NAD - Diezel content

[cardinal]

There is very little tonal difference between a blue, silver, and earlish white face VH4. They are all pretty close.

I've had an original Blueface and an '07. I played one of the "reissue" bluefaces (2011? Don't remember) and I think a few more of the newer ones.

There is definitely a difference. I mean, they all sound like a Diezel, so don't get me wrong. One is not going to sound like a Marshall and another a Fender. But I don't really think they can be dialed in the same. The newer ones I've played (post 2007) were tighter and had a lot more preamp gain. I hate to criticize them because they sound great, but the newer ones sound a bit "narrow," like the low end extension abruptly stops, like there's a pretty hard high-pass on the amp somehow. Something kinda similar with the top end.

The Blueface felt a bit more natural, the way the top end and low end extended and breathed. Particularly the top end, it just sounded so much angrier than the newer ones. Needed to run the gain knob a touch higher, but there was NO WAY you were running out of gain. It still had lots and lots.

I've heard how the Blueface is supposed to be darker than the newer ones, and I think... maybe. I think there's less treble but more presence, maybe. But again, you can just turn up the treble knob and turn down the presence. What you can't do with the newer ones is uncork the low end and high end so that they extend a bit more naturally. And I couldn't turn the knobs to make the newer ones sound a vicious or mean as the Blueface. I don't know enough about what frequency was doing it, but really that amp sounded angry in a very cool way.

Interesting. That sounds about right based on what I heard in the clips. How did the reissue blue face compare to the original?

The "reissues" were just a (very cool) blue panel. They circuit was just like the contemporary silverface amps of that year (I think 2011?). It was a great amp, but it still had that somewhat congested, somewhat sterile sound compared to the more natural and angrier original. But don't get me wrong, the new amps sound killer and if someone can't get good tones from it, they are the problem, not the amp. But with the newer ones, I got frustrated because Channel 3 felt too congested and Channel 2 just didn't have quite enough gain or aggression. The original Blueface channel 3 was perfect. I sold it only because it was so damn expensive I couldn't justify keeping it, but I wish I still had it. Pretty special amp IMHO.

 

[jonl]

There is very little tonal difference between a blue, silver, and earlish white face VH4. They are all pretty close.

I've had an original Blueface and an '07. I played one of the "reissue" bluefaces (2011? Don't remember) and I think a few more of the newer ones.

There is definitely a difference. I mean, they all sound like a Diezel, so don't get me wrong. One is not going to sound like a Marshall and another a Fender. But I don't really think they can be dialed in the same. The newer ones I've played (post 2007) were tighter and had a lot more preamp gain. I hate to criticize them because they sound great, but the newer ones sound a bit "narrow," like the low end extension abruptly stops, like there's a pretty hard high-pass on the amp somehow. Something kinda similar with the top end.

The Blueface felt a bit more natural, the way the top end and low end extended and breathed. Particularly the top end, it just sounded so much angrier than the newer ones. Needed to run the gain knob a touch higher, but there was NO WAY you were running out of gain. It still had lots and lots.

I've heard how the Blueface is supposed to be darker than the newer ones, and I think... maybe. I think there's less treble but more presence, maybe. But again, you can just turn up the treble knob and turn down the presence. What you can't do with the newer ones is uncork the low end and high end so that they extend a bit more naturally. And I couldn't turn the knobs to make the newer ones sound a vicious or mean as the Blueface. I don't know enough about what frequency was doing it, but really that amp sounded angry in a very cool way.

Interesting. That sounds about right based on what I heard in the clips. How did the reissue blue face compare to the original?

The remake blueface is just a silverface amp with a blue plate

 

[braintheory]

It sounds like this is similar to how the earlier version uberschalls and dual rectifiers were also better

 

[RJF]

2 years ago, general consensus around RT was that the newer 2007+ changes were for the better and the preferred VH4 to have over older versions. Now, people are saying the opposite.

My '01 Silver face is a pretty dark and compressed amp.

 

[cardinal]

2 years ago, general consensus around RT was that the newer 2007+ changes were for the better and the preferred VH4 to have over older versions. Now, people are saying the opposite.

My '01 Silver face is a pretty dark and compressed amp.

For what it's worth, the true Blueface circuit up until around early 1998 is different from your '01. Peter's been tweaking things the whole time, it seems, but there was a shift right as the plates turned to silver. A preamp tube from the 1st channel was eliminated and I assume other changes as well.