I own the VHX about 1,5 years now, and i feel confident enough to give my 2 cents.
Channels:
green (ch1) : clean to edge of breakup. just lovely, but i am no expert on cleans. From fat and warm to spanky and bright, all possible.
I love the edge of break so much, so i hardly play total clean, but from what i tried it sounds pristine! Never owned a Fender amp though.
With the differnt voicings and bright option you surely will find at least one great tones you like.
yellow (ch2) : mildest crunch up to high gain. yellow on a low gain settings (<=0.25) is about the same level of dirt as the green channel on gain 1.0 but green is more open which i prefer. YMMV.
most used channel for me and super versatile.
You can get a big palette of tones from this channel alone, with it's huge gain range and voicing options.
There is also an overlap to the blue channel gain amount wise, but it's a tad more open, but for this level i prefer the blue channel most of the time. it feels tighter (blue shape 0&1 vs yellow normal) and smoother (blue vs yellow bright).
But with high output Pickups (which i don't often use) i lately use yellow for that wall of sound high gain sound.
i could live of the green and yellow channel, but it's nice to have the more compressed blue channel.
blue(ch3) : this is the pretty gainy and compressed channel diezel is most know for but now tweakable with shapes and voices.
for me it's not as versatile as the yellow channel for rhythm, since i only use gain settings from about 0,3 to 0,6. it stays defined all the way up, but i'm getting old
.
So i use this channel for that great crushing high gain rhythm tone with different flavors, but all in one to me that count's as one thing.
i use this channel as my main lead sound too, so i does get a lot of usage.
red(ch4) : pretty compressed and over the top gainy. sometimes i use it in the 0.25 to 0.35 gain range for some super compressed fluid leads with a neck single coil or something. Even did a dirty neck rythm with a filtertron neck which is a super funny and save feeling with all that compression, but if i'm honest it will always sound better with the blue channel, at least to my ears.
This channel is for the lacy people that don't want to push their chops
Voicings:
Vintage: most mids of all modes. The bass is prominent but maybe not as deep or just sits higher?
This voicing makes the biggest change, at least to my ears. My guess is, it's not only more mids, but they also sit higher or maybe that's why i preceive them as louder.
As the name implies this is a nice option if you want more old school sounds. It's still a diezel though, so there is not a lot of sag or other effects you get with old amps and low filtering. Also the Presence on a Diezel is a bit different than most amps.
Great for leads and mild distorted tones. The additional mids and the bright setting (channel green and Yellow) gives a nice crunch sound. Works also for high gain leads but it can get kind of boxy for high gain rhythm. For me it's a clear winner for everything low gain compared to the other voices.
With the herbert (MKI) i was never able to get a mild crunch sound that fully satisfied me, there was always too much lowend, fatness and compression. Now that the mids sit right and i can get the more cutting attack from the bright option, the polished and refined Diezel sound doesn't bother me anymore, in fact i am glad it's not a full on a piercing, overly gritty and raging marshall with all that hair on top.
Really happy with this, not only because my experiences with the herberts low gain sounds, did hold me back from getting another Diezel (and therefore the VHX).
Early: darker than classic and maybe more sag? not too much experience with this voicing since i normally use the close sounding, but brighter classic setting.
Early is blue face and classic is silverface VH4. Smallest change to classic of the voicing options.
classic: trimmed but deep bass compared to vintage. typical diezel voicing and mids. compared to the others it's the most balanced, but this is all relative to where you are coming from.
modern: the most scooped of all of them. Bass and treble dominant. You loose quite a portion of the Diezel Trademark sound and the amp sounds more like a "normal" high gainer.
makes for a more screaming top end (in a good way) and a real evil sound. Don't want to miss it.
Reminds me a bit of the modern mode of a recto, but that was more than 2 centuries ago and the Diezel Power stage with Presence and Deep does sound very different than a recto, for example more stiff. But it adds a kinda mesa quality to the diezel flavour.
This option cures quite some GAS for other amps.
Normal/bright (green/yellow channels only) :
I use mostly the bright settings for green and yellow. I just like the brighter attack for rhythm, even with singles. especially if use low distortion levels.
Normal is nice if you want the fatness which i only use for lead or if i got the yellow channels gain past noon. Then bright might be a bit too messy on the yellow channel.
i bet normal is great for a jazzy clean tone, but i don't really know. I'll surely try it in the future.
Shapes (blue&red channel only) :
Shape 0: this is the tightest, fastest shape with the bass trimmed the most. it's packed with mids and makes for a smooth and the least raspy distortion. Makes the mids prominent, but you can EQ that out to some degree and still will be left with that super thick texture. VH4 is calling!
It's my favourite for high gain rhythm at the moment and there is nothing else that can get that sound.
Shape 1: more lowend which gives a bit more weight to the note. Great for leads and when rythm with shape 0 is a bit too polite/slick/roundish/midPacked. This i more inline with the herbert.
Shape 0 with the bass knob higher is not the same. The gain structure/graininess is different with all this variations.
Shape 2: This is the least filtered and most raw and open sound.
