Diezel Einstein Head

This is a 2 channel amp, with 3 modes on channel 1. I play mostly Rock music (Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam, etc) and this amp suits me perfectly. Only thing I missed was remote mode-switching. With help from Diezel, I was able to mod the amp myself; now it's all I need!

I play my Einstein through a Bogner 212 (V30's; 1/3 open back). Guitars are PRS Tremonti and PRS Standard 24. This is the ideal setup for me. I was especially amazed by the Bogner / Diezel combination!

The amp is definitely NOT noisy. It can do all the sounds you are looking for, although it has a very typical Diezel spectrum to it. I love the Clean and Texas modes. Distortion has the typical Diezel sound; perfect for me. I think it's impossible to get a bad sound out of a Diezel...

Yes, I can definitely depend on it. I haven't got a backup, although I always carry extra tubes and fuses.

I bought a Diezel because of sound and reliability. Components are MilSpec, there are fail-safe mechanisms.. never seen a better amp in my life.

Although Diezel uses dealers throughout the world, it's easy to deal with the company directly. Peter is regularly on rig-talk, offers advice and answers any questions you may have.

I have had an amp repaired, because one of the tube sockets was faulty. It was way past warranty. Peter offered to repair it for free, if I was willing to pay shipping. Sweet deal! I got it back within 2 weeks, fitted with new tubes and in perfect working order!

I have been playing for a good 15 years now. Owned a lot of gear through the years; mostly Marshall-esque. Tried a Diezel once and never looked back. If it were stolen I would buy it again.. if I had the money! Expensive amps, but worth every penny. I love that it's reliable and sounds awesome. I "hate" the fact that it's HEAVY.. :)

I compared a lot of amps to this one. Bogner, Soldano, Matchless, you name it. All of them are great amps; this one just had the sound I was looking for. With the sound, reliability and customer service, I'd say this is as good as it gets!

dont need to write about the features - it has all a 2 channel amp can have - and more - theres is a switch for master 1 and 2! it could have a switch for the different modes in channel 1 - but what it has is enough!

i play professionally since 10 years - i started with a very low budget - i played lee jackson amps, marshall jcm??s, dsl??s,..., fender original silverface, hughes&kettner, ampeg amps, i abused and misused also bass amps for guitar, solid state amps, tube heads and the mix of both of them. the last 6 years i play constantly the mesa boogie 2 channel rectifier (one of the very first series - the "good" handcrafted ones). the change from all the "crap" amps to the mesa boogie was like from day to night - after playing with the mesa for a while, i had to change my mind - cheap alternatives will never sound like the real thing. i had the chance to by the rectifier for a nice price. a technician changed tubes and cleaned it - now the mesa is like - wow, never heard before! killer! it was yesterday when i tested my new tubed mesa. but, yes but: this amp has only one sound! it growls like no other one - but thats all this amp is able to sound like!
in the studion where we practice was a diezel einstein for recordings. i heard and read a lot about diezels and played one years ago for 10 minutes . all i knew was that they are expensive and very good. i tested the einstein, yesterday after the rehearsal, with the same marshal cab i use with the mesa. it was a shock! never heard that tone, that punch, that clarity from any amp before! all sounds are possible and everything on this amp sounds and feels superb! in the crunch mode you can play completely clean depending on your string attack and in the same mode you can get a light overdriven hard rock sound - just by string dynamics! this amp can and will sound like you want it to sound - it has??nt that dirty roaring like the mesa - it roars differently - it??s an animal - seconds before it bites in your face! FAT, FAT, FAT - and clear, this thing is perfect.
i don??t need anything else anymore. it??s expensive but worth every cent!!-get one or die!

Built like a tank.
Man, highest quality parts handcrafted in germany!
Do i need to say more?!

i only heard and read very positive things about peter diezel and the diezel crew.

do yourself a favour:
go into a music shop and try it out - this amp is no hype or overrated toy.
this is the real thing! best amp i ever heard and played. no matter what - everything else is a disappointment (and i had a lot) and loss of time and money.
yes it??s very expensive but 1900 euros for the perfect amp - new - is that expensive compared to e.g. a 1500 euros engel crap or 2000 euro rectifier which only has one sound? you don??t need to believe me - but go and play a diezel - you will believe your ears.
this is the best guitar amp money can buy!
never thought i would, but i love this baby!

