Products of Music

From Cornford to Victory Amps: Martin Kidd's Story

Adam Wakeling Season 4 Episode 4

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0:00 | 1:03:24

Welcome to Products of Music, a podcast sharing inside stories and expert insights on product innovation in music technology.

In this episode:

Host Adam Wakeling speaks with Martin Kidd, Chief Designer and Co-Founder of Victory Amplification. We discuss his founder journey, perspective on Cornford Amps ceasing trading, the birth of Victory Amps and his approach to product development. We also have some quick-fire questions and community questions.

Chapters:

00:00 Preview

01:13 Intro

02:20 Martin's musical beginnings

03:30 Modding Marshalls

05:10 How Martin learned amp design

09:06 Building the first amp

12:00 The Cornford story 

13:45 Cornford ceases trading

18:00 Chase Bliss Big Time Event

19:15 Martin as Chief Designer, not CEO

22:15 Approach to product development

28:10 Product development early process

29:15 Martin's unique designs

31:58 Standing out in the amp market

34:52 Victory MKX and originality

38:25 Market concerns

42:06 Hybrid analog and digital

45:36 Victory PowerValve and digital products

47:55 Quick-fire questions

52:13 Advice to aspiring founders

55:10 Most difficult amp to design

56:13 Addressing the Lee Anderton 'drama'

58:54 The braille amps story

01:02:40 Outro

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