Mizati20
Active member
Let me start by saying, I have to bust my ass for my gear... between my son, all my bills, just a fuck-ton of "Life" in general, and only being 25, I don't have the means yet to put together some of the phenomenal rigs that you guys have, some day though 
That being said, the fact that this thing is sitting in my house is much more then just a Happy New Amp Day for me, I really almost feel accomplished, I have wanted a Diezel for forever and finally made it happen, today is actually a proud day for me.
WIth that out of the way, I'll give my best review, It wont be as in depth as some of the others here, mostly because I'm not that great at describing that sorta thing, but I'll definitely give it my best shot, I'll go from channel to channel....
I apologize for not having much to say about the actual responsiveness of the EQ and related things, I put everything at noon on the amp and literally havent moved anything since, but from what I've heard all the knobs are extremely responsive...
Channel 1:
I've owned only a couple "Boutique" heads, had several Mark IV's, Triple Rec's, Mesa's Express series, lots of high gainers, and I have to say, even though I was expecting a good clean channel after reading all the reviews and seeing plenty of Youtube videos, I honestly have to say that I was still extremely skeptical. I got rid of my Mark V to fund this purchase, and while I've never owned any Fender style amp, I honestly believe the Mark V has some of the BEST cleans I have ever heard, and I'm a big fan of a good clean sound. However, with the Mark V there is A LOT of knob turning and tweaking to get the amazing clean I am referring to, with the Herbert, I put all the knobs at noon, flipped the switch, and was immediately taken back at how amazing the clean instantly was... it is CRYSTAL clear and has a bell like chime to it that I have never really heard before, very different from my Mark V's cleans but at the same time I am loving them just as much. TONS of headroom here, I have absolutely no use for that "Near breakup" clean, I need super clean sounds for my band and this channel definitely seems that it will deliver, I turned the channel and master to noon and really dug into the strings and even though the walls were shaking, it was still clean as could be, amazing.
Channel 2:
This is where I will spend most of my time, please understand I've had the amp since about 8pm eastern time, so this is still a very early review, reason for saying that is I haven't spent much time on the "-" mode of channel 2, but I was very very happy when I discovered that the "+" mode will cover all the ground I need for my bands rhythm playing. The channel is very tight, but still has a looser quality to it that I'm very surprised that I actually like! (I'm a bit of that Mark sound fanboi) tons of mids here which is always a good thing for me, can get amazingly saturated and artificial harmonics seem to just jump off my strings. I honestly can't decide if I like the channel with the Mid-Cut or not, both sound amazing, I'll just have to pick whichever will suit me best for the band and the live environment, to dig deeper into not knowing which I like best, I find I can't really find a sound in this amp I don't like, which is quite amazing. Normal routine for me is to plug into an amp, and you immediately get an idea of what the amp offers and what it's voicing is, but you usually aren't immediately happy with what you hear and you tweak accordingly to find what your looking for, with the Herbert it seems every sound that comes out of it makes me grin, dare I say it's so amazingly versatile but I'm afraid I may not even take advantage of that fact due to how great it sounds with everything at noon, I tend to ramble so I'll try and get back on track. The channel has a very open and uncompressed voicing that can get very in your face, I find the presence seems to actually add more punch and saturation/gain (at least to my ears), a little tweaking of the mids and deep knob and I have some of the best low to mid-mid sounding distortion I've come across, and this is with the "+" gain at around 1:30!! If this amp were a 2 channel amp I'd still be just as content because of channel 2+
Channel 3:
I don't play in a metal band, and this channel to me is completely over the top, however I have found that it produces some of the most singing and liquid leads I have ever heard, the word "liquid" when used to describe a lead sound never really made much sense to me until I hear channel 3 on the Herbert, the notes just seem to melt into each other and have an almost violin like quality to them. I haven't used this channel much for riffing, and I don't really plan to, so I can't comment much on that. I definitely like the mid-cut engaged on this channel, unlike the other 2 the mid-cut seems to almost completely change the voicing of channel 3, and it is definitely what I prefer, I also find that I don't even use the "intensity" knob of the mid-cut feature, it's actually set to 0 and I just use the level and it seems to add a level of control over the tone that is very unique. I am not completely satisfied with my lead tone yet, and I actually end this review with a request from some of you guys here to maybe share some of your settings on channel 3 for a really singing lead tone, I play Les Paul studios and they are both loaded with JB/59's if that helps any...
There is so much more to say, I could go on and on and on, if anyone is reading this review that is debating on whether or not to pull the trigger on a Diezel, your hearing it straight from a person who has tried quite a bit of gear, and is very specific in the type of sound he likes, this head is nothing short of amazing, as I've heard someone in this forum say (which I use to think was ridiculous) sell all your gear and buy a Diezel... I did, and could not be happier, quite the risk since I was never able to play before I bought, and it is a bit daunting to send off all your amps for something you "hope" is going to deliver, but I have absolutely no regrets.
Apologies if the "review" turned into a bit of ranting and raving and rambling, but as I said I'm not the best at these things, this is actually the first amp to prompt me to even make a "NAD" thread...
Peter has already personally written me a couple E-mails when I had some question about biasing and I was completely taken back out how quickly he responded to me, I'm really happy to be a part of the Diezel family, the Diezel name has always been something that I held so high in my mind and my reason for doing so is definitely justified, sorry for the long post, going to get back to play, but of course here are a couple pics to go with the review.
Last but not least, thanks to Peter and the other guys at Diezel (sorry not very familiar with everyone yet) for making such an amazing piece of equipment, I know you hear it all the time, but for me to be kissing your ass is a big deal, you guys should be truly proud if what you have/are creating....
