the Kraken, the Sheriff and the Countess1. MusicRadar's report on the launch noted that the three V4 models are based on their namesake amplifiers, so The Sheriff draws on Victory's Sheriff amp head5. The Sheriff was new at the time of the That Pedal Show episode in September 20186.
The three launch models split Victory's amp voicings across the range:
| Pedal | Voicing | Based on |
|---|---|---|
| V4 The Sheriff | Marshall plexi-style tones6 | The Sheriff amp head76 |
| V4 The Kraken | higher-gain end of the range1 | The Kraken amplifier1 |
| V4 The Countess | lower-gain end of the range1 | The Countess amplifier1 |
Who uses it
Justin Hawkins of The Darkness is listed on Victory's artist roster as using the V4 Sheriff pedal preamp in the studio3.
How it compares in the V4 range
The V4 series splits Victory's amp voicings across pedals: The Sheriff for plexi-style tones, The Kraken for higher gain, and The Countess at the lower-gain end. The related Victory V4 The Copper, added later, is a Vox-inspired preamp. Guitar World's reviewer described it as offering "a delightful Vox-inspired chime"8.
Delicious Audio's overview of the V4 series covers the Sheriff alongside the other V4 preamps in the same video overview, which is a useful way to hear the range side by side4.
If you are comparing preamp pedals more broadly, the site's Preamp Pedals page covers the type as a whole.
Videos
Pete Thorn
Victory Amplifiers
Rabea Massaad
Sources (8)
- Victory Announces Three New All-Valve Pedal Preamps, Guitar World, 2018-09-10
- Victory V4 The Copper preamp pedal review, MusicRadar, 2021-03-24
- Justin Hawkins, Victory Amps, 2023-03-01
- Victory V4 Copper Preamp, Delicious Audio, 2022-04-12
- Victory unveils all-valve V4 Series Pedal Preamps, MusicRadar, 2018-09-03
- Great Pedal Preamps: Victory The Sheriff, Kingsley Constable, Origin Revival Drive, That Pedal Show, 2018-09-21
- Great Pedal Preamps SHORT EDIT: Victory Sheriff, Kingsley Constable, Origin Revival Drive, That Pedal Show, 2018-09-21
- Tone King Imperial Tri Tube Preamp review, Guitar World, 2025-07-02
