Victory The Super Sheriff VS100 User manual

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VICTORY VS100 ‘The Super Sheriff’USER GUIDE
All Valve 100-Watt Guitar Head, Standard & Wide Versions.

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Thank you, and congratulations on acquiring a Victory Amplification, ‘The Sheriff 100’
amplifier head. These amps are proudly designed and built by our committed team of
engineers and craftsmen in the UK.
Note: The Sheriff 100 standard and wide versions are identical in operation and use the
same electronics. The wide version is aimed at those players who prefer a wall of 4x12
cabs to make the ultimate ‘big rig’.
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
• 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, water, or more likely, beer;
(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.
• It is the nature of valve amplifiers to get hot, so please take care when moving the amp
after use.
•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.

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What’s included?
Your new Victory Sheriff 100 comes with the following:
1 x Dual Latching Footswitch for Channel Switching & Master Switching
1 x Dual Latching Footswitch for Gain Structure Switching on both channels
An IEC mains lead for your country
A padded gigbag/dust cover
This User Guide
FRONT PANEL
INPUT
Plug your guitar in here.
VINTAGE GAIN STRUCTURE SWITCH
This switches the gain range for the Vintage channel. Position 1 gives a Clean tone and
position 2 adds more gain for Crunch tones. This function is also footswitchable with the
supplied 2- way latching footswitch.
VINTAGE GAIN
This control sets the Gain for the Vintage Channel and works on the selected gain
structure. This allows a very wide range of tones from clean right through to an
overdriven crunch.
Balancing this control with the Master Volume controls is crucial in delivering the tone
and feel that works best for you.
CHANNEL SWITCH
This switches between the two channel, Vintage & Hot Rod. This function is also foot-
switchable using the supplied 2-Way latching footswitch.
HOT ROD GAIN
This control sets the Gain for the Hot Rod Channel. This has higher gain than the Vintage
channel with 2 gain ranges available. Gain structure 1 is a high gain setting giving
‘modded’ 70s & 80s classic rock and beyond. Gain structure 2 has even more gain to take
you into shredding territory.
Balancing this control with the Master Volume controls is crucial in delivering the tone
and feel that works best for you.

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HOT ROD GAIN STRUCTURE SWITCH
This switches the gain range for the Hot Rod channel as detailed above. This function is
also footswitchable with the supplied 2- way latching footswitch.
BASS
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!
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.
TREBLE
Controls the high frequency content of your sound and is also a powerful tone shaper
when it comes to overdrive character.
MASTER 1 & MASTER 2
The MASTER volumes are independently switchable of the two channels and this is
achieved using the supplied 2-Way footswitch. These controls are used to set the stage or
overall volume for the two channels.
These can be Auto-Assigned using the rear panel push switch. When Auto-Assign is on,
Master 1 controls the volume of the Vintage Channel and Master 2 controls the voltage
for the Hot Rod channel. When Auto-assign is off, both Master Volumes work on both
channels.
PRESENCE SHIFT SWITCH
This switches the band of frequencies that the presence works over. Try both positions, to
obtain your required results. In position 2, the tone may be brighter as there is less
negative feedback but this will also be affected by any tone control settings.
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.
The Presence control is positioned in the negative feedback loop in the power section. It
has a distinct effect on how your guitar feels, so play, listen and set to taste.

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HIGH PREHEAT LOW Switch
The Sheriff 100 should always be switched to PREHEAT before turning the rear mains
switch ON. Once the rear mains switch is turned ON, 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 volumes are 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 PREHEAT to OFF. This will
ensure extended valve life and avoid any power-down noise. This is especially relevant if
you are running through a large PA system as any small pop may become amplified to
audience death levels, which may limit your music career.
When switched to HIGH, the amplifier produces maximum output power of around
120Watts before clipping. When switches to LOW, the output power will be around
35Watts.
WARNING! - The Sheriff 100 is a very loud amplifier so please be careful with sound
pressure levels. With all controls maxed out, the amp can produce over 200watts RMS of
clipped distortion which can be harmful to ears and will quickly destroy speaker coils. If
you hear unpleasant clipping distortion, turn the volume down before any damage
occurs. ‘Clipping’distortion is very different from ‘valve saturation’distortion which
sounds lovely.
REAR PANEL
Mains inlet (IEC Socket) and Power ON switch.
The mains fuse is located in a small tray between the IEC inlet and the Power On switch.
Please only use the correct mains cord for your territory!
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 3.15A fuse in the UK @ 230V, it will need to be a 6.3A fuse for the
USA @ 115V).