Their is quite a further low end increase in the early gain stages, which comes with a raspiness in the distortion structure which cuurently seems to be not my cup of tea. YMMV and you might be fond of excatly this.
I don't use this shape and i never really tried to get a sound out of it, that i like. if i want less polished/polite i use the modern voicing with shape 0 or 1.
It's more like it's already hard to choose with the presented options, so for now i don't bother making this shape work, but will try in the future i guess.
Really glad i didn't get the Hagen, since this is the shape to get closest to it.
It's sometimes really hard to decide what to choose. with the EQ tweeking you can make them sound similiar but never the same.
I am pretty set on bright + vintage for low gain crunch, but it's hard for me to choose between classic and modern for high gain, but then, i don't really have to choose.
But you can really make a fair A/B comparisons with the presets. This is really a great feature!
With the normal Diezels you have the shared Power amp knobs like deep and presence for all channels. Now, with the VHX this is individula per channel. This comes in quite handy, since i like to set those things very differnet for high gain vs crunch.
Also the red channel is a bit to compressed for my liking so hardly use it unless it fits for a cover song. With the herbert MK1 i only had a 1 channel amp, since the cleans where too clean and i dind't like channel 3.
so it was ch2+ and ch2- that i used 90% and those where not switchable externally. So i had like at least 3 wasted channels
With the VHX i have multiple preset for each channel (you could optimze them even for Single coil vs humbucker and bridge vs Neck PU) :
green: preset clean and edge of breakup.
yellow: low gain, moderate gain, high gain.
blue: high gain rythm, lead.
so it doesn't bother me i don't really use the red channel since i get all the sounds i want readily available.
Didn't mess with effects much and didn't buy the amp for that, so no comment.
There are great features in the preset menu. You can adjust the global presence and deep, so you can easily modify them for the given room, without adjusting all the presets you are using.
Also you can adjust the global master, so you have kind of a build in attenuator. This really comes in handy for practicing with low volume. On -10 the master pot really works great and you don't have that typical big volume jump with a small twist on the knob or it's easier to get the power section cooking with lower volume.
Then when praticing with headphones i do the opposite and turn it to +10 to get a lil more volume with the headphones. I dind't buy any IR's yet, but my real cab sounds much better than the build in IRs.
Also it would be great if it would be possible to make the IR global and not "only" Preset dependant. I havent't found a setting i really like yet, so it's very annoying to adjust the indiviual presets when i think i found a better one...
but that's all fixable with Software i guess.
Channels:
green (ch1) : clean to edge of breakup. just lovely, but i am no expert on cleans. From fat and warm to spanky and bright, all possible.
I love the edge of break so much, so i hardly play total clean, but from what i tried it sounds pristine! Never owned a Fender amp though.
With the differnt voicings and bright option you surely will find at least one great tones you like.
yellow (ch2) : mildest crunch up to high gain. yellow on a low gain settings (<=0.25) is about the same level of dirt as the green channel on gain 1.0 but green is more open which i prefer. YMMV.
most used channel for me and super versatile.
You can get a big palette of tones from this channel alone, with it's huge gain range and voicing options.
There is also an overlap to the blue channel gain amount wise, but it's a tad more open, but for this level i prefer the blue channel most of the time. it feels tighter (blue shape 0&1 vs yellow normal) and smoother (blue vs yellow bright).
But with high output Pickups (which i don't often use) i lately use yellow for that wall of sound high gain sound.
i could live of the green and yellow channel, but it's nice to have the more compressed blue channel.
blue(ch3) : this is the pretty gainy and compressed channel diezel is most know for but now tweakable with shapes and voices.
for me it's not as versatile as the yellow channel for rhythm, since i only use gain settings from about 0,3 to 0,6. it stays defined all the way up, but i'm getting old
.So i use this channel for that great crushing high gain rhythm tone with different flavors, but all in one to me that count's as one thing.
i use this channel as my main lead sound too, so i does get a lot of usage.
red(ch4) : pretty compressed and over the top gainy. sometimes i use it in the 0.25 to 0.35 gain range for some super compressed fluid leads with a neck single coil or something. Even did a dirty neck rythm with a filtertron neck which is a super funny and save feeling with all that compression, but if i'm honest it will always sound better with the blue channel, at least to my ears.
This channel is for the lacy people that don't want to push their chops
Voicings:
Vintage: most mids of all modes. The bass is prominent but maybe not as deep or just sits higher?
This voicing makes the biggest change, at least to my ears. My guess is, it's not only more mids, but they also sit higher or maybe that's why i preceive them as louder.
As the name implies this is a nice option if you want more old school sounds. It's still a diezel though, so there is not a lot of sag or other effects you get with old amps and low filtering. Also the Presence on a Diezel is a bit different than most amps.
Great for leads and mild distorted tones. The additional mids and the bright setting (channel green and Yellow) gives a nice crunch sound. Works also for high gain leads but it can get kind of boxy for high gain rhythm. For me it's a clear winner for everything low gain compared to the other voices.
