Diezel Schmidt

  • Thread starter Thread starter Oz Hofstatter
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Oz Hofstatter

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Hi Folks,
I'd like to hear the thoughts of Schmidt's owners. I never had the pleasure to play this amp, but I heard some good clips/videos in the web and sounds very tempting..... :inlove:
I have the Herbert. I love this amp. It won't go anywhere.
But now, I'm looking for something more Classic Rock, ala Bonamassa, Gary Moore and Warren Haynes/Gov't Mule.
Thanks in advance.
Keep rockin', :rock:
Oz
 
I have a Schmidt and an Einstein combo.
If you have not played either, an Einstein also has a more vintage approach to a Diezel sound. It is not as immediate sounding as the higher wattage Diezels, and the 50 watter has a wonderful tone and feel to it.

The Schmidt, being Class A, and 30 watts with larger power tubes, and 15 watts with the 6V6's has even a slightly more vintage feel to it.
It has amazingly beautiful and organic cleans with a terrific reverb on all channels and can do Fender, to darker type cleans all the way to old style jazz with ease. The amp has an EQ that covers a LOT of territory. If wound up near full, channel one volume has some hair on it similar to the older low wattage single channel amps and really feels good to play. Being only 30 watts if you go through a Deizel 2x12 Tone Tubby loaded ceramic hemp cone cab, the amp sounds simply amazing, with no harsh trebles, flabby bass, and only gets better the more it is used. The Hemp speakers allow you to use more radical EQ, if desired, without the speakers sounding nasty at all. The Diezel TT hemp loaded cab is the perfect match for a Schmidt.

Channel 2 has a slightly different tone to it. While still being a Diezel in every way, it gets the commercial popular Vox-style tones to early Marshall tones upon request as well as other tones, all dependning on how you set the EQ. The saturation on this channel covers immense ground. By adding more mids the amp can cover other amp company tones that have more pronounced and slightly darker vibes to it, but all useful. The EQ definitely has the Diezel signature feel to it!

Channel 3, while not having an EQ, in my opinion, does not need one. You can change the character of that channel by using the channel 2 EQ, or leave it alone and get the heavier, more famous Diezel type sounds found on your Herbert on Channel 2 of that amp, with the mids sounding slightly more advanced and more powerful, as the Herbert can do.

Remember that this is only a 30 watt amp, so it will not have the powerful authority of 180 watts. However, I use it for everything and just mic it up when needed. It has such feel, natural organic sounds, and touch sensitivity and just feels more natural to me then trying to deal with a Herbert at higher settings. I have owned all the Diezel models and the Schmidt is my favorite...so far. (I'm a lightweight)

I never need 180 or even 120 watts of power any more, but 30 watts sounds terrific in smaller venues and when mic'd up, can cover any situation, even "way huge" audiences.
What I like about the lower wattage is that you are able to turn the volumes up really high and capture the power of the valves running as they should. The amp has the ability to really capture any tones with any saturation you may need. Channel three will surprise you. It is definitely a Diezel amp!

The back of the amp has all the options you will find on the other Diezels except for midi swithching, which I do not use anyway. The build quality and feel are fully Diezel. You will recognize this immediately. Some players on here have found an external device that will do midi swithching for the Einstein and Schmidt, however.

As an alternative to the higher wattage Diezels, this amp is perfect for any situation you feel the Herbert is too powerful for. It takes effects as well as any other Diezel does, has a series and parallel loop as well as two other loops to isolate individual effects for each channel, if desired. It has a terrific compensated out! The foot switch is really good and changes are immediate, and works with any standard guitar cable. This is the greatest of any smaller, low wattage amp I have seen or read about and leaves a lot of the other boutique style amps wanting for versatility. If you need even more breakup, run the amp with 6V6's...it slays!
Please feel free to ask further questions, if you like.
 
C-4, you always write the best and truest reviews of the Schmidt. I whole heartedly agree with what you've said. I love the amp so much, I'm surprised how much I love it actually. I almost wish my vh4 was more Schmidt-like haha.