2006 model, 50 watt head version, 2 channels with 2nd master volume that I use as gain/volume boost. Not versatile in the traditional sense, but if you are a feel player that puts a lot of emotion into your playing and you know how tweak a serious amp, then it's plenty versatile.

I use it with a variety of guitars, but I primarily use a PRS Singlecut Trem and an early-80's JCM800 4x12 cab loaded with Celestion Golds. It really is hard to get a bad sound out of this amp. For my needs and playing, I use it for semi-gain crunch up to slightly higher heavy gain on stage while playing with my (harder) alt-rock band. It's perfect for that style and just about anything heavier. However, the clean and mid-gain (plexi-ish) settings are so nice that I'm sure it also sounds outstanding for "lighter" styles. I just don't use it for that. Also, it is possibly the only nice tube head I have ever owned that sounds excellent at lower volumes too. You lose some of the tone and feel, but nothing like most other similar type of amps. You could spend a long time coaxing amazing sounds from this amp, and the clarity and overall tones I get are complex and just absolutely killer.

No problems yet. The moment you touch it you realize it's built like a tank.

Sent one email to Diezel with a question, received a very friendly and courteous reply within hours. From Germany. Sweet.

I have the same sickness as many of you and I have been fortunate to have owned a ton of nice gear. Bogner, Cornford, Matchless, Bad Cat, Mojave, old Fenders, various Marshalls, blah blah. I have been compelled to write very few reviews, but this one is deserved. It's that good.

This is a 2008 model
I play Blues rock Gary Moore,Peter Green,Clapton ect.


Clean (Clean :-)
Texas (AC30 / JCM 800 Style, not to much gain:"classic" Rock!
Mega (Rock to Heavy Rhythm - lots of balls!)
Channel 2 is named "Lead", and that's what it does: Lots of Gain and tons of SOUND, a typical DIEZEL.
All in all, the sounds of EINSTEIN are somewhat more vintage-oriented than his big brothers.

This head is a 100 Watt version.

Each channel has it's own 3-band EQ, gain and volume control. And as always 2 separate, switchable master gain controls for individual rhythm/lead volume settings.
Obviously, there are also a presence- and a deep-knob.

On the rear are the serial and the parallel FX-jacks as well as the jacks for the foot switches.

The power amp can be equipped with 2 EL34, 6550, 6L6 or KT88 tubes and has a power output of 50 or 100 Watts.

The foot switches control channel 1/2, master-volumes

This would be amp number 20 in 3 years, I've had some good ones but this is the best by a thousand miles.
I've had 2 Fuchs TDS 50's(over hyped over priced and not reliable)
a Fuchs ODS 100( good but the balance between the drive and clean is crap), Marshall JVM (just wrong in every way for me),Orange Rocker 30 (mushy no loop)Fender Supersonic, JSX,71 Marshall Super Lead, the list just goes on. This amp crushes them all. The lead tone on channel 2 is so distinct with a character all it's own. Unlike the Fuchs it's not trying to copy or reproduce someone else's design or tone, it has it's own unique sound at times it reminds me a bit of Eric Johnson's violin tone or early Todd Rungren with Utopia. The 3 modes in channel one are all fantastic, there is not a crap tone in this amp. I own a Gibson VOS 62 Custom Shop SG a 59 VOS Les Paul and 90's Jap Strat they all sound phenomenal. I was really surprised at how good the strat sounded, the best strat tone I've ever had.

No problems, it was made by a German so I don't foresee any in the future. My family's originally from Germany it seems to make sense that I finally ended up with a German made amp. My Grandmother would be very happy.

I'm not there yet

I've been playing for 33 years and this is the best I've owned.
If it were lost or stolen I would buy another in a heart beat.
But first I would hunt down the the thief and remove their testicles with a hedge trimmer.

what do you love about it? Everything
What do you hate? That fact that I wasted my time with all the other amps and didn't buy one 2 years ago.

