JimmyBlind
Active member
Diezel recommend using chinese preamp & power tubes. That's not to say the VH4 doesn't sound incredible with some middle-of-the-road tubes of course.
I bought an ex-demo VH4 from the UK distributor who loaded it with Electro Harmonix EL34. Amp still sounded great & with arguably noticeable difference when I upgraded the tube set. I would suggest looking at 6L6 tubes for your style of music. EL34s are more aggressive & mid/high. 6L6 tubes are more balanced to my ears & deliver warmer cleans.
VH4 is a great purchase. By & large, the VH4 is the benchmark by which I judge all other amplifiers in terms of sound, versatility & build quality. Channel 3 on it's own is probably the single greatest voiced crunch channel in the business. It treads that line of compressed & open really well. CH4 is fun but a little too compressed for me. I preferred overdriving CH3.
My only criticism is balancing the clean volume with the drive channels. Peter may be able to mod this of course. The drive channels are so fiercely loud that you are forced to crank the gain on the clean channel to the point of clipping. Even then, it can't rival Channels 3 & 4. You're forced to tame Ch 3 & 4 to balance the amp.
It's a very loud amp. On stage & in practice I never took the amp above 40%.
Not played my VH4 through any speakers that weren't V30s. Diezel amps are voiced for use with V30 speakers. Most reputable cabinet makers will make you a quality cab. Cab construction & F/R load does make a huge difference in sound though. Certainly more than tube type.
Closed back, front loaded cabs will secure the speaker into the chassis & really tightens up the sound, whereas open-back, rear loaded cabs sound much more open & resonant.
Have fun!
I bought an ex-demo VH4 from the UK distributor who loaded it with Electro Harmonix EL34. Amp still sounded great & with arguably noticeable difference when I upgraded the tube set. I would suggest looking at 6L6 tubes for your style of music. EL34s are more aggressive & mid/high. 6L6 tubes are more balanced to my ears & deliver warmer cleans.
VH4 is a great purchase. By & large, the VH4 is the benchmark by which I judge all other amplifiers in terms of sound, versatility & build quality. Channel 3 on it's own is probably the single greatest voiced crunch channel in the business. It treads that line of compressed & open really well. CH4 is fun but a little too compressed for me. I preferred overdriving CH3.
My only criticism is balancing the clean volume with the drive channels. Peter may be able to mod this of course. The drive channels are so fiercely loud that you are forced to crank the gain on the clean channel to the point of clipping. Even then, it can't rival Channels 3 & 4. You're forced to tame Ch 3 & 4 to balance the amp.
It's a very loud amp. On stage & in practice I never took the amp above 40%.
Not played my VH4 through any speakers that weren't V30s. Diezel amps are voiced for use with V30 speakers. Most reputable cabinet makers will make you a quality cab. Cab construction & F/R load does make a huge difference in sound though. Certainly more than tube type.
Closed back, front loaded cabs will secure the speaker into the chassis & really tightens up the sound, whereas open-back, rear loaded cabs sound much more open & resonant.
Have fun!