To theoriginal poster, I can't suggest the amp to you more strongly. It's the most versatile, excellent sounding amp I know of. The tone controls do so much, and pair that with how you play with the gain/volumes. It is just brilliant. I actually would like another Schmidt for quick access to all these other tones, and that's saying something!
 
C-4 thanks a lot for the review. Very kind of you. :thumbsup:
Also, thanks Philbag for the input. :cheers:
C-4: Does the Schmidt cover "Plexi JMP Marshall"? Reading your review, "Fender clean" and "800 to hot-rod" it does...... :rock:
Best,
Oz
 
C-4 has nailed the schmidt down pretty darn good!..Ive got one,also owned the herbert,namm show einy,and vh4...If safe, I may try el84's in the schmidt..No one seems to have done that yet...Maybe it isnt possible..dont know...as in my other post, it may require yellow jacket converters.....anyways, that was a great review of the schmidt..Ive gigged with 34s' and 6v6s' in it...big tonal diff. between those two,hence me wanting to try 84s if possible...I actually ran out of volume at gig w/ the schmidt using 6v6s'!.the 34s' have a lot more power to spare..both sound great!...I use this head in tandem w/ a custom shop badcat, and Bogner shiva...each one gets a cab,and its tone heaven!...Love the Schmidt! :thumbsup:
 
Little B, are you able to give any tonal descriptions of what the Schmidt was like with the 6V6's in it as opposed to what it sounds like with the EL34's? I absolutely love the amp as it is, I have no will to even experiment with different tubes but it's always handy and interesting to know what effect other tubes have on the sound :).

p.s - love your avatar, it's something to aspire to :lol: :LOL:
 
Philbag,
I have given a writing on ccomparing the Schmidt as delivered and using 6V6 tubes and EL-84's in another thread.

Here is a copy of it.
I have found that the THD yellowjackets work in a similar way compared to EL-34's as do the 6V6's work compared to a 6L6 tube.

You are going to have a slightly more British vibe to the tone, similar to an EL-34 but at approximately 18 watts (9 watts per tube). It might be just the way I look at the EL-84 tubes, but I see them as smaller, lower wattage EL-34's. If you use a Schmidt that has EL-34's in it, as I did upon delivery, and then replace those tubes with THD Yellowjackets and EL-84's, the amp should begin to saturate earlier, but the volume difference should not be that noticable, until you really crank up the volumes. Then you will feel how the amp has less thrust in the volume for louder work. The mids will stay with the amp more like an EL-34 affects the amp's tone. The top end will have a bit of "chime" to it and offer a slightly more Voxy tone.

In the same regard, I hear and see 6V6's as being a weaker version of a 6L6. I replaced the EL-34's in my Schmidt to hear the difference between them and 6V6's. I got the earlier saturation as described with the EL-84's, and a slightly more even midrange tone and overall tone which a 6L6 would give up. The tone was not brighter or chimeier, necessarily then the EL-34's were, nor scooped and more Fendery sounding, except at lower volume levels in the first channel when set with a lower midrange. With 6V6's, I heard a slightly more balanced tone, midrange-speaking with the EQ all set at 12 noon as from the previous EL-34 tubes. The highs were balanced and the lows were also balanced with the mids. This was easily adjusted back to a more EL-34 type tone by boosting the mids just a hair to approximately 1:30 o'clock. The chime effect was not as noticable, but the upper treble has a slight "gliss" to it as would be given up by a 6L6 in a clean setting. Not a lot, but maybe a tad.

My preference between using EL-84's and 6V6's, is with the 6V6 in a Schmidt. The sound difference is just easier to work with for my needs and the 6V6 seems to like being pushed , but still offers a balanced EQ tone naturally while having a sweet saturated sound.

Of course this is just my humble opinion. Others here may hear something I do not in a comparison. When you are as old and deaf as I am however, what else would anyone expect?!


I was using an XOX Handle for all the tests.
 
Thanks Guys,
Some good stuff here.
Now, I'm totally in GAS for a Schmidt...... :D
Sounds a great complement for my Herbie.
I'd love that Schmidt cover the "Plexi Sound" ground. Not necessary nail it, but stays in the ballpark.
Any more thoughts?
Keep rockin',
Oz
 
You should have no problem obtaining the plexi sound with a Schmidt.