Anything you wish it had? I wish the 3 modes were switchable but a simple mod will fix that.

This is the second review for the same amp. I've acquired the prototype that Olaf reviewed in 2005.

2 channel all valve head, 3 mode 'rhythm' channel with shared controls, 2 master volumes, global presence/deep, reverb (don't use), various fx loops (that I don't use), independantly bias output pairs (run a quad of =C= Svets so unused). Modded (by Olaf) for mode switching by footswitch.

I play metal, basically. I am also a complete Luddite who wants his rig simple. The Einstein is prefect to set up and leave with no midi nonsense so I'm happy with that. Cuts through in rehearsal situations, and is loud enough to irritate a drummer. It's not a Herbert - obviously - but this is a supposedly 'stripped' amp that will take anything that you throw at it with ease.

Guitars - Blackmachine B2 with BKP Miracle Man/Mule, PRS CU22 AP with RPs, Schecter C7 Hellraiser with EMG-707s, Carvins with the high output stock pickup. Cab is a Framus Dragon 4x12 with v40s.

Channel 2:

Clean - stunning, really. Almost sounds as if you're running a chorus pedal in front of the amp. It actually manages to make the ceramic Miracle Man pickup sound quite nice, which is impressive as it's so tight that cleans usually sound nasty.

Texas - Um, I don't really use this mode. Mid gain crunch isn't my thing.

Mega - I live here. Very responsive to volume roll-off and pick attack. Tight, but also fills out very nicely with open chords. Feeds back controllably. If you're a metal rhythm guitar player, this is an absolute joy to play through. The responsiveness means that you can play in different (albeit heavy) styles and it handles them with no complaints. Tool-esque chording to death metal trem picking in the same song with no changes to the settings? Of course!

Channel 1/Lead:

Has about as much gain available as the mega mode, but is voiced differently. The tone is much smoother, the cliche is 'liquid' but I suppose it fits. Not being a lead freak I use this channel occasionally for more a saturated tone. Still very focused, and still makes the Recto seem rubbery & horrible after playing!

Oh, and =C= Svet EL34s really make this amp sing.

As a note, I've A/Bed an Einstein against the VH4 and Herbert. I much prefered the voice of the Einstein over the VH4, no competiton. The Herbert is a different beast, it sounds 'bigger' but you pay for it and it's a lot more complex. ;-) A part of me wants the more crushing low end of the Herb, but there's a different tonal character of the Einstien that's more refined. And almost as evil when pushed.

As the production prototype the case isn't as rugged as the production model but the construction of the amp itself is bullet-proof. I did have an initial problem with the amp - a cracked power tube socket - but that was down to wear somewhere down the line (I don't know how many owners it's had!). Easily fixed by a tech, and it's been perfect in all other respects. Got some new tubes in and they should last. Preamp tubes look fine, and original. I won't take it out of the studio without a flightcase but that's just common sense.

Um, Peter Diezel is regularly on rig-talk, and I know where the UK distributors live... Haven't had to go down either route, though!

I've been playing (if you can call it that) for best part of 20 years. I own a bunch of decent guitars, and Mesa Dual Rec and Mashall JCM900 heads.

I was kind of happy with the Mesa, but the opportunity to buy this head cropped up last year (salute TobiahTayo from HC forums). It's worth noting that Jamie from Diezel UK had been trying to sell me an amp for a couple of years at this point, and my 'next' head was going to be one of these unless something spectacular turned up.

Suffice to say this toasts pretty much every other amp out there. And it's the supposed 'budget' model. Putting it perspective, in price the 100w Einie is going up against the Mesa Dual Rec. piece of advice here - don't buy the Mesa. There are some pretty interesting Engls & other high gain amps in this area (and some like the Framus which are a chunk cheaper). As a note to our US readers - Bogner, VHT & etc are not common over here, and tend to be prohibitively expensive.

