Victory Amps has unveiled the PowerValve 200, a 200-watt tube-driven power amp that is designed to make your amp modeller feel, well, even more real, giving players the kind of response and tone that only tube amps can give you.
There is no question that the digital revolution of electric guitar gear has put more tones at our fingertips than ever before in history. But no matter how successful the amp modeller has been in transforming our tone journey, there has always been that nagging feeling that it is just that, a modeller.
Can the ear tell the difference when it comes through the FRFR speaker? Can your fingers feel the difference, that’s more to the point.
Article continues belowVictory Amps’ chief designer Martin Kidd says the PowerValve 200 was created to put an end to these questions – and to restore some of the more base pleasures of playing the instrument, adding a little analogue je ne sais quoi to the digital pot. Pair the PowerValve 200 with a speaker cabinet and you have a that old-school tube feel that FRFR speakers can’t give you.
“Players told us they still wanted to feel a guitar speaker cabinet moving air on stage – something that doesn’t quite happen with FRFR cabinets,” says Kidd. “The subtle harmonic content generated by a valve stage creates slight asymmetry in the waveform – and that’s where the feel comes from.”
And that feel, as any player will tell you, is fundamental to our enjoyment of a guitar amp. The PowerValve 200 is a compact little unit, with controls for Headphones level, Resonance, Body, Presence, Input Gain and Output level mounted on a vented black metal enclosure. Resonance, Body and Presence act like a 3-band EQ.
At the heart of its design is the Valve React Circuit, which introduces an EF91 (CV4014) tube to proceedings to give you a “richer, warmer, more driven, touch sensitive feel”.
Rabea Massaad, who is both a Victory Amps endorsee and a big fan of the Neural DSP Quad Cortex, is officially a fan of this circuit, arguing that it “really brings my presets to life and gives them that extra tube-amp style thump that feels great under the fingers”.
John Connearn is another who has giving it the the thumbs up, saying that it allows him to have a “vallve-powered digital rig with huge hi-fidelity sound”, adding that it’s more “portable, powerful and affordable” than any tube head he’s seen on the market.
You can switch the Valve React Circuit out if you like, running the PowerValve 200 as a solid-state head. It has a balanced 1/4 input, a 3.5mm headphones output, and XLR output for running direct to a desk or recording. There’s a switch to turn the cab sim on and off on the control panel.
The idea is simple; run the output from your modeller into the input of the PowerValve, adjust the input levels and EQ, switch the Valve React Circuit on and away you go
The best of both worlds? The early signs are promising. Sure, a lot of these signs comes from Victory. Of course it is going to be giving it big licks about the PowerValve 200’s capabilities. But it has sought out some independent feedback from the makers of the Quad Cortex to see what they thought, and Ryan Morgan, head of global sales at Neural DSP, give it a two thumbs up, admitting that it “exceeded” expectations.
“The response, feel and tone – especially when paired with the Quad Cortex – were outstanding,” says Morgan. “With the flip of a switch, the added tube stage delivers an immediate improvement to the signal. This is a seriously impressive piece of kit.”
The PowerValve 200 is available now, priced £499/$599. See Victory Amps for more details.
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