Victoria Amplifier Co. 35210-T

Pretty simple here-high and low inputs with two channels each-volume, treble, bass, presence and a standby switch. If the amp had tremelo and reverb, it would be perfect, but no big deal.

This is where the amp shines. It is by far the best sounding, most versatile amp I have ever played through. The cleans are spectacular. Playing through the high input with the treble and presence turned up, it sounds identical to a 59 bassman. The overdrive is wonderful! I'm primarily a singer/songwriter but I also add in some blues stuff similar to Free, Cream and Led Zeppelin. For that sound, one would probably think I would get a marshall for the distortion-I prefer the 35210's distortion over marshall. Here's why: it's a very unique sounding overdrive. When you hear a marshall, you know it. Cream, Led Zeppelin, that's the "marshall sound." When this thing is overdrived, it's a new sound that's hard to tell what amp it is. An it sounds fantastic! Very vintage and woody sounding. Go to victoriaamps.com and listen to the sound samples so you can get an idea of it's sound.
My two main guitars are a les paul standard and a 57 strat reissue. They both sound great. Nothing beats a handwired tube amp-especially from a company like victoria who in my opinion pays more attention to detail than anybody.

So far so good. I've gigged with it and hauled it around-seems pretty sturdy. But it is a tube amp so be careful!

Haven't had to contact victoria yet.

There are no words to describe the sound that comes from this amp. It's pure perfection.

I was lucky enough to have found it used for a lot less than the original $2,300 price tag. I believe that the guy I got it from bought it new in 2005. The amp is a true copy of a 1955-1959 thin panel Fender Super which, by today's standards would not have been considered a versatile amp. However, I gurantee you will be surprised by the variety of tones it can pump out. Basically you can get all the tones that you would expect from a good vintage Fender or vintage Marshall just by turning the volume and treble knob up a bit. I remember seeing these advertised in the back of Guitar Player magazine years ago and wondering what all the hype was about. I mean why would you want 1950's technology today? Well now I know. Truly unbelievable! These amps are all about tone, tone and more tone combined with just enough features to gig with. I use it to play Pop, Funk, Blues, Roots and Rock of all forms with the exception of Metal. I think it is actually 28 Watts and loud enough to gig in any situation. Trust me it's loud. You're not going to crank this thing up in your bedroom! I run a BK Butler Tube Driver through it for any distorted tones at home. It accepts pedals really well and must be due to the simple design. I can't rate it low here because you would not buy this type of amp for features. It actually does more than I expected so I will rate it high.

This is where you get your money's worth. I mean, they could not have made this amp sound any better if they had tried. Really. I don't even miss the Reverb the sound is so good. Very three dimesional. It reacts to my playing so well and the tone is just so satisfying. Also do yourself a favor and experiment with some different tubes. By doing this you will open up a whole new spectrum of tones. Mine came with NOS tubes. (they do make a difference folks) I change out the stock 12ax7 in the V1 spot for a JAN 5751 when using my Strats. Nice and bitey with the Strats. The 12ax7 sounds better with my Les Paul where it really gets that Billy Gibbons grind. I can cover alot with this set-up. I would describe the distortion as "mature". It has a rich harmonic tube overdrive that breathes very well. Once you get accustomed to this type of distortion everything else starts to sound processed. The amp is pretty much loud and clean whith the volume knob between 4-7 and the treble knob between 5-7. By the way the knobs all go up to 12. With the volume on 9 and treble on 10 you will be fully distorted. The cool thing is that the transisition is smooth. The voulme from 6-10 does not jump and will not split your head open. I prefer the normal channel over the bright channel. I run mine with the normal volume on 10 and move the treble between 8-10 for more gain. Very simple but effective. Presence stays put at 8 and bass on 3. For more raunch try bringing the bright channel knob up to 5. Yes all the channels are interactive. This feature makes it easy to dial right in your tone, volume and gain. I play a variety of Strats through it from a Custom Shop Relic to a 84 Japan Squier all with handwound pu's by SD, JM Rolph and a few sets from a local Luthier.

I bought the amp used and have owned it for 6 months with no problems. I feel confident it will be reliable. The originals are still around after 50 years and I see no reason why this top shelf replica would be any different.

Don't know yet. No problems so far.

I have a good collection of amps. Some bigger some smaller but all are vintage or based on a vintage design. I'm starting to think that, this Victoria and my 8 Watt Champ design from Bob McGilpin of MV Amps (another great Tweed!) is all I will ever need. This Victoria has already replaced my Weber loaded 69 Pro Reverb for gigs and let me say that I thought the world of that 69 Pro but the Victoria just gives me more of that good stuff. I would replace it in a heartbeat even if I was forced to pay the full retail price. IMHO It was worth every penny!

Not sure of the year. Amp is versatile enough for most styles other than heavy metal, with or without a quality pedal. No effects needed. This amp can be used almost in any normal playing situation, miked if necessary. Plenty of power.

Certainly from the cleanest Fender tones to some nasty Stevie Ray or Hendrix. The interactive tone controls work well and starts to break up around 7. Distortion is a classic blues rock tone and with the difficult to obtain King of Tone version 4, with any decent Les Paul,almost any sound can be achieved from Crossroads to Zepplin. I still can't believe that with an open backed cabinet, it gets so much tight bottom, without flopping out.

Quality is excellent inside and out. Some of the best repro tweed I've ever seen.

Have not had to call yet, but from what others have written, I'm sure I will not be disappointed.

I;ve been playing about 30 years listening and playing to all of the classic legends of the 60's. I also own marshall 601 TSL, which I will try in stereo with this amp, I'm sure it will be great. If lost I WILL buy another. There are no comparisons, I;'ve listened to others and had others , this is the most realistic. I've OWNED many tweed amps including a 59 Super. This is more usable and donot have to worry about blowing expensive original coned Jensens.

35 2X10 V front -- a Dual Professional frame with Super 2X10 circuit. Features are very basic.

In the last two years I've been through Fender Super Reverb, Fender Vibro-King and a Dr. Z 38. All those amps required pedals to at least approximate the sound I was after. Pedals were Keeley Fuzz Head, Hot Cake, Menatone Red Snapper, AC Booster and RC Booster. At first I used some of these pedals with the Victoria, but I've stopped. This amp doesn't need them to sound good in a typical club.

I've since sold many of these pedals.

For me, the key to this amp is jumping the low and high inputs and putting a 12AX7 in the first pre-amp position where the 12AY7 was.

I play clube with both volumes at 7 to 9 and control the volume from the guitar for cleaner sounds. I play an Eric Johnson Strat and an American Strat for slide guitar.

Best distortion I've ever had.

I changed some tubes (not NOS) around to clear up some humming

The amp was whistling at extreme high volume. I called Victoria and left a message with a staffer. The owner, Baier called me back in about 10 minutes and said I might want to switch around some tubes to take the whistling away. I did and it worked. Great customer service.

Been playing on and off about 23 years. I've owned it for five or six months. This amp does not need reverb; it shimmers on its own. This is a plug in and play amp for small to medium clubs for blues and classic rock. Last night I played Little Wing with a band simply by controlling my Strat's volume control.

If you want a basic gutsy blues-rock sound, without having to mess with a bunch of peddles, check this amp out.

Though pricey, this amp delivers.

Not sure what year it is. Serial number in the five hundreds. Just purchased it used. Normal and bright channels, presence, etc. It has the features required. Plenty of power for rehearsals and club gigs. Very loud for bedroom practice, but then that's not what it's for. You can get a really pretty clean sound at bedroom levels, though, but don't expect to get it cranking.

Powerful, bright, sparkling clean sound. MUCH louder, cleaner, and brighter than my 5E3 Tweed Deluxes (real and clone). The "Bright" channel is so much brighter than the Deluxe that it sounds almost black face-ish bright, but with more body. It's a nice complement to the tweed Deluxe (which is dark and almost never totally clean at any level). It has a glassy smooth quality to the clean bit, and compresses and distorts as you crank it up. The "Normal" channel is much more like the Deluxe's Bright channel. I play it with a fat strat clone, and it makes a great blues and classic/alt rock machine. It really sounds fantastic, though you have to crank it quite a bit to get full distortion. The Jensen RI speakers really sound great. I may try some others some day, but no need now. I love the sound.

I trust this amp completely, and as long as I had a spare set of tubes with me I would gig it without a backup. It had Russian Tung-Sol 5881s in it when I bought it, and one of them was fried, so I have gone with NOS Tung-Sols along with some tasty 12AX7s that I had in my stash. Now it's really something.

