My first Diezel, can you help me to choose

  • Thread starter Thread starter Carlocki
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Matt Belamy from Muse said he loves Diezel amps but didn't like the cabs at all in an interview I read once and used Marshall cabs! I love my Diezel cab and like it a lot more than my Marshall one. So I think it depends on personal taste, and although I'm not sure I'd agree with the "must get a Diezel cab" sentiment, I'd defintely agree that the cab you use will make a big difference. IMO the Diezel cabs are great at least. There's gonna be a difference too if you're a super downtuned 7-string high-speed metal monster who just wants to melt peoples faces with brutal sound, or if you're more of a heavy rock big slow bluesy Adam Jones fat riff type. I'm the latter and love Diezel, not only for their crunch but their flexibility. I'd figured I'd probably be a VH4/rear loaded speaker cab guy from what was posted before I'd tried them all, but ended up getting the Herbert, then later when I got a cab decided I preferred the front loaded! Supposedly the most "extreme metal" pairing in the Diezel line, but just the ones I seemed to like most when I tried them all. I think that's the truth: if you let other people's suggestions guide you you'll end up happy no matter what and can live in blissfull ignorance, but if you get chance to try them then you might prefer a different one. If I had a VH4 and rear loaded cab instead I certainly wouldn't be looking to sell it. :)
 
Speakers/cabinets are big deal...they ultimately limit the frequency capabilities of the amplifier and guitar.

Everyone is different- some people prefer the Mesa cabinets (with the Mesa-proprietary Vintage 30s), but they sound too dark/muffled for my taste (I have tried both the "big" and "little" 4x12 cabinets, sounded the same). I have had two mid-1990s Marshall cabinets- one a 1960 Vintage upper and the other is a Slash Signature bottom- that had/have Vintage 30s in them and I loved/love them. They are present enough without being fizzy and yet they are dark enough without sounding muffled. I should also note that I am informed that Celestion makes the Vintage 30s differently for Mesa and this has to do with the sound difference, believe it or not.

I guess what I am saying is I haven't heard a Vintage 30 cabinet that I didn't like other than the Mesa cabs, so knowing the craftsmanship/manufacturing at Diezel, you can't go wrong with a Diezel cabinet. I believe I played through one as well as a Bogner cabinet and they both sounded great. The Vintage 30s seem to be a very balanced/"what you have is what you hear" kind of speaker...the high end cuts through for leads and the low end has good, rhythmic response without being muddy.

As for front or rear loaded...you'll need someone else's opinion because I couldn't tell you how it effects the sound on the Diezel cabinets.

Discussions like this remind me of the time I called Guitar Center in Indianapolis looking for a certain tube with a certain rating and they tried to sell me the crap I didn't want. "Tubes don't matter" is what the guy on the phone told me. He immediately destroyed Guitar Center's already-tarnished reputation with that one statement. Everyone is different, so EXPERIMENT!
 
JimmyBlind":2dx8jlow said:
dabhopkins":2dx8jlow said:
My next guitar will probably be an ESP Horizon; it has that "Gibson" tone with a high-end Ibanez playability.

I owned a Horizon NTII for about 5 years. Played like a dream. It has no way near the depth, resonance & character of a solid body Gibson though, let's be honest. In fact even the Edwards LP guitars don't sound like Les Pauls.
Not even a PRS sounds that much like a gibson & they're as close to a gibson/superstrat hybrid as you'll buy.

I found the Horizon to be pretty clinical & bright, especially with the ebony fretboard. If I were going for another shred guitar of that class, i'd probably look at an Ibanez. More wood & better necks.

I do understand what you are saying about the clinical sound versus the "deep" sound, though. My point was that if he wants the "Metallica" tone with good playability, the best bet is a good ESP and a VH4 with the mids turned all the way down. If you want really good tone and can afford to sacrifice playability, substitute the Les Paul for the ESP. A good Prestige-model Ibanez comes close to meeting both demands, but you can't have it all at the same time. There is still a wild, rockin' playability and feel to the baseball-bat Les Paul that the Ibanez doesn't have. This is exactly why you see a lot of pros playing different heads and guitars on different days of the week when on tour: they get headfucked over looking for the perfect tone (I call it "tonefucked"). It's only natural.

It's like the difference between a stock Nissan 370Z and Ford Mustang (or Camaro SS): one has superior suspension and steering with 50/50 weight distribution, but the other has a wild, powerful sound and feel to it due to the solid rear end differential and larger displacement motor. When matched in a race, they both run very similar quarter mile times and the driver becomes the key component (minus atmospheric conditions, etc.).
 
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