Diezel Herbert Head

I own Herbert #674, which I think is late 06' early 07'. I play progressive metal/rock with influence pulled from many genres of music so I NEED a tonally flexable head, which I found in the Herbert. I wouldn't give it a 10 because there is always something that could sweeten the deal but hell... the Herbert is damn close. I mean it has three effects loops, midi switchable, and three bad *** channels that could get 95% of any sound you were looking for out of. The -/+ Switch isn't really that big of a deal being non-switchable because a simple light overdrive will give you pretty much the same thing and any decent rack set up with this head will take care of whatever you want, which I think was more of what was in mind when this head was built.

Tubes:(6)EL34, 6L6, KT88, ect...

Two master volumes (that are good enough to go from bedroom to arena)

I'm only giving it a 10 because it suits me perfect,for everyone else it'd be a 9 because it'd be real hard to not be able to get a solid sound for your music style out of this, which is saying alot, because while it may not do everything perfect it certainly does alot and can at least copy most. The damn thing is quiet too, It's a little noisey at home but that's only because it has a HUGE magnetic field and I'm practically playing on it, but when I get on stage, quiet as a mouse. To add, what I find most impressive about this head is the low end, not how much it has but just the tonality and clarity and sheer impact. That's were I hear the biggest difference between this and other hi gain heads, not so much the voicing but the low ends quality.

Never had a problem with the head itself, the power tubes blew sooner than they should have but they we're those unrealiable turds they call Ruby EL34b's... they do sound good though. I put some SED el34's in it and have been great since. The head has taken a three foot fall once(in a road/rack case) and played just as good as ever and has since. The same goof balls that dropped it are still the ones handling it too so I'm sure it's seen more than that one drop.

I told them about the tubes and they retubed it free because the ruby tubes were still under warranty, I still replaced it with SED's to be safe, low and behold Diezel has since switched to those as well.

Lifetime warranty to original buyer.

I've been playing for 16 years and have been through lot's of equiptment and haven't found anything that suits me better and would buy it again in a heartbeat. Other than that buy a Diezel or Bogner cab to take advantage of it's full sonic capabilties.

I bought the amp new in late 2006. You read about all the features beforehand if you're checking out these reviews. The only "complaint" I have is that the Herbert has "only" three footswitchable channels, with channel 2 having to distinct voicings via the +/- switch on the amp. You can make that footswitchable, but I'd rather just have another channel.

I play mainly Metal and Rock, and the Herbert suits me just fine. Channel one has very sparkling cleans - I won't call it Fender-like, cos it's different, but it's a very natural sounding clean channel. With the 180 watts of peak power, there's no breakup at all, no matter what volume you play at and what pickups you use.
Channel two is a two-headed beast with the +/- switch...one giving you great crunch, and the other a ridiculously tight rythm distortion. Face-melting comes to mind. Channel three offers a very creamy lead sound. You can use it for rythm too, but who would want to with channel 2 the way it is?

Like I said, I have had the amp for 1,5 years now: No problems. Ever. Built like a tank.

One word: Unreal. How many amp companies do you know where you can actually call and email the owners, and they will answer your request?
Officially the warranty is two years, because of the law, but Diezel gives you lifetime warranty on all parts, but tubes.

Been playing for about 4 years now, having previously owned a Mesa DualRec T-verb, an Engl Powerball, a Mesa F-30, a Peavey 6505, amongst others. I will never sell the Diezel...unless they come up with a 4-channel version of the Herbert. I compared it for a few weeks before spending that kind of cash with VHTs, Mesas, Engls, etc.

Lots of features, you have read all of them here before.

Awesome sound, great for defined metal tone,but the clean is very good as well.

Here is where Diezel fall down, again..and again...and again...
Just read all the disasters on rig-talk, over and over there is one issue or another peter D. can say it is a tube issue only so many times. Fact is they break down...a LOT. Salwender, the importer? arrogant pigs-yea they will repair it when they are ready (Like 2 months turnaround) Pay $154.00 to ship there and back...ugggh. Interesting to note spoke with a local dealer here in St Louis, MO and they canned their dealer agreement when their cabinet arrived wired wrong, then the VH4 head was noisy, repaired, then an output transformer blew... Yep, big thumbs down in this department. Great tone-when it works.....

Typical arrogance from Salwender.... you have to hound them for support. Don't return phone calls either.

This amp deserves a 10, but because of the severe reliability issues and the arrogant distributor they get a 5. pity, great amp.

Very good features.
3 channels, midcut, switchable loop, volume 2, all midiswitchable
Missing midiswitchable +- switch of channel 2.

