Herbert=sweetness

B

Bryan

New member
Hey everyone.. I received my Herbert and Columbus last week. It sounds amazing. I upgraded from a Marshall Valvestate head which I’ve been gigging with for nearly eight years (had it since I was 15). Now that I’m out of college and not as poor,I decided to purchase the best to enhance my playing.

I have some questions for Herbie users:

1) At home, I only had to change my settingsfrom the valvestate head slightly and everything sounded amazing. But when I got to the band room I realized that my setting were too bassy. On the valvestate I had to turn up the bass and middle and turn down the treble to compensate for the lack of bass. Obviously with the Herbert this is the opposite. My usual settings were (in percentage) Bass: 80-90%; Middle: 50-60%; Treble 20-30%. My sound for the last two practice sessions was very muddy. I know this has to do with my lack of experience with valve amps/Herbert. It feels very strange changing from my old settings (adding more treble and turning the bass down). Ive pretty much kept everything around the 40-50% area for the last two practice sessions. There’s no real point in giving specifics right now as im still unsure of what they were exactly. Any tips you could give me would be much appreciated. Please use parentages when talking about settings.

2) My other question is in relation to volume. If we take the master volume and the individual volumes for example. I had the master volume 1 at 40-50% and the individual volumes starting at 40% and gradually turning it up to around 60%. I found channel 3 to be a little bit quieter than channel two. Im just wondering on average where you would place your volumes at practice? Do you turn up the channel volumes very high and keep the master volume lower or vice versa? The mid cut level was also something I thought might be the problem for my muddy sound. I had that around 70%. Should I turn this up or down?

I know my questions are basic (and not structured very well, sorry) but Im finding it hard to adapt to this amp in a band situation and as I have a few important gigs coming up this weekend any help would be great.

Cant wait to get acquainted properly with this beast. Here’s to Peter and the Diezel team..
Thanks,
Bryan…
 
Hi Bryan, congrats and greetings to the wonderful emerald city of Cork.

1) I usually keep everything around noon eq-wise, just adjust the master(s) and the presence. Up at home (75%) and lower (50-60%) on stage. Of course it depends on your cab.
The only difference is the clean channel - its normally louder, so I drop the volume and have the bass around 40%. Btw: adding the mid-cut to the clean channel is very nice !!!

2) Since I'm a classic rocker I'm using channel 3 for leads - normally with another setting of master 2 programmed with my Columbus. The volume drop between 2/3 is audible, cause 3 has more gain and compression, but your second master fixes that.

Enjoy your nice Herbert !

Olaf
 
Thanks Olaf.. Im pleased to hear that about the difference in volume between channels. I thought it might be the added gain but was afraid it might be just my head.

Ive been using channel three for leads as well. Where do you keep the deep and mid cut on your Herbert?

Why do you leave everything at noon? Is that the natural voicing of the head? Also, are the controls working from 0% to 100% adding frequencies or is it a case of at noon the addition starts and everything beforehand is cut from the mix?

Thanks for all your help. This forum is an invaluable tool for Diezel owners. Quality customer service...
 
I think Peter said it a while back that all Diezels are designed to work best with the controls at around noon.
 
Pretty much, plus minus a few clicks. But then again, I don't play in a band - just for fun at home. :)
 
EQ noon - thats the way Peter designs his amps normally. Tweaking the pots +/- 10/20% is normally enough to get the best from your amp. I rarely use the mid cut, sometimes with humbuckers playing clean. Both pots are noon also then . . .

The more vintage 800s (as a 2203 with the pre on "6") sound is available (volumes noon) with 2/- and the gain around 40%, very organic. Set that to 60% and thats a 2203 with the pre full. In + mode its like a boosted 800s (set to full pre) at 40% gain. Setting the gain to 55-60% gives you what a VH4 sounds (ch 3).

The same sound (VH4) is available with channel 3 when you set the gain back to 25-30%. This way you could run channel 2 (- mode) more vintage, channel 3 as a VH4/ch3 and boost that for leads (master 2) for soloing. Just some ideas . . .