That being said, the fact that this thing is sitting in my house is much more then just a Happy New Amp Day for me, I really almost feel accomplished, I have wanted a Diezel for forever and finally made it happen, today is actually a proud day for me.WIth that out of the way, I'll give my best review, It wont be as in depth as some of the others here, mostly because I'm not that great at describing that sorta thing, but I'll definitely give it my best shot, I'll go from channel to channel....
I apologize for not having much to say about the actual responsiveness of the EQ and related things, I put everything at noon on the amp and literally havent moved anything since, but from what I've heard all the knobs are extremely responsive...
Channel 1:
I've owned only a couple "Boutique" heads, had several Mark IV's, Triple Rec's, Mesa's Express series, lots of high gainers, and I have to say, even though I was expecting a good clean channel after reading all the reviews and seeing plenty of Youtube videos, I honestly have to say that I was still extremely skeptical. I got rid of my Mark V to fund this purchase, and while I've never owned any Fender style amp, I honestly believe the Mark V has some of the BEST cleans I have ever heard, and I'm a big fan of a good clean sound. However, with the Mark V there is A LOT of knob turning and tweaking to get the amazing clean I am referring to, with the Herbert, I put all the knobs at noon, flipped the switch, and was immediately taken back at how amazing the clean instantly was... it is CRYSTAL clear and has a bell like chime to it that I have never really heard before, very different from my Mark V's cleans but at the same time I am loving them just as much. TONS of headroom here, I have absolutely no use for that "Near breakup" clean, I need super clean sounds for my band and this channel definitely seems that it will deliver, I turned the channel and master to noon and really dug into the strings and even though the walls were shaking, it was still clean as could be, amazing.
Channel 2:
This is where I will spend most of my time, please understand I've had the amp since about 8pm eastern time, so this is still a very early review, reason for saying that is I haven't spent much time on the "-" mode of channel 2, but I was very very happy when I discovered that the "+" mode will cover all the ground I need for my bands rhythm playing. The channel is very tight, but still has a looser quality to it that I'm very surprised that I actually like! (I'm a bit of that Mark sound fanboi) tons of mids here which is always a good thing for me, can get amazingly saturated and artificial harmonics seem to just jump off my strings. I honestly can't decide if I like the channel with the Mid-Cut or not, both sound amazing, I'll just have to pick whichever will suit me best for the band and the live environment, to dig deeper into not knowing which I like best, I find I can't really find a sound in this amp I don't like, which is quite amazing. Normal routine for me is to plug into an amp, and you immediately get an idea of what the amp offers and what it's voicing is, but you usually aren't immediately happy with what you hear and you tweak accordingly to find what your looking for, with the Herbert it seems every sound that comes out of it makes me grin, dare I say it's so amazingly versatile but I'm afraid I may not even take advantage of that fact due to how great it sounds with everything at noon, I tend to ramble so I'll try and get back on track. The channel has a very open and uncompressed voicing that can get very in your face, I find the presence seems to actually add more punch and saturation/gain (at least to my ears), a little tweaking of the mids and deep knob and I have some of the best low to mid-mid sounding distortion I've come across, and this is with the "+" gain at around 1:30!! If this amp were a 2 channel amp I'd still be just as content because of channel 2+
Channel 3:
I don't play in a metal band, and this channel to me is completely over the top, however I have found that it produces some of the most singing and liquid leads I have ever heard, the word "liquid" when used to describe a lead sound never really made much sense to me until I hear channel 3 on the Herbert, the notes just seem to melt into each other and have an almost violin like quality to them. I haven't used this channel much for riffing, and I don't really plan to, so I can't comment much on that. I definitely like the mid-cut engaged on this channel, unlike the other 2 the mid-cut seems to almost completely change the voicing of channel 3, and it is definitely what I prefer, I also find that I don't even use the "intensity" knob of the mid-cut feature, it's actually set to 0 and I just use the level and it seems to add a level of control over the tone that is very unique. I am not completely satisfied with my lead tone yet, and I actually end this review with a request from some of you guys here to maybe share some of your settings on channel 3 for a really singing lead tone, I play Les Paul studios and they are both loaded with JB/59's if that helps any...
There is so much more to say, I could go on and on and on, if anyone is reading this review that is debating on whether or not to pull the trigger on a Diezel, your hearing it straight from a person who has tried quite a bit of gear, and is very specific in the type of sound he likes, this head is nothing short of amazing, as I've heard someone in this forum say (which I use to think was ridiculous) sell all your gear and buy a Diezel... I did, and could not be happier, quite the risk since I was never able to play before I bought, and it is a bit daunting to send off all your amps for something you "hope" is going to deliver, but I have absolutely no regrets.
Apologies if the "review" turned into a bit of ranting and raving and rambling, but as I said I'm not the best at these things, this is actually the first amp to prompt me to even make a "NAD" thread...
Peter has already personally written me a couple E-mails when I had some question about biasing and I was completely taken back out how quickly he responded to me, I'm really happy to be a part of the Diezel family, the Diezel name has always been something that I held so high in my mind and my reason for doing so is definitely justified, sorry for the long post, going to get back to play, but of course here are a couple pics to go with the review.
Last but not least, thanks to Peter and the other guys at Diezel (sorry not very familiar with everyone yet) for making such an amazing piece of equipment, I know you hear it all the time, but for me to be kissing your ass is a big deal, you guys should be truly proud if what you have/are creating....
.gif "dj :m4:")
