SonicPulverizer
Member
Precursory stuff (skip ahead for the review
So I went into the Seattle GC today in looking to demo the new Gibson 60's tribute line stuff (Absolute garbage guitars btw). I was looking for a guitar under a grand with p90s. Ended up finding a beautiful PRS standard single cut soapbar (charcoal) for a good price and decided to give it a spin. There was a VH4 head on the floor just sitting there. It wasn't hooked up to a cab and was in quite the arbitrary spot. It was like it teleported there to do battle with me. At least that is my take on it. I've always been a die hard Bogner fan (Before today I had been saving literally every penny I could to grab up a Goldfinger head) and I always wanted to hate Diezel. The pictures online made them seem sort of awkward or "off" to me aesthetically. Hordes of video clips of guys playing shrilly shred mayhem through their phone mics -- it all painted in my head this terrible, overpriced picture of what it might be like to play one. It was gaudy, ridiculous, for EMG swappers with douchy "look at me" ground control rigs only. But, it was none of those things.
The review:
Aesthetically, the head is gorgeous. The construction quality is otherworldly. I liked how the colors worked to really make the Diezel script explode in your face. It isn't so flashy or... "look at me" so much as it says "worship me, mortals!"
The knob layout looks intimidating in photos but standing in front of it and actually going through the act of dialing it in, it is the single most intuitive amp I have ever played. I really dig how they made the channel switching the press of a very obvious but not obnoxious button. The head was plugged into a stock Mesa 4x12 cab. No effects, just PRS>P90s>cable>VH4.
Channel 1:
I started out with a basic clean tone, bright switch disengaged. The pick attack is brilliant. Neck pickup reminds of the Shiva 20th a bit. Bridge pickup has almost a piezo sound when you take the mids below noon, except it's much better than a piezo sound IMO. I pushed the gain to about 2 o' clock and engaged the bright switch. Glorious tones. was able to get great clarity with complex chords no matter how much i dug in with the pick. Reminded me at times of the lower gain stuff on the Ecstasy blue channel but more useable. I spent less time on this channel than I should have but it was definitely impressive. I'm still in love with the Goldfinger's clean sounds but I'd say the Diezel has much more to offer in terms of versatility within just that channel.
Channel 2:
I worked through the gain stages. This channel nails The Darkness with the gain set around noon. I fiddled about with the presence and deep knobs and was able to achieve a plethora of usable mid gain tones. Moving between the bridge and neck PUs I could really shape the sound of the guitar. Once again, breathtaking clarity with the more complex chords. The bright switch is noticeable and works just as it should.
Channel 3:
Everyone talks about this one and it isn't for nothing. Gain stage moves from classic to saturated in a hurry. Think Orange Rockerverb 50 on steroids. Sounds like Mastodon around noon, past that and it gets more and more serious sounding. Takes standard tuning quite well. For high gain I like this a lot better than the Uberschall. Less stuffy. I haven't tried a Herbert but this is some serious business.
Channel 4:
I found this channel to be quite unique. With the gain below 12 o' clock chording sounds amazing. Pushing the gain makes chords a little blurry, but jesus christ the capacity for evil, soaring leads is here in spades. Single note lines sustain and wobble like a pseudo wah pedal. I've never experienced this on any amp. Despite the over the top gain the clarity remains intact. I wrote a lead line a few months back for a track. The line involves alternating between open string picking and legato bits. the open notes were always fizzy and unclear when played up to speed on anything but the acoustic it was created on. This amp allows for it where the 101B, 20th Shiva and Mark V would not. Blew me away.
Impression:
Something I will note about this amp is that it is the only amp sans reverb that has really impressed me. It sounds like it doesn't need it. Everything breathes in a way that is just "HI DEF" if you will. For the brief time that I was able to play this amp I felt empowered. Original riffs sounded polished and refined, but not sterile in any way. The amp is joyfully simple to use, chock full of raw power and surreal tone. I wanted to dismiss it because of the price but I just can't. Thanks Peter for making this beautiful machine!
