DIEZEL VH4
 |
Current Price $300.00 USD |
Since then there have been dozens of gourmet amps and pedals trying to serve up the 90's cake but with this years icing.
In the 90's the German Amplifier maker Diezel
nailed the voice of Heavy Metal.
The competition soon had no choice but to
make a 'Me Too' amplifier.
In the 90's the German Amplifier maker Diezel
nailed the voice of Heavy Metal.
The competition soon had no choice but to
make a 'Me Too' amplifier.
I play a varied style of original dirt based Indie Alt. music. I have everything from a Klon and a Tube Screamer to a Amptweaker Tight Metal pedal. With 14 OD's I am not missing anything in the middle either.
My pedals cover the OD sounds of the 60's
70's, 80's and 90's.
BUT this is the missing piece in my puzzle.
My 90's sound is only OK.
I thought my Tight Metal was 'it'.
Not bad ...But not 'it'.
...this is IT!
My pedals cover the OD sounds of the 60's
70's, 80's and 90's.
BUT this is the missing piece in my puzzle.
My 90's sound is only OK.
I thought my Tight Metal was 'it'.
Not bad ...But not 'it'.
...this is IT!
What Diezel has done is absolutely nailed the original cake and with the original icing
They have cloned their own Diezel VH4 amplifier in a pedal.
They have cloned their own Diezel VH4 amplifier in a pedal.
I like the first video because you can hear that the bypass clean tone that the pedal will go thru is very very neutral. If what you have is just an average practise amp this vid will give you a reasonable idea of how it will sound on your own rig.
Just for the pure pleasure of it
The Anderton Twins...lol
This pedal takes the idea of
IF IT'S NOT BROKE DONT FIX IT
if you want to pick on it you will need tweezers
So....did it blow your mind and now you want one? The damn thing is so new that the paint is wet. Only available in Britain. ANDERTON'S have ONE!...and only ONE LEFT !!!
None of the other stores have even got their first order!!!
So let me try and figure this out ...a pedal designed by a German Amp maker...the pedal is built in the USA and is only available in England ??? and England only has ...one! LO
So one last video....go to 28...and listen to the pedal go thru a Chinese Joyo $150.00 USD transistor amp.
Very persuasive.
MINE JUST ARRIVED...I got it direct from Diezel USA. It took 8 days.
So it is a very big pedal....4 3/4" x 6 1/2".
I did squeeze it on my board.
I have had a Bogner in the past. If you have played one you have an idea of its sound at 12 o'clock.
In my hast to give it a listen ... I used it with 9 volts...unaware that in the box was a 12v power supply with every adapter in the world included. You can run it on 18v too.
I do not recommend more then 12v...it has more then enough headroom with that. The volume is unity gain at about 9 o'clock. So the output is ridiculous. At 12 o'clock it doubles the volume. OUCH!!!
It is designed to get the best medal sound by boosting the volume and pushing your amp hard.
So at unity...the way I run things it really does not want to 'take off'. This was disappointing.
The EQ is excellent. But if you have never had a tube amp it will confuse you. Tubes are interactive.
You will find by moving perhaps the bass that it changes the mids too etc.
So do not set the knobs the same way you are perhaps doing on an OD you already own and expect even a similar basic EQ. It will not happen. With enough patience you "will' find a great sound. The pedal does have a wide base of tones and they are very rich. It is definitely very fat and punchy. but it is deceptive because it is always tight and focused. It is impossible to muddy the sound.
I did find a nice cross between what it is meant to do and a a more Marshall sound. When I switched to a real Marshall type pedal...I soon seen it was not so close. LOL
It really is a contrast to the Marshall...the Marshall is definitely not tight or focused. LOL
This pedal works for me because I have so many ...especially Marshall OD's and it gives me a very alternative dirt sound.
One thing that deserves special attention. This pedal sounds very impressive with a Strat. No matter how hard you push it your Strat never looses it's voice. It never ends up with that terrible "IT SOUNDS LIKE A CHEAP HUMBUCKER" sound.
Nothing worse then a Strat that sounds like a thin humbucker. NOTHING!!!
It is not hard to back this pedal off a bit and get that just right Strat rhythm ...more Stevie Ray and Hendrix then a Plexi with a Tube Screamer...very similar but much fatter
I may yet get another larger then life Metal/Marshall pedal...but I could never dispense with this one because of my Strat..
