Channel 1 sounding muddy

[mark-anthony]

Hi everyone, I bought a Diezel VH4 last year, and I think it was the best decision ever, very happy with it, but lately Ive been noticing that when I play chords or a couple of notes off of 2 strings etc on channel 1, that the sound is very muddy, and grainy, it might have been like this before, but started sounding a bit strange, I dont get noise or feedback or anything like that, and Ive even tried messing around with the eq, and without using my chorus pedals in the loop, and seems like nothing I do gets the sound clearer and more crisp sounding. I know the VH4 is not as "bright" as the Herbert, especially on the clean channel, but dont know if I should get an equalizer pedal to smooth out channel 1 with my chorus pedals etc.
Any help would be appreciated
Thanks a lot

Mark

 

[gbsmusic]

How old are the tubes?

 

[Ventura]

How old are the tubes?

+1

I'd suggest putting some high end preamps in V1 and V2... Might just be time.
V.

 

[mark-anthony]

How old are the tubes?

I bought the VH4 last August, havent changed the tubes since. The funny thing is channel 2-4 sound great, just channel 1 is bothering me now, dont know if its also maybe the pickups in my guitar, I have a PRS Custom 24 and PRS CE24, both with the HFS and Bass Vintage pickups, I know generally these pickups are kind of muddy, so maybe it could just be that I need to change those?
Plus one thing I forgot to mention is even when I play with the gain pretty low, on channel 1, well around 4, I notice it sounds like Im playing channel 2 of the amp, sounds kind of grungy, not clear, I use the Boss Super Chorus and Red Witch Empress Chorus, and I blend them together to get a more watery sound, but I did experiment with using one, then the other, then both off and still sounds "grungy", and even with the gain pretty low, I do have the Presence knob almost to the top because it does open the sound a lot more I find, maybe its that as well?
Thanks again

 

[mark-anthony]

I bought the VH4 last August, havent changed the tubes since. The funny thing is channel 2-4 sound great, just channel 1 is bothering me now, dont know if its also maybe the pickups in my guitar, I have a PRS Custom 24 and PRS CE24, both with the HFS and Bass Vintage pickups, I know generally these pickups are kind of muddy, so maybe it could just be that I need to change those?
Plus one thing I forgot to mention is even when I play with the gain pretty low, on channel 1, well around 4, I notice it sounds like Im playing channel 2 of the amp, sounds kind of grungy, not clear, I use the Boss Super Chorus and Red Witch Empress Chorus, and I blend them together to get a more watery sound, but I did experiment with using one, then the other, then both off and still sounds "grungy", and even with the gain pretty low, I do have the Presence knob almost to the top because it does open the sound a lot more I find, maybe its that as well?
Thanks again

 

[Ventura]

So I take it you've removed all FX from the signal chain (not just turning them "off") and this is still the case?

If so, go with swapping out - first and foremost - preamp tubes V1 and V2. Presence won't have as much an effect on this as, correct me if I'm wrong here Oh Mighty Powers of Diezel That Be but presence and depth are functions of the power valve section, whereas the EQ's to each channel are functions of the preamp staging.

So, if this is the case, it seems to only be on Channel 1, it doesn't seem to carry over to the other channels; presence and depth work fine otherwise (bearing in mind as above, this means your power valves are okay), then I would bet it's preamps V1 and V2. Try it. I have a VH4S and was getting some hissy poppy action on Channel 1, I replaced two of the Chinese preamps in V1 and V2 with top-drawer TAD 7025S preamps and VOILA!! 100% perfect...

Cheers,
V.

 

[mark-anthony]

Actually I did not remove the chorus pedals from the channel insert, just shut them off, I will try that, and if that still doesnt change anything, I will replace those 2 tubes and see how it goes.
Thanks for all your help
Mark

 

[Ventura]

V.