I use Ibanez -Custom REG (di marzio picks) to play Rock and Metal with funky and mainstream Influences.
Never heard a more powerful amp.
Channel 1: Clean tone is great for the more aggressive clean things (funk, fast strumming). For the more subtle sounds, there are better amps on earth.
Channel 2: Best channel I've ever heard. Very transparent, dynamic, powerful and fast crunch sound.
Channel 3: For lead Sounds too, there are better amps. Not very rich harmonics, no screaming sound, somewhat cold and compressed distortion. Ch 3 sounds better with the gain knob at low settings.
Mid cut function: Very cool to play hard metal.
Power section: Best Poweramp I've ever heard. Very much low end and frightening power.
Very good amp for moderate output Guitars. For hi output Guitars you will only need half of the gain range.

It's quite new - so I have no experience here.
Very well built. Damn heavy. :)

I've had some problems with my cabinet (Marshall). The Marshall Cabinet was too lazy for the amp resulting in a muddy tone. I can go to the distributor any time and discuss my problems. THX alot.
I'm wating now for an original Diezel Box...

I play now for 15 or 17 years. I owned mesa boogie. Before purchasing it I compared the Herbert with other Amps (Mesa Roadster, Randall RM100, Engl Special Edition, Engl Powerball, Engl Invader, Diezel VH4, Diezel Einstein, Peavey XXX and The Valve). The Herbert is the most powerful amp. Even at low volumes there is an incredible blast and wall of sound.
I love the power and the dynamics of that amp - no other amp can stand a comparison.
Concerning Lead Sounds, the Engls had richer harmonics and were easier to play because the lack of dynamics.
I play 90% power chords so the Herbert was the choice for me.
I give it a 10 because of the best sounding channel 2 and the best sounding poweramp I've ever heard.
Direct comparison to the mentioned amps made clear that the Herbert is the sound direct from my heart. The search for the Ampsound is over now.

I'm a rack effects guy controlled by midi. I don't like stomp boxes due to constant problems that can arrise during a gig. Plus the constant tap dance one has to perform to get from sound to sound. The midi functions were an important feature that led me to buy this amp. The only reason I don't score this category a 10 is that I have fallen in love with the -/+ on channel 2 and find myself constantly running over to my amp and manually flipping it. I wish there were a way to switch it via midi.

I'm pretty much a marshall guy. There is no comparison. I think the other reviews pretty much cover it all. I will say this.. as mentioned by a review I read earlier, I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to run through the proper cab with this amp. I chose the front loaded cab with Diezels custom speakers. A HUGE DIFFERENCE!!! When I run it through a typical Marshall 4/12 the sound is reminisant of a Marshall. Far more mushy and not as "fast" or responsive, especially low tones. Most speaker cabs can't keep up with these amps. This is a difficult phenomenon to digest until experienced. I didn't totally understand it when it was first explained but trust me, if you plan to run this through a regular cab, you're totally missing the Diezel sound. One thing to keep in mind about Diezel is, they are very "fast", not mushy. You can't get away with slopping your way through solos relying on a slow fuzzy tone to cover up. Now if I'm havin a bad nite everyone gets to hear my mistakes! :)

Two years in and no problems

This is where Diezel is second to none. I had a defective preamp tube (no fault of Diezel) that crapped out the 2nd day I had my amp. Which coincidently was a gig nite. I suspected it was a preamp problem but I didn't want to touch anything till I talked to someone. I emailed Diezel and later that same day Peter Stapfer contacted me direclty and helped me solve the problem. I can't say enough about thier support, especially this day and age.

Great amp. I've played for over 25 years. I've played through to much gear to remember but mostly Marshall amps. It's expensive but for me it was worth it.

Features should be known or are available at the producer's hp.

The sound is incredible, I have never played a more powerfull and versatile amp (midi-available versatility with the Diezel is not as good as with the Engl, for obvious reasons. However with your volume poti at the guitar this is way better and versatile than any midi switchable functions at the Engl). I owned an Engl 670 SE EL 34 before, which was also an amazing amp. So this is going to be a bit of a comparison, picking out several points important for me. However, the Diezel stands out against the Engl in my view for various reasons:

- Engl overdid midi switchable functions. This leads to an enormeous versatility of the amp at a step on your floorboard. However playing live/ in a band, you find out that the differences in volume are making you crazy. 1 vlome for each of the 4 channels, 2 master volumes, and a broad range of bright/ lo punch etc switches which slighly but recognisably change volume of your tone. With the Diezel, you have 2 master volumes and 1 volume for each channel.

- The Diezel has no hum, meaning no hum at any gain stage.

- Engl has a noise gate - I had it activated most of the time. I do not play hi gain all the time, but with a certain gain setting you need the noise gate so that when opening your volume at your guitar, you do not have problems with noise. The Diezel simply doesn't neet this. Even with gain cranked up at 5 o'clock this is not a problem at all.

