VICTORY ‘The Sheriff 44’

All Valve 44 Watt Guitar Head

User Guide
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Thank you, and congratulations on acquiring a Victory Amplification, ‘The Sheriff 44’. This
amp is proudly designed and built by our committed team of engineers and craftsmen in
the UK.
We value simplicity in operation, flexibility in use and absolutely no compromise in tone.
Our aim is simple: to create amplifiers that inspire you ever onwards in your playing and
never let you down.
SAFETY FIRST
We want you to enjoy your amplifier to the best of its potential. So please…
Before you go any further, take a moment to read these SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS
• Read these guidelines & keep them
• Follow all instructions, guidelines & warnings, especially those in RED
• Do not use this amplifier near water or any other liquid
• Do not block any openings
• Do not attempt to clean the amplifier with any fluids: use only a dry cloth
• Do not attempt to modify or service this product yourself
• Removing covers could mean you are exposed to dangerous voltages that may result in
severe injury or death
• Refer all servicing to qualified service personnel
• It is the nature of valve amplifiers to get hot, so please take care when moving the amp
after use.
• Damage Requiring Service: Unplug this product from the wall outlet and refer servicing
to qualified service personnel under the following conditions:
(a) When the power-supply cord or plug is damaged;
(b) If liquid has been spilled, or objects have fallen into the product;
(c) If the product has been exposed to rain or water;
(d) If the product does not operate normally by following the operating instructions.
Adjust only those controls that are covered by the operating instructions. Improper
adjustment of other controls may result in damage and will often require extensive work
by a qualified technician to restore the product to its normal operation;
(e) If the product has been dropped or damaged in any way;
(f) When the product exhibits a distinct change in performance - this indicates a need for
service.
• Replacement Parts: When replacement parts are required, be sure the service
technician uses replacement parts specified by the manufacturer or have the same
characteristics as the original part. Unauthorized substitutions may result in fire,
electric shock, or other hazards.
What’s included?
Your new Victory Sheriff 44 comes with the following:
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1 x Single Latching Footswitch for Channel I/II
A mains lead for your country
A vinyl dust-cover
This User Guide
FRONT PANEL

Input 1
Plug your guitar in here. This is Channel I and the lower gain of the 2. This is designed to
recreate old-school British crunchy cleans through to singing 60s blues rock.
Input 2
This is the Channel 2 input; higher gain adding a further gain stage for more ‘modded’ 70s
& 80s classic rock and beyond.
Footswitch
The Sheriff 44 comes with a single latching footswitch to switch between Input I and
Input II. To enable this function, the Footswitch needs to be plugged into Input I and your
guitar plugged into Input II.
VOLUME I
This control effectively sets the Gain for Input I. The more it is turned up, the more Gain is
added to the input signal control and adds a classic British crunch to the sound. Use low
settings for maximum clean headroom and higher settings when you want to introduce
more natural valve overdrive to your tone.
Balancing this control with the Master Volume is crucial in delivering the tone and feel
that works best for you.
VOLUME II
When the guitar is plugged into Input II, this control adds more of a modern American
high-gain character to the content of your sound and again should be used in conjunction
with the Master control to achieve the tonal response you desire.
TREBLE
Controls the high frequency content of your sound and is also a powerful tone shaper
when it comes to overdrive character.
MIDDLE
Controls the midrange frequencies in your sound. Run the middle control higher to help
cut through a band mix, or generally fatten and ‘widen’ your sound. Run it lower for a
lighter, less ‘in-your-face’ kind of sound.
BASS
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This controls the low frequency content of your sound. Higher levels of bass can be good
at low volumes, but take care when running the amp louder – you may find you need to
reduce the bass control. As with all the EQ pots, adjust to taste!
PRESENCE
This controls a different part of the high frequency response of your amplifier than the
treble control. You might like to see it as a ‘master high end’ control that helps you tame,
or perhaps enliven your tone depending on your environment, without having to change
your EQ. As the Master Volume is post phase-splitter on the Sheriff 44, the Presence
control is positioned between the outputs of the Phase Splitter rather than in the more
conventional position in the negative feedback line. This means that it works more
effectively over the range of the Master Volume control. It also incorporates a passive
tone circuit to tailor the high frequency content of the sound. It has a distinct effect on
how your guitar feels, so play, listen and set to taste.
MASTER
The Master Volume control is used to set the stage or overall volume of the Sheriff 44. If
this is turned to maximum, then the 44 becomes a non-master volume amplifier where
either Volume control in conjunction with the Volume control on the guitar allows for a
wide range of Volumes & Gains to be achieved. This can be very powerful for tone
shaping.
The Master Volume control is positioned after the phase splitter valve and after the FX
return.
OFF – PREHEAT – ON Switch
The Sheriff 44 should always be switched to PREHEAT first to allow the valve heaters to
warm up. The amplifier is now in a preheat mode with just the valve heaters and low
voltages on. This allows the valves to heat up before they get 100s of volts up them, (it’s
less of a shock).
Ensure the Master Volume is turned down to avoid sudden deafness and after around 60
seconds, the amp can be switch to ON.
Please always leave at least 30 seconds before switching from Standby back to OFF. This
will ensure extended valve life and avoid any power-down noise. This is especially
relevant if you are mic’d up and running through a large PA system as any small pop may
become amplified to audience death levels; this may limit your music career.
REAR PANEL

