Opinions on the Diezel D-Moll?

Soundstorm

Soundstorm

Well-known member
How does it compare to the VH4 for nasty sludgy death metal? Thinking about going back to Diezel for my next amp and though I never hear much about the D-Moll, some of the Youtube demos sound nasty as hell (in a good way).
 
I owned a D-Moll for about 6 months. I would not recommend it for that style. It does not resemble the VH4 tonally speaking. It's the Herbert's little brother, but is inferior to the Herbert in all areas. It presents as fairly polished and has a soft and round respose generally. Not a terrible amp, but probably my least favorite Diezel.
 
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I wasn't too thrilled with the gain tones of the D-Moll either. I found a really good deal locally, but after playing it, I left without the amp. One of the best clean channels ever though.
But gain wise, it had this thick, almost fuzzy, wooly, over-saturated tone in the low-mids that you couldn't dial out.
And having played the big Herbert, that one was definitely tighter and drier, even with all its saturation.
 
My friend has the D-Moll.. And it's one of the amps that on paper I should love but I absolutely hated it. Can't explain it but.. it is loud but it does not cut through. It has this stiff hifi sound...

He's playing it through a laboga 4X12 with V30s and each time they play live onstage the other guitar player who's running a 6505 is more present in the mix. I mean, you can't really hear the note definition and he's a beast of a player. But it just does not do the work it should.

This super polished character just does not cut through for some reason. Now the VH4 for instance is on the opposite spectrum, it's character lets your sound be more in your face. We also tried the herbert and that's a beast of an amp. Not sure why ppl say the DMoll is just like the herbert since clearly, it's not.

I keep telling him the best sound he ever had was him using a boosted modern newborn recto but he ditched it and now he keeps turning the knobs constantly.
 


This sound Ola gets at 1:30, is this not representative of the amp? Because it doesn't sound woofy or tubby to me there, just sounds nasty. But I know Ola also has a knack for dialing in amps, plus the way he plays gives things a certain clarity.

But I did have constant issues with the low end of my VH4. Even though I loved that amp, I'm using these for silent recording these days and not playing out at all. I'm starting to believe that Diezels are just extremely picky to the guitar signal ie pickup signal that's fed to them. Any demo I've watched from Peter Diezel and Stapfer, they're always playing on what looks like stock Gibson or Fender pickups. So maybe that's exactly how they tuned the Diezels, and what would work best with them. All of my guitars are tuned to B standard or drop A with higher output pickups.
 
Soundstorm said:


This sound Ola gets at 1:30, is this not representative of the amp? Because it doesn't sound woofy or tubby to me there, just sounds nasty. But I know Ola also has a knack for dialing in amps, plus the way he plays gives things a certain clarity.

But I did have constant issues with the low end of my VH4. Even though I loved that amp, I'm using these for silent recording these days and not playing out at all. I'm starting to believe that Diezels are just extremely picky to the guitar signal ie pickup signal that's fed to them. Any demo I've watched from Peter Diezel and Stapfer, they're always playing on what looks like stock Gibson or Fender pickups. So maybe that's exactly how they tuned the Diezels, and what would work best with them. All of my guitars are tuned to B standard or drop A with higher output pickups.
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Yes that is correct. Peter's own recommendation is to use a really low wind pickup around 6-9kOhm to get the best sounds out of a Diezel.. I have a theory why that is. The worst sounds I got out of a Diezel were with EMGs, invaders, and generally high output pickups like X2N, or just over the top ceramics which were painfully brittle and stiff while sounding hollow.. (bkp painkiller for instance)

If you imagine a pickup with high DC resistance it's pretty much a bell EQ curve. Then you also have the output in mV which will dictate your signal strength.

Higher winds will affect how much the lower and upper FQs are squished and also how broad the general mid spectrum will be. It's like with microphones really.

With an amp like... anything by diezel where the preamp does most of the heavy lifting and you have this sort of hifi compressed character.. you probably want a guitar with a clean broad signal. For instance I hated PAF pickups with a rectifier and 5150 cause they sounded like there;s almost too much low/mid/bass and not enough juice. But with a Diezel this was a match made in heaven since I had full control of gain and EQ and you could really shape it well. U just dont want to go with a strong signal and a squished eq curve into an already compressed amp with a very specific character of its own.

Peter had also mentioned in multiple videos and on forums that his amps were built around a les paul with PAF pickups.
I had the best results with my PRS custom, a friend's telecaster (probably the best yet) and an LP standard with bkp mules. All three were pretty neutral sounding guitars when i plugged them into a 5150, rectifier or a jcm. But with the diezel they stood out.
 
K-Roll said:
Yes that is correct. Peter's own recommendation is to use a really low wind pickup around 6-9kOhm to get the best sounds out of a Diezel.. I have a theory why that is. The worst sounds I got out of a Diezel were with EMGs, invaders, and generally high output pickups like X2N, or just over the top ceramics which were painfully brittle and stiff while sounding hollow.. (bkp painkiller for instance)

If you imagine a pickup with high DC resistance it's pretty much a bell EQ curve. Then you also have the output in mV which will dictate your signal strength.

Higher winds will affect how much the lower and upper FQs are squished and also how broad the general mid spectrum will be. It's like with microphones really.

With an amp like... anything by diezel where the preamp does most of the heavy lifting and you have this sort of hifi compressed character.. you probably want a guitar with a clean broad signal. For instance I hated PAF pickups with a rectifier and 5150 cause they sounded like there;s almost too much low/mid/bass and not enough juice. But with a Diezel this was a match made in heaven since I had full control of gain and EQ and you could really shape it well. U just dont want to go with a strong signal and a squished eq curve into an already compressed amp with a very specific character of its own.

Peter had also mentioned in multiple videos and on forums that his amps were built around a les paul with PAF pickups.
I had the best results with my PRS custom, a friend's telecaster (probably the best yet) and an LP standard with bkp mules. All three were pretty neutral sounding guitars when i plugged them into a 5150, rectifier or a jcm. But with the diezel they stood out.
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Yeah that makes perfect sense to me. And it's unfortunate because I have an EMG 81 loaded baritone on the way. Oof.
 
K-Roll said:
Yes that is correct. Peter's own recommendation is to use a really low wind pickup around 6-9kOhm to get the best sounds out of a Diezel.. I have a theory why that is. The worst sounds I got out of a Diezel were with EMGs, invaders, and generally high output pickups like X2N, or just over the top ceramics which were painfully brittle and stiff while sounding hollow.. (bkp painkiller for instance)
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Good information, but respectfully...I have found that both the Herbert and the VH4 sound amazing with actives such as an EMG 81. Just an opinion.
 
Soundstorm said:
How does it compare to the VH4 for nasty sludgy death metal? Thinking about going back to Diezel for my next amp and though I never hear much about the D-Moll, some of the Youtube demos sound nasty as hell (in a good way).
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I used to like it. But not anymore. I think they changed it quite a bit over the years. The old ones are better in my opinion.
I'd use an 2203 with Boosts.
 
K-Roll said:
Yes that is correct. Peter's own recommendation is to use a really low wind pickup around 6-9kOhm to get the best sounds out of a Diezel.. I have a theory why that is. The worst sounds I got out of a Diezel were with EMGs, invaders, and generally high output pickups like X2N, or just over the top ceramics which were painfully brittle and stiff while sounding hollow.. (bkp painkiller for instance)

If you imagine a pickup with high DC resistance it's pretty much a bell EQ curve. Then you also have the output in mV which will dictate your signal strength.

Higher winds will affect how much the lower and upper FQs are squished and also how broad the general mid spectrum will be. It's like with microphones really.

With an amp like... anything by diezel where the preamp does most of the heavy lifting and you have this sort of hifi compressed character.. you probably want a guitar with a clean broad signal. For instance I hated PAF pickups with a rectifier and 5150 cause they sounded like there;s almost too much low/mid/bass and not enough juice. But with a Diezel this was a match made in heaven since I had full control of gain and EQ and you could really shape it well. U just dont want to go with a strong signal and a squished eq curve into an already compressed amp with a very specific character of its own.

Peter had also mentioned in multiple videos and on forums that his amps were built around a les paul with PAF pickups.
I had the best results with my PRS custom, a friend's telecaster (probably the best yet) and an LP standard with bkp mules. All three were pretty neutral sounding guitars when i plugged them into a 5150, rectifier or a jcm. But with the diezel they stood out.
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I get good results with diezel VHX channel 3 or herbert 2+ no matter what PU, but yes those channels are pretty compressed already so i prefer moderate/low output PUs more and more. But VHX ch2 or Herbert 2- are definitely open enough for my liking, so they also work with firebreathers. But a "boost"/EQ/highpass might be needed, only to cut some lowend and keep eveything together.

edit:and of course diezels in general are quite thick/beefy in the lows/low mids so it can get overbearing with high output pickups.
 
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Well guys thanks for your input. I've done quite a bit of research on the D-Moll and the reviews are quite mixed and polarized. It definitely seems like a love/hate amp. Based on the above Ola clip, I went ahead and bought one for a pretty good deal used. If I can get the tones he's getting I'll be happy. If not, I'll unload it and start looking for a Hagen. I think I'm pretty much all in with Diezel at this point. There's just something to these amps- the tone is *great*, but to me the FEEL is what's addictive. Anyway, I'll report back and will post some clips on my findings. There's very little info about this amp out there.
 
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Do report back with your findings!
The amount of gain won't be an issue for death metal; the question is if the texture or 'grain' of the gain is to your liking.

And be advised, it is quite a heavy head, even though it's only 24" (~60cm) wide. IIRC, the weight is well over 50lbs. As I considered it as a smaller gigging amp, this was a concern for me; I'm using a ~35lbs EVH 5150III 50W head in a custom-made padded bag, and that's easy to carry.
 
Speeddemon said:
Do report back with your findings!
The amount of gain won't be an issue for death metal; the question is if the texture or 'grain' of the gain is to your liking.

And be advised, it is quite a heavy head, even though it's only 24" (~60cm) wide. IIRC, the weight is well over 50lbs. As I considered it as a smaller gigging amp, this was a concern for me; I'm using a ~35lbs EVH 5150III 50W head in a custom-made padded bag, and that's easy to carry.
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That's one of the things I really liked in the clip. To me I consider it large grain distortion as opposed to fine grain like I hear in some Herbert clips and modded Marshalls. As for the weight, it's going to be mainly a studio amp (unless I can manage to get another band off the ground). Plus I've toured the country with an early 70's SVT and 810 tearing my arms out of the sockets, so this should be comparitvely light.
 
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