- Power: Engl has power, without a doubt. But the Diezel blew my mind. Not that you would need hi gain to get pressure through your cabinet. It just cuts (esp. in channel 3 and the clean channel) and has so much oomph you need to be careful. And I mean not oomph by adding mid cuts and depth (this however works also with the Diezel), but just as a basic sound. I played both the Engl and the Diezel through a Marshall 1960B and the difference was striking

- Engl has fairly good clean channel. Try the Diezel, it will let the Engl faint. Never had such powerfull and good sounding clean channel. Once more, it kicks and you need to be carefull not to overdo. No problems with distortion whatsoever, just brilliant cutting sound. Add the mid cut will sound not so funky and agressive as normal.

- The pots at the Diezel will react to your twists.

End of my comparison: Engl is very good, but Diezel beats it in any case. Brilliance, powerfulness of sound. It will even make your Mex Strat sound good.

Cannot judge however they seem to be so convinced of their amps that they give lifelong warranty (first owners)

Should not be a problem at all. Check their website and forum, you'll see that they immediately respond to your problems if any should occur

Brilliant. Strong buy. If you look for good sound, really good sound, then it does the trick. I bought the Engl as I play in a rock cover band and I thought I would need the first-sight versatility the Engl offers. It sure has very good versatility no doubt. However you tend to go back to the 5-6 sounds you prefer, and in this case the Diezel offers more tonal quality in my view.

I play the Diezel through a Marshall 1960B, have added a Quadraverb (sufficient I guess) at the parallel loop. Nobels MF1 Midi switcher you don't get this thing broken. Play several Warmoth, esp. Strats with humbuckers. My perfect setup!

2004 model, no mods...non needed, sounds unbeliavable out of the box!!

Blue LED's are notorious for burning out...other than that, it's pretty solid

Haven't dealt with we as of yet, but his rep is very very high for customer support.

I thought I had found the best hi gain amp in my Mesa Road King II, then again with the Bogner Ecstasy...this amp surpasses all of them...big call, but bigger amp.

basically it's 3-channel amplifier.

ch1 for clean, ch2 has -/+ toggle switch
so there's ch2 '-' and ch2'+', ch3 for lead sound.

each channel has channel toggle switch so you can change all the
channels with your finger tip, so don't be afraid if you don't
have money for columbus. :)

1 serial loop, 1 parallel loop, 1 (on/off)switchable loop.

check out diezel's website for more info.

okay, i give it 9 not 10.
i got 3 reasons for this.

1. there's no Perfect amp in the world. so, i never give 10 to anything.
2. i spend sh@t load of money for this baby just like anybody. IMHO, i would be great if it's a stereo amplifier. or make its power section to be switchable so player can choose it's output as stereo or mono. as you know, herbert is 180w monster. man, 180w. that's ridiculous power. mesa x3 recto is 150w and it's already gone far to have it in your room. even a 100w marshall jcm800s are loud enough(yeah, they're really ENOUGH).
many times, i imagine my herbert having switchable powersection so sometimes i'd use it 180w in mono, and sometimes in stereo 90w per channel. isn't it just wonderful?

3. no foot switch included with 4k amplifier. i think it should be included. there's many people who don't need MIDI footswitch. i use eventide efxs and korg sdd3k, ada std-1, lexicon pcms and more only for my guitar, and use tons of other studio gears because i run a professional studio. BUT still don't need to hook my tube amplifier with MIDI cables.

i'm trying to say MIDI footswitch is bad or useless, by the way it's fantastic. what i'm trying to say is, ""HOW ABOUT INCLUDING A STUPID 3 CHANNEL FOOTSWITCH(which we use with fenders, peavey 5150s and many others) FOR FREE."" yeah, including it with amplifier's package. not a $4~500 diezel foot columbus.
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alright. and now this is some great things about herbert.
i experienced almost all kinds of diezel amplfiers. i had vh4, vh4s, herbert mk1, mk2(current), mk2.5 and an einstein. to me the best amplifier from diezel company is VH4S. i don't mean that the vh4s has the best tone.i must say "overall score", including its features and stuff, vh4s is the best - overall. specially if you use it with kt88 tubes.

and Herbert,
CH1 is clean channel which is better than VH4 or VH4s. einstein's clean is very close to herbert. tonal character is different from typical Fender clean. Diezels have their own clean sound and it's very good. herbert's clean is, by the way, the best. amazing headroom and super sparkling and tight and warm bottom.
CH2 - : you can get a FINE hard rock sound with treble booster or overdrive. personally, i use pete cornish tb83and tb83 extra in serial, whatever you guess you'll hear better than that.
CH2 + : the best channel of herbert. brown sound, super marshall, recto killer, you name it.

CH3 : now, this is another story. i hear little difference between ch2+ and ch3, but basically it's just same sound. tons of distortion. (oh, i forgot to mention that i sold every distortion/overdrive/fuzz stuff on ebay since i purchased my first diezel-that was vh4, and still i don't need one with my herbert)
as i told you already i run my studio, and of course i record many rock and roll records tone ranges from led zeps to slipknot. i've used my herbert(mk1,2,3) for more than 2 years for more than 100 songs, but i NEVER needed ch3 with its gain knob passed 12. more than that amount of distortion is not recordable or recognizable. and i believe that any herbert user can get that ch3's serious distortion sound from ch2+. as a result, i don't need and use ch3 of my herby that much.

VH4(and VH4S) has 4channel,i think it's ch4 is different from its ch3 and pretty useful. but channel 3 of herbert, i dissapointed a little bit. it'll be better if herby's ch 2- and ch2+ are seperated into a indivisual channel,like ch2- for ch2, ch2+ for ch3.

The Most wonderful function of herbert is V2 knob. it's volume 2, when it's activated you controll youe master volume with it, and original master volume(vol 1)is deactivated automatically. volume 2 is lot more quieter than volume 1 just like when you use some dummy load or power attenuator, but the tone is 100% untouched.

So you can use your 180w herbert on ch3's gain knob pass over 12 o'clock at your room when your mama is sleep.

Diezel is TANKer than a TANK.

fast reply via hotmail. thanks to stephan.

i don't think a person whose favorite amp is roland micro cube , would buy a diezel.

if someone has a diezel, he or she probably experienced some rectos and marks, may be some bogners and hughes and kettner, or may be some VHTs or framus. just like me.

mentioned above, this amplifer is almost unbeatable.
like VH4.

look on their website.

this is my favorite amp ive ever played,i actually played one by accident at a music store trying out a g system and never got the tone out of my head a year later i bought a brand new one,its so clean,loud or quiet,the tone never changes,love the mid cut section always dump my mids and this is a biggie for me.

no problems yet,but everything breaks now or later.

they are great people,got email the next day from germany!

overall..this is the key to my tone,my secret weapon,if everything else shit the bed,and i had an ax and my herbie,the show would go on,without a problem.if it was stolen,well too bad cuz you would get caught i have lo jack installed in my head,and in minutes you would be arrested and set to prison 4 life!buy one you wont regret it!

Brought mine brand new, has all the features you need and doesn't fool around adding ones you don't. Didn't come with a footswitch but my guitar guy at guitar center recommended the rocktron and set it up and programmed it for me, and it works well. If one is looking at the Herbert to purchase you already know the specs.

Now here where this amp shines brighter than I've ever heard and played. After playing on the circuit with other amps, such as, the Mesa rectifiers, Bogner, Bad Cat, and recently the HK Tri-amp, I was floored when I played thru the Diezel Herbert at a local music store. At first channel 3 reminded me of the live sound that one of my favorite players (Steve Stevens) gets, warm, punchy, hard but musical,and cutt throat. Then channel 2 was as impressive and versatile as I've ever heard goes from blues to nailing that clean and distorted sound that Carlos Santana gets when playing the melodic instrumentals, to Getting the Van Halen brown sound, astonishing. Channel 1 is as clean and powerful as it gets if you played thru other clean channels in the past this one kills them all by a long shot on the headroom alone. these three channels has all the sounds one could ever imagine. Players this IS NOT just a metal amp it is the most versatile amp you will hear.

So far so good on this subject. After reading the previous review I was a little hesitant but he was happy with the service, had the amp about a month practices and live shows with no problem.

Never had to deal with anybody.

I've been playing for 27 years pro and now just clubs. PRS CUSTOM 24 OWNED SINCE 1988, PRS HOLLOWBODY 2 ARTIST(PIEZO), PRS SANTANA BRAZILIAN LIMITED, PRS MODERN EAGLE, PRS guitars sound heavenly thru this amp. If it were stolen I would put a hit out on that person, and buy it again.In short, forget about the other amps Marshall, Bogner, HK, Mesa etc. The herbert sounds incredible it is the only amp I've ever played that made me smile with pleasure and just geeked to play. I play all styles from Zakk Wylde to george Benson to Carlos Santana to Neal Schon, to R&B grooves, all 80's metal to country to Modern Rock to classic Ted Nugent, Steve Stevens, Latin etc. This amp can do it all WELL. Bottom line if you can afford the jack buy the HERBERT. ONE VERY IMPORTANT THING, BUY THE DIEZEL 412R OR F CABINET BECAUSE IT DOES MAKE A SONIC DIFFERENCE, I HAD THE MESA RECTIFIER CAB IT DOESEN'T TOUCH THE DIEZEL cabs. HERBERT HEAD AND DIEZEL CABINET PERFECT DON'T WASTE MONEY BUYING ANOTHER CABINET TO GET BY.