Victoria 5112 vs Swart Jr - opinions?

mattacjones

I was idly considering maybe swapping my swart space tone jr (8") speaker for one of the above, mainly because of the 12" speaker in the Victoria, and potential to be a tad louder than the swart. Just wondered if anyone has experienced both and interested to hear any comments. It could be a pointless exercise, not sure. Both are, as I understand it, champ based circuits. Obv the swart has reverb, but both 5 watters. 

Lebarque

If memory serves, @mburekenge and @CloudNine are your guys for advice on the Victoria 5112. I've been sorely tempted myself.

mattacjones

Thanks. Interestingly I bought the first of my swart jr's from @CloudNine ;

Lebarque

With a bigger cab and speaker, maybe consider a 5e3 with master volume too? Loud enough for gigs, but can be tamed for home.

No affiliation:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/176053930009?hash=item28fda1c819:g:X6gAAOSwUQdlYLC6&amdata=enc:AQAIAAAAwAwKXxPomwZIUpbDDLFpzERzcZFvu9r+J0B10SB51HV+TmMqQBOPRmVpn+PmtstHLARxh1IMACXeSgxi77jE/X/a1hqtAjg6mZomzHTLHY6B9AN8ondv7ccIbWFNcERtsYJTvLD74XrbGYTfn+hGpRCBwSfx7LzdG7ZwcyuojZmnJhwEhG9xVWxDwJEIRrIOXrTLU4MTfwwxUXzYPjJp8MZe7EPr81bdQ+eeXTNUfpH65LQnfD35zdPPZLJLa9U4VQ==|tkp:Bk9SR5CWtPeHYw

mattacjones

I did find this thread featuring discussion of 5112 Victoria Amps 5112 - Amps Discussions on theFretBoard

Fishboy7

You may have seen it but there's a reasonably priced one Reverb at the moment (and it's not collection only).

https://reverb.com/uk/item/74871741-victoria-5112-2000s-tweed-champ-with-1x12-jensen-speaker

I could be tempted but reckon 5 watts would be too quiet.  

mattacjones

i was in fact eyeing that up

ICBM

I haven't played the Swart Jr, but I have played the full-size AST. I did not like it at all... all mids and no clarity.

The Victoria 5112 is completely the opposite - simply one of the best-sounding amps I've ever heard. The 12" speaker and bigger cabinet makes a *huge* difference - like a completely different amp. It turns a Champ, which is a nice but quite boxy-sounding amp dominated by the speaker, so it always sounds more or less the same when it's turned up no matter what guitar or even pickup you use, into one of the most natural, transparent and responsive amps I've ever played. It's also astonishingly loud for a 5W amp, at least when overdriven - it drops down very quickly if you clean it up, so it didn't really work with a band even though the fully-cranked sound was actually just about enough.

Even the lack of reverb wouldn't be a deal-breaker for me, although it usually is. (But you can always use a pedal.)

greejn

What ICBM said...a fantastic amp which even has great clarity with an archtop or acoustic.

mburekenge

The Victoria is spectacular. I agree with everything said.

If I had the opportunity again, I'd go for a Victoria 5e3 for the tone control and extra flexibility with pickup choice.

However, the the feel and sound of the 5112 is unbelievable, whether clean, edge of breakup or full overdrive

The 5112 up full tilt with a strat or tele has to be experienced to be believed 

CloudNine

Can’t really add much to what the other guys have said, they have covered it perfectly. The Viccy is an amazing thing, the kind that makes you question why you have all these other ‘things’ linked together with cables, that require fussing with and twisting of knobs, when you can just plug the guitar straight into this and have the purest electric guitar experience possible. 

I don’t have mine any longer, but would always welcome one back. I have a Lazy J10 which can almost (but not quite) duplicate that experience if needed, and has a bit more flexibility, but obviously that could burst into flames at any given moment, so I might yet get another 5112. 

The only thing I could note, is that they have a bit of hum, but that is the nature of the beast I think for this circuit and certainly didn’t affect my enjoyment of the amp.

dcg

I haven't played the Swart, but was a longtime user of a Victoria 5112 (acquired on TFB from @ThorpyFX), which I'd rate as the very best of the refined Champ derivatives available.  Extraordinary overtones from the pine cabinet, and the 12" speaker makes a huge difference.  With a 12" speaker, the Champ becomes a really adult amp.