new diezel Vh4s user

[gibsonrich]

hello. 1st time to this site, my name is jeff. I love to play guitar, especialy metal. I have quite a bit of gear and recently bought a used vh4s.. 1st off I have to say wow!!! this thing hits you in the chest like a mule.. I love it. I have a couple of concerns though. as great as it sounds, I cant seem to get a good artifitial harmonic with it. you know what I mean -- hitting the string with the side of your thumb to get that zakk wylde screetch. I find myself grabbing my guitar volume control thinking its half way turned off.
as I said, it sounds fantastik.. its just the initial attack upon picking the strings.. maybe like its too compressed??
this is with both channel 3 and 4. I have many guitars so its not the pickups.. I use bill lawrence xl500's
I understand this beast wants to be played loud and sounds better as you crank it up.. but even then I cant get that zakk screetch.
my question is.. is this normall with this amp?? because I dont think there is anything wrong with it as it sounds great.I love the sound of this amp but I want a little more " bite " out of it. ( its hard to explain sound ) any idea's? mods? tricks? I will have to see what type of tubes I have in it. I tryed a clean boost pedal in front of it. it didnt help the situation, it just made the awesome diezel tone sound a little muddy. thanks for any help.

 

[Peter Diezel]

Welcome to the board, Jeff !

Sure, we can help You out if You want to have more bite on Your VH4.

1. Replace power tubes into EL34-SED, preamp tubes into 12AX7-C (highgrade for V1)
2. We have to do a small mod on the circuit board, means to replace a resistor.

Please shot an email to peterdiezel (at) diezelamplification.com

Thanks,

Peter

 

[DiezelDale]

Welcome to the board, Jeff !

Sure, we can help You out if You want to have more bite on Your VH4.

1. Replace power tubes into EL34-SED, preamp tubes into 12AX7-C (highgrade for V1)
2. We have to do a small mod on the circuit board, means to replace a resistor.

Please shot an email to peterdiezel (at) diezelamplification.com

Thanks,

Peter

Jeff,
I know you like your Bill Lawrence XL500, but if you try a lower out put pickup the amp can do the work for you. I find great results even with vintage gibson pups @ 7-8Kohm
Just food for thought,
Peter, Are the SED EL34 better than the EL34B-STR stock in my VH4? It's been three years on these tubes now and I think they need changed, What is the best MA setting for the SED El34?

 

[guitarman967]

I have no problem at all with pinch harmonics and my VH4. It's honestly one of the easiest to do it on of all my amps.

 

[Peter Diezel]

Welcome to the board, Jeff !

Sure, we can help You out if You want to have more bite on Your VH4.

1. Replace power tubes into EL34-SED, preamp tubes into 12AX7-C (highgrade for V1)
2. We have to do a small mod on the circuit board, means to replace a resistor.

Please shot an email to peterdiezel (at) diezelamplification.com

Thanks,

Peter

Jeff,
I know you like your Bill Lawrence XL500, but if you try a lower out put pickup the amp can do the work for you. I find great results even with vintage gibson pups @ 7-8Kohm
Just food for thought,
Peter, Are the SED EL34 better than the EL34B-STR stock in my VH4? It's been three years on these tubes now and I think they need changed, What is the best MA setting for the SED El34?

Sound is a matter of taste, but the SED is more reliable.
I would go for 35 milliamps.

 

[The Udo]

Hey Peter!

I´m a bit curios about this mod you´re talking about. What does it involve and what would it cost? Sounds like it´s giving the amp more aggressiveness and more of an open sound....is that right?

Peace and love!

 

[Peter Diezel]

It´s not necessary on newer models built since 2002.
I don´t want to recommend it.

 

[The Udo]

Ok! Yeah mine is a 2005 so I´ll keep it as is! But maybe I´ll try out those preamp tubes, is it the same kind of preamp tube all the way?