That amp is so amazing !!! A little history allows us to realize the marvelousness that is this amp (yes, marvelousness, fantasticness and other kinds of magical words…) There have been years of referential and expensive brands of amps that all prided themselves on making the best Handwired amps on the market, we think of Matchless, Dumble, Bad Cat, Trainwreck, Two-Rock or even Cornford, the English, who in the 90s had Gary Moore, Richie Kotzen and other illustrious artists in their endorsers list. And the brain of Cornford was and always has been Martin Kidd (you understand the initials of Victory MK Overdrive then…) who created his brand Victory in 2013, and who finally revives the tradition of Handwired with his MK series. Hallelujah one might be tempted to say, because God these amps are crazy, and Leadmusic, after trying them at NAMM in January 2024, has finally received its order.

These new MK Overdrives have absolutely incredible dynamics and sound amplitude and deliver, in addition to completely crazy tone and natural compression, absolutely fabulous distortions and overdrives. The Victory MK Overdrive was designed with the aim of being the only tube amp you will need and according to the company and its designer, Martin Kidd believes he has designed the most versatile amp of his career, and there were some very, very good ones during the Cornford years… But here the MK Overdrive nails everything!!! Oh, and these amps are made and wired by hand in England and took 4 years in the process…

The MK Overdrive develops 100 watts through 4 6L6 tubes and delivers all the tones worthy of the best amps on the market. The MK Overdrive is an amp designed to be versatile enough to suit almost any saturation enthusiast, sure, but the Clean channel has its own gain control, its own EQ and its own presence and resonance controls, and there’s additionally a voice switch which adds more upper mids when set to setting 2. This channel has plenty of headroom and is perfect as a platform and the ideal amp to accommodate effects pedals, and particularly overdrive.

With separate Clean and Overdrive channels, as its name suggests, the MK Overdrive is a real beast in the overdrive and distortion registers. The overdrive channel offers two gain modes: Gain 1 for Crunch and Rhythm sounds, while Gain 2 provides full saturated overdrive. The MK Overdrive features separate EQ controls for the Clean and Overdrive channels, making it one of the most versatile and controllable Victory amps to date. Volumes 1 and 2 of the Overdrive channel are footswitchable independently of Gain 1 and Gain 2. Each channel has its own resonance and presence controls, affecting the power amp section of the amp. This is particularly useful on the Overdrive channel, allowing the channel’s treble to be fine-tuned with the Presence control. Continuing the theme of ultimate controllability, each channel has its own Voice control switches. The Clean Voice control adds a bit more upper midrange, which is noticeable through the treble pot. The Overdrive Voice control affects both gain modes, adding presence in position two and a bit more gain. The MK Overdrive comes with a custom four-button footswitch to control the channel, two types of gain on the overdrive channel, a volume switch for the overdrive channel, and an FX Loop on/off button. These are housed in a custom pedal unique to the MK series and which continues the family’s professional aesthetic.

From the design phase to production, each component is designed not only to get the best sound from an amplifier, but also to provide a luxurious experience, pleasant and satisfying to the ears and beautiful to look at… So each amp MK is decorated with the finest materials from Muirhead Scottish Leather, world-renowned supplier of upholstery and leather goods to Aston Martin, Land Rover and The Orient Express. And the choice and combinations of finishes are almost endless, so these amps are either available to order, in the materials and finishes of your choice, or in stock at Leadmusic, in Burgundy, because it’s so beautiful !!!