Victory Amplifiers V4 The Kraken Preamp

I use this in the effects loop of both my all-tube and solid state amps, and it sounds great with either. I use it for all kinds of overdriven sounds, both rythm and lead tones. The first channel is great for classic rock to 90s rock, like AC/DC, Extreme, etc., the second channel has lots more gain; I mainly use that for sounds like Satriani, Metallica, etc., but if you play modern heavy genres, it has lots of oomph for palm-muted runs as well. Great, tight bass response. When tapping, each note is clear with lots of definition. On lower settings, the unit is noiseless. With extreme amounts of gain it has some noise, which is to be expected. I get a lot less noise with this than when I was stacking drive pedals to get my overdrive sound. It can do very trebly, sharp tones, but it has plenty of ways to shape the sound, and since I mainly play Guns n Roses and similar tones, I've turned the mids up and the treble down, giving me more Marshall'y tones. Workmanship and finish is solid all around, my only slight complain is that I was unable to detach the rubber feet because one of the screws was stuck in its thread from the factory, so it simply couldn't turn. I haven't tried running it directly into the front of my amp, but Victory recommends using it in the loop, so that it can replace your amp's. Thanks to this I was able to retire several of my drive pedals; I simply don't need them as I can now get all the different drive tones from my amp. One thing to be aware of is that this pedal does not do clean tones, it goes from pretty crunchy/Hendrix-style drive up to insane overdrive. Also, the EQ controls are shared between both channels, which I don't mind, but some people might not like.

I finally got my Kraken preamp pedal and I can definitely say that it was worth the wait. The unit itself is bigger than you'd think and the build quality is very solid - they have not cut any corners on the construction of this pedal. Even the foot-guard is a nice addition so you don't accidentally bump any of the gain or EQ settings.
I'm using this in conjunction with a Pod HD500x (into a Magnum 44 poweramp) and it sounds fantastic. I A/B'd it against my best Pod HD500x tone, and the Kraken won, hands down. So now I use the Pod as a multi-effects unit and this preamp for my amp tones. When using with a Pod, it's best placed in the effects loop (standalone mode on the Kraken) so that you can use the Pod's effects before and after the Kraken. If you use it in amp through mode, you can't use any of the Pod's effects before the preamp. The preamp reacts great to the volume control on the guitar and the two channels sound very thick and meaty. Perfect for those who like hi-gain tones for sure, pristine cleans aren't on the menu here though channel 1 can make for a great clean-breakup/crunch channel. The EQ is quite nice on this too, though 12 o'clock on all EQ suits me fine. The bright switch definitely sounds very different to the bright switch on my poweramp, but in my case, I didn't need to adjust anything, it sounded good out of the box. I look forward to running this preamp into my audio interface for recording purposes too. Overall, this is a great product and highly recommended.

Excellent price and shipping to the US from Thomann. Thomann is better for US customers for Victory gear than anyone in the US.
I used it in the loop of a Kemper Profiler. Found myself only using the Kraken and not the other sounds in the Kemper. Solid construction, but I still kept it on top of my 4x12 and used a remote footswitch to control it. Nice to have that option. Keeps your instrument cables shorter if your not using a loop on the floor. I like the brass footswitch buttons (no friction). The sound always kept me coming back. For months I'd go play just to hear the Kraken. I ultimatly sold the V4 and Kemper and bought a Super Kraken and Victory 2x12. If that doesn't say how great the pedal is I dont know what does.

Unglaublich praktisch und eine super Ergänzung zu meinem sehr dunklen und vintagesoundmäßigen Orange OR 15 H. Ich benutze den Preamp mit der Vier-Kabel-Methode, so das ich uneingeschränkt den Vintage Sound von meinem Orange genießen kann und auf Knopfdruck den Amp in ein High-Gain-Monster verwandeln kann.

Er reagiert wirklich sehr dynamisch was ich ehrlich gesagt nicht gedacht habe, also auch mit Anschlag und Volumen-Knob kann man eine Menge machen. Im Vergleich zu meinen Orange klingt ehr sehr Modern und hat deutlich mehr höhen. Auch in den Mitten ist eine Anhebung zu merken, aber das kann man ja alles nachjustieren.

Ich habe allerdings einen Punkt bei Sound abgezogen, da man echt aufpassen muss wenn man einzeln leersaiten anspielt, da diese schon mal sehr plärrig klingen können. Das ist mir aufgefallen wenn man z.B. Riffs wie The Pot von Tool spielt.

Ansonsten was Sound angeht, schaut euch das YT-Video von Rebea an und ja er klingt wirklich so gut. Allerdings würde ich das Pedal nicht empfehlen wenn du keinen FX-Loop hast weil vor dem Amp klingt das Teil einfach nur dünn und fizzelig (ist kein Verzerrer sondern ein Preamp).

Ergänzung nach 4 Monaten Spielzeit:
Der Preamp klingt mit meiner Paula immer noch sehr gut, allerdings finde ich ihn mit der Strat absolut unbrauchbar. Der Brightswitch mach den Sound leider nur dumpfer und unterdrückt somit leider die Stratypischen Frequenzen. Im normalen Modus ist Strat allerdings einfach nur plärrig. Zweiter Punkt ist das Mein OR 15 leider kein Mastervolumen hat und meine Endstufe somit beim Anschließen des Kraken auf volllast läuft. Sprich schon bei leichtem drehen am Volumenpoti habe ich schon eine massive Lautstärke. Dafür habe ich mir dann extra noch ein kleines Pedal gekauft was quasi die Funktion eines Volumenpedals im Fx-Loop einnimmt. Erst so war es mir möglich den Preamp vernünftig auszufahren. Also beim Kauf über Mastervolumen nach dem FX-Loop informieren.