I normally keep the deep around 40%-noon also.
 
I gig regularly with mine. This should take care of you:

Channel 1: Vol 10:45 Treb 10:45 Mid 11:45 Bass 12:00

Channel 2 (+Mode:) Gain 2:15 Vol 11:30 Treb 11:00 Mid 11:45 Bass 11:45

Channel 3 Gain 12:00 Vol 12:00 Treb 12:30 Mid 11:45 Bass 12:00

Mid Cut: Intens 9:30 Level 12:00 (Intensity any higher than 10:00, and I get lost in the mix)

Pres 12:00 Deep 12:30 Volume to what you need

I have a 4 button footswitch. I use Channel 1 for clean w/no mid cut, Channel 2 for marshall sound w/no mid cut, Channel 3 lead/high gain sound w/no mid cut, Channel 3 w/mid cut for modern/nu-metal.

I use low output pickups 7K to 9K. High outputs turn my sound to mush. Mesa cabs w/Vin30's.

Start there and tweak to your tastes. Crowds and bandmates love this sound.
 
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Bryan":7cd65 said:
What do you mean by 2203? Is that an amp model? Im assuming "pre" is the channel volume?
Click to expand...
2203 = Marshall 2203 (single channel w/master like Zakk Wylde)
pre = preamp gain - the pot that adjustes gain in a 2203
 
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itsme":1d5e1 said:
Crowds and bandmates love this sound.
Click to expand...
:LOL: Nice one.. Thanks for the tips bud.. I jammed last night with one of my bands and its starting to clear up claritywise. It's taking awhile to get use to but it starting to sound like I want it to. That nice beafy kick of power chords and warm leads.. Tone heaven around the corner!!!
 
I really really wish that the +/- switch was MIDI capable and Shame on peter for not going all the way with this thing but I've found some ways around the problem..
For the Herbert's Channel 2 I set the gain to about 60%.
That gives me the super gained out heavy tones and seems to be the sweet spot for just the right amount of articulation, tightness and saturation on that Channel.
When I roll off my GTR volume with humbuckers it reduces the gain to about 40% which is a really good JCM 800 type tone.
To get the - Mode's sound's I go to my PRS's coil Tap which further reduces the gain the same way flipping the switch would.
Full up I get the Full 60% setting on the - mode and 40% with the Volume rolled down.
I find those gain settings are the most useful ones in the head
 
My only complaint is that Peter forgot to install a flux capacitor, a coffee machine, a slot machine, automatic blow jobber, an abiliator to play with 180bpm and some wheels to use it as a car also. Meh . . . .
 
:|::QBB:
duesentrieb":20046 said:
My only complaint is that Peter forgot to install a flux capacitor, a coffee machine, a slot machine, automatic blow jobber, an abiliator to play with 180bpm and some wheels to use it as a car also. Meh . . . .
Click to expand...
That would be handy, I could get rid of the girlfriend :LOL:
I agree with the +/- comment but Im sure there was a good reason why Peter didnt include that.. Fuck sake, there's already three channels to play with. Most guitarists use only one..
 
Yup. And the mid cut assignable to all of them - makes 6 - and a second master - makes 12 - ahem - sounds. And a switchable loop to integrate whatever preamp - makes - ahem - eternal . . . :)
 
I understand all that, but what's the big deal with making this one feature also MIDI-controlable? That's what I seriously don't get.
 
Oh ok, so why offer the option if it's not programmable. Your last statement didn't make any sense.

Edit: Besides that, it doesn't hold any water since the voicing of the VH4 and the Herbert are different, so what if I want the voicing of Herbie with the four channels? Wouldn't it be smart to make it programmable? I think so.
 
Their voicing is the same, the character is a bit different though, due to the bigger OT of the Herbert.

I'm happy that there is the option - an option, not a full channel. I don't need two just gainwise different settings for dirty rythms in the same song. I'm more than fine with it. Many other customers are.

If you urgently need it: mod it. Should be not too complicated as long as midi-switchability isn't a must.
 
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