Picture via GC:
So I went into the Seattle GC today in looking to demo the new Gibson 60's tribute line stuff (Absolute garbage guitars btw). I was looking for a guitar under a grand with p90s. Ended up finding a beautiful PRS standard single cut soapbar (charcoal) for a good price and decided to give it a spin. There was a VH4 head on the floor just sitting there. It wasn't hooked up to a cab and was in quite the arbitrary spot. It was like it teleported there to do battle with me. At least that is my take on it. I've always been a die hard Bogner fan (Before today I had been saving literally every penny I could to grab up a Goldfinger head) and I always wanted to hate Diezel. The pictures online made them seem sort of awkward or "off" to me aesthetically. Hordes of video clips of guys playing shrilly shred mayhem through their phone mics -- it all painted in my head this terrible, overpriced picture of what it might be like to play one. It was gaudy, ridiculous, for EMG swappers with douchy "look at me" ground control rigs only. But, it was none of those things.
The review:
Aesthetically, the head is gorgeous. The construction quality is otherworldly. I liked how the colors worked to really make the Diezel script explode in your face. It isn't so flashy or... "look at me" so much as it says "worship me, mortals!"
The knob layout looks intimidating in photos but standing in front of it and actually going through the act of dialing it in, it is the single most intuitive amp I have ever played. I really dig how they made the channel switching the press of a very obvious but not obnoxious button. The head was plugged into a stock Mesa 4x12 cab. No effects, just PRS>P90s>cable>VH4.
Channel 1:
I started out with a basic clean tone, bright switch disengaged. The pick attack is brilliant. Neck pickup reminds of the Shiva 20th a bit. Bridge pickup has almost a piezo sound when you take the mids below noon, except it's much better than a piezo sound IMO. I pushed the gain to about 2 o' clock and engaged the bright switch. Glorious tones. was able to get great clarity with complex chords no matter how much i dug in with the pick. Reminded me at times of the lower gain stuff on the Ecstasy blue channel but more useable. I spent less time on this channel than I should have but it was definitely impressive. I'm still in love with the Goldfinger's clean sounds but I'd say the Diezel has much more to offer in terms of versatility within just that channel.
Channel 2:
I worked through the gain stages. This channel nails The Darkness with the gain set around noon. I fiddled about with the presence and deep knobs and was able to achieve a plethora of usable mid gain tones. Moving between the bridge and neck PUs I could really shape the sound of the guitar. Once again, breathtaking clarity with the more complex chords. The bright switch is noticeable and works just as it should.
Channel 3:
Everyone talks about this one and it isn't for nothing. Gain stage moves from classic to saturated in a hurry. Think Orange Rockerverb 50 on steroids. Sounds like Mastodon around noon, past that and it gets more and more serious sounding. Takes standard tuning quite well. For high gain I like this a lot better than the Uberschall. Less stuffy. I haven't tried a Herbert but this is some serious business.
Channel 4:
I found this channel to be quite unique. With the gain below 12 o' clock chording sounds amazing. Pushing the gain makes chords a little blurry, but jesus christ the capacity for evil, soaring leads is here in spades. Single note lines sustain and wobble like a pseudo wah pedal. I've never experienced this on any amp. Despite the over the top gain the clarity remains intact. I wrote a lead line a few months back for a track. The line involves alternating between open string picking and legato bits. the open notes were always fizzy and unclear when played up to speed on anything but the acoustic it was created on. This amp allows for it where the 101B, 20th Shiva and Mark V would not. Blew me away.
Impression:
Something I will note about this amp is that it is the only amp sans reverb that has really impressed me. It sounds like it doesn't need it. Everything breathes in a way that is just "HI DEF" if you will. For the brief time that I was able to play this amp I felt empowered. Original riffs sounded polished and refined, but not sterile in any way. The amp is joyfully simple to use, chock full of raw power and surreal tone. I wanted to dismiss it because of the price but I just can't. Thanks Peter for making this beautiful machine!
Picture via GC:
