Friedman IR-X VS Victory V4 Sheriff - Valve Preamp Pedal Shootout

[@gabriel_guitar]

Which Valve Preamp Pedal do you fine folks prefer? Friedman IR-X or Victory V4 Sheriff Preamp? Timestamps below 👇 0:00 - INTRO 1:16 - FRIEDMAN IR-X SIGNAL CHAIN 2:05 - VICTORY V4 SHERIFF PREAMP SIGN CHAIN 3:32 - IMPULSE RESPONSES USED IN A MIX: 04:00 - FRIEDMAN IR-X - HARD ROCK RIFF - BRIDGE - CHANNEL 2 04:12 - VICTORY V4 - HARD ROCK RIFF - BRIDGE - CHANNEL 2 + 7DB (HX STOMP) 04:25 - FRIEDMAN IR-X - LEAD 1 - BRIDGE - CHANNEL 2 (BOOST) 04:37 - VICTORY V4 - LEAD 1 - BRIDGE - CHANNEL 2 + 7DB (HX STOMP) 04:50 - FRIEDMAN IR-X - ROCK RIFF 1 - NECK - CHANNEL 2 05:03 - VICTORY V4 - ROCK RIFF 1 - NECK - CHANNEL 2 + 5DB (HX STOMP) 05:15 - FRIEDMAN IR-X - ROCK RIFF 2 - BRIDGE - CHANNEL 1 (BOOST) 05:22 - VICTORY V4 - ROCK RIFF 2 - BRIDGE - CHANNEL 1 + 5DB (HX STOMP) 05:28 - FRIEDMAN IR-X - SOLO - BRIDGE - CHANNEL 2 (BOOST) 05:34 - VICTORY V4 - SOLO - BRIDGE - CHANNEL 2 + 7DB (HX STOMP) 05:41 - FRIEDMAN IR-X - LEAD 2 - BRIDGE - CHANNEL 2 (BOOST) 05:47 - VICTORY V4 - LEAD 2 - BRIDGE - CHANNEL 2 + 7DB (HX STOMP) 05:53 - FRIEDMAN IR-X - CLEAN - MIDDLE SPLIT - CHANNEL 1 06:06 - VICTORY V4 - CLEAN - MIDDLE SPLIT - CHANNEL 2 - NEGATIVE 3DB (HX STOMP) 06:18 - FRIEDMAN IR-X - MID GAIN LEAD - NECK TONE HALFWAY - CHANNEL 1 (BOOST) 06:31 - VICTORY V4 - MID GAIN LEAD - NECK TONE HALFWAY - CHANNEL 1 + 5DB (HX STOMP) 06:44 - FRIEDMAN IR-X - MID GAIN - NECK - CHANNEL 2 06:50 - VICTORY V4 - MID GAIN - NECK - CHANNEL 2 06:56 - FRIEDMAN IR-X - LEAD 3 - NECK - CHANNEL 2 (BOOST) 07:09 - VICTORY V4 - LEAD 3 - NECK - CHANNEL 2 + 7DB (HX STOMP) 07:22 - FRIEDMAN IR-X - BLUESY LEAD - BRIDGE - CHANNEL 2 07:34 - VICTORY V4 - BLUESY LEAD - BRIDGE - CHANNEL 2 + 5DB (HX STOMP) 07:47 - FRIEDMAN IR-X - FUSION LEAD - BRIDGE - CHANNEL 2 07:53 - VICTORY V4 - FUSION LEAD - BRIDGE - CHANNEL 2 + 5DB (HX STOMP) 07:59 - FRIEDMAN IR-X - METAL RIFF 1 - BRIDGE - CHANNEL 2 + OVERDRIVE (HX STOMP) 08:12 - VICTORY V4 - METAL RIFF 1 - BRIDGE - CHANNEL 2 + OVERDRIVE (HX STOMP) 08:25 - FRIEDMAN IR-X - METAL RIFF 2 - BRIDGE - CHANNEL 2 + OVERDRIVE (HX STOMP) 08:38 - VICTORY V4 - METAL RIFF 2 - BRIDGE - CHANNEL 2 + OVERDRIVE (HX STOMP) ISOLATED GUITAR TRACKS: 08:53 - FRIEDMAN IR-X - HARD ROCK RIFF - BRIDGE - CHANNEL 2 09:06 - VICTORY V4 - HARD ROCK RIFF - BRIDGE - CHANNEL 2 + 7DB (HX STOMP) 09:19 - FRIEDMAN IR-X - LEAD 1 - BRIDGE - CHANNEL 2 (BOOST) 09:31 - VICTORY V4 - LEAD 1 - BRIDGE - CHANNEL 2 + 7DB (HX STOMP) 09:44 - FRIEDMAN IR-X - ROCK RIFF 1 - NECK - CHANNEL 2 09:56 - VICTORY V4 - ROCK RIFF 1 - NECK - CHANNEL 2 + 5DB (HX STOMP) 10:09 - FRIEDMAN IR-X - ROCK RIFF 2 - BRIDGE - CHANNEL 1 (BOOST) 10:15 - VICTORY V4 - ROCK RIFF 2 - BRIDGE - CHANNEL 1 + 5DB (HX STOMP) 10:22 - FRIEDMAN IR-X - SOLO - BRIDGE - CHANNEL 2 (BOOST) 10:28 - VICTORY V4 - SOLO - BRIDGE - CHANNEL 2 + 7DB (HX STOMP) 10:34 - FRIEDMAN IR-X - LEAD 2 - BRIDGE - CHANNEL 2 (BOOST) 10:41 - VICTORY V4 - LEAD 2 - BRIDGE - CHANNEL 2 + 7DB (HX STOMP) 10:47 - FRIEDMAN IR-X - CLEAN - MIDDLE SPLIT - CHANNEL 1 11:00 - VICTORY V4 - CLEAN - MIDDLE SPLIT - CHANNEL 2 - NEGATIVE 3DB (HX STOMP) 11:12 - FRIEDMAN IR-X - MID GAIN LEAD - NECK TONE HALFWAY - CHANNEL 1 (BOOST) 11:25 - VICTORY V4 - MID GAIN LEAD - NECK TONE HALFWAY - CHANNEL 1 + 5DB (HX STOMP) 11:37 - FRIEDMAN IR-X - MID GAIN - NECK - CHANNEL 2 11:44 - VICTORY V4 - MID GAIN - NECK - CHANNEL 2 11:50 - FRIEDMAN IR-X - LEAD 3 - NECK - CHANNEL 2 (BOOST) 12:03 - VICTORY V4 - LEAD 3 - NECK - CHANNEL 2 + 7DB (HX STOMP) 12:15 - FRIEDMAN IR-X - BLUESY LEAD - BRIDGE - CHANNEL 2 12:28 - VICTORY V4 - BLUESY LEAD - BRIDGE - CHANNEL 2 + 5DB (HX STOMP) 12:41 - FRIEDMAN IR-X - FUSION LEAD - BRIDGE - CHANNEL 2 12:47 - VICTORY V4 - FUSION LEAD - BRIDGE - CHANNEL 2 + 5DB (HX STOMP) 12:53 - FRIEDMAN IR-X - METAL RIFF 1 - BRIDGE - CHANNEL 2 + OVERDRIVE (HX STOMP) 13:06 - VICTORY V4 - METAL RIFF 1 - BRIDGE - CHANNEL 2 + OVERDRIVE (HX STOMP) 13:19 - FRIEDMAN IR-X - METAL RIFF 2 - BRIDGE - CHANNEL 2 + OVERDRIVE (HX STOMP) 13:31 - VICTORY V4 - METAL RIFF 2 - BRIDGE - CHANNEL 2 + OVERDRIVE (HX STOMP) REVIEW & COMPARISON: 13:46 - FRIEDMAN OR VICTORY WHICH DID YOU PREFER? 14:31 - VICTORY V4 SHERIFF - THOUGHTS AND SPECS 20:31 - FRIEDMAN IR-X - THOUGHTS AND SPECS 24:47 - FRIEDMAN VS VICTORY BUILD QUALITY 25:51 - FRIEDMAN IR-X VS VICTORY V4 - WHICH DO I PREFER? 26:18 - FRIEDMAN IR-X VS VICTORY V4 - WHICH IS RIGHT FOR YOU? 27:22 - FINAL THOUGHTS