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Voltage selector
This selects the correct mains voltage for your territory. Please refer to a qualified
technician before even thinking about moving this switch. If you do find yourself in
foreign climes where the mains voltage is different to home, (and the water tastes funny),
it will be necessary to switch this selector. The mains fuse must always be changed at the
same time. Failure to do this will result in either the mains fuse blowing as soon as the
amp is turned on or the amp running with a fuse that is of too higher value to provide
adequate safety protection. Generally, the fuse value will double if the mains voltage is
halved, (i.e. if it’s a 1A fuse in the UK @ 230V, it will needs to be a 2A fuse for the USA @
115V).
Always use the correct rating and type of fuse. Victory amplifiers exclusively use UL-
approved 20x5mm glass ‘T’ or ‘Timed’ fuses. If you have difficulty acquiring the correct
fuses, please contact Victory using [email protected].
Mains Inlet, (IEC Socket)
Please only use the correct mains cord for your territory!
HT FUSE
The HT or ‘High Tension’ fuse protects the high voltage for the valve supply. If this fuse
blows, the first step is to replace it with an identical T500mA 20x5mm fuse. The HT fuse
may sometimes blow due to ‘flash-over’ inside an output valve. This is where during the
manufacturing process, not all of the gas is removed from the glass envelope and the
‘getter’ inside the valve, usually made from barium or magnesium oxide, will burn or
evaporate these remaining gasses resulting in the common silvered internal surface of the
valve. This process, which is more likely to happen with new equipment, draws high
current momentarily and can blow the HT fuse. It will rarely cause any damage so just
replacing the fuse is sufficient to get the amp running normally again.
However, if the HT FUSE repeatedly blows, it may indicate a serious valve failure where
internal parts of a valve are shorted and in this case the amplifier needs to be checked by
a qualified engineer to assess the problem.

VERY IMPORTANT WARNINGS!!

In certain countries, (specifically, Nordic countries), is it totally forbidden to open up any
electronic equipment or to work on them at all unless you are a fully qualified and
approved technician. Please check the laws in your country and do not attempt to change
valves/tubes or re-bias the amplifier if the law forbids this. In this case, please take you’re
your amplifier to a qualified and approved electronics technician.
In certain countries it is also totally forbidden to keep or place any liquids on top of the
amplifier, (e.g. beer, water bottles, glass, drinks etc). This may cause serious electric
shocks and/or dangerous situations.
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Also it is totally forbidden to use the amp in the event of rain splatters/water drops
getting into or onto the amp.
Even if it is not a law in your country, you should never allow liquids near the amplifier or
attempt to use the amplifier if it has been subjected to any moisture as this could result
in a fatal electric shock.

BIAS Switch: FIXED or CATHODE

The Sheriff 44 has the option of Fixed or Cathode Bias. Fixed Bias gives more power, (see
below for all the available modes) and requires the output valve idle current to be pre-set
with a variable resistor, (potentiometer in this case). Cathode Biasing sounds and feels
more urgent and dynamic at lower volumes but compresses quickly as the volume goes
up. Fixed Bias gives maximum headroom and dynamic attack at higher volumes.
Biasing
Biasing needs to be done each time the output valves are replaced and should be checked
periodically to make sure they are working at their optimum for sound quality & valve
life. To set the Bias on the 44, you need a multimeter set to the 200mV DC range. Biasing
is now carried out externally so no need to remove the amp from the wooden sleeve.
Output valves can be replaced from the rear of the amp by simply removing the back grill
and carefully pushing down on either side of the retaining butterfly clips. The valves can
then be pulled out using a slow rotational movement, (dweezling) to ease them from
their sockets. Ensure that the key on the replacement valves lines up with the keyway on
the socket before carefully pushing them home.
Always buy matched pairs of output valves or Biasing may be difficult if not impossible.
To Bias the new valves, make sure the amplifier is connected to a speaker cabinet, (or
dummy load resistor). The Bias switch should be set to ‘FIXED’. Turn all controls to zero
and remove the guitar input as any signals may interfere with the Bias settings. Switch to
High power and then into standby mode, wait 60 seconds and then switch to ON.
Now put the black meter probe, (-ve) into the Black centre GND Bias socket and the red
meter probe, (+ve) into the left hand V5+ Bias socket. Using a small flat blade screwdriver
in the Bias adjustment POT, turn this so you get 34mV on the multimeter. This equates to
34mA of current per valve as we are measuring the voltage across a 1 Ohm resistor.
Now put the red meter probe into the right hand V6+ Bias socket and measure the
voltage. Try to balance the 2 measurements around 34mV with a maximum of 6mV
between them. For example, an extreme but perfectly acceptable case would be 31mV
for V5+ & 37mV for V6+.

