Victory The Sheriff V44 with Jamie Dickson
It’s interesting how much difference a few months makes, at least when it comes to Hendrix albums. A few months ago Mick Taylor of That Pedal Show, renowned jazz guitarist Denny Ilett and I took on the challenge of performing Jimi’s second album on its 50th anniversary. We’d already performed Are You Experienced at Bristol’s Colston Hall a few months previously at the excellent International Jazz & Blues Festival, so we dived into Jimi’s follow-up with relish. We were quickly reminded, however, that
Axis: Bold As Love is quite a different animal, sonically, than ...Experienced. It’s a true studio album and, Spanish Castle Magic aside, not many of its tracks were staples of Jimi’s live performances. It’s easy to see why. There are lots of overdubs and spacey interludes that don’t lend themselves to performance in a power trio. With three of us available on guitar and a raft of effects to hand, though, the task of emulating the album’s fantastic soundscapes gets a bit easier. Sadly, my faithful steed from the
...Experienced gig, an early 70s 100-watt JMP head kindly loaned to me by Vintage ‘n’ Rare Guitars in Bath, is no longer available so I decide to give Victory’s Plexi-inspired V44 a try instead. What’s needed is an amp with plenty of clean headroom as well as drive as the aim with Axis is to replicate some of the tape delay and flanging sounds as closely as possible. So power, projection and fidelity is more important here, rather than soulful swampiness – which is what we went for with the more raucous Are You Experienced. And power is certainly going to be needed to keep up with Mick, who brings along his ferocious Two-Rock TS1 head and Denny, who has plumped for a battered but potent 50-watt Marshall Vintage Modern combo. I’ve always liked Victory’s focus on compact but punchy cabs and amps and that’s definitely the case with the V44.
As with all closed-back rigs, it’s so easy when standing right in front of it to think it’s not loud enough when in reality you’re firing most of the volume through your legs and absolutely deafening everyone else in the room. At full chat, with the Strat and the J Rockett .45 Caliber overdrive pedal that I’ve selected for this gig, the V44 is clear and quite toppy but has loads of lovely, smooth projection that punches through the sonic soup of our ear-punishing rehearsals. Overall, it strikes me as just a touch more ‘hi-fi’ than a vintage Plexi but very capable and hardhitting. I’d say it’s a near-ideal canvas for effects if you want your base tonal colouration to be Marshall, rather than Fender-like.
The night of the gig arrives. Will Edmunds of our excellent support band the Bristol Bluesmen has brought along his Collings electrics and Morgan amp, which sound stunning, as does his playing, so the bar is set high. When it’s our turn to step on stage at Bristol’s Trinity venue, I have to remember what was reported during soundcheck: the Victory may sound quiet to me but it’s pointing right at the audience at head height and is, in reality, plenty loud out front.
Once we hit our stride, we have a blast. Mick makes a superb job of Little Wing, the really big number on the album, while I enjoy putting the pliant power of the V44’s clean tones to good use on the funky chops of Wait
Until Tomorrow. I’m also glad of the V44’s well-defined voice when I play the tape-echo drenched lead parts of If 6 Was 9, which could have been messy. Denny, meanwhile, gets an ovation for his intense soloing on Red House, which we throw in as an encore. Mick reckons Denny got the best tone of the night, running into that battered Marshall – but if he did it’s a near-run thing. Elated, we close the set and, packing down again afterwards, in between thirsty gulps of celebratory beer, I’m glad of the Victory’s compact size and relatively light weight. With this Sheriff, the town is big enough for the both of us...