Channel 3 will also be able to give you that sound with a touch more push then channel 2 will.

The amp is not just about JCM 800 tones or any specific tone.
Please remember that Peter did not design his amps to copy another company's tone. As with all amps today, there is going to be some cross over for sounds. That is normal and expected.
The Schmidt is definitely a Diezel and has it's own personality, but within this personality is the ability to emulate in a "Diezel" way, the sounds that are in your head, with ease.
You can cover an extreme amount of sound-ground with a Schmidt, and get the tones in your head easily. This is not like other amps where you need to spend 3 months to get just one satisfactory sound from it. Tone flows from this amp. I suggest setting all EQ controls to 12 noon first, play and listen, and tweak from there.
Stephen
 
It's great be part of Diezel's Family! :rock:
Some nice folks around here.
Thanks again Stephen (C-4).
Oz
 
Philbag, c-4 gives a pretty good description of the schmidt....I think I may still try the 84s in mine sometime...Since I have access to a whole plethora of killer amps, I want to maximize and zone in on what the schmidt does best and magnify that------Im not really concerned if it can do the Marshall thing,or mesa thing,or Fender thing, or vox thing,or etc,(I guess you could say it does the diezel thing!),,,,,I have all those amps anyways...Peter's building really nice/different/unique/Professional/desirable/and most of all, FUN amplifiers for all of us to enjoy...I cant wait to see whats next! :thumbsup:
 
Little B":39va9xue said:
Philbag, c-4 gives a pretty good description of the schmidt....I think I may still try the 84s in mine sometime...Since I have access to a whole plethora of killer amps, I want to maximize and zone in on what the schmidt does best and magnify that------Im not really concerned if it can do the Marshall thing,or mesa thing,or Fender thing, or vox thing,or etc,(I guess you could say it does the diezel thing!),,,,,I have all those amps anyways...Peter's building really nice/different/unique/Professional/desirable/and most of all, FUN amplifiers for all of us to enjoy...I cant wait to see whats next! :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Yes, you are right.
Diezel's Amps have a signature sound, very well built, great look, very versatile, and the best of all..... Diezel ROCKS!!!! :rock: :rock: :rock:
I'd love to have the Schmidt too (I'm proud owner of Herbert), but I need to sell some things first.
Best,
Oz
 
Sorry to hijack your thread, but how does the Schmidt take pedals in the clean channel? Since it is a non-master volume amp and has plenty of clean potential, shouldn't it by all accounts take boutique distortion boxes really well?
 
AngryGoldfish,
The Diezel Schmidt will take pedals to the input of the amp for channel one very nicely. I have not found any Diezel that would reject pedals, really. I have tried them just to see the results, but I don't use them with my Diezels. The Schmidt also has a ch one+ch two effects loop dedicated to these channels, so you could actually use a saturation device here as well. if desired. there is also a ch two+ch three effects loop as well as the series/parallel overall loop. So, you have a lot of freedom to set the saturation device where you think it will satisfy your tone needs.

I have a TC Nova System, which I use for all of my Diezels, but with this effect unit, I only use it in the loop.

I can change up the sound on channel one to my liking this way without having a saturation effect going to the amp input. I tend not to use any saturation effects with my Diezels, but I'm boring that way.

From all the saturation boxes I have heard, there is a Pete Cornish SS-3 that I find to be the one I would use personally, should I change my mind and decide to get radical.

http://www.guitarsolos.com/videos-corni ... 4Ck%5D.cfm
 
The Schmidt does take Pedals in front of the clean channel very good - I'm using several pedals as the ocd, crowther hotcake and a rumblefuzz and all of them sound great! Even better than with my Fenderamps I used earlier (and was happy with a long time).
I don't like the xotic AC-Booster very much, not the pedals fault but I don't like boosting very much and the drivechannels do not require any boost at all!
 
Awesome, thanks. I'm really looking to trying it out next month. :rock:
 
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