Post #2: First Practice
The Super Countess has made it to first practice.
This was an unusual session for us as our other guitarist is on night shift this week so wasn't able to attend. As this was all about keys and song structure for the three new songs we wanted to look at this was fine.
It also gave me a unique opportunity to hear the V130 in isolation with just bass and not in the mix with a second guitar.
It's worth noting that I'm plugged into my practice cab which is a home built thing with some Yamaha speakers from the 1970s in it. Its OK but it is not the Victory VG212. At least it's in band colours.
The first thing that struck me about playing at volume, in Low mode, was how nicely loud this amp is. It is loud but not deafening. It is manageable, controllable. In High mode it will need a bigger room to really stretch its wings but in our practice cave, in Low, I was able to get the Volume up to about half way which is a nice gigging volume.
A couple of twiddles with the Clean channel in the clean voice tells me, yes , if we ever play a clean song, this will do very nicely thank you. At this volume and with the Clean Gain all the way up it is on the edge of break up but still has that Countess Clean bite.
And then I (foot)switch to the Crunch voice. This was after all 40% of the reason for buying this amp and at this volume a great big smile creeps out from under the beard. Oh yes. This is pure Classic Rock. I have the Gain wound all the way up so I am at Full Crunch. Pick your cliche to describe this but I'm going to say what I said when I tried this at Andertons: Malcolm Young in a box. I normally us a Kraken at Gain 1 wound to about 2 0'clock and this is less gain than that and, if possible, more articulate. It's like that first time you discover that AC/DC play with much less gain than you thought they did. This is my perfect tone. I have spent a fortune on amps and pedals trying to find this sound without buying a Marshall that needs to be wound up to painful levels and now I have it. The reason I keep referencing Malcolm Young as he plays vintage JTM45s that are famously in need of a tech to keep them running, are heavy and they are loud (certainly too loud for the pubs and clubs we play). But the sound he makes with them is terrific. If you want that without the weight, with controllable volume and Victory reliability and service this is that. Plus you also get that little bit of sparkle that Victory bring and remember this is only 1 voice of 4.
The majority of the songs we worked on didn't require a solo. The one that did I didn't use the lead channel for. The cut and clarity of this Crunch voice is so good that, without the second guitar, the solo came across loud and clear with no need to engage the OD channel. So I still haven't tried that in the mix. We have two gigs this weekend so I will do one on OD1 and one on OD2 and report back.
So next up, a weekend of gigs with the other guitarist and my usual Victory 2 x 12 cab. I suspect what I am going to hear is even more cut through, bigger bass (the Yamaha speakers don't have much), even more articulation and a warm squishy bouncy feel to the songs. And an incredible lead tone... but i'll keep you posted.
http://www.victoryamps.com/v130-the-super-countess.html
Andertons Music
https://www.andertons.co.uk/p/VICV130/guitar-amp-heads/victory-v130-super-countess-100w-head
Website: http://www.breakcoverband.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/breakcoverband
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/breakcover
This was an unusual session for us as our other guitarist is on night shift this week so wasn't able to attend. As this was all about keys and song structure for the three new songs we wanted to look at this was fine.
It also gave me a unique opportunity to hear the V130 in isolation with just bass and not in the mix with a second guitar.
It's worth noting that I'm plugged into my practice cab which is a home built thing with some Yamaha speakers from the 1970s in it. Its OK but it is not the Victory VG212. At least it's in band colours.
The first thing that struck me about playing at volume, in Low mode, was how nicely loud this amp is. It is loud but not deafening. It is manageable, controllable. In High mode it will need a bigger room to really stretch its wings but in our practice cave, in Low, I was able to get the Volume up to about half way which is a nice gigging volume.
A couple of twiddles with the Clean channel in the clean voice tells me, yes , if we ever play a clean song, this will do very nicely thank you. At this volume and with the Clean Gain all the way up it is on the edge of break up but still has that Countess Clean bite.
And then I (foot)switch to the Crunch voice. This was after all 40% of the reason for buying this amp and at this volume a great big smile creeps out from under the beard. Oh yes. This is pure Classic Rock. I have the Gain wound all the way up so I am at Full Crunch. Pick your cliche to describe this but I'm going to say what I said when I tried this at Andertons: Malcolm Young in a box. I normally us a Kraken at Gain 1 wound to about 2 0'clock and this is less gain than that and, if possible, more articulate. It's like that first time you discover that AC/DC play with much less gain than you thought they did. This is my perfect tone. I have spent a fortune on amps and pedals trying to find this sound without buying a Marshall that needs to be wound up to painful levels and now I have it. The reason I keep referencing Malcolm Young as he plays vintage JTM45s that are famously in need of a tech to keep them running, are heavy and they are loud (certainly too loud for the pubs and clubs we play). But the sound he makes with them is terrific. If you want that without the weight, with controllable volume and Victory reliability and service this is that. Plus you also get that little bit of sparkle that Victory bring and remember this is only 1 voice of 4.
The majority of the songs we worked on didn't require a solo. The one that did I didn't use the lead channel for. The cut and clarity of this Crunch voice is so good that, without the second guitar, the solo came across loud and clear with no need to engage the OD channel. So I still haven't tried that in the mix. We have two gigs this weekend so I will do one on OD1 and one on OD2 and report back.
So next up, a weekend of gigs with the other guitarist and my usual Victory 2 x 12 cab. I suspect what I am going to hear is even more cut through, bigger bass (the Yamaha speakers don't have much), even more articulation and a warm squishy bouncy feel to the songs. And an incredible lead tone... but i'll keep you posted.
More info at
Victory Ampshttp://www.victoryamps.com/v130-the-super-countess.html
Andertons Music
https://www.andertons.co.uk/p/VICV130/guitar-amp-heads/victory-v130-super-countess-100w-head
Band Pages
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BreakCover/Website: http://www.breakcoverband.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/breakcoverband
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/breakcover
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