I'll start with things I don't like about the head.
1. I don't like the fact that the tube sockets are mounted to the circuit board. I never have liked this design. Seems to me that over time with enough tube changes this could cause problems with the circuit board from the stress of pushing in on the tubes. Especially with the pre amp tubes because of how tight they are. I do know that a lot of manufactures including Soldono go with this design nowadays. Maybe its just a sign of the times.
2. I don't like the skinny little cable that comes of the foot switch. It looks like its destined for a short life especially if the amp is being hauled around. But if your handy with an iron a new one will be easy enough to install since its just a TRS cable.
3. I don't like that an amp that cost this much doesn't come with a cover. For almost 3k I think it should.
4.edit. this was a dislike of the loop. After spending the day setting up my Fractal FX8 and the loop is GOOD
I got this head on Wednesday the 12th. I was working late a lot this week and only got to spend an hour or so a night on it. Mostly at low volume.
I was pretty much underwhelmed by the amp. My only experience with Diezels is from several years ago when I bought an Einstein new from GC and every time I played it I was like "holy SH!t this thing sounds good". I didn't have that experience with this amp. In Diezels defense I have become jaded since I owned the Einstein and I am a tone snob. Anyway yes, the amp sounded good at gig volume but was really lacking at bedroom volume. I know its a 100w head and needs to breathe. However, I have never had any problem getting a good tone at low volumes with any amp I've owned before and quite a few of them were 100 watters. I told my wife I was thinking of returning it and she was like "really",I told her for what this amp cost I need to be blown away and so far I'm not.
The amp did have that depth that Diezel is known for but it just seemed to be lacking. There was no bite to it
So today I got home from work early and decided that today was the day to decide if I keep the amp or not .So I dropped in a set of EH EL34's and changed V2 and V3 from the Chinese tubes to EH 12ax7's I had laying around. Neither the pre's or the PT's are my choice for what to put in an amp but its what I had on hand and I figured it would give me an Idea of the difference.
Well, now the amp is the beast I was looking for. It almost seems like these tubes were made for this amp. All the bite I could want is there and the highs are much improved, the amp has harmonic overtones for days. Now when I play the amp I'm saying "holy SH!t this thing sounds good".
We all know the right tube can make or break an amp but I've never had such a marked improvement in an amp with just a tube change.And yes it sounds good at practice volume.
I knew when I bought the amp I wasn't a KT77 fan. To me, the KT77 is a really round soft sounding tube. If that's what you're looking for in an amp then you may like this one stock.
The clean channel is sweet ,and goes from very clean to crunch .I'm not much of a clean channel guy and while I need one I didn't buy the amp for the clean channel.
In conclusion, I''m keeping the amp cause now IMHO it ROCKS.
BTW this amp loves H75 scumbacks . At least for the tone I’m after
1. I don't like the fact that the tube sockets are mounted to the circuit board. I never have liked this design. Seems to me that over time with enough tube changes this could cause problems with the circuit board from the stress of pushing in on the tubes. Especially with the pre amp tubes because of how tight they are. I do know that a lot of manufactures including Soldono go with this design nowadays. Maybe its just a sign of the times.
2. I don't like the skinny little cable that comes of the foot switch. It looks like its destined for a short life especially if the amp is being hauled around. But if your handy with an iron a new one will be easy enough to install since its just a TRS cable.
3. I don't like that an amp that cost this much doesn't come with a cover. For almost 3k I think it should.
4.edit. this was a dislike of the loop. After spending the day setting up my Fractal FX8 and the loop is GOOD
I got this head on Wednesday the 12th. I was working late a lot this week and only got to spend an hour or so a night on it. Mostly at low volume.
I was pretty much underwhelmed by the amp. My only experience with Diezels is from several years ago when I bought an Einstein new from GC and every time I played it I was like "holy SH!t this thing sounds good". I didn't have that experience with this amp. In Diezels defense I have become jaded since I owned the Einstein and I am a tone snob. Anyway yes, the amp sounded good at gig volume but was really lacking at bedroom volume. I know its a 100w head and needs to breathe. However, I have never had any problem getting a good tone at low volumes with any amp I've owned before and quite a few of them were 100 watters. I told my wife I was thinking of returning it and she was like "really",I told her for what this amp cost I need to be blown away and so far I'm not.
The amp did have that depth that Diezel is known for but it just seemed to be lacking. There was no bite to it
So today I got home from work early and decided that today was the day to decide if I keep the amp or not .So I dropped in a set of EH EL34's and changed V2 and V3 from the Chinese tubes to EH 12ax7's I had laying around. Neither the pre's or the PT's are my choice for what to put in an amp but its what I had on hand and I figured it would give me an Idea of the difference.
Well, now the amp is the beast I was looking for. It almost seems like these tubes were made for this amp. All the bite I could want is there and the highs are much improved, the amp has harmonic overtones for days. Now when I play the amp I'm saying "holy SH!t this thing sounds good".
We all know the right tube can make or break an amp but I've never had such a marked improvement in an amp with just a tube change.And yes it sounds good at practice volume.
I knew when I bought the amp I wasn't a KT77 fan. To me, the KT77 is a really round soft sounding tube. If that's what you're looking for in an amp then you may like this one stock.
The clean channel is sweet ,and goes from very clean to crunch .I'm not much of a clean channel guy and while I need one I didn't buy the amp for the clean channel.
In conclusion, I''m keeping the amp cause now IMHO it ROCKS.
BTW this amp loves H75 scumbacks . At least for the tone I’m after