I really like this Einstien. It manages to combine a sort of understated quirkyness with a focused bite that strips paint. If it was stolen - tough one, I'd probably get a Herbert simply because this prototype is an absolute one off (up to and including the interestingly configured backwards tone controls and 'E=MC^2' stamp by the instrument jack). I'd be very, very unhappy, though.

As for value. 1100 quid used. My Mesa cost me 1300 used 4 years ago. Um, what was the question again? That cash for THIS tone? Bargain of the century, mate.

100W all valve head, mono
two channels
channel one: mode 1: clean
mode 2: dirty
mode 3: crunch
channel two: overdrive
parallel and serial effects loops

It is really loud, to drown out a drum kit set the preamp to 5 and the master to 4!
The Einstein is versatile enough for me as I mainly want to be able to switch between clean and overdrive, some people might want to modify channel 1 to make the three modes foot switchable, this is apparently quite easily done.
For me it would be a 10 if the FX-loop were foot switchable.

This amp sounds like pretty much anything you want it to sound like and I am really seriously honestly not exaggerating, you just need to fiddle with the knobs (the ones on the amp) a bit. The only thing it can't do is bad tone.
Channel 1, mode 1: As clean as it gets, it basically takes the sound of your guitar and makes it louder. It resolutely refuses to break up even at high volumes. What more do you want (unless you have a crap guitar)?
Channel 1, mode 2: Could quite easily pass as a Vox AC30 if you choose not to use a 4x12 cab which obviously adds more bass than an AC30 is capable of.
Channel 1, mode 3: Covers a similar gain territory as Marshall amps but without the overpowering signature sound that Marshalls have, meaning that you will still sound like you if you wish. Also less fizzy at low volumes, I find that Marshalls only sound good if you crank them to neighbour-aggravating volumes.
Channel 2: Cor blimey! Enough gain, definitely. You're not going to get any clean sounds here but any distorted sounds (except for harsh fizzy ones) are easily coaxed out of this channel. If you can't find the sound you want then you should perhaps check whether you've turned the bugger on.
Personally I can't imagine a better sounding amp, a more versatile one perhaps but for this price you can't beat it.
I use it with a BC Rich Mockingbird with a Seymour Duncan SH-5 in the bridge position and the stock pickup in the neck, a Schecter Omen-7 Extreme (uuuurgh!! METAL!!!), and an Ibanez 370DX. None of these are particularly expensive instruments but they have character which this amp makes the most of.
It is very quiet (until you start playing).
It suits all the styles I play and possibly many styles I don't play. I play anything from jazz to metal. Don't like country and western, sorry, don't bomb my home please...
Of course this amp sounds best at high volumes but unlike many valve amps it also sounds pretty good at bedroom volumes, too.

I haven't had it for long so I can't rate its reliability but for its small size it's reassuringly heavy and I think if I dropped it it would sink through the pavement. I would play a gig without a backup because the other amp I own is so crap that if the Einstein gave up the ghost I wouldn't even bother to continue playing.

I've heard Peter Diezel will sort any problems out and do any modifications you may wish for. I've never contacted him but he sent a box of Mozart Kugeln (German marzipan filled chocolates) with the amp, which was nice.

I've been playing for six years and this is my first and hopefully last valve amp. I didn't want to compromise. I have a Roland Spirit 50 transistor amp and there is no point comparing it with the Einstein. I no longer have any need for my distortion pedals. If someone stole this amp I wouldn't buy another one, I would hunt down the thief and tie his head to the backplate of the amp. Then I would disconnect one of the power amp valves and replace it with the bastard's tongue, leave the amp on standby for two minutes, then flick it on and play Laid To Rest by Lamb Of God. That'll teach* him.
I first tried this amp at Manson's in Exeter where it was ??1,500 second hand. I fell in love with it and got my Dad to buy it new for ??1,300 in Germany. No regrets. None.

(*kill)

The einstein is a 100 W all-tube solo head. It offers two channels, that can be switched by a foot switch. Channel 1 can be used in three modes "clean", "texas" and "mega crunch". "Mega crunch" can be used for heavy rythm parts. It??s the high gain mode of channel one. Channel two is predestinated for high gain soloing. The three modes of channel one can be switched only by hand!! If you want to jump from one mode to another in one song you should mod this amp. Modding channel one to make it foot-switchable is not a big problem, a far as I know.
PS: The Einstein has a second master volume, which is a nice feature.

