NAD: Victory Kraken VX MKII

[Desertdweller]

Referencing this discussion a few months ago: https://thegearforum.com/threads/victory-vx-kraken-mkii-vs-super-kraken.7053/

I'll start with a quick TL/DR - this is bar-none the best lunchbox guitar amp ever made.

Details:

1. This is a 3 channel amp, gorgeous clean channel, marshall-like crunch channel, 5150-inspired lead channel.
2. The clean channel can get very clean and pristine with single coils. Absolutely gorgeous. Sounds amazing on it's own, and really beautifies with an RC booster out front or a compressor as well.
3. Gain I with an overdrive in front can get as heavy as Megadeth tones, or you can back it off and get SRV or Eric Johnson tones from it as well. A great vintage to cutting mid-gain channel.
4. Gain II is just awesome. The amp could use a little more bass response, but sending the bass to 8 or above basically covers what I'd need. I can keep the bass at 8, mid at 6, treble at 5 and presence at 4 and have everything I want from all 3 channels as their EQ is fairly close. It's tight and responsive and fully saturated metal at about 6 on the gain knob. If I want to run a boost out front, I can turn the gain down to about 3 and still get amazing grind out of it. It's not over-gained at all like the EVH 5150 red channel, it's very well thought-out and balanced.
5. The FX loop is perfect, no noise at all. I'm running my VP4 with it in 4CM and it sounds amazing. Take that PRS with your humming MT15 loop.
6. The amp is very bright at bedroom levels, but evens out as you crank it up, either through a load box and IRs or through a real cab, so I find setting the presence low and the bass basically dimed balances the tone quite a bit for me.
7. The back has a presence add switch and a bass reduce switch. Used together you get a tubescreamer like EQ change, but I like bass in my sound and while I use the presence shift from time to time, the bass cut switch is not useful for me.
8. It has a 6L6 / EL34 switch and can accept either tube type. It requires biasing, so I haven't tried EL34s yet, but I'm totally happy with the 6L6 sound for now.

This amp is 15 LBs, 50 watts, super low noise, well constructed, tiny, and loud as hell while maintaining fidelity at higher volumes. Big-bottle 6L6s, big 50w power transformers, and can fit it in a travel bag over the shoulder. It doesn't get a wobbly bass response at higher volumes like the PRS MT15, it can sound good at low volumes and high volumes so it beats out the Mesa Mini Rectifier and Mark V25 for me and just about any other EL84 lunchbox amp. It gets louder than any other lunchbox amp I've tried since it's a true 50w amp, and I can run a tip/ring switch box to convert it to MIDI, which allows me to integrate it perfectly with a MIDI rig. The Gain I channel sounds better to my ear than the Victory Sheriff 44 I had for awhile as well.

This is it, this is the endgame for high gain lunchbox amps IMO. It's nearly perfect, simply an awesome amplifier.

 

[2dor]

Congrats on the purchase!
I've been eyeing the MKII for the past few months.
Thanks for sharing the input & especially the findings about the FX loop.
This will probably be my next (and hopefully last) amp purchase.

 

[2dor]

I have also been looking at the Victory preamp pedals as a way to get these sounds.

Does the head have 12ax7 or the smaller tubes used in the preamp pedals?

4 x 12AX7 in the preamp and 2 x 6L6 (or EL34) in the poweramp. It's a legit powerhouse.

 

[Desertdweller]

A couple other quick notes:

It's smaller than the MT15 with a better handle. Feels a pound or two lighter as well.

The knobs/pots are higher quality than the EVH heads - they are tighter and don't slip as much. EVHs are great, but that was my biggest complaint on the EVH heads, the knobs move too easily.

The paint job is top notch. Really looks elegant for such a little beastly thing.

 

[Whizzinby]

Hell yeah! I’ve wanted to try one of those MKII’s for a while now. Smaller than the MT15? Dayyum.

 

[Desertdweller]

Smaller than the MT15? Dayyum.

Marginally, but the handle is really where the form factor is better. The handle on the MT15 is pretty uncomfortable to carry.

You can see them head to head in @GuitarJon's video comparison:

 

[GuitarBilly74]

I'm actually getting a Victory The Jack MKII today. It's out for the delivery. So it's good to see such a positive review (even though it's a different model). :)

 

[GuitarBilly74]

I just got it. Unfortunately not a happy NAD for me because it arrived broken. Dead clean channel, crunch channel is squealing and there's a burnt smell coming from the amp. The lead channel does work and sounds great. But unfortunately, it's going back.

I agree the form factor is excellent and the amp is a very loud 50w (on the channel that worked). I think I just got a lemon, but I don't know if I'm going to order another one.

 

[Desertdweller]

I just got it. Unfortunately not a happy NAD for me because it arrived broken. Dead clean channel, crunch channel is squealing and there's a burnt smell coming from the amp. The lead channel does work and sounds great. But unfortunately, it's going back.

