Victoria Amplifier Co. 20112-T

The amp was new when I bought in in August 1999. I was advised by the seller (Bubba's Guitars, Randy Cloud owner) to be sure the amp had enough clean headroom for me. Its warm pure tube overdrive tone that starts around 4 on the volume knob is exactly what I wanted. The amp has 3 knobs, normal volume, bright volume, tone. There's no effects loop, channel switching, headphone jack, reverb or tremelo. Adding features is not what this amp design is about. This is an absolute replica of the late '50's tweed deluxe. The amp has plenty of power for a small to medium room. The Jensen C12N 12" speaker has a wide range, its warm and never harsh.

I'm a novice player. I play blues and blues rock music. The amp is versatile enough for most music. I use a '79 Les Paul Custom w/ standard humbuckers. The amp's vintage tone makes it more fun to play and practice. Volume can be controlled by variations in picking attack. Rich harmonics and biting rock sounds are easy to achieve. Overall the sound is round and warm. It does have a hum which I attribute to the old circuit design. I accept the hum as a price for the rich tone. I plug into the normal channel 1 and jumper cable from the normal 2 to bright 1 for more tube saturation. Vice-a-versa jumper also works for a brighter saturated tone.

I bought the amp in August and have had no problems with it so far. The way its built I don't expect to. I called Victora Amp Co. to verify that the amp had a lifetime warranty and Mark Baier, the President answered the phone himself. He said that he would stand behind it as long as he was alive and he's in his 40's. Since I'm in my 50's thats good enough for me. Construction and finish quality of the amp is very high.

I talked with Mark by phone once and email several times and he's been quick to respond, friendly and helpful. I've had nothing requiring repair. The warranty is lifetime except for tubes and speakers. I found that Tulsa Guitar and Electronics is an authorized service center. No warranty or instructional papers were included in the box. Since I bought it from a dealer - box opened - I emailed Mark to see it documentation was lost or just not supplied. Mark said that currently the did not supply documentation. Its no big deal but a single page of warranty and instructional documention would help. I would just put the documentation on the Victoria web page.

I was looking for a hand wired point-to-point tube amp with quality parts throughout. I wanted vintage warm tube tone without high volume. Everything else I found was hundreds of dollars more expensive. I was happy find this amp in a store and be able to hear it before buying. I played it at the shop then went home to get my LP and try it. The amp was exactly what I wanted. I continue to be happier the more I use it. I tried a Matchless Hurricane and it was no where near as responsive and harmonic as the Vicky and it was $500 more. I compared it to a new Fender Blues Deluxe and I much prefer the Victoria. The tone control interacts with the volume controls of the bright and normal channels enabling lots of different tones. I wish there was an effects loop but that wouldn't be true to the replication design of this amp.

Features are not the strength of this amp but they shouldn't be when you are purchasing an exact replica of an amp from the late fifties.It has everything you need for a great sound, volume and tone, tone, tone. An added bonus is that this amp now comes with the Jensen speaker instead of the Mojo.

I play a bunch of American Standard teles and a '52 reissue, plus a couple of American Standard strats. For each of these guitars the amp is absolutely perfect, it sounds so sweet like an amp from this period is supposed to. I play blues and classic rock like the stones and the who, and for this type of music you can not do any better.

I just purchased it so no problems, I also have a victoria champ and had another victoria deluxe and had no problems with them.

It is a local company for me so I consider the support good. Before I purchased, I contacted the manufacturer and talked with him personally on the phone, obviously very knowledgeable and very accessable.

I stupidly had one of these and traded it for a custom telecaster 12 string but soon found that I could not do without this amp. 2 Weeks later I went to Make N Music (the coolest guitar and amp shop in chicago) and bought a new one. The good news is that my new one has the Jensen speaker where my old one had the Mojo. The mojo sounded great but the Jensen blows it away. I will NEVER part with this amp!

This amp has volume for each channel and one tone. Three knobs. For me, that is perfect. The tone is so beautiful, who needs grapgic EQ? I don't require effects loops. I play a variety of music, rock, blues, country, and, with this amp,I can handle things from the volume and tone controls on my Tele. With only three knobs, it is surprisingly versatile. It is plenty powerful for small to medium clubs. By miking it and going through the PA, it has enough power for anything that I would ever need.

Unbelievable tone. It makes my other amps, 1963 brown Princeton, '59 tweed Champ, '60 brown Concert, '77 Marshall 50 combo, Peavy Special 130, and others, sound thin and pitiful. I can hardly describe it. I play Tele's and a A Les Paul Special TV w/P90's (reissue). It is a little noisy at high volumes, but not too bad. The harmoics and distortion are wonderful. The only drawback is that the low E sting can get a little muddy when the volume is set around 10-12. That is not a critical issue for me. I like the volume between 4 and 9. I use the bright channel.