So...if the videos got you convinced ...listen to a few different Marshall type sounds first. Because this is definitely the best choice for a more American sound...but if you are a Marshall lover...get one of those first.
I would use this for short solo's but if I was going to stretch out. NO!
I would go back to a Marshall...probably the Friedman BE-OD.
Summary
A fat punchy sounding pedal great for power chords yet so articulate you can play anything because it will not muddy up.
The tone is excellent. The harmonics are detailed and rich.I really like this pedal. It gave me just the right nudge to write a new tune.
On the down side...the obvious price and it's size.
It likes to be cranked. It does not like unity gain...it will not sing without being pushed to at least 12 o'clock.
If your ears are tuned into a Marshall...think twice before getting this
Keep in mind ...I am not a Modern Metal Player.
when it comes to dirt for me...Sabbath's first album is where I am at. Sluggish tempos with rests between power chords and a lot of linear riffs played in unison with the bass player.
I am not into the modern quarter note throbs with chords being muted to drive the rhythm and pinched harmonics pulled out every few bars. Oh yes..and a 'floyd' working overtime.
It sounds like great fun...but with a bass player/singer that has affinity to turn anything into jazz. No. lol
I am sure this pedal would be King for that because it just will not muddy up...and is tight! tight! tight!
The new one at the show had 2 separate gains. The gains are now stacked. The pedal is otherwise the same as the prototype. It gives you a bit more gain and a bit more low end.
So if you have the original one...You are not going to miss too much. As for me I always like to find the very best sound the pedal can do then leave it. If I need more or less overdrive I just use a different pedal.
You will note that the NEW VH 4 at NAMM was a 9 knob prototype without a name change.
I did squeeze it on my board.
I have had a Bogner in the past. If you have played one you have an idea of its sound at 12 o'clock.
In my hast to give it a listen ... I used it with 9 volts...unaware that in the box was a 12v power supply with every adapter in the world included. You can run it on 18v too.
I do not recommend more then 12v...it has more then enough headroom with that. The volume is unity gain at about 9 o'clock. So the output is ridiculous. At 12 o'clock it doubles the volume. OUCH!!!
It is designed to get the best medal sound by boosting the volume and pushing your amp hard.
So at unity...the way I run things it really does not want to 'take off'. This was disappointing.
The EQ is excellent. But if you have never had a tube amp it will confuse you. Tubes are interactive.
You will find by moving perhaps the bass that it changes the mids too etc.
So do not set the knobs the same way you are perhaps doing on an OD you already own and expect even a similar basic EQ. It will not happen. With enough patience you "will' find a great sound. The pedal does have a wide base of tones and they are very rich. It is definitely very fat and punchy. but it is deceptive because it is always tight and focused. It is impossible to muddy the sound.
I did find a nice cross between what it is meant to do and a a more Marshall sound. When I switched to a real Marshall type pedal...I soon seen it was not so close. LOL
It really is a contrast to the Marshall...the Marshall is definitely not tight or focused. LOL
This pedal works for me because I have so many ...especially Marshall OD's and it gives me a very alternative dirt sound.
One thing that deserves special attention. This pedal sounds very impressive with a Strat. No matter how hard you push it your Strat never looses it's voice. It never ends up with that terrible "IT SOUNDS LIKE A CHEAP HUMBUCKER" sound.
Nothing worse then a Strat that sounds like a thin humbucker. NOTHING!!!
It is not hard to back this pedal off a bit and get that just right Strat rhythm ...more Stevie Ray and Hendrix then a Plexi with a Tube Screamer...very similar but much fatter
I may yet get another larger then life Metal/Marshall pedal...but I could never dispense with this one because of my Strat..
So...if the videos got you convinced ...listen to a few different Marshall type sounds first. Because this is definitely the best choice for a more American sound...but if you are a Marshall lover...get one of those first.
I would use this for short solo's but if I was going to stretch out. NO!
I would go back to a Marshall...probably the Friedman BE-OD.
Summary
A fat punchy sounding pedal great for power chords yet so articulate you can play anything because it will not muddy up.