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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 [e-mail].
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 T1A 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.
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.
Biasing
The Sheriff 100 is a fixed Bias amplifier and requires the output valve idle current to be
pre-set with a variable resistor.
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 VS100, you need a multimeter set to the 200mV DC range. This
is carried out externally so no need to remove the amp from its sleeve. You will however,
need to remove the rear grill to gain access to the valves for replacement. The valves can

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then be pulled out using a slow rotational movement to ease them from their sockets,
(known as dweezling). Ensure that the pins on the replacement valves line up correctly
with the pin holes as they are easily bent if not.
We recommend always buying matched set of 4, (a QUAD) 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). Turn all controls to zero and remove the guitar input as any signals
may interfere with the Bias settings. Switch to Preheat mode, wait 60 seconds and then
switch to HIGH.
Now put the black meter probe, (-ve) into the GND Bias socket and the red meter probe,
(+ve) into the left hand V5+ & V6+ Bias socket. Using a small flat blade screwdriver into
the Bias adjustment POT, turn this so you get 34mVdc 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 V7+ & V8+ Bias socket and measure the
voltage. Try to balance the 2 measurements around 34mV with a maximum of 4mV
between them. For example, an extreme but perfectly acceptable case would be 32mV
for V5+ & V6+ & 36mV for V7+ & V8+.
DEPTH CONTROL
This function alters the negative feedback at low frequencies in the poweramp so
effectively acting like a low frequency Presence control. This will be affected by the
positions of the tone controls so please experiment with this switch to achieve the bass
response you desire.
DEPTH FOCUS SWITCH
This switches two ranges for the Depth Control. Please experiment to find the sound that
suits your style best. All of these controls are interactive so changing one control will
result in the other controls working in different areas of frequency response.
FULL POWER 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.

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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 100 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.
GAIN STRUCTURE FOOT SWITCH
Plug the supplied 2-Way latching footswitch into this socket. The TIP connection switches
the Gain structure of the Vintage Channel from 1 to 2. The RING connection switches the
Gain structure for the Hot Rod channel.
MASTER VOLUME AUTO-ASSIGN
When switched ‘IN’, this function assigns Master 1 to the Vintage Channel and Master 2
to the Hot Rod channel. When switched out, both Master volumes can be used on both
channels. For example, you could set Master 1 low and Master 2 high and then footswitch
between them for solo work.
CHANNEL/MASTER FOOT SWITCH
Plug the other supplied 2-Way latching footswitch into this socket. The TIP connection
switches the channels and the RING connection switches the Master volumes.
FX LOOP
The Sheriff 100 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.

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The SEND socket is for connection to the input of effects units. On the Sheriff 100 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.
The RETURN socket is for connection to the output of effects units. When not used, it is
internally connected to the SEND, therefore the FX 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 amp doesn’t produce any
sound 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 then the problem is in the pre-amp section and is
likely to be a faulty pre-amp valve.
VS100 Standard Dimensions:
SIZE (mm): 485(w) x 230(h) x 235(d) Unboxed. 590(w) x 300(h) x 315(d) Boxed.
Weight: 16.3Kgs Unboxed. 19.85Kgs Boxed
VS100 Wide version Dimensions:
SIZE (mm): 684(w) x 300(h) x 237(d) Unboxed. 785(w) x 355(h) x 375(d) Boxed.
Weight: 19.1Kgs Unboxed. 22.6Kgs Boxed
Output Power
WARNING! The Sheriff 100 has been designed to achieve high sound pressure levels (SPL)
so caution is required when playing in full 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. The Vintage Channel
and MASTER 1 were used and the tone controls set to give the best representation of a
sine wave:
HIGH Power: 120 Watts. LOW Power: 35 Watts
The Sheriff 100 is fitted with 4 x ECC83/12AX7s in the preamp section and a quad of EL34s
in the output section. You may fit 6L6s in the Sheriff 100 but please observe all of the
details for Biasing on Page 6 and ensure that the Bias range switch, (located on top of the
chassis) is switched to the Bias range for your selected valves. When looking at the amp
from the rear the switch needs to be to the left for EL34s and to the right for 6L6s.
Notes on output volume and speaker attenuation:
Victory amplifiers are designed to be played loud with gigging and rehearsal in mind so it
can be quite difficult to get suitable volumes and tones from valve amplifiers at home or
‘bedroom’ levels. For recording or running the full power outputs at lower levels, many
Victory users have had great success with speaker power-soaks and simulators. The

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simplest ones are low-cost attenuators such as the Bugera PS1 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: Bugera PS1 Attenuator
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 our colleague Rabea Massaad uses for home recording:
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: 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:
The only real issues that comes 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.
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: