Thinking of buying a Deizel.....Undecided. Help

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kdog66

kdog66

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I have played guitar for a number of years now and have always felt that a guitarist tone comes for the most part from the way you play (attack) the guitar and everything else is secondary. That is not to say it is not important cause I know very well that it is, from a really good quality guitar, the wood, pups, amp, cab, speakers, effects..etc..etc. We all know this, but I have never been a fan of having to spend much time dialing in a tone and have always leaned more toward a more simple amp with very little effects and allowing my approach and attack on the instrument to speak for itself. I do not, nor have ever liked any amp that is forgiving. One that covers up a players mistakes and makes a player lazy in the long run. Having said that, I have never had the chance yet to play a Diezel. I feel someone like an Andy Woods for instance (mentioned in another Deizel thread) could take any guitar, and any amp and sound fantastic. I have also always been told by every amp builder I have ever talked with that the more channels and more features added to an amp, the more it tends to take away from the tone. I honestly don't know. I have also been told by some people that the VH4 is less forgiving than the Herbert and vice versa by Herbert owners???
I have also had my eye on amps like the Wizard, Fortin and a few others as well. I am finally going to a music store this weekend that has many diff type boutique amps and will try them all out. Diezel, Cornford, Elmwood, Wizard, Bogner, Splawn, Engl and a few others. No stores near me have these amps. I will let you know the results next week. I have heard many YT vids on all the above but we all know unless you are there in person.....
Anyway, I would like to hear from some of you Diezel owners on which Diezel is the overall best in your opinion please and for what style music and why...
 
Judging by what you have written I'd recommend the VH4. Personally I think the Herbert is the "best" out of all Diezels because it's unbelievably versatile, if you like the general character of it...no matter which music you play.
 
Just got my first Diezel on monday. I was going for something else, a few weeks ago, but i fell in love with the tone. I got the 100W Einstein. I havent tried the other Diezels but compared to all other amps i ve heared in the 20 years i m playing, it blew them out of the water. And it is soooooo versatile. Just last night i had some friends over, they brought a few guitars with them to experiment, even the really cheap ones sounded incredible, we were all shocked. That said, with my Einstein i am in sonic heaven and the rest is history. But you just have to hear it for yourself. Good luck with your search, i m sure you ll have fun trying to pick among some great amplifiers that you mentioned.
 
scottph":hd36nade said:
Judging by what you have written I'd recommend the VH4. Personally I think the Herbert is the "best" out of all Diezels because it's unbelievably versatile, if you like the general character of it...no matter which music you play.
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+1 :thumbsup:

The VH4 and 4S (stereo version) are very tight, unforgiving amps that tend to stop before you do...! They're clinical and surgical in their sonic onslaught, and might I say, bloody quiet to boot. Now, not knowing the type of music you're into, hard to say, but of all the Diezel's out there, the V is the one with four channels of terrain that can be dialed in to almost any style. The key difference with the Einy and the V is Tex Mode versus Diezel Channel 3. The V's most notorious channel is that third one, which is all that Diezel tone wrapped up into one blissful circuit. The Einy has some incredible array on it too - and as I've mentioned before, I'm still teetering on whether or not to buy one, as it's got some vintage/Tex feel to it. Herbert is a beast - massive power section, huge selection of tones, and yes, flame me if you want, but loser feeling... As per the description, it's more of a "player's amp", it's more "familiar", it's just a looser, easier going amp albeit fire-breathing in the volume and tonal array departments. The V is super tight and percussive, doesn't suffer poor or sloppy playing perhaps as much as the Herbert.

Just my humble opinion. I had to make this choice a while ago... Herbert or V? I went with the V and I am by no means kicking myself.

Cheers,
V.
 
Thanks fellas for input, and I am looking forward to hearing some more hopefully before tomorrow.

What I mean by unforgiving is sorta like a Splawn or the old Marshalls. If you make a picking error or hit the wrong note, it is going to show up for sure which should make you a better player in the long run or give up....or just decide to live with being sloppy....lololol
Even the Quick Rod is like that and it is not what I would describe as a "tight" amp like the Nitro. It's not a "loose goose" either though. Mistakes can not be covered up. You know what I am talking about, those players that crank the distortion up to max, have a ton of effects, then play fast and you can't really hear the mistakes unless your a seasoned vet.... The average joe knows no better... I like a little delay, little verb on the wet side and then almost dry as hell and raw on the flip side. (Other effects when the song dictates it of course) but not overload.
I also don't want to buy an amp with 4-5-6 channels just for that "one" channel.
I want an amp that is very versatile without spending half my practice time dialing it in. I want to be able to play all styles on it as well because a limited style leads to a limited guitarist with less vocabulary.
I can't wait till tomorrow.....any more advise or opinions welcome, thanks fellas.
 
either The VH4 or Herbie are stellar. VH4 is a little more unforgiving. Herbie is a lil more familiar & looser ( but not loose like the neighborhood hooker!) Either way..you cant go wrong!!
 
If you only need a couple of channels Einstein is super versitile and has the least "metalish" vibe to it but is tight enough to do so if you wanted. Superb feel and speed thru the amp. You feel very in touch with what you're playing. I had to send mine off for a little custom work and have been using my XTC in the meantime and honestly I am no where near as inspired. I have been playing semi pro for over 25 years and currently own 12 amplifiers and if I could only keep one it would be the Einstein. Good luck in your quest.
 
Ventura":3j391tr1 said:
As per the description, it's more of a "player's amp", it's more "familiar", it's just a looser, easier going amp albeit fire-breathing in the volume and tonal array departments. The V is super tight and percussive, doesn't suffer poor or sloppy playing perhaps as much as the Herbert.

Just my humble opinion. I had to make this choice a while ago... Herbert or V? I went with the V and I am by no means kicking myself.

Cheers,
V.
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Totally agree! :thumbsup:
 
The Herbert is simply awesome and one of the most versatile amps I have played. There is a cool chart for the Herbert that shows settings to various tones. They are a great starting point and you can tweak to taste from there. The Herbert is billed by many as a "metal" amp but IMHO it does a whole lot more. I must say I really love the Herbert with a nice sextet of EL34s.

Good luck with your decision!
 
This reply may be a little late - sorry for that.
I played Herbert and VH4 side by side and have to agree that VH4 is tighter, but Herbert is still tight comparing to most amplifiers out there. Also, you go totally wrong if you title Herbert as a one-trick-pony, so take your time and try them out ;-)
I realy like their tone, but when it comes to "unforgiving" amps, I would kick out the engls... exactly what you described what you did not want, imo.
 
DvE":5v3nrl8n said:
This reply may be a little late - sorry for that.
I played Herbert and VH4 side by side and have to agree that VH4 is tighter, but Herbert is still tight comparing to most amplifiers out there. Also, you go totally wrong if you title Herbert as a one-trick-pony, so take your time and try them out ;-)
I realy like their tone, but when it comes to "unforgiving" amps, I would kick out the engls... exactly what you described what you did not want, imo.
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Agreed - by NO means is the Herbert a "one-trick-pony". That would be an impossibility.

V.
 
The myth that the VH4 is only a one channel amp is and has been nonsense.
As for trying to improve your picking efficiency, from a ten year SLO 100 owner
both VH4 and Herbert are much easier to play. To me, the VH4 is more forgiving
for leads. The compression helps me to relax the right hand and it's a very fluid
tone. The Herbert is close, but more SLO'ish on the leads. The Herbert with the mid cut
off, however is closer to the VH4 fluid lead tones. It just takes a thirty second break for your
ears to adjust to the mid cut being off.
 
Just my 2 cents and I sound like a broken record but I've had my Herbert for almost 5 months and I am still so blown away by the tone of this amp!! Its a win win whatever amp you buy but I say get the Herbert!! :D :thumbsup: :rock:
 
I have 2 herberts one with 34's and the other is with 6l6's and the one with 6l6's is tighter than the one with 34's. I did this because I run them together.
Answer to your question is I'd go for the herbert,but you can't go wrong with the vh4 either I played a couple of them and loved them. :thumbsup:
 
You can play any music style with any Diezel amp. Yes, the really heavy tones on say, a Schmidt, will need some boosting, and maybe on an Einstein, if you are way into ultra heavy tones, but they can all do so many styles well, that it becomes a matter of which amp suits your personal needs.
They all have their own character, so it helps that you know what you want from an amp before just going off and buying any Diezel. The quality will always be there no matter which amp you choose, but you need to understand what it is that you are looking for first.

As an example, not being near any Diezel dealer at all, I bought the only amp out by Diezel at the time, a VH4 sight unseen, unplayed, actually as I did every Diezel. It was so far beyond any other amp I had ever played through. Two years later, the Herbert came out, and I bought one of them. It was yet another stupendous experience. A couple of years later, the Einstein came out and I got one of them. It was different again from the first two Diezels, and still amazing in it's tonal ranges. Now the Schmidt has come out and I have one of those. As funny as it sounds, the Schmidt is doing what I need from a Diezel. better then the other three. I don't need the immense volume, or wattage anymore. I don't need the immense saturation provided by the others, but the Schmidt does everything I do need just perfectly.
Am I sorry that I bought the first three Diezels? Hell, no! At the time, they were perfect for me. I still have the Einstein, and between the two I decided to keep, I have the best of everything I will ever need from an amp.

It all gets down to what you need. You may not know what you need at first, but by making a logical decision, based on your musical preferences, and the help of this forum, you won't go wrong.
 
Thanks for all the help and advise fellas. Still undecided though. Played both Herbert and vh4 and loved both but wanna try the Einstein before making my final choice. Maybe this coming weekend. I like the old metal but play sone of the newer stuff a ton also. May end up doing the two amp thing again one day.
 
Hard&Heavy you have entirely to much gear and to much money evidently. Gear overkill........lololol.
 
I have to say... and this directly contradicts what most of you have said in here... but I've play countless amps, and have owned both the VH-4 and the Herbert (currently own the Herbert) but my Diezels have been by FAR the most forgiving amps I have ever played... they are so compressed that all the notes come out extremely even... this is of course something people either love or hate... but Diezels definitely ARE forgiving... no question about it...

That being said, you REALLY cannot go wrong with either the VH-4 or the Herbert... the Herbert is a bit more modernly voiced... and regardless of how you dial it in will have that modern sound to it... the VH-4 is what I call the "Marshall" of the Diezel amps... I keep going back and forth, I started with a Herbert, got a VH-4, just went back to a Herbert, and now I want a VH-4 again, so I'm going to try and save up and just have both... seems that's what most of these crazy bastards around here do, because they are both too amazing you can't decide between the two!!
 
Mizati20":n8ven3l2 said:
I have to say... and this directly contradicts what most of you have said in here... but I've play countless amps, and have owned both the VH-4 and the Herbert (currently own the Herbert) but my Diezels have been by FAR the most forgiving amps I have ever played... they are so compressed that all the notes come out extremely even... this is of course something people either love or hate... but Diezels definitely ARE forgiving... no question about it...

That being said, you REALLY cannot go wrong with either the VH-4 or the Herbert... the Herbert is a bit more modernly voiced... and regardless of how you dial it in will have that modern sound to it... the VH-4 is what I call the "Marshall" of the Diezel amps... I keep going back and forth, I started with a Herbert, got a VH-4, just went back to a Herbert, and now I want a VH-4 again, so I'm going to try and save up and just have both... seems that's what most of these crazy bastards around here do, because they are both too amazing you can't decide between the two!!
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+1 :thumbsup:

I want a Herbert.

And an Einstein.

:doh: V.
 
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