Diezel VHX - The Future of Guitar Amplifiers

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My end all be all dream amp someday. I love that dude's clips, but I think I like his older mic'ed tones more? I would love to hear the VHX with a unity gain boost as well. To me, the VHX is the new triaxis, the ultimate power in the universe. :love:
 
I highly disagree and I’m a big Diezel guy
It’s cool . But it does lose punch and some tone compared to say a real Herbert .
I like amp don’t get me wrong . But they could improv on it . Vh4 too is probable the punch king of Diezel too . But I like it a lot. I guess my problem is amps that add digital effects lose something . And people won’t work on them .
What kind off music do you play with it?
 
why, prog funk fusion jazz of course! :D

I'm liking my VHX so far, not missing any punch...then again I also like my JVM410H, but I have other Marshalls and Bogner to compare; VHX is my only Diezel, I'm not a Diezel purest either.

Many good presets, and just using the amp without the effects has a wide range of useable tones. The combinations of Gain Structure (four options), Bright, Shape, Voice (four options), etc. The built-in effects are all after the preamp section and before the power amp, and sound very good
 
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I really don't like the glitchy/stuttery/juddering sound you can hear when turning the gain knob. That puts me right off the amp tbh.

I can't remember if it was confirmed or not, but the preamp always running through AD/DA stages even when not using any effects, if it indeed does, is not really ideal either.

I don't know.... part of me thinks it is cool and to have all of those different preamp topologies in one box would be excellent.. but also it kinda seems to be trying too hard.

I have a D-Moll and a VH4 (and a Hagen on long-term loan from a mate!) and purely from a user experience perspective, the VHX seems to be quite inferior to those.

At the same time, my VH4 is from 2001, and is quite vintage voiced all told, which I'm no longer digging as much as I used to.
 
Hmm... so some say the tone is subpar in comparison to the others, that's interesting. Someday, I'll have to do a comparo. That's also interesting that the gain is scratchy, yeah that's kinda ick. Seems like a hard fx bypass would be in order too. Never ending progress perhaps.
In any event, I don't wanna piss in your cheerios, rsm, I think I saw that you got this not too long ago, congrats. I bet if it's its own thing, it's still a beast in its own right.
 
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I wouldn't agree the VHX is inferior at all. It is very much its own amp and not just a 'all Diezel's' in one box' which I think some have pigeonholed it as. Maybe that was some of the marketing to blame.

I think the main problem it has is that it is still quite new and relatively uncommon in the wild compared to the rest of the product line, so many people haven't had enough experience with it to dive deep. The VH4 has 30 years now out in the field and it's been around the block a few times but the younger brother is still finding his place in the world perhaps.

I think it also has a problem with the fact that a majority of peoples natural first inclination is to try to nail the rest of the product line's exact tones. 1 for 1.
I get it, I too initially hunted with mine to get the most accurate copy the VH4 and Hagen tones I have on those amps. To get to a starting reference point I guess and find my VH4 and Hagen tones. I got as close as I could and then just moved onto discovering different tones to reference like my other amps , my SLO, Marshalls, Wizard etc...
From there I started really just making up my own tones and altering the original tones I found. I had to get through the 'emulating other amps' phase and discover the VHX as its own beast. As far as tone shaping capability it far surpasses the rest of the amps. They have their inherent tones, hence why people favour certain models, but the VHX has much more range to explore in every direction compared to the 'purebred' Diezel amps.

Does it nail the other amps to the point where I couldn't tell in a blind A/B? No. But its close enough for rock n roll and esp at volume and after your ear gets used to the new tone and general daily ear fatigue.
I do love the greater range of its tones. The clean and semi-clean presets I have, there is no way I could get them all on my VH4, but with the VHX they're just a button push away. Same with the heavies, the VH4 Ch3 is really its own specific thing. I feel I can get that feel/tone and even more if I wanted on the VHX, more bass/depth, more or way less mids and top end all easily available but the VH4 pots are ranged out by then.

Is it the perfect amp? I don't think that can exist as tastes and tone are always evolving and so will the desire for different amps. The capabilities it has are fantastic though. I hate absolutes anyway like 'Best' or 'Greatest', it just all is too subjective and I only care about what's best for me right now.

Def not trying to argue with anyone in particular, just sharing my 2c of experience with it after a couple of years.
 
That was a good summation. I had a feeling there would be some that felt this way. What I think is really cool about this typology is that years down the road, or sooner, one can really easily explore the in between tones, and basically be boundless. I felt that way about the JMP-1 and triaxis yesteryear, but I prefer heads now, and with the triaxis, the eq is paramount (not the voicing thingie). Like, on the heads, you could be like "what if I could switch between two rhythm sounds, but just tweak here and there, instead of changing channels. Nope, can't do it on the fly". That sort of thing. Or "gee, I wanna switch between cranked mids/mid cut and neutral mids/no mid cut on the fly. And on and on. That kind of flexibility is not only good for live performance, but just inspiration and overall convenience for many situations. I'm really attracted to that kind of power, which is why I have my helix as part of my amp solution. I feel like I can do anything with no limitations, and I don't even use scenes.
 
Techdeth said:
I highly disagree and I’m a big Diezel guy
It’s cool . But it does lose punch and some tone compared to say a real Herbert .
I like amp don’t get me wrong . But they could improv on it . Vh4 too is probable the punch king of Diezel too . But I like it a lot. I guess my problem is amps that add digital effects lose something . And people won’t work on them .
What kind off music do you play with it?
Click to expand...
Do you have one dude? I find it sounds nearly identical to my VH4 channel 2,3 and 4 but with a ton more voicings and features. Also the clean channel IMO of the VHX blows away the VH4.
 
shadow said:
That kind of flexibility is not only good for live performance, but just inspiration and overall convenience for many situations. I'm really attracted to that kind of power, which is why I have my helix as part of my amp solution. I feel like I can do anything with no limitations, and I don't even use scenes.
Click to expand...
Inspiration and convenience are it with the VHX. I think too many are overthinking this amp, but I guess I understand. It's not like it's on display at your local dealer for you to try. I'd let anyone try mine, just gotta be able to get to northern VA.
 
I'm glad he gave that thing a spin on his channel. He always does such a great job putting things through their paces. Personally, for the high gain examples I think he had the gain up too much - to my ears the sweet spot isn't all the way up. But that's just my opinion. I need to grab that dude's IRs and give them a spin. I really like the internal modeling it does vs other IRs I've tried so far, but I know his IRs are supposed to be really good.

To the person who was talking about the jittering sounds when adjusting the gain knob, I was actually weirdly excited by that - to me that sounds like adjusting the gain in incremental steps, which is great for tone recall when recording. In practice though, it's not a good or a bad thing really. Since you can store a million different presets I've ended up setting it up with ten or so that cover all the bases for what I usually play. It's really cool to have a preset that includes so many different settings. When you have a 99 channel amp you can do lots of weird and fun stuff.

I only have a few criticisms of this otherwise amazing amp.
  • The physical UX is a little weird. You get used to it, but I think I would have preferred a more boring but usable organization of knobs on the control plate vs the neato-but-goofy diagonal Diezel thing.
  • I wish the effects and power amp emulation could be stereo. I get it being mono for the real power section and speaker cab output, but it would be neat to be able to do stereo out for the direct recording.
  • I've never been able to get the bluetooth to function with my midi switcher. I just use a cable.
It sounds friggin' amazing, though. To the people weirded out about the AD/DA thing, don't sweat it - just play it if you get a chance and decide based on that.
 
Did Peter Confirmed that even when FX are off amp still runs through AD/DA conversion? I was under the impression that VHX is digitally controlled analog tube amp, meaning when effects, or IR are not used, it's analog amp just like VH4, Herbert, Hagen.


updated, yes indeed it goes through ad/da conversion:

​

this is politoleo from Diezel said​

"Guitar goes to the fully analog, tube preamp just the same way as any other Diezel, with just more relays to allows for the routing.
Then the analog signal goes to the fx loop, where is converted to digital with a perfect impedance match (that avoids common ground loop or level issue that may arise when using external fx processor) and it's converted back into analog to the poweramp"



that's a bummer (I still want vhx for live playing). I wish there was way to go 100% analog.
 
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Philhouse said:
I wouldn't agree the VHX is inferior at all. It is very much its own amp and not just a 'all Diezel's' in one box' which I think some have pigeonholed it as. Maybe that was some of the marketing to blame.

I think the main problem it has is that it is still quite new and relatively uncommon in the wild compared to the rest of the product line, so many people haven't had enough experience with it to dive deep. The VH4 has 30 years now out in the field and it's been around the block a few times but the younger brother is still finding his place in the world perhaps.

I think it also has a problem with the fact that a majority of peoples natural first inclination is to try to nail the rest of the product line's exact tones. 1 for 1.
I get it, I too initially hunted with mine to get the most accurate copy the VH4 and Hagen tones I have on those amps. To get to a starting reference point I guess and find my VH4 and Hagen tones. I got as close as I could and then just moved onto discovering different tones to reference like my other amps , my SLO, Marshalls, Wizard etc...
From there I started really just making up my own tones and altering the original tones I found. I had to get through the 'emulating other amps' phase and discover the VHX as its own beast. As far as tone shaping capability it far surpasses the rest of the amps. They have their inherent tones, hence why people favour certain models, but the VHX has much more range to explore in every direction compared to the 'purebred' Diezel amps.

Does it nail the other amps to the point where I couldn't tell in a blind A/B? No. But its close enough for rock n roll and esp at volume and after your ear gets used to the new tone and general daily ear fatigue.
I do love the greater range of its tones. The clean and semi-clean presets I have, there is no way I could get them all on my VH4, but with the VHX they're just a button push away. Same with the heavies, the VH4 Ch3 is really its own specific thing. I feel I can get that feel/tone and even more if I wanted on the VHX, more bass/depth, more or way less mids and top end all easily available but the VH4 pots are ranged out by then.

Is it the perfect amp? I don't think that can exist as tastes and tone are always evolving and so will the desire for different amps. The capabilities it has are fantastic though. I hate absolutes anyway like 'Best' or 'Greatest', it just all is too subjective and I only care about what's best for me right now.

Def not trying to argue with anyone in particular, just sharing my 2c of experience with it after a couple of years.
Click to expand...
spoken like a wiseman
 
I love my VHX. It is a beast at gigs, flexible, has just about anything you'd need for a gig, and sounds and feels great. They put a hell of a lot of thought into details on it. 7 pin midi to phantom power midi pedals, bluetooth so you dont even need a cable for wireless midi control, load box and irs so you dont even have to bring a cab, master doesnt affect ir output so if you need quiet onstage w a cab, you don't change output to board, sounds incredible live and direct. Have no problem hearing clear thick tone on big stages or even outdoors, great bread and butter effects so no need for outboard gear. 2 loops and a pre loop for when you do want outboard gear, loops are switchable per preset so you can kick that clean boost in for solos without jacking up your actual clean presets. Whole lot more but these features in a real tube amp makes it a pretty amazing all in one solution. I get tube purists wanting less stuff for a more pristine tone. I have certainly done it. But getting spoiled on axefx3 flexibilty at gigs while feeling the tone still not as good side by side with a real amp, the vhx is pretty badass.
 
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