The tone is excellent. The harmonics are detailed and rich.I really like this pedal. It gave me just the right nudge to write a new tune.
On the down side...the obvious price and it's size.
It likes to be cranked. It does not like unity gain...it will not sing without being pushed to at least 12 o'clock.
If your ears are tuned into a Marshall...think twice before getting this
Keep in mind ...I am not a Modern Metal Player.
when it comes to dirt for me...Sabbath's first album is where I am at. Sluggish tempos with rests between power chords and a lot of linear riffs played in unison with the bass player.
I am not into the modern quarter note throbs with chords being muted to drive the rhythm and pinched harmonics pulled out every few bars. Oh yes..and a 'floyd' working overtime.
It sounds like great fun...but with a bass player/singer that has affinity to turn anything into jazz. No. lol
I am sure this pedal would be King for that because it just will not muddy up...and is tight! tight! tight!
Last week at the Namm show Diesel have announced
a "NEW"
VH-4 ???
It has a switchable second channel. Itis also going to be $80.00 USD more...ouch!!
The original one was only shown at the the Summer Namm in August and has only been available since about Oct. In fact the earliest review was mid Nov. 2006.
This is going to pizz off a lot of players who would prefer the new one.
This is going to pizz off a lot of players who would prefer the new one.
THE DIEZEL DIEFET DELUXE DH-4
The new one at the show had 2 separate gains. The gains are now stacked. The pedal is otherwise the same as the prototype. It gives you a bit more gain and a bit more low end.So if you have the original one...You are not going to miss too much. As for me I always like to find the very best sound the pedal can do then leave it. If I need more or less overdrive I just use a different pedal.
You will note that the NEW VH 4 at NAMM was a 9 knob prototype without a name change.
The production model has 8 knobs and is now called the Diesel Diefet Deluxe DH-4. The new knobs are labeled Structure and Deep. The 2 gains are stacked. . Deep is for an extra low resonance boost it is opposite of the tight control on a Marshall style pedal and Structure is a negative feedback loop from the preamp of the amp it copies it changes the overall EQ to match the original amp. It is hard to explain other then to say if you push the second gain too hard you it can smooth out the sound. It seems nuts but works because it is trying to fight the distortion and clean up the signal. lol
CODA
The Deluxe takes this pedal from one of the best OD's you can buy for a great American style to
a Swiss army knife METAL pedal. true Metal players will all have this on their short list.
For me the first one is perfect BUT...there is no such thing as too much as too much OD especially as I imagine I could use a sprinkle of the sounds it offers. In short knobs can be turned up or down to taste.
Serious Metal players will most certainly have this on their short list.
Others like me will probably give it a miss because they will not know how good it sounds stripped of the new overkill features. If they offered both models that would not happen.
Oddly enough the American website is selling the old one with the new one not to be found???
So if you want the old one ...now is the time.
I would recommend the new one...just wait until the dust settles.
Oddly enough the American website is selling the old one with the new one not to be found???
So if you want the old one ...now is the time.
I would recommend the new one...just wait until the dust settles.
FEB. 28....and the only pedal for sale on the DIEZEL USA site is v.1 ....they have had a sh@t load of time to update the site.
THIS HAS TO BE DELIBERATE...IT TELLS ME THEY WANT TO CLEAR THEIR STOCK AND NEITHER DISCOUNT THE PRICE OR GIVE YOU A CHOICE.
GREED CITY!!!
BOTH PEDALS ARE GOOD.. but to say this is pizz off is an understatement.
UPDATE: May 5/5
Well...I found that I was only using it on my Strat. set to give me a medium gain. Coupled with my Strat it sounded much like a Marshall JMC 800. Dialing up this tone made me relize that the PedalPalFX PAL800 JMC EMULATOR has a similar sound... for less then half price.
So I put my Diezel on REVERB...I did well I broke even.
JULY
The site has no sign of the new pedal.
It has instead a massive campaign promoting the old model with video's etc.
They screwed up big time... just when all the STAR video jocks were reviewing or about to review the old pedal they announced the new one. They seemed have simply pulled out the new one and kept their mouth shut. they got away with it. LOL
The great reviews for the old one have just been pouring in.
i did get my substitute for it and it was twice as good as i thought it would be.
HAPPY ENDING!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment