Guthrie finally seems very happy with everything on the amplification end. Chief designer Martin Kidd was the man responsible for the Cornford tones that Guthrie became identified with and I knew it was just a matter of time before Guthrie and Martin teamed up again.
I've always felt that Guthrie sounded best with the Cornford amps (specifically the MK50) in the past. He just was never quite comfortable with the feel of Suhr amps although he liked the tones available in the Badger 30, which he used for some years after Cornford dropped off the radar all of a sudden. He got used to the feel and sound of the Badger 30 but it was obvious that it was only a temporary solution as he sought out the ideal amp(s) for his needs.
Like the Charvel GG signature guitar that's been in the works for years now, the Victory amps that you see in this video have also been in development for around the same amount of time. These things don't just appear out of thin air one day. It takes years to develop new guitars and amps - especially within a new company like Victory.
It's great to see Guthrie finally settled in with his ideal guitars and amps. That took a while and a lot of work went into the endeavor but it was all worth it in the end as Guthrie seems happier than he has ever been with his gear. Judging by the sounds in this video and the shows I've seen him play recently with the Victory, I really believe Guthrie sounds better than he ever has. But I must also add that a good part of that is because he keeps getting better and better as a player. _________________ Ed Yoon
Certified Guthrie Fan-atic
BOING Music LLC - Managing Partner
.strandberg* Guitars USA
Ed Yoon Consulting & Management
Guitar Center Inc.
Never tried the Victory amps yet, but I definitely loved the Cornford Mk50 a lot! It had a bit of that magic tone and feel that you sometimes can only appreciate when playing a cranked NMV amp. They were a joy to play.
But I am surprised that he wasn't totally feeling the Suhr stuff. He always sounded great through them and I always read on interviews he purposefully likes a tight, uncompressed/unforgiving, revealing guitar tone….and the Suhr Badger 30 seemed like that was the ticket. But I myself much prefer the 18 and 35 because the clean tones felt better to me to play. I really love what I was hearing from the Sl68 and 67 from clips and I was hoping Guthrie would have started using those because I really love that mean roaring classic Marshall bark, with a simple front panel
Joined: 10 Sep 2004 Posts: 2783 Location: Chino, CA
Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2014 1:16 am Post subject:
Guthrie certainly liked the Badger 30. But his favorite amps have always been the Cornford amps designed by Martin Kidd. When Cornford went AWOL Guthrie kind of had to settle on the Badger 30 as he had gotten used to it using it on the clinic tours I went on with him. He liked it a lot but I always got the nagging feeling that he missed the Cornford amps.
I think it has more to do with how an amp feels than how it sounds. The feel is half of the equation, if not more. Cornford amps always had a distinctive transient attack, feel, and the way it would feed back. I was a Cornford dealer at Tone Merchants so I'm very familiar with them. I liked the MK50 and the RK100 but they weren't easy to play - not for me, at least.
A lot of the boutique "tone aficionados" who tried the Cornford amps at the shop didn't care for them because they felt the amps were too tight and too unforgiving. Basically, the amps exposed the flaws in their playing loud and clear! I can understand. One has to be spot on with the picking technique, muting, hammer-ons and pull-offs, etc. A lot of distortion and compression evens those things out even if you are somewhat sloppy but you couldn't do that with the Cornfords. They make you work much harder.
I guess this kind of thing can be compared to what experienced auto enthusiasts like in high-performance sports cars. The steering wheel, the clutches, and shift stick would feel very stiff but they say these things are desirable for better control during high-speed driving. I'm not an auto enthusiast at all so I don't know but I kinda get what they're saying. For me, a car is a machine that takes me from point A to point B and nothing more. But I get that some people love cars (like my brother) and have all kinds of things to say about it like we do about guitars and amps. I've driven Mercedes and BMW's, etc. and think, "Yeah, it's alright but there are many other things I'd rather spend the extra money on." Like more great guitars! Or travel and visit exotic places that I haven't been to yet...
Well, many people think we're nuts for spending $3K+ a pop on high-end guitar gear so it's all a matter of what you're into. I'd certainly love a '57 Goldtop Les Paul reissue of some sort and a '58 Historic would be really cool as well. If I had money to burn I'd be interested in the Fender Custom Shop Mike Landau Signature Strat (the '63 in Fiesta Red) but I'm just not interested in Fender or Fender-style guitars these days. I've got the Charvel GG coming so that'll take care of the superstrat category. I've got the Boden 6 coming as well so I'm kind of all set in the solid-body area. I really do want a nice Les Paul or two but I'm in no hurry. I'd prefer to get a nice Martin HD28 first. Maybe it's because I mainly work on handling so many acoustics at GC, but I'm really getting more and more into the sound of acoustics these days and what makes one sound better than the other. It's a whole different world from electrics.
Anyway, veered off here... Back to the subject: I'm very interested in playing the Victory amps myself for an extended period of time - but not when Guthrie is around! If I was going to have a tube amp around the house it'd have to be the V30 Countess with a 1x12. Anything larger just wouldn't make sense when I have the Axe-Fx II rig with a pair of Atomic CLR's. One amp that I'm obviously very curious about is the Friedman BE100. Guthrie had some nice things to say about it after trying it out at Make'n Music before a clinic there a few years ago. When Guthrie says something nice about a piece of gear I'm always interested in checking it out. _________________ Ed Yoon
Certified Guthrie Fan-atic
BOING Music LLC - Managing Partner
.strandberg* Guitars USA
Ed Yoon Consulting & Management
Guitar Center Inc.
Cornfords are definitely garbage-in-garbage-out amps. But I love them because they can be much more expressive and nuanced when you put in the work. I've used Fryette/VHT ultraleads and 50cls for a long time now, and they certainly kicked my ass for a few good frustrating months
But I heard Martin Kidd in some interview that his Victory amps are much more forgiving and you don't have to fight with it as much. Does Guthrie find these feel much different than the Cornfords?
Joined: 10 Sep 2004 Posts: 2783 Location: Chino, CA
Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2014 2:26 am Post subject:
Carlo wrote:
Cornfords are definitely garbage-in-garbage-out amps. But I love them because they can be much more expressive and nuanced when you put in the work. I've used Fryette/VHT ultraleads and 50cls for a long time now, and they certainly kicked my ass for a few good frustrating months
But I heard Martin Kidd in some interview that his Victory amps are much more forgiving and you don't have to fight with it as much. Does Guthrie find these feel much different than the Cornfords?
The Victory amps did sound somewhat different from the Cornford amps from what I remember. The attack is smoother, not as raw and biting. They also sounded bigger which, to me, means they have more low-end overall. I'm sure MK didn't want to just clone what he created before at Cornford. These are new amps with new designs although, as Guthrie states in the interview, his idea of how an 'A' power chord should sound is roughly the same as Martin's. _________________ Ed Yoon
Certified Guthrie Fan-atic
BOING Music LLC - Managing Partner
.strandberg* Guitars USA
Ed Yoon Consulting & Management
Guitar Center Inc.
I am curious to see how much different they feel from the Cornfords. The Music Zoo started carrying the Victory line, so I will definitely be giving these a test drive soon.
I always wanted a Cornford though, and these amps are fetching pretty cheap used these days.
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