I have never dealt with Victoria, but have heard good things about them.

I've been playing 25+ years, and own two tweed Deluxes (1955 and recent clone), a tweed Princeton clone, and a 1966 BFPR. Of all my amps, this is the only real serious gig amp. I feel like it could cover any sized club, with the possible addition of a mild overdrive kick from a Centaur or Hotcake if I can't crank it. If it were lost or stolen, I would definitely get another. I have heard good things about the Victoria Bassman and Bandmaster clones, but if they're louder than this amp they are too loud for me. I'll stick with the old Super.

Its a copy of a Super, so expect the features you'd have needed in 1959. All the features have been covered by other reviewers. I also own a genuine 1959 Tweed Fender Super and the only difference I can detect featurewise is the single output socket for the speakers on the Victoria 35210-T. The Super has two output sockets - one for the internal 2x10 Jensens and an additional socket for an 8 Ohm extension speaker. One mark deducted here.

Fantastic. The Victoria has exactly the same sound as the Super (perhaps a tiny bit brighter due to the reissue Jensens). I can get any sound I need from either. I play blues, blues-rock, though to Hendrix tributes. I know the sound I want intimately, having used the Super for 7 years as my main gigging amp.

The Victoria is also great for guesting harp players!

I use the Victoria every alternate gig/rehearsal, and a substitute when the Super has needed some occasional maintenance or repair. Due to the construction I expect the Victoria to be as maintainable as the Super and still kicking in 40 years or more. The Victoria has never broken down and has done >100 gigs. However it was a bit of a dissapointment when I initially received it. Bought from Charlie Chandlers guitar experience, who are the UK dealer for Victoria. It arrived with no preamp valve shrouds (dunno why?) and a duff 7025 preamp valve. Full marks to Charlie for immediately replacing these and giving me a complete new set of tubes.

Never tried. I know a guy who has been fixing valve amps since the early 70's - and this circuit design is pretty simple.

A great amp, just like the classic Super. I would recommend anyone in a gigging blues band to try one. Its very expensive for such a simple amp, but you'll know why when you play it. Order and import to the UK only took just over 2 weeks. I also ordered a very classy set of padded covers for both combos from Charlie Chandler. The Victoria is identical size to the Super, so either cover fits either combo. I have been playing (ie gigging) blues-based guitar for 25 years and owned many classic Marshall and Fender amps, including Vibroverbs and a VibroKing (which I got rid of after acquiring the Victoria).

You can see how I use the Victoria 35210-T and the Fender Super at my site here http://www.rumboogie.co.uk/carlosrig.html

With the four inputs plus the ability to jump inputs you can find the right sound to suit any guitar. It loves pedals. Its very light. Has the right amount of volume for a small club. The interaction of the tone and volume controls is very substantial and allows you to bring out the best in widely different guitars.

Using Gibson Historic 57Les Paul (Tom Murphy Goldtop)Fender Custom Shop strat with Van Zandt pups. Heritage 535 with Duncan Antiquities. Musical style is along the Classic Rock style trying to infuse it with a sort of Robben Ford cunning. I use it with a Keely Ts-9 with the Les Paul and Heritage. The Paul has never sounded so good, all the Gary Moore and Santana sounds I'll ever need. The Heritage gets the old Robben Ford talk to your daughter sound and believe it or not after some adjustments on the amp and the addition of the compressor with the Ts 9 I'm getting the fundametal Hendrix Band of Gypsies sound on the Strat. The amp sounds great on its own but even better with quality pedals. It has a warm sensual quality to it that is very addictive.

Haven't had it long enough to say.

Likewise.

Been playing for decades. I have owned many different high end amps. Most recent in this category are Holland, Toneking ( it really blows this one away)and Dr Z. I also own a Rivera Suprema (still like it) and a rack system(now don't like it) I bought this amp because I borrowed a 1956 Fender Super which was sorely missed when I had to return it. It just had to be replaced with something as good. This is a great replica ot that same amp.

Purchased new from Daves Guitar in LaCrosse, always a wonderful experience dealing with these folks. This amp has one feature: tone.

I use either a Tele or a Gibson with humbuckers and both sound wonderful through this box. There's enough inherent jangle in the solid pine box that you don't miss reverb, and the two 10" Jensens put out just the right amount of bottom without getting flabby. Beautiful juicy clean tone that, depending on volume and how much treble or bass is rolled on (hiking both will increase gain), will allow you to go from clean to cranked by using the guitar's volume. Add a splash of subtle OD (I use a Hotcake, forget everything else)and you can find classic blues and rock tone.

Had a bad power tube that was replaced by Daves Guitar. Look inside the chassis on this and you can see the hand work. Just like an old Fender.

I spoke with Mark Baer, Victoria President, both on the phone and through e-mails, regarding the tube problem. He was great.

Playing since 1975. Owned BF Fenders (a Super Reverb came close to this tone), Tone King Comet, oh...the list is just too long to print. Here's the bottom line: if you like the sound from Chess Records from the fifties, this is the amp. It weighs about 32 lbs (that's right, try horsing a Super Reverb around); it has plenty of volume for clubs (who here is playing stadiums?); you don't have to crank it to ear-splitting levels to get the proper saturation; and most important, you don't have to keep dinking with knobs to dial in a sound. Plug in, twist the volume, treble and bass...done. Just as simple as when Leo first made them. Warm, woody, tweedy tone with plenty of spank for the plank. And you know what else? They hold their value. You can play this for 5 or 10 years and then sell it and make money. But you wouldn't want to part with it. Try one.

Serial # 249, so I assume an early model, mahogany cabinet, 30 watt (according to the sticker inside). 2x10" speakers. A non-back-breakign weight (a big plus). Normal and Bright channel with individual volumes, plus a treble, bass, and presence knob and a ground switch. The amp doesn't have reverb, but I don't find myself missing that at all - there's so much warmth and depth to the sound without it. It's also pretty amazing how much you can tweak the sound with the treble and bass knobs. It makes quite a difference in the tone, which is not something I'd experienced prior to the Victoria. So does it have a lot of features? No. But it does what it does better than anything else I've heard.

I use this for playing at home, rehersals, and small clubs, playing jangley-pop, roots music, and alt-countryesque stuff. The amp has that great fendery clean shimmery sparkly tone down beautifully. When I first plugged into it in the store I got goose-bumps from the tone, and just knew - this was the one. I still feel that way nearly a month later. This was after trying a Reverend Hellhound, New Fender Pro Reverb, Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, and a Reissue Fender Deluxe Reverb. For reference, I also own a Laney VC-30 and a Trace Elliot Velocette, and have owned a Fender Evil Twin. I knew I was looking for something AB in the Fender sounding world that got great warm, clean sounds, and this blew away everything else I was considering. I'd read great things about Victorias, but assumed I couldn't afford one until I found this one used.

I alternate between Mex-Strat, Jap-Tele, old Dano U-1, old Epiphone Riviera 12, and a lap steel. All sound great though this amp plugged straight in, and at low (under 6) volume, get no hiss other than single coil hum. I play at pretty low volumes, and find there's enough clean headroom to compete with my drummer (but he plays pretty quiet).

Lately, I've been putting my guitar 1st into an ABY box, sending a non-effected line to the bright channel, and a second line through my effects into the normal channel. I get a tiny bit of hiss this way, but can thicken up my sound a bit and do all kinds of fun things with my overdrive (vox valve tone, delay (line 6), chorus (boss), and tremolo (guyatone tube). And I love this sound - I can balance clean to effected sound by tweaking the volume, or use just one or the other.

I've only opened up the amp once or twice - it does get a bit of tube distortion in the upper reaches, but I was very pleasantly surprised at how clean it sounded at higher volumes - and as most of what I play is pretty clean - this was ideal. Lots of jangle, but not piercing. No icepicks! My bandmates commented that this was about the warmest tone I'd ever gotten, and I feel like I've gone from tweaking knobs throughout rehersals to being able to set at something and go. Just a sonic godsend.

I haven't had it long enough to really push it. I have noticed that it does get pretty hot after a couple hours of use, but based on every wonderful thing that I've read about Victoria Amps - I have no worries. I probably will gig without a backup.

I don't live far from Victoria's headquarters in Naperville, so I'm very confident that I'd be able to take it back to the maker personally and get good care if necessary. When I bought the amp, the store had Mark Baier (Victoria's owner) fix a 'going' tube for me, and just talked about him in glowing terms.

I've been playing about 12 years now, playing electric seriously for 6. I've mentioned most of the other stuff I own or have played, and this amp is by far the best sounding and most professional piece of equipment I own. It makes everything else I play sound better, and really makes me want to play more. I feel like I've finally found my tone, and can concentrate on expressing my music without wishing my medium for expression sounded better. At the store, I tried a couple of 'cheapo' guitars through the amp, and it made them sound good. It makes a good guitar sound great. I couldn't imagine losing this amp, and would replace it in an instant if I did.

1999 model, 35 watts, 2x6L6 (Svetlana) power tubes; NOS 5U4 rectifier, NOS 12AX7 (2), and 7025 (1) preamp tubes. 2 Jensen reissue P10R speakers. All point-to-point and hand wired. High quality components (Switchcraft jacks, CTS pots, Sprague Atom and Victoria caps, solid-core, cloth-covered wire, etc.). Solid pine cabinet covered in beautifully-done lacquered tween. Two channels (Normal and Bright, each with two inputs), Normal Volume, Bright Volume, Bass Treble, Presence. Standby, Power, Ground switches. Based on the Fender 5F4 1950s tweed Super amps. Same chassis as the 35310 (tweed Bandmaster) and 35115 (tweed Pro) models, only in a 2x10 cab.

Sounds like what I imagine a brand-new '59 tweed Super sounded like in 1959. Rich tweed tones by the bucketful. Rich, complex clean tones at low volumes, a little beefier at middle volumes, and overdrives and compresses nicely when flat-out or close to it. The volume controls are interactive, just like on the real deal. I prefer the tone with the channels jumpered, so I can get both the bright and normal tones going. I found the bright channel a little thin and the Normal channel OK, but the bridged combo was great. The tone controls are interactive (Treble and Bass, anyway, Presence does what it should, subtracts the very high end shimmer as it's rolled down, almost like an AC30's Cut control). After about 7 (out of 12), the tone controls add gain, too, but don't make much tonal difference until they're maxed out.
I play a Fender '52 Telecaster reissue, and I can get smokey Chess-era blues to Buck Owens/Don Rich country twang to slinky Steve Cropper soul from it. It's awesome for roots music of any sort. I use a Fulltone Fulldrive 2, Fulldrive Supa-Trem, and Way Huge Aqua Puss analog delay with it. All sound great, and the Fulldrive really sounds nice with the Vicky. I played a Fender MIJ 50s Strat (stock) through it for a couple of hours, and really liked the tones. I haven't played a P-90 or humbucker-equipped guitar through it, though. I would imagine P-90s would sound incredible. A bit of hiss at mid to high volumes, especially with the Fulldrive engaged.

Seems solid. Since it's virtually a 50s Fender and plenty of those are still hummin' along, I'll bet it's pretty reliable. I haven't had it long enough to evaluate the long-term reliability, though.

I've emailed Victoria/Mark Baier three times. Once to ask whether my amp had shipped or not (I ordered it from a dealer, but it was dropped shipping from Victoria), and twice for questions about Victoria amps (once before I bought my amp, and once after). No answer on the two info requests, but I got a pretty quick answer about my amp's shipping status. Draw your own conclusions from that. Also, the amp doesn't ship with any paperwork: no manual (not that you really need one), and no warranty papers, etc. Only a shipping invoice came in the box. The amp was very securely packed for shipping. They obviously care that their amps survive UPS treatment.
I purchased it from Randy Cloud at Bubba's Guitars in Tulsa, OK (http://ionet.net/~rcloud/bubbasguitars/bubbasite001.htm). Randy is a great guy to work with and he has great prices on Victorias. He's a small operation, and also deals Fulltone and Top Hat.

If you're looking for accurate tweed tone in a compact, yet loud enough for small clubs, package, then check this amp out. The 3x10 version has a little more volume and clean headroom, but it's bigger and heavier. Clark or Hullet tweed repros are supposedly really nice, too, but the wait for those amps was too long for me (at least six months, from what I've been told). If you play roots music (blues, real country, early rock 'n' roll, Stax/Volt era Soul, etc.) you should seriously check out these amps.