England, UK (January 24, 2018) -- Victory Amplification from the UK proudly announces V30 The Countess MkII a 42-watt, two-channel, three-mode, all-valve guitar amplifier. V30MkII is evolved from – and replaces – Victory’s first ever Compact Series head that was developed with the help of Guthrie Govan in 2013. Guthrie has of course had input to this one too!
The original V30 has very distinct clean and overdrive channels. There is massive headroom and clarity in the former, with a ton of heavy rocking overdrive in the latter. With V30MKII, we’ve added an extra footswitchable crunch mode to the clean channel – developed for V130 The Super Countess – that offers a whole new palette of pushed clean, crunch and light overdrive tones. In addition, the power section now features a footswitchable ‘Nomod’ function to tighten up the bass resonance that some V30 users found a little thick at times. However, Guthrie Govan loves the sound of the original voicing, so the ‘Nomod’ switch – geddit, ‘no modification’ – enables you to choose either option: original or tight. We made ‘Nomod’ footswitchable to further increase the V30MkII’s versatility.
V30MkII has also been updated with external bias test and adjustment points which means no more fiddling around inside the amp when changing power valves. The skeletonised metal chassis is now finished in a super cool black chrome powder coat, protected by an included padded carry bag. Like its predecessor there is a low-power mode accessible from the front-panel power switch that drops the output to around 7 watts RMS. You can choose to run either two 6L6 or two EL34 power valves for subtle differences in tone and response, and of course there is a series effects loop too.
Victory V30 The Countess MKII sets a whole new standard as a versatile and portable – yet thoroughly professional – lunchbox guitar amp head. Please visit our YouTube Channel youtube.com/VictoryAmps to hear it in action.
Other key spec & info
- Valves: 4 x 12AX7, 2 x 6L6 or EL34
- Size: 342(w) x 185(h) x 185mm(d)
- Weight: 8.2kg (18.1lbs)
- Footswitches (channel change/crunch and Nomod) and padded carry bag included
- Available at dealers: From February 2018
- SRP/MAP: UK: Head £999 / EU: Head €1,129 / USA: Head $1,239
Victory Amplification from the UK proudly announces VX100 The Super Kraken a 100-watt, dual-channel, three-mode all-valve guitar amplifier. VX100 is evolved from the award-winning Compact Series VX The Kraken (Guitarist Magazine Gear Of The Year 2016) developed with Dorje/Toska guitarist, Rabea Massaad.
Our Compact Series VX The Kraken defined a new standard in hard rock, metal, progressive and extended range tones when it launched in 2016. Half hot-rodded British drive machine and half mid-pushed American grind monster, it’s diminutive stature belies the giant tones that now fill stages the world over, not least via the music of Rabea Massaad, our great friend and collaborator who helped bring it to life.
For 2018 however, The Kraken morphs into an even more powerful beast via 100 massive watts of 6L6 power. You still get the Brit-inspired Gain I channel. You still get the colossal smack of Gain II’s US grind... but now there’s a whole new footswitchable clean mode, plus a footswitchable Preamp Focus function to add a little juice and cut to any and all modes. Think of it like a TS-style boost/EQ shaper. There’s also a preset Bass Focus option in the power section, footswitchable FX loop, assignable/ footswitchable dual masters, full MIDI switching capability (not shown in these images), plus a useful 30-watt low-power mode.
VX100 has external bias test and adjustment points which means no more fiddling around inside the amp when changing power valves. It’s swathed in grey vinyl to match the V212VG cabinet with which it forms an imposing yet portable half stack.
Legend has it that VX The Kraken is easily enough guitar amp for most mortals. Yet there are those who seek extra versatility, even more headroom and truly the power to stop all beasts, mythical or otherwise. Release VX100 The Super Kraken, say we! (And to hear it in action, please head to our YouTube Channel: youtube.com/VictoryAmps)
Other key spec & info
- Valves: 4 x 12AX7, 4 x 6L6
- Size: 480(w) x 235(h) x 235mm(d)
- Weight: 12.5kg (27.5lbs)
- Standard footswitch (Gain I/II, Clean/Crunch, Master I/II, Preamp Focus, FX Loop, Solo Master) and slip cover included
- SRP/MAP: UK: Head £1,399 / EU: Head €1,579 / USA: Head $1,699
For more information:
Victory Amps
Duane Denison of the Jesus Lizard, EGC Chessie in hands, coaxing some nasty tones from his Hiwatt.
The Jesus Lizard’s sixth album, Blue, served as the band’s final statement from the frontlines of noisy rock for the next 26 years. By the time of their dissolution in 1999, they’d earned a reputation for extreme performances chock full of hard-hitting, machine-like grooves delivered by bassist David Wm. Sims and, at their conclusion, drummer Mac McNeilly, at times aided and at other times punctured by the frontline of guitarist Duane Denison’s incisive, dissonant riffing, and presided over by the cantankerous howl of vocalist David Yow. In the years since, performative, thrilling bands such as Pissed Jeans, METZ, and Idles have built upon the Lizard’s musical foundation.
Denison has kept himself plenty busy over the last couple decades, forming the avant-rock supergroup Tomahawk—with vocalist Mike Patton, bassist Trevor Dunn (both from Mr. Bungle), and drummer John Stanier of Helmet—and alongside various other projects including Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers and Hank Williams III. The Jesus Lizard eventually reunited, but until now have only celebrated their catalog, never releasing new jams.
The Jesus Lizard, from left: bassist David Wm. Sims, singer David Yow, drummer Mac McNeilly, and guitarist Duane Denison.
Photo by Joshua Black Wilkins
Back in 2018, Denison, hanging in a hotel room with Yow, played a riff on his unplugged electric guitar that caught the singer’s ear. That song, called “West Side,” will remain unreleased for now, but Denison explains: “He said, ‘Wow, that’s really good. What is that?’ And I said, ‘It’s just some new thing. Why don’t we do an album?’” From those unassuming beginnings, the Jesus Lizard’s creative juices started flowing.
So, how does a band—especially one who so indelibly captured the ineffable energy of live rock performance—prepare to get a new record together 26 years after their last? Back in their earlier days, the members all lived together in a band house, collectively tending to the creative fire when inspiration struck. All these years later, they reside in different cities, so their process requires sending files back and forth and only meeting up for occasional demo sessions over the course of “three or four years.”
“When the time comes to get more in performance mode, I have a practice space. I go there by myself and crank it up. I turn that amp up and turn the metronome up and play loud.” —Duane Denison
the Jesus Lizard "Alexis Feels Sick"
Distance creates an obstacle to striking while the proverbial iron is hot, but Denison has a method to keep things energized: “Practice loud.” The guitarist professes the importance of practice, in general, and especially with a metronome. “We keep very detailed records of what the beats per minute of these songs are,” he explains. “To me, the way to do it is to run it to a Bluetooth speaker and crank it, and then crank your amp. I play a little at home, but when the time comes to get more in performance mode, I have a practice space. I go there by myself and crank it up. I turn that amp up and turn the metronome up and play loud.”
It’s a proven solution. On Rack—recorded at Patrick Carney’s Audio Eagle studio with producer Paul Allen—the band sound as vigorous as ever, proving they’ve not only remained in step with their younger selves, but they may have surpassed it with faders cranked. “Duane’s approach, both as a guitarist and writer, has an angular and menacing fingerprint that is his own unique style,” explains Allen. “The conviction in his playing that he is known for from his recordings in the ’80s and ’90s is still 100-percent intact and still driving full throttle today.”
“I try to be really, really precise,” he says. “I think we all do when it comes to the basic tracks, especially the rhythm parts. The band has always been this machine-like thing.” Together, they build a tension with Yow’s careening voice. “The vocals tend to be all over the place—in and out of tune, in and out of time,” he points out. “You’ve got this very free thing moving around in the foreground, and then you’ve got this very precise, detailed band playing behind it. That’s why it works.”
Before Rack, the Jesus Lizard hadn’t released a new record since 1998’s Blue.