I haven't had for very long. It's build right, so I don't worry much about it. If I am far from home, I take a backup. If not, I wing it. I havent had enough experience with it yet to give it a fair rating.

I've not dealt with the company. I bought through a dealer in St Louis.

I've been playing for 26 years. I would replace this amp if it were lost or stolen. In fact, I will buy the Victoia 35310-T soon, to use on larger jobs and studio work (it sounded wonderful, too, in slightly different way). Victoria amps are expensive as hell. They're worth it. I also love the fact that it is lightweight. A Tele in it's case in one hand, and this amp in the other, and I can walk into a room and not even have broken a sweat.

This is Victoria's clone of the '59 Fender Tweed Deluxe. Beautiful shellacked tweed cabinet, housing a single 12 inch speaker. Mark Baier, Victoria's founder/president, offers Jensen reissues in addition to stock mojotones. I paid extra and got the Jensen P-12N. The circuitry is true to the original 5E3 schematic. It has two channels: normal and bright. One volume control for each channel and a single tone control. As on the original, the tone can be further modified by the volume control of the channel you are not using...this typically scoops the midrange a bit. Surprising amount of flexibility with so few controls. Beyond this, there are no other features..very simple and straightforward, but the tone on this is awesome. More about that later. One thing I did notice is that there is a hole in the chassis where there should be an extension speaker jack. According to Mark, he had a lot of customers plugging the speaker into the wrong outlet causing problems so he eliminated it. I want to get one installed in mine.

I use this with a '69 Les Paul with SD P-90's, a '54 Custom Shop Strat Reissue, and a newer ES-335. I play mostly classic rock/blues, and this thing provides the perfect sounds for me. Maybe it's the combination of the 5E3 circuitry, NOS preamp tubes,the RCA Blackplate 6V6's, and the P-12N Jensen...but let me tell you...this thing sounds beautiful...both the chords and single notes have a full, warm, round tone with great harmonics. The sustain will last for days...especially with the Les Paul. It gets fairly clean,rich tones, and will distort nicely at medium volumes. Great for any style of blues..Stormy Monday ala Dicky Betts/Duane Allman, Bloomfield, etc. You can get bright a any classic Fender, as well as a warm, smooth tone...and alot in between. So far, I think the single coils sound better in it than the HB's. A setting of 3-4 is very loud for in-home playing, but adjusting the volume on the guitar will give you clean through distorted sounds. This is the kind of setup that makes you just want to play all the time. I also have a BFDR Reissue, and this Victoria is louder..it'll be more than adequate for small-medium size club gigging. It does hum...more than the BFDR and much more so than my Mesa Heartbreaker...but I think this is a function of the design.

Only had it a few weeks and so I really can't say. I am a bit concerned about the life of these expensive NOS tubes in it because, like the original, it does not have a standby to preheat the tubes. I would always carry extra tubes just in case.

Before I bought it, I talked to Mark about various options. He was very helpful. He's a guitar player and can speak with credibility about various options. I never got the feeling that he was trying to get me to upgrade anything..but I coaxed him into admitting the Jensen P-12N was the way to go. I fully agree. However, when I got it, there was a very annoying rattle. I had several discussions with Mark and he offered suggestions. Mark says he has had complaints about 10% of the time, but they are (almost?) always fixable. I was getting frustrated there for a while, but before sending it back, I decided to tear into it and look at everything. I think the culprit was a cap that was between the ground switch and chassis that was just touching the chassis. Playing a "G" or "A" chord would send it buzzing like crazy. I carefully pushed it away from the chassis and now no more rattle. I'm still having some conversations with Mark on perhaps modifying the on/off to include a third position for standby...he seems helpful, open...but he is busy, so he's not as responsive as you might like...but he does get to you eventually.

I've been playing for over 30 years and have owned a 50W Marshall Plexi Head w/4-12's (can't believe I sold it now!!!), a Traynor Twin clone (I hated this...), and now have the Fender BF Deluxe Reverb Reissue, the Mesa Heartbreaker 2-12 combo, and a small Marshall valvestate (it was cheap!). I've had lots of guitars. This fit my needs perfectly...it provides great tone and distortion at fairly low volumes. I don't do large venues, in which case this amp would definitely have to be miked. If this were stolen/lost I would definitely buy it again. I played several genuine Tweed Deluxes before I bought this and found each of them to vary widely in tone...some better, some worse. The appeal for me was getting an amp that I know is built as good, or better, than the original. I know that this has a good 30 years or so life before it needs major service/recapped. I do wish there was one modern improvement to the original..the standby switch. I understand Clark has this mod in theirs and it is the one thing I think would improve the amp. Mark is absolutely true to the original. He is fanatical..the wiring, fiber board is all just like the original..but I gotta believe the originals didn't have the wires so perfectly arranged and as neat as this Vicky has. The inside of the chassis is a work of art. If a low watt tweed is what you're looking for, this thing has to sound almost or better than the real thing and you won't have the reliability concerns.