Channel 1:
- Clean mode: Very clean, to me it sounds a little bit sterile, I miss the warmth
- texas mode: Not bad, but If??ve heard better ones. I found it rather unattractive.
- mega crunch: This mode has lots of balls. The gain structure is very transparent, even complex chords sound bright.

Channel 2:

This channel is predestinated for soloing. Its supposed to emphasize the midds, as far as I know. It??s a little bit more creamy compared to the high gain mode of channel 1. It has not the amount of gain, that I??ve been looking for, though it has more gain, than other so-called high gain amps.

Be sure that Diezel offers the best quality you can get. This is what I have heard and I rely on it. Peter (Diezel) is always in touch with his customers trying to understand their needs. If you want to mod your Diezel, no prob. Peter does it. As far as I know he offers a life time guaranty.

specified above

I play the guitar more than 25 years. The einstein was my first Diezel. I don??t think it is very versatile. The three modes of channel 1 should be foot-switchable. The amp offers a nice classic gain, that also can be very aggressive, if you tune it right. It fits for all kinds of metal and heavy stuff. My personal reason why I gave it back, was that I demanded a little bit more gain.

Bought brand new in May of 2007. This amp smokes! I thought I had played and heard everything and up to now thought the Splawn amps were the best on the planet (they're great). I was told to check out the Diezel Einstein, and I thought that there was no way a Diezel would work for me. Happily, I was wrong. The amp is versatile-only 2 channels, but channel one has a mode switch to go from a very full clean sound, to a More moderate crunch (AC-DC to Guns kind of sound, depending on position of the gain knob); I usually have channel 1 set on this mode, and if I want clean, I roll off the volume and voila-clean. Mode 3 is the nice thick (although very defined) heavy crunch-this will also do a fatter classic rock tone with the gain dialed back a bit. Great sound here-could be used for lead as well as rhythm and can be made to sound really heavy and modern. Doesn't clean up as nicely with the volume rolled back, but a great sound. Channel 2 is amazing. Big fat sweet sound, a bit like mode 3 on ch1 but more compressed. Great for lead or heavy rhythm and can be brutal or classic depending on how the tone and gain are dialed in, I usually use this channel for leads or heavy rhythm, and I hit the master volume 2 (can be used like a boost) when I solo on this channel.

The only thing I wish it had was footswitchable modes on ch 1, but there are easy mods out there that can accomplish this (although they void the warranty). This is the only reason this amp does not have 10's all around. And it can sound great at low or high columes.

See above. This amp has it all sound and tone-wise. Peter Diezel is the master with this stuff. Anywhere from Fender clean to Malcolm Young to Slash to Adam Jones-it is all here. I usually use it with Gibson historic les pauls (57 custom and a 59 flametop). It is like the amp was made for these guitars.

So far, so good. These are built with typical over built German engineering, and I have had no problems so far. Anyone I know who has had a problem with these has only needed a tube change.

Here's where Diezel shines too-like Splawn, you can talk directly to Peter (who has answered my e-mails and regularly posts info on the Diezel Amp Forum on Rig-Talk.com. Salwander (their distributor here in the states) also answers phone calls and e-mails prompty and has answered any questions I have ever had about my amp-great.

I have been playing for far too long (27years) and have had every amp on the planet, including most boutique amps out there. This amp is it. The only thing that I miss is the multiple channel switching I had on my Bogner Ecstasy, although this amp sounds WAY better. Because of this though, if it were lost or stolen, I'd buy a Diezel Herbert.

If you don't have the money for a Herbert, buy one of these-you'll be amazed and very happy.

It is a brandnew 2007 Diezel Einstein 50 Head.
It has 2 Channels. Channel One with three Gain Modes and Channel two.
While Channel one is the choice for Clean, Crunch and Overdrive Riffing sounds the second channel is constructed to produce a great singing and carrieing Lead Tone that comes along very fat and sustainful.
The Amp has one parallel and one serial FX Loop.
Furthermore the amp has two Master Volumes what is very useful for solo boosts.