Denison’s guitar also serves as the foreground foil to Yow’s unhinged raving, as on “Alexis Feels Sick,” where they form a demented harmony, or on the midnight creep of “What If,” where his vibrato-laden melodies bolster the singer’s unsettled, maniacal display. As precise as his riffs might be, his playing doesn’t stay strictly on the grid. On the slow, skulking “Armistice Day,” his percussive chording goes off the rails, giving way to a solo that slices that groove like a chef’s knife through warm butter as he reorganizes rock ’n’ roll histrionics into his own cut-up vocabulary.
“During recording sessions, his first solo takes are usually what we decide to keep,” explains Allen. “Listen to Duane’s guitar solos on Jack White’s ‘Morning, Noon, and Night,’ Tomahawk’s ‘Fatback,’ and ‘Grind’ off Rack. There’s a common ‘contained chaos’ thread among them that sounds like a harmonic Rubik’s cube that could only be solved by Duane.”
“Duane’s approach, both as a guitarist and writer, has an angular and menacing fingerprint that is his own unique style.” —Rack producer Paul Allen
To encapsulate just the right amount of intensity, “I don’t over practice everything,” the guitarist says. Instead, once he’s created a part, “I set it aside and don’t wear it out.” On Rack, it’s obvious not a single kilowatt of musical energy was lost in the rehearsal process.
Denison issues his noisy masterclass with assertive, overdriven tones supporting his dissonant voicings like barbed wire on top of an electric fence. The occasional application of slapback delay adds a threatening aura to his exacting riffage. His tones were just as carefully crafted as the parts he plays, and he relied mostly on his signature Electrical Guitar Company Chessie for the sessions, though a Fender Uptown Strat also appears, as well as a Taylor T5Z, which he chose for its “cleaner, hyper-articulated sound” on “Swan the Dog.” Though he’s been spotted at recent Jesus Lizard shows with a brand-new Powers Electric—he points out he played a demo model and says, “I just couldn’t let go of it,” so he ordered his own—that wasn’t until tracking was complete.
Duane Denison's Gear
Denison wields his Powers Electric at the Blue Room in Nashville last June.
Photo by Doug Coombe
Guitars
- Electrical Guitar Company Chessie
- Fender Uptown Strat
- Taylor T5Z
- Gibson ES-135
- Powers Electric
Amps
- Hiwatt Little J
- Hiwatt 2x12 cab with Fane F75 speakers
- Fender Super-Sonic combo
- Early ’60s Fender Bassman
- Marshall 1987X Plexi Reissue
- Victory Super Sheriff head
- Blackstar HT Stage 60—2 combos in stereo with Celestion Neo Creamback speakers and Mullard tubes
Effects
- Line 6 Helix
- Mantic Flex Pro
- TC Electronic G-Force
- Menatone Red Snapper
Strings and Picks
- Stringjoy Orbiters .0105 and .011 sets
- Dunlop celluloid white medium
- Sun Studios yellow picks
He ran through various amps—Marshalls, a Fender Bassman, two Fender Super-Sonic combos, and a Hiwatt Little J—at Audio Eagle. Live, if he’s not on backline gear, you’ll catch him mostly using 60-watt Blackstar HT Stage 60s loaded with Celestion Neo Creambacks. And while some boxes were stomped, he got most of his effects from a Line 6 Helix. “All of those sounds [in the Helix] are modeled on analog sounds, and you can tweak them endlessly,” he explains. “It’s just so practical and easy.”
The tools have only changed slightly since the band’s earlier days, when he favored Travis Beans and Hiwatts. Though he’s started to prefer higher gain sounds, Allen points out that “his guitar sound has always had teeth with a slightly bright sheen, and still does.”
“Honestly, I don’t think my tone has changed much over the past 30-something years,” Denison says. “I tend to favor a brighter, sharper sound with articulation. Someone sent me a video I had never seen of myself playing in the ’80s. I had a band called Cargo Cult in Austin, Texas. What struck me about it is it didn’t sound terribly different than what I sound like right now as far as the guitar sound and the approach. I don’t know what that tells you—I’m consistent?”
YouTube It
The Jesus Lizard take off at Nashville’s Blue Room this past June with “Hide & Seek” from Rack.
