Torpedos Away

In collaboration with Rabea Massaad, this compact guitar amp from Victory combines versatile high-gain overdrive with world-class cabinet simulations. Stand back!

- Nick Guppy

Victory’s innovative V4 preamp pedals have proved to be a runaway success. The clever design adds a new foot-switchable front-end to any amplifier with an effects loop, transforming many a tired rig into a modern tone monster. Early last year, Victory took the next logical step with its V4 The Duchess guitar amp, cramming the Duchess electronics into a similarly sized pedal, together with a special power stage capable of delivering up to 180 watts into a suitable enclosure.

The Duchess V4 guitar amp was one of the hits of 2020 for us and now Victory has responded to popular demand with the eagerly awaited V4 The Kraken amp, designed in collaboration with Victory artist Rabea Massaad and featuring the company’s dual-channel, high-gain Kraken preamp teamed with the same power stage. The really exciting new feature on V4 The Kraken, though, is the addition of Two Notes Torpedo speaker emulation, providing a selection of virtual Victory cabinets out of the box, with many more available through the Two Notes portal.

Like its V4 The Duchess, The Kraken V4 amp is a little larger than the V4 pedal preamps due to its built-in power supply, so there are no wall-warts – all you need for power is a regular kettle lead. As we’ve come to expect from Victory, the build quality is top-notch, with a robust steel chassis that’s generously perforated to keep things cool, aided by a switched fan on the right-hand side, mostly to keep the surface temperature comfortable rather than protect the electronics.