[@davekentopp9832]

Great video... Very thorough and thoughtful in your comparisons! I have actually been looking at these two models to choose from, so this video was great for me. Both sound great. I'm leaning toward the Friedman, based on the slight preference of my ears alone.

[@gabriel_guitar]

That’s great mate, glad you found it useful! Nice one, hard to go wrong with the Friedman amazing preamp. Thank you for the kind words my friend, really appreciate it 🍻

[@jst601]

Apples to oranges comparison. The victory pedal is not loaded up with IRS. It's intended application is quite different from the freedmen. In my humble worthless opinion the victory would be superb in addition to the freedmen for an all tube preamp interface with all tube boosting & voicing changes & capabilities

[@BoernTilStede]

This is the best review / review format that i have ever seen in my entire life. damn bro. thanks :)

[@gabriel_guitar]

Thank you so much my friend, that's awesome of you, means a lot! Very glad you enjoyed the video 🍻

[@yikelu]

I got an IR-X recently. I honestly was hoping it wasn't as good as people said, but it was. Made me re-rig my whole board and size it up significantly to accommodate it. So good. If I have to run the V4 into a power amp sim to get close results, that's a losing proposition IMO. It's all about live use for me and that extra power amp sim takes up size and space (or DSP). I did think the two sounded comparable in your setup though. I agree the metal tones you got were a bit better in the V4.

[@ReddenDoom]

Victory sounded like an amp, the Friedman had an odd attack response to it. Enjoyed the upper mids on the Victory much more.

[@duncancartledge1667]

Finally, someone comparing using the same IR . So frustrating when reviews say ‘ this one IR is similar ‘. Great demo and really well thought out. I have the Sheriff 22 amp and your setting of the Sheriff pedal very close. To my ears the Sheriff does the Marshall thing on the low notes when driven, gets a bit mushy and doesn’t hold together and doesn’t project as well. The Friedman keeps the low tight and somehow balances better with the mids and highs in the note/ chords. Very thick but still can hear the note separation. If you want a Marshall sound the Victory is the one, if you want tighter lows with more balance and definition the Friedman. As with the Sheriff 22 amp the shared EQ is limiting for channel switching, on the Sheriff amp there is also a noticeable volume increase on channel 2 . Don’t know if the Sheriff pedal is the same. Chanel 1 has a different setting to the midrange than channel 2 so that may why your not finding the sparkle, it’s more like a JTM45 when pushed ( I’ve got a JTM45 and it compares very well). Great video 👍

[@gabriel_guitar]

Thank my friend, really appreciate it! Great description on how these 2 different pre-amps differ in terms of tone, and thank you for sharing your experience with the Sheriff 22. Even though I haven't played the sheriff amp or the JTM45, I totally agree with you, overall the Victory Sheriff is much more vintage inspired, and in terms of tone/response probably the closest to an old school Marshall. As for the Friedman, like you mentioned it's a more refined/produced/modern tone, in general needs very little tweaking to sound good in a mix, without too much of anything and with excellent note separation.🍻

[@StefanoComo]

I need this sound for my Inedits...man I need to contact you, lemme know

[@gabriel_guitar]

Sure mate, drop me an email at [e-mail]

[@manuelrivas3569]

Wow Awesome demo !! What you did sounded great.

[@gabriel_guitar]

Thank you so much mate 🍻

[@marksullivan5810]

As always, amazing playing and great demo. Like them both but the Friedman wins IMO.

[@gabriel_guitar]

Thank you mate, very cool of you! Nice one, absolutely love the Friedman 🍻

[@thegeetarmann]

Another great tune and demo. For me, the Friedman is the clear winner in my opinion. The Victory did sound good in all variations of the clip, but in comparison to the Friedman the Victory was slightly lacking.

[@gabriel_guitar]

Thank you my friend, really appreciate it. Totally agree, the Friedman sounds amazing! 🍻

[@SickMetalAddict]

Excellent comparison!! I thought this was another boring talking video, but you proved me wrong. Please keep up the good work, and what a cool Solar Guitar :)

[@gabriel_guitar]

Thank you very much mate, really appreciate it :)! Ha, nice one, it’s a sweet guitar for sure 🍻

[@chrisdrums1973]

Great video, thank you for making it! Maybe I missed this, but what are your settings on the tiny gain and boost knobs on the right side of the Friedman?

[@elmienizam78]

Great review brother, thanks

[@gabriel_guitar]

Thank you mate! Really appreciate it 🍻

[@Polentaccio]

Exactly what I was looking for and confirms what I hear with some of the Friedman stuff I have or have had. He likes to soften the mids and remove some of the edges in the mids and to me, the Sherriff does the bite in the high mids I like. Leaner in the mids too. I have enough amps as is but the newer version of the Victory pedals have poweramp sim on board so might be the ticket for direct recording for me.

[@gabriel_guitar]

Nice one mate, yeah, the new Victory V4 amps do seem to be awesome, especially with the two-notes IR system and the power amp sim, it's for sure a great direct solution for recording 🍻

[@adamswanson8216]

For the low gain plexi side of things, I still think the sheriff overcomes and outdo the Friedman the Friedman has great sound, but there is still something just missing not to mention, I like the ability that the victory has to go direct out into a speaker it definitely does make gigging and very easy option. If it doesn’t sound as good as I hope so about to place my order and hopefully I am buying the right thing, I don’t really use the super high gain much at all but I do use the lower game plexi side. If you have any suggestions, let me know or think the Friedman is better I would love to hear any feedback maybe I’ll buy the sheriff and run the Friedman through the effect, loop and run that through the effect loop of my Marshall silver jubilee lol. 3:23

[@maxwellblakely7952]

I set my IRx on the low gain channel and put a TS9 in front of it, turns it into a monster. Love that thing.

[@scotdvorak8861]

I had a super hard time getting a good channel 2 tone from the sheriff… and also you could never use it as a two channel solution, as the single EQ that works for both channels is drastically conflicting. The IR-X solves this with dedicated EQs… add in the boost functionality and power amp sim… it’s just a better overall unit. Only bummer is, you need a 2 loop switcher if you want to use your amplifier preamp when running the IR-X into the loop. It doesn’t have a bypass function. But a switcher works great. In my personal experience, the IR-X sounds and feel better as well. Great video!!!

[@ludvikvala5255]

but it does, press switch 1 for longer

[@robertolsen9721]

I would like to use it as a preamp only as with the kraken preamp. It sounds great and as many I can't afford a friedman amp.

[@gabriel_guitar]

Nice one mate, it works great just as a preamp without the IRs.

[@hb8482]

Great video and appreciate the comparison. Probably a better head to head would be the victory sheriff v4 amp (as opposed to preamp) as that would have the two notes cab sim and also the vrc power amp sim

[@gabriel_guitar]

Thank you mate, appreciate it and cheers for checking the video out. You’re absolutely right, the v4 sheriff amp version would be closer in terms of features 👍🏻

[@pontiacpower421]

I bought the Friedman Friday 12- 13-24 returned it 12-16-24. It sounds great into a computer. I however put it through a carvin Ts 100 a mesa dual rec(into fx loop) and a solid state class a/b power amp. it sounds like TRASH through a cab. no matter what I did.

[@djjohnr]

Great comparison. I run a Sheriff V4 preamp into the power section of an 5153 LBXII and really dig the hot-rodded JTM45 sounds of the green channel. The red JCM800ish channel is pretty meh to my ears and never gets used, the 5153 does a much better higher gain crunch for my tastes. I'd love to hear a similar comparison with the newly released IR-D which should be closer to an apples to apples comparison with the Sheriff green channel.

[@gabriel_guitar]

Nice one mate, it makes sense to use the green channel on the 5153 LBXII for modded marshall tones in your case. Yeah, comparing the IR-D would be a cool video for sure, thanks for the suggestion🍻

[@taylorobrien1847]

Great demo

[@gabriel_guitar]

Thank you mate 🍻

[@RichardGarcia93]

I enjoy the super cutting sound of the Victory. Could you run one of those directly into a cab? Or would you need a power amp?

[@gabriel_guitar]

Yeah mate, it’s great. You’d need a power amp with this particular model, since it’s just a preamp, however they have a version of this with a power amp built-in it’s the V4 amp. 🍻

[@manologomez4345]

Hello, victory can be used with impulse response??

[@gabriel_guitar]

Hi mate, it can if you have an IR loader or plug it into your audio interface and use IRs in your DAW. By itself it doesn't, at least not this version of the V4 Sheriff.

[@ceniam12]

Heyy man! Is it possible to turn off the power amp simulator on the friedman? That's kind of a deal breaker to me :/ because I would like to use it through my amps and I don't want to have 2 power amps... I don't want anything digital neither, I would just go for a tonex instead in that case 😅 Edit: I just read a comment saying that you can use the send out to get just the preamp, do you know if that's correct?

[@politoleo]

Yes SEND is just preamp (just like an actual amp), Balanced is preamp + poweramp + IR (bypassable)

[@gabriel_guitar]

Hi mate, yeah that's it, just use the send out, it'll bypass the power amp sim and IRs entirely.

[@ceniam12]

@@politoleo Thanks!!

[@ceniam12]

@@gabriel_guitar Thanks!! Looks like an awesome product. I already have the Kraken preamp but maan the friedman looks sweet

[@mattz1686]

Friedman. Had a natural sound. The victory had a sub-bass that was really unnatural

[@gabriel_guitar]

Nice one mate, love the Friedman, interesting what you mentioned regarding the sub-bass will check on headphones 🍻

[@angelbergjosue8580]

it could be coming from his power amp sim

[@lostinpa-dadenduro7555]

I like the Friedman on clean and leads. I prefer the Sheriff on distorted rhythm.

[@gabriel_guitar]

Nice one mate, was pleasantly surprised by the Sheriff on the distorted rhythms as well 🍻

[@aswinpanembrama8043]

Sherrif better IR processing, have better resolution, depth and clarity, that friedman IRX's lack, but friedman IRX better in drive tonality

[@gabriel_guitar]

Nice one mate, cheers for checking the video out 🍻

[@politoleo]

Sheriff do not have IR or any cab sim at all!

[@gabriel_guitar]

@@politoleo yeah mate, you're right, I added those in my daw (as explained in the Victory signal chain section)

[@gitarbangsatchanel8036]

Victory killer

[@awrely]

well deserved dislike