I agree the form factor is excellent and the amp is a very loud 50w (on the channel that worked). I think I just got a lemon, but I don't know if I'm going to order another one.

Oh that’s terrible to hear. I hope you get it replaced and a new one out to you soon.

 

[GuitarBilly74]

Oh that’s terrible to hear. I hope you get it replaced and a new one out to you soon.

Yeah I'm sure it is just a lemon. I've had other Victory amps before that were reliable so I don't blame the company. It happens.

 

[Elric]

When I sent back the IR-X, the Jack preamp pedal was at the top of my list.

I like how the preamp pedals are set up that makes it easy to add channels to your existing amp. I might still get a Jack preamp, but the oddball tubes are what holds me back. No way to roll tubes.

Upside though is the tubes in those are all legit made in England NOS Mullards in the V4 series. So you'd never likely find a better tube for them!

 

[deadpool_25]

I had a Super Kraken and that thing was badass. Just nearly impossible to control the volume. It's a good thing this little MKII doesn't have a cab emulated out or I'd be sorely tempted.

(I've been using the 5:25 through the FR-12 and loving that setup)

 

[Desertdweller]

I had a Super Kraken and that thing was badass. Just nearly impossible to control the volume. It's a good thing this little MKII doesn't have a cab emulated out or I'd be sorely tempted.

(I've been using the 5:25 through the FR-12 and loving that setup)

I'm finding controlling the volume on the MK2 to be a snap. It sounds really good, just a little bright in low wattage mode. It absolutely tears paint off the walls and competes with my Mesas in high power mode.

 

[GuitarBilly74]

When I sent back the IR-X, the Jack preamp pedal was at the top of my list.

I like how the preamp pedals are set up that makes it easy to add channels to your existing amp. I might still get a Jack preamp, but the oddball tubes are what holds me back. No way to roll tubes.

Although they're not as common as 12AX7s, the EC900s are not hard to find and not very expensive either.

 

[laxu]

I had a Super Kraken and that thing was badass. Just nearly impossible to control the volume.

Same experience trying the Super Kraken at a store. I measured 100 dB @ 1m through a 4x12...when the master volume was at 1.

Sounded great though, just very very loud.

By comparison I never had volume adjustment issues on the Victory VC35.

 

[Desertdweller]

One month later and I'm loving this thing. It's a Fender, Marshall, and 5150 in one. Generally I prefer the Mesa sound and the ability to really pre-filter my amp with an overdrive of my choice, but this amp has such a rich gain structure it really isn't needed. Internally it's gorgeous too.

The only oddity is their choice for power tubes. I've never heard of Psvane before so I looked them up and whoa they are cheap as heck tubes. They sound fine and I'm not hearing any issues with them, but yeah this is definitely a cost cut on their end. Has anyone else had experience with this brand? No complaints from me now, but I'm wondering if I should tube roll power tubes a bit here.

 

[laxu]

The only oddity is their choice for power tubes. I've never heard of Psvane before so I looked them up and whoa they are cheap as heck tubes. They sound fine and I'm not hearing any issues with them, but yeah this is definitely a cost cut on their end. Has anyone else had experience with this brand? No complaints from me now, but I'm wondering if I should tube roll power tubes a bit here.

It's not like there's much options nowadays. It's basically JJ from Slovakia or Chinese manufacturers.

I think the Victory VC35 I had came with Psvane preamp tubes, but JJ EL84s for powertubes. Never had any issue with the Psvanes and the amp did not sound any better with anything that I dug up from my tube stash.

 

[2dor]

Read in one of the threads here that Mesa also uses PSVane for the Rectifiers nowadays too so they should be good.
Man, that's a neat looking amp. Nice, big iron too.

 

[Desertdweller]

Read in one of the threads here that Mesa also uses PSVane for the Rectifiers nowadays too so they should be good.
Man, that's a neat looking amp. Nice, big iron too.

I know Mesa used to use Ruby, but they said in their NAMM video they were rebranding JJs now for the rectos.

 

[GTR37]

One month later and I'm loving this thing. It's a Fender, Marshall, and 5150 in one. Generally I prefer the Mesa sound and the ability to really pre-filter my amp with an overdrive of my choice, but this amp has such a rich gain structure it really isn't needed. Internally it's gorgeous too.

View attachment 37418

The only oddity is their choice for power tubes. I've never heard of Psvane before so I looked them up and whoa they are cheap as heck tubes. They sound fine and I'm not hearing any issues with them, but yeah this is definitely a cost cut on their end. Has anyone else had experience with this brand? No complaints from me now, but I'm wondering if I should tube roll power tubes a bit here.

View attachment 37419

Psvane is the New Ruby factory after the fire burned down the prior
I know Freidman uses them the used to be the Shugang 12ax7