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Speaker Outputs
PLEASE NOTE: The lightning flash with arrowhead symbol, within an equilateral triangle,
is intended to alert the user to the presence of uninsulated ‘dangerous voltage’ within the
product’s enclosure that may be of sufficient magnitude to constitute a risk of electric
shock. Terminals labelled as “Speaker Outputs” must be connected to a speaker cabinet
of the designated load rating using an un-shielded two conductor cable for speaker use at
all times during operation. Never use a guitar cable to connect the amplifier to a speaker
as this presents the amplifier with a ‘capacitive load’. This can cause instability or
oscillation which may seriously damage valves and/or the expensive output transformer.

Always ensure a speaker is connected to the amplifier before powering up or damage to

the output transformer may result. Never unplug a speaker when the amplifier is ON as
this is even more likely to damage the transformer and the output valves.
The output transformer in the Sheriff 44 has 3 separate secondary windings; a 16 Ohm, an
8 Ohm and a 4 Ohm. This makes it easy to connect many different combinations of
speakers. There are five speaker output jacks: 1 x 16 ohms, 2 x 8 ohms, (wired in parallel),
2 x 4 ohms, (wired in parallel).
So here are all the possible combinations:
1. For a single 4 Ohm cabinet, use either of the 4 Ohm sockets.
2. For a single 8 Ohm cabinet, use either of the 8 Ohm sockets.
3. For a single 16 Ohm cabinet, use the 16 Ohm socket.
4. For a pair of 8 Ohm cabinets, use both of the 4 Ohm sockets
5. For a pair of 16 Ohm cabinets, use both of the 8 Ohm sockets.

All Victory amplifiers are constructed using Posidrive Screws & Machine Bolts. These are
an improvement on the Phillips type of fixing which uses a 4-blade screwdriver. The
Posidrive uses an 8-Blade screwdriver which allows for more precision and higher torque.
Please try to use Posidrive Screwdrivers when working on a Victory amplifier to avoid
damaging any fixings. These are readily available from all good tool suppliers. We
recommend having a No.1 and a No.2 point Posidrive screwdriver.
FX LOOP
The Sheriff 44 has an effects loop, which is a simple, low impedance, series loop. This will
not add any noise, gain or volume to your signal so if you experience such changes when
using an effect pedal, they will be caused by that effect.
The SEND socket is for connection to the input of effects units. On the 44 it is a lower
impedance version of the signal that appears at the INPUT. Use the send to connect to
floor pedals or rack effects such as Delay, Chorus and Reverb etc. Effects such as
Overdrive, Fuzz, Wah Wah and Tuners often give better results plugged into the
Instrument Input on the front panel. The Send socket can also be used on its own to send
a signal to another amplifier.
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The RETURN socket is for connection to the output of effects units. When not used it is
internally connected to the SEND, therefore the EFFECTS LOOP can be ignored if not in
use. It can also be used as a small signal ‘Slave’ input from another amplifier but DO NOT
plug an amplifier’s speaker output into the Return socket or very bad things will happen.
The RETURN socket is also very useful for fault diagnosis. If your 44 doesn’t produce any
sound, (or makes unusual noises) when played, plug the guitar directly into the RETURN
socket and play. This bypasses the entire pre-amplifier section and sends the guitar signal
through just the output stage. If sound is now heard, (or the unusual noises have gone)
then the problem is in the pre-amp section and is likely to be a faulty pre-amp valve.
The switch between the SEND & RETURN sockets turns the FX LOOP ON and OFF for true
bypass.
Amplifier Dimensions:
SIZE (mm): 480(w) x 235(h) x 235(d) Unboxed. 610(w) x 340(h) x 345(d) Boxed.
Weight: 12.5Kgs Unboxed. 14.75Kgs Boxed
Output Power
WARNING! The Sheriff 44 has been designed to achieve a very high sound pressure level
(SPL) so caution is required when playing in high power mode or hearing damage may
result.
The following measurements were taken at 240V mains input into an 8 Ohm load using a
1 KHz Sine Wave with the output waveforms set just before clipping. Input I and Master
Volume were used and the tone controls set to give the best representation of a sine
wave:
High Power Fixed Bias: 44 Watts
High Power Cathode Bias: 30 Watts
Low Power Fixed Bias: 6 Watts
Low Power Cathode Bias: 6 Watts
Note: even in Low power mode, the 44 can still be very loud so please be aware of who
you may be affecting. Victory takes no responsibility for any physical or verbal abuse that
may result from your playing.
The nature of valve amps and the POTs used to control the signal is such that they only
really start to work when turned up. However, many Victory users have had great success
with speaker power-soaks and simulators. The simplest ones are low-cost attenuators
such as the Jet City ‘Jettenuator’ which simply soaks up the output power of the amplifier
allowing only some of the signal to reach your speaker(s). This allows you to really crank
the amplifier up into output valve distortion to get big-stage overdrive without disturbing
anyone.
https://www.thomann.de/gb/jet_city_amplification_jettenuator.htm?glp=1&gclid=CKjx
mLe-ktICFeqc7QodK6IInA
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For home studio recording and speaker attenuation, at the top end of the market, we
have the Two Notes Torpedo range of attenuators & simulators. These are really
excellent devices and are what my colleague Rabea Massaad uses for home recording:

https://www.andertons.co.uk/search?query=torpedo

There are many others out there with Palmer being one of the first companies to offer
such devices. These are tried and tested solutions and also recommended by Victory:

https://www.andertons.co.uk/b/139/palmer

Warranty
All Victory products come with a 5 year limited warranty. This covers any defects in
manufacturing or faulty components. Valves and speakers are warrantied for 90 days
from the purchase date but replacement parts will be at our discretion. The warranty is
transferable to a new owner in the unusual event that you wish to sell your amplifier.

Please contact your local dealer if you have any issues with your Victory product. Victory
are setting up Official Service Centres around the world so please check on the Victory
website to see where your nearest centre is located. These will have original Victory
spare parts including the recommended valves for your amplifier direct from the Victory
factory. They also have all technical details for your product and have been carefully
selected to ensure you get the best possible service for warranty and non-warranty work.

Footswitches are covered for 12 months from date of purchase due to the nature of their
use, (getting kicked around a stage for example). Take great care not to damage the cable
as this may result in an intermittent connection and erratic behavior. If you suspect that
any of your Footswitches may have become faulty, please contact Victory service for
advice and options.

Notes on what to do if your amplifier experiences any strange behavior:

July 2018: nearly 6000 amplifiers have now been shipped out of the factory and from 5
years answering service queries, the only real issues that come up are valve-related.
These are either premature valve failure, (minimal), valves that have worn out through
extended use or have become microphonic or noisy over time.
Many issues relating to valves can be cured simply by re-tensioning the valve bases. Over
time, the valve sockets, which are constantly heating up, cooling down, expanding and
contracting may become a bit ‘loose’ and not hold the valve pins as tight as they should.
This can lead to noise and more commonly, sudden drops in volume or complete lack of
sound.
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It is an easy task to re-tension the valve sockets and this can be done with a small flat
blade screwdriver such as this:

Important! Please ensure the amplifier is not plugged into the mains and has been off for
at least 30 minutes before removing any valves so all of the high voltages have dissipated.
Carefully remove each valve in turn. The pre-amp valves have a sprung-loaded screening
can fitted over each one so turn this through 90 degrees or so until it pops off. Then using
the slow circular motion, pull the valve from the socket. The output valves are retained
by spring clips which can just be slid off the top of the valves.
Please ensure that the valves go back into the same sockets as they are optimized at the
factory for best position relating to gain, noise, & microphony. This is easily achieved if
you just do one at a time; take it out, re-tension then re-insert and go to the next one.
You will see that the valve bases have small 2-part metal clips in each hole and these
need to be pushed together to make a tight connection on the valve pins.

Pre-amp valves:

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Poweramp Valves:

Please make sure you don’t close these pins up fully or it will be difficult to replace the
Valves.
Replacement valves and tools for biasing such as a Multimeter and Terminal Screwdrivers
are available directly from Victory in the store: www.victorystore.co.uk.
A note from Team Victory
We’ve built your Victory Amplifier as a professional, no-compromise musical instrument,
with a great deal of pride and an absolute commitment to tone. We encourage you to
learn to get to know it by experimenting with all the controls, in order to discover its vast
array of tonal combinations.
Thank you for making your tones with us: we wish you many years of achieving inspiring
sounds to push your playing ever onwards.
Now we’ll shut up; you go play yer guitar.
Contact info:
[email protected]
[email protected]
Web:
www.victoryamps.co.uk
www.youtube.com/user/VictoryAmps
www.facebook.com/VictoryAmpsUK
www.victorystore.co.uk
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HAND MADE IN ENGLAND
Issue 3 24.07.2018

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