With the herbert (MKI) i was never able to get a mild crunch sound that fully satisfied me, there was always too much lowend, fatness and compression. Now that the mids sit right and i can get the more cutting attack from the bright option, the polished and refined Diezel sound doesn't bother me anymore, in fact i am glad it's not a full on a piercing, overly gritty and raging marshall with all that hair on top.
Really happy with this, not only because my experiences with the herberts low gain sounds, did hold me back from getting another Diezel (and therefore the VHX).
Early: darker than classic and maybe more sag? not too much experience with this voicing since i normally use the close sounding, but brighter classic setting.
Early is blue face and classic is silverface VH4. Smallest change to classic of the voicing options.
classic: trimmed but deep bass compared to vintage. typical diezel voicing and mids. compared to the others it's the most balanced, but this is all relative to where you are coming from.
modern: the most scooped of all of them. Bass and treble dominant. You loose quite a portion of the Diezel Trademark sound and the amp sounds more like a "normal" high gainer.
makes for a more screaming top end (in a good way) and a real evil sound. Don't want to miss it.
Reminds me a bit of the modern mode of a recto, but that was more than 2 centuries ago and the Diezel Power stage with Presence and Deep does sound very different than a recto, for example more stiff. But it adds a kinda mesa quality to the diezel flavour.
This option cures quite some GAS for other amps.
Normal/bright (green/yellow channels only) :
I use mostly the bright settings for green and yellow. I just like the brighter attack for rhythm, even with singles. especially if use low distortion levels.
Normal is nice if you want the fatness which i only use for lead or if i got the yellow channels gain past noon. Then bright might be a bit too messy on the yellow channel.
i bet normal is great for a jazzy clean tone, but i don't really know. I'll surely try it in the future.
Shapes (blue&red channel only) :
Shape 0: this is the tightest, fastest shape with the bass trimmed the most. it's packed with mids and makes for a smooth and the least raspy distortion. Makes the mids prominent, but you can EQ that out to some degree and still will be left with that super thick texture. VH4 is calling!
It's my favourite for high gain rhythm at the moment and there is nothing else that can get that sound.
Shape 1: more lowend which gives a bit more weight to the note. Great for leads and when rythm with shape 0 is a bit too polite/slick/roundish/midPacked. This i more inline with the herbert.
Shape 0 with the bass knob higher is not the same. The gain structure/graininess is different with all this variations.
Shape 2: This is the least filtered and most raw and open sound.
Their is quite a further low end increase in the early gain stages, which comes with a raspiness in the distortion structure which cuurently seems to be not my cup of tea. YMMV and you might be fond of excatly this.
I don't use this shape and i never really tried to get a sound out of it, that i like. if i want less polished/polite i use the modern voicing with shape 0 or 1.
It's more like it's already hard to choose with the presented options, so for now i don't bother making this shape work, but will try in the future i guess.
Really glad i didn't get the Hagen, since this is the shape to get closest to it.
It's sometimes really hard to decide what to choose. with the EQ tweeking you can make them sound similiar but never the same.
I am pretty set on bright + vintage for low gain crunch, but it's hard for me to choose between classic and modern for high gain, but then, i don't really have to choose.
But you can really make a fair A/B comparisons with the presets. This is really a great feature!
With the normal Diezels you have the shared Power amp knobs like deep and presence for all channels. Now, with the VHX this is individula per channel. This comes in quite handy, since i like to set those things very differnet for high gain vs crunch.
Also the red channel is a bit to compressed for my liking so hardly use it unless it fits for a cover song. With the herbert MK1 i only had a 1 channel amp, since the cleans where too clean and i dind't like channel 3.
so it was ch2+ and ch2- that i used 90% and those where not switchable externally. So i had like at least 3 wasted channels
With the VHX i have multiple preset for each channel (you could optimze them even for Single coil vs humbucker and bridge vs Neck PU) :
green: preset clean and edge of breakup.
yellow: low gain, moderate gain, high gain.
blue: high gain rythm, lead.
so it doesn't bother me i don't really use the red channel since i get all the sounds i want readily available.
Didn't mess with effects much and didn't buy the amp for that, so no comment.
There are great features in the preset menu. You can adjust the global presence and deep, so you can easily modify them for the given room, without adjusting all the presets you are using.
Also you can adjust the global master, so you have kind of a build in attenuator. This really comes in handy for practicing with low volume. On -10 the master pot really works great and you don't have that typical big volume jump with a small twist on the knob or it's easier to get the power section cooking with lower volume.
Then when praticing with headphones i do the opposite and turn it to +10 to get a lil more volume with the headphones. I dind't buy any IR's yet, but my real cab sounds much better than the build in IRs.
Also it would be great if it would be possible to make the IR global and not "only" Preset dependant. I havent't found a setting i really like yet, so it's very annoying to adjust the indiviual presets when i think i found a better one...
but that's all fixable with Software i guess.
Because at first the amp, IMO, is very overwhelming in terms of options. I was tweaking more than playing. lol
but I love OD's in front of all my amps.