RJF":3c1g69x7 said:
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.