So what do you do when you have a 78' 100 watt Marshall in your mancave and its too loud to do anything? why, buy a volkswagen and do a paint job on it to follow HERBIE!
or buy an over powered 180watt behemoth of an amp that weighs a ton and you wonder wtf you have been smoking.
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The Diezel is German Handmade overkill, 180watts, SUPER BRIGHT LED, Single direction switches (they return back after you press em), 2 Volume channels, etc etc. Then put it with a rather odd 3 channels, a super clean, a crunch channel with boost, and the all out High gain Channel. One would think that an amp like this would have 12 channels -just because it can.
So moving on cause my comments will bore, we will go to the main show.....
All recording is done with a Gibson LP Classic and Blue Yeti mic, no effects, the picture is kinda the setting used with different Gain levels. Clean and Rhythm Sections are all on Neck pup, while leads are on bridge
Channel 1- THEM CLEANS
The clean channel is one of the best ive heard in a metal amp out there, its chimes, trebly, punchy and clear, very note is defined and can be heard a mile a way. At 180 watts, the clean channel is designed to have HUGE headroom, so its clean all day everyday.
It reminds me of the 50s clean, vox and the sort, and with a dash of delay with a strat it certainly can play in those grounds.
https://soundcloud.com/bananafritters/clean...ers/sets/diezel
CRUNCH
Channel 2 is a strange one and i wonder what was the idea behind it. It has two modes “-“ or “+” which operates like a combination of Channel 2 and 3 in other 4 channel amps, so instead of 2 independent EQ, we have 1 channel with 2 different levels of gain but share the same EQ.
First the “-“ setting, once channel 2 is selected it just breaks into OD and with a slight touch its in distortion land. Theres very little room almost breakup tones here especially with high powered pickups, so the folks who like to run vintage amps at 5-6, will find it very limited.
And with the gain up at 12 o clock, the “-“ is a modern 80’s rock machine, think JCM800 without the fizz and sag, theres a certain marshall influence somewhere here but only a hint, its very punchy, upfront and fast. The notes are clear and defined and will sit very well with stuff like Bon Jovi, and GnR rhythms.
First Gain at 11 o clock, then 3 o clock, tehn with mid cut for boost (i think lol)
https://soundcloud.com/bananafritters/chan2...ers/sets/diezel
Then if you hit the “+” , it gets boosted by quite a bit, now at 12 o’ clock you are doing a very 80s metal. It gets more compressed but Its still very punchy, very fast and very piercing, the bass on this amp very tight and defined with a response that can shake the room. Now if the mid cut is used, the amp goes deep into trash metal territory, safe to say the amp can cover quite a large ground in shred land.
As the gain goes up, the amp becomes very compressed, by the time you hit MAX on the “+” mode of channel 2. Your riffs would sound like it went through a near maxed out compression pedal, and the high strings will be still as prominent as ever. its something to note and may deter some people.
First Gain at 11 o clock, then 3 o clock, tehn with mid cut for scoop
https://soundcloud.com/bananafritters/chan2...ers/sets/diezel
High Gain
Then comes Channel 3, here all gain stages are go, and theres HUGE amounts of saturation, Compression, and gain. Its overkill, certainly for most genres of music, but below 12 o clock it can be used as the lead channel after Channel 2.
Channel 3 remains the Diezel punch and forwardness, its very good for leads where you have god loads of gain, loads of volume, and LOADS of boosters! Personally im not sure what to do with such power, i reckon someone who plays really heavy stuff would love it, still i'd need to experiment and find out moar. Which comes to the next section
First Gain at 11 o clock, then 3 o clock, tehn with mid cut for scoop
https://soundcloud.com/bananafritters/chan3...ers/sets/diezel
Lead Sounds
First Clean, Then Channel 2 "-", Channel 2 "+" and Channel 3
https://soundcloud.com/bananafritters/lead?...ers/sets/diezel
Say hi to “Mid Cut” & “Deep”
Mid Cut is essentially 2 things, 1 a mid scoop/booster and a volume booster and it works on ALL channels. To make matters even more interesting, it works as a dial, so can be tweaked
Take for example, you are playing clean and want a mid scooped sound, hit mid cut and set it at 1 o clock. Likewise the opposite happens, if you are playing a rhythm part and want to break out into lead, the mid cut section can boost the Mids and the Volume of your guitar.
After Mid cut, you still have the extra Deep - a low end booster, it controls the low end and bass response giving it more boom or less. Need more punch? bring it up and the amp will shake the room like a bassist.
So all and all, you have individual settings for each channel then another additional Mid Cut, Deep and Presence Setting to mess with.
Speaking Volumes
The Volume section is one thing that is interesting and i dont even know how it works, as far as i understand from Diezel, the volume kinda acts like an on board attenuation. Making the amp more “bedroom friendly” , which interestingly despite its 180 watt, the amp is relatively easy to control, being able to put out great sounds at around 70 db.
Most of the recordings are done in that range, so theres no real need to blast the amp to kingdom come and be at ground zero, surviving the musical holocaust is something doable with the Herbie.
Loop
Last but not least, what is a high gain behemoth without its fx loop? Well Diezel answers with 3! Switchable, Serial or Parallel. Im no effects player, but as far as my testing with my limited pedal goes, parallel seems to separate the signals into 2, then one gets a touch of the juice, so the pedals need to be full wet.
With slightly maxed out pedals, the parallel sounds like something right up my ball park, just a hint of effects on the signal, bringing the sound forwards instead of it getting swallowed by delay. What is interesting is the parallel has a level control at the back which, is to set the amount of effects you want. Its a minimalist take on effects and something fun to have
The serial is pretty much the normal loop, and the switchable is the serial that can be Switched, theres also an added hidden volume knob here cause everyone needs hidden volume knobs.
Other Features & Last words
There are other features that came with this amp, it can use different tubes at the same time (tho Bias is needed). MIDI and storage like a Multi FX, it also has a second volume control cause why not?
As far as it goes, there amp, is fast, tight, punchy, and very defined. Its the best “generic” idea i can use to describe the Diezel sound, Its very mid heavy, in your face, tight, detailed kinda sound that may turn on or off some people. Theres no real wall of sound , its always clear and precise. You also dont really get the feel of a laid back blues man here, no chug-a-chug, “thegypsyladytomymother” shit, amp has no patience for it, it wants to be fast, it wants to rock and it wants to take no prisoners
If theres any down side, the channel 2 "-/+" setting is not foot switchable, and i guess the only way out of it, is to use a MIDI programe or use channel 3. But screw that, who has time for messing around with switches, its KILLING TIME! the amp would argue. Theres also something else, the amp was bought new from the shop about 2 years in and you notice the knobs have some rust on it, i guess its our weather, but it really makes you wonder, why not put some anti-rust material on the amp?
But cosmetic rust aside, the amp can hold its own and is one of the more unique sounds out there, and its certainly heavy as fuck. Hope my neighbors wont complain too much
This post has been edited by +3kk!: Apr 4 2017, 11:06 PM