The Clean sound is very warm and nice. It reacts with a great dynamic on the player. The 50 Watt produce more than enough headroom.
the 2. gain mode in channel 1 (crunch) remembers me of a Marshall JCM 800 sound. It also is very dynamic.
The third gain mode in channel 1 creates a great dry overdrive tone that is great for classic rock soli or even metal riffs.
The sound of channel 2 is simply awesome. A sining lead sound that comes very fat und smooth with tons of sustain.

It is one of the most reliabil amp I ever used.

I'm playing for 6 years now and played Marshall, Peavey, Hughes&Kettner and Engl amps. Transistor and tube amps.
I can only agree with the others in this article. This amp is one of the best tube amps that have been created. I'm very sure that Peter Diezel will become much successfull with his amps than he is nowerdays.

My Einstein is the 50 watt model (nr. 60, I think). It has 2 independent channels with seperate eqs. There is also an overall presence and deep controller and 2 master volumes. You can run it over 4, 8 or 16 ohm cabinets. For the effect-freaks there is also a parallel and a serial loop (with a volume controller). The first channel has three submodes: clean, texas and crunch (which are unfortunately not foot-switchable). The second channel is a lead channel with enough gain to blow away any Mesa, Engl and the like. This amp is so versatile!!! I play in a Punk/Metalcore band and this amp is just the right one for that. Since we love to jam, I have no problem playing funk and blues as well with this amp. Basically you can use it for everything.
The only things I would have liked in this amp are midi and a fottswitchable channel 1. But since the Einstein is only about 60% of the price of the other Diezels, I think it's okay. But I have heard from Many Maurer (swiss distributor), that they are working on the switch problem.

Lets start with the clean: Hands down! This is the best clean I've ever heard (apart from a few Fenders). Tons of headroom and it doesn't seem to break up. It's really organic and very dynamic. Second, the texas mode: in this mode the amp can do anything from Hendrix, SRV, AC/DC to Guns n'Roses. Ideal for Blues and bluesy Rock. The best thing about this is that, when you turn the volume knob down on your guitar, it cleans up very nicely. The crunch mode: that's gonna blow you away! It's tight as hell (tighter than a Mesa!!!). This mode is ideal for recording, because it really shows the characteristics of your playing. The best thing is that you don't need a lot of gain to sound good (my suggestion: between 10 and 2 o'clock).
The second channel is really the lead channel. It's not as tight as the crunch mode, but it is very creamy and fluid. It's very hard to get out of this channel. I also use it as my rhythm channel (since I need channel 1 for the clean). Even on higher gain settings, the amp is not too noisy (compared to Engl and Marshall).
A very important point is that you need a reasonably good cabinet. Bad cabinet = bad sound!! I run it over a normal 1960 Marshall cab and it does the job. At the moment I'm saving for a Diezel cab (but man, those are expensive!).
The only "negative" thing about the sound is that if you have a bad day, it doesn't sound too good. It really reproduces what you are giving the amp. On the other hand, if you have a good day it sounds awesome. If I ever consider buying something else than a Diezel...please, beat me up!!! Diezels are not only some amps, they are THE amps!!!!

It seems to be built like a tank! All the controlles seem really solid, like the the rest of the amp. I probably won't buy another one as a backup. I really trust Diezel (and they are expensive as well).

I've never had to deal with the support (I've had the amp for only 2 months). But I've heard that Peter Diezel personally writes you back. There are only positive things I've heard about the support.

I've been playing for only 6 years. But in those 6 years I've played quite many amps like Marshall, Mesa, Vox, Fender, Peavey, Line 6, Cornford, Soldano, Behringer, Hughes & Kettner, Engl (played, not owned! The only amps I've owned are a Peavey 5150 and a Marshall JCM 2000 DSL 50). And I have to say that this is the most versatile, most awesome sounding amp I've ever played. If stolen, I would hunt that bastard down and make him play "Nothing else Matters" till his nuts fall off!!!
I hope I will spent years having fun with this amp.