Review: Diezel Herbert vs Universal Audio Herbert Plugin

belensky

Member
I've been playing Diezel amps for several years, Herbert is my main amp of choice, and I never looked back to anything to replace it. I Had Diezel VH4, Mesa Mark IV, Mark V, Rectifier, also tried Mesa JP2C, Soldano SLO100, Friedman BE100, Bogner Ecstasy, and couple old JCM800 – Herbert is still the king, at least for me.

The main reason why I bought this plugin, was to have some little travel/practice rig, so I can play through similar setup when I don't have amp available, and the other reason is not to burn tubes for nothing, when I just need to practice some licks.

After hearing some demos I was very sceptical, for me personally, none of amp modellers will ever completely replace tube head. But after testing it extensively for couple weeks, I have to admit UAD Herbert sounds pretty good, behaves more or less same way, as real Diezel Herbert. off course there are some digital artefacts, and less 3D comparing to real amp, but for what it does I think this UAD simulation is pretty good.

Other reason why I find this plugin appealing is because it looks like real amp, approved by Diezel himself, so the is no silly made-up name ala DZL, Benzin or violation of intellectual property etc.

I wasn't crazy about build in IR's of Diezel cab, I think they OK, but to my taste OwnHammer IR's of the same Diezel cab sounds better. It would be great if UAD will make some kind of external IR loader, so everybody can use their own IR's with low latency Apollo interface.

Also have to say that, there are many other plugins that sounds as good as UAD Herbert(for example Poulin Lepou makes some great and free stuff, Nembrini SLO100 and others.

So here is my quick comparison, Amp and Plugin recorded at the same time, guitar(Hamer Californian) goes to Fractal FX8(which is only for splitting signal) then one part of signal goes directly to UAD and Herbert Plugin, the other one goes to amp, then Suhr reactive load and UAD card. I didn't use Stock IR, because I think that IR of Diezel cab loade with Eminence Governor (OwnHammer) sounds way better. Some delay, and modulation done by Eventide H3000

 
Very cool to hear the similarities and differences. The real Herbert has an organic and 3D sound to it, but the Herbert Plugin sounds really similar and would be awesome for tracking/practice. I'll be using the plugin for sure (and maybe even purchase a real Herbert down the line). Thanks for posting this. Love your YouTube channel.
 
thank you, just be sure to try it with Diezel IR by ownhammer. IR's that comes with plugin doesnt sound as good

but I think you know ;)
 
Peter Diezel":1u3rd2y7 said:
Sorry but for me the build in IR´s sounds great.
Best,
Peter

Peter, if you have a chance try Eminence Governor in your Front Loaded cab, they sound so good. it's similar to V30, but doest have those scooped mids, and spiky treble. I put them in several of my Diezel Cabs(and compared them Side by Side with G12K100 and Vintage30) with governor amp becomes even more responsive to knobs and sounds better overall. more open highs, aggressive but not scooped mids, and well defined lows, and slightly bigger wattage than v30. Celestion just sounds blurry and not well defined .
newer looked back to Celestion stuff. I feel like they just riding on their reputation, cause everyone nowadays thinks that Chinese made V30 it's state of the art speaker, which is clearly not.
 
belensky":e1zepbkn said:
I feel like they just riding on their reputation, cause everyone nowadays thinks that Chinese made V30 it's state of the art speaker, which is clearly not.
Have you checked out the new oversized Russian 2016 Elector Ru-V30 (~31.4159cm dia) they sound fantastic?
 
Giga.Blast":xl5y9vl7 said:
belensky":xl5y9vl7 said:
never heard of them.
You're a funny bel. "Never heard of them"! I get it, good come back, hahaha. :)
Fuck off Dave.

Fellow Forumites, I don't believe this asshole Dave Gerlach needs an introduction. He's a troll, and a serious PITA that inevitably gets ban-hammered every time. Former aliases:
- KingKrimson
- Chupa.Cabra
- Top.Echelon

Go away Dave...
Please, this is a respectable forum. Go away.
 
Ventura":rch8eck2 said:
Fellow Forumites, I don't believe this asshole Dave Gerlach needs an introduction. He's a troll, and a serious PITA that inevitably gets ban-hammered every time. Former aliases:

never understand these kind of people, too much free time? spend more time with family, play guitar, build better career?
 
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