Diezel Herbert Head

2006. This amp is loaded with versatility. This baby gets every sound known to man. Of course it has 3 channels, effects loop you all know the deal. I play out weekly and it is loaded with power but it also performs at lower levels compared to other amps that don't. Mine is EL34 powered.

I play everything from 60's rock to todays modern rock. Stones -Staind... I have owned just about every high end amp on the planet in the last 2 years. You know the drill the eternal quest for the ultimate tone. I own/owned a Bogner Xtcy, Marshall Jubilee, HK Triamp, Gibson Supergoldtone, Mesa Road King, Fender ToneMaster, Marshall TSL, NONE compare to this monster! I totally love this baby, channel 2 is the best sounding channel I have ever heard you never want to to leave it to be honest. But really, all 3 channels with all the different variations sound awesome. You just need to spend some time with her in the beginning and work on YOUR sounds. Clean channel is big and fills the room big bottom end. I use this with a Bogner 4x12 Cab. My rig is pretty simple: The Herb, wah, chorus, delay and digitech whammy pedal. I use all high end stuff: Suhr Strat, Tom Anderson, Fender Custom shop set-neck strat and Tremonti Tribal. I also own the hard to find footswitch for this, no midi I am old school...

Now here is where my issue begins. Got it on a thursday used it on a Friday channel 1 blew (not cool live believe me). Called the place I bought it from the next day they suggested changing the tubes(didnt sound right) but did it anyway. $58 bucks out of my pocket. Two weeks later same thing live again. Seemed when it heated it just died and wouldnt work (on top of that it killed my footswitch). You can imagine my frustration. I will continue my story on customer service section. The jury is still out on this category. I will update later down the road again.

Dealt with Uwe out in California. Diezel's US distributor (I am in New Jersey). I have to tell you Uwe is the nicest guy in the musical planet, real pleasure to do business with, very genuine guy. I had to ship it to CA $178 because I sent it 3 day I didnt want it sitting with the Gorilla handlers too long before it got to Uwe. He was great on the phone ultimately they had to replace the amp with a brand new one because the problem was so new and never happened that decision was to replace it with another brand new one. My only issue it was almost a 4 week turnaround before I got it back. I owned the amp for 6 weeks 4 of which were in the shop. But again dealing with Uwe made this easier to swallow. I get it back along with the footswitch and the footswitch doesnt work (Can you imagine the blood pressure at this point)$4100 for the head and additional $230 for shipping and tubes I was partially steamed to say the least called Uwe seemed it wasnt programed to the herbert. I asked Uwe about and alternative and he suggested a prostage pedal that he had in stock. Got a decent price but I needed a pedal asap because I was gigging. I received it the next day (I paid for overnight). One of Uwe's guys got on the phone with me the next day and walked me thru the setup of the pedal. (Its awesome really). I am shipping my herbert footswitch to Uwe this week to refix so I thought it would be better to have 2 pedals then one anyway (you never know live). I am sure I was the one of very few who had this issue but all in all Uwe made my time with this more pleasurable. I am still disappointed that I shelled out an additional $230 for shipping and tubes and the store I got it from offered me $50 bucks of a Diezel Cab. I wasnt to happy about that considering another store offered me the same on there cab. I buy really top end stuff and not sure if I will be making a return visit to the store but I will for sure with Diezel. Thanks Uwe.

Been playing for quite some time, own all top end stuff I listed above. If stolen I think I would have to be jailed for the pain I would cause that individual would be very bad for him. I would buy it again because I love the sound nothing better really no BS. The look is killer as well live but really its the tone that matters. Be warned you better be able to play with this amp because everything is heard. You better have you chops down with this baby. I watch at every gig the loaded buttheads who like to peer at my stuff, I make sure they dont touch anything because if this was damaged I would freak. Barring any of the issues with the first head I am keeping my fingers crossed on this one because I love the amp. Hopefully, I just got a bad apple and now this one will give me years of happiness.(Just like a good marriage) :) Also comes with lifetime warranty, can't get better then that. Don't be fooled by all the pretend amps out there pay the big bucks and get this awesome machine you will love it.

Features have been discussed in previous review, so I'm skipping that. :) Mine is a Mk1 Herbert (serial# 001/012), and I had it modded to the current specs last week (thanks Peter!). It has tons of features and it basically suits all my needs. I owned a Mesa Triple Recto Solo head before getting my Herbert and it can do all the Mesa did and much more! MIDI switchability is a good thing. For the price, I'd think they would throw one in, just to get you started...

I use my Herbert with a Brunetti XL cab, loaded with V30's. When I tested it, I ran it through a Bogner V30. I have to say that it really does make a difference. It just sounded more open and fuller to me... So the Bogner is on my wish-list... although it's going to cost me a pretty penny... :) Oh yeah. My guitar is a Fender Strat USA with SD hardware (Pearley Gates+ and '59). Excellent for my needs... It can do everything you want! Beautiful cleans, dirty crunch and mindblowing brutal leads! I have played and owned 3 amps before getting this one(Marshall JCM 2000, ENGL Powerball and Mesa Triple Recto), and I really have to say that it's worth every Euro Diezel is asking for it...

It weighs a ton (27 kg's) and looks like it can stand a whole lot of pain.. :) I'd keep it in a flightcase whenever moving it around. Furthermore it's a tube amp, which means let it cool after playing and don't drop it... :) I haven't had it long enough to know how it holds up with regular gigging, but our other guitarist owns a VH4 and has gigged with it on a weekly basis for about 2 years now.. Never had any trouble with it! :)

Here's the thing that I really love best about Diezel! I bought mine used from some guy that really didn't take god care of this amp. It didn't sound alright.. Tubes that were in it weren't stock (JJ's instead of Ruby's).. Whole lot of stuff. I mailed Peter Diezel about this and got a reply the nex day. He offered to repair and mod the amp to the current specs. Shipping on me, work on him. So now, I have a fully repaired Herbert (with new tubes!!!!) at shipping costs only... I had it back in just a week! If that isn't great customer support, I don't know what is...

I have been playing guitar for about 9 years now. I played Marshall, ENGL and Mesa. All these are great amps, but left me wanting for something I couldn't really describe. I tried Bogner (Shiva and XTC) and liked it! I plugged in to a Diezel Herbert and was absolutely blown away... Very transparant, even when cranking channel 3 with brutal gain. It really makes your guitar come to life. Also (but that's me), I think it really let's your guitar define your tone... Only thing I wish this amp came with, is a footswitch. If it were stolen, I'd save up a lot of cash and get a new one. It's a three channel amp and I really don't think you can compare it to anything else...

I have a 2004 Herbert, revision 2.5. See the Diezel site for features. You cannot set the amp up like any other. There are useable sounds no matter where the knob is set. 3 or 6, doesnt matter. Just different sounds. I use this amp for rock/pop and hard rock, but I do not use a lot of gain. With the amount of options and sounds this amp is actually fun for this single channel vintage guy to play. It makes me want to change channels!

Right now I am using a stock pup'd Fender American Tele and a Strat. The Cleans swell with chime and spank- a dynamic that shocked me. I thought this was bound for ebay, as I had traded a MarkIIC+ for it without ever playing it. I thought it'd be a $4000 recto, but it is not. The cleans have overtones and are fat! Most channel switchers do not have the whack or the overtones. You can literally go from smooth fender to spanky funk, country or whatever. The 2nd channel is my fav. It's dark, tight, spanky and dynamic. Cleans up like a good marshall. Has a Bogner like bark to it, but lets my hands do their thing. Very glassy when I want it to be. It can do old JMP but fatter, or it can do brown. Channel three has a wide array of lead tones, and although I wish channel 2's -/+ switch was midi switchable... the third channel is starting to work for my leads. Takes some time to get! I can go from crisp to dark Lynch like leads. I used to feel that you could not beat a Marshall and a pedal. I now believe in channel switchers as well.

This thing wont break. I know a good amp, and this is it. 70 pound heads dont break. Has a very thick board and clean leads. Spare fuse, great solder, removeable cord, etc.. hardcore parts.

Peter responded to me in an hour to a clip I sent him. He didnt have to do that.

I've played for 13 years and collect vintage Marshalls, Boogie C+'s and whatever else peaks my interest. If this were stolen, I would definitely buy it again. I am a single channel guy and cannot believe how this amp reacts. Each channel is complex, you can hear every note in the chord and it just rings out into sweet feedback like a great single channel amp. It chimes, it rocks, it sustains. It's never muddy and always tasty. Is $4100 too much? No. It's the dynamics and clarity that make a great amp great. This amp does not just do metal. This is an instrument.

2004 Model Diezel Herbert, this thing is nothing short of AMAZING. no BS here. When I bought the amp I was skeptical of its abilities, after all, when you pay such a high price on an amp, most people won't admit that it wasn't worth it.... but this thing is worth every red cent I paid. As you know, it?s an all tube, three channel, 180-watt head. All the goodies are included, plus more (loop, mute, MIDI friendly...) I've had this thing for about a week, and I play Metal (think of stuff like Arch Enemy, Unearth, Testament, Shadows Fall) it took me not even 10 minutes to dial sounds that I?ve fallen in love with! Honestly, it can cover the most BRUTAL heavy tone (thanks to Mid Cut and Deep controls) to Van Halen, AC/DC, and even George Jones. I have only used this inside my house, and have turned it up to jam volumes for brief periods. This thing is amazing! even at the lowest of volumes, it doesn't lose tone. If you?re worried because you live in an apartment, fret no more, cause the Herbert sounds just as good at a low volume as it does on a higher.

OK, so I own a Jackson SLATQH, a Jackson RR1 and a Gibson Zakk Wylde Camo Les Paul. All guitars have the EMG 81/85 combo, and all of this is connected with either Zaolla or Evidence cables (the best there is, in my opinion, picked up from Tone Merchants). I also have a rack consisting of a Furman power conditioner, Korg tuner, Rocktron Intellifex, which is connected via Planet Waves cables (the worst you can get, they are good while they last, me and my guitarist have had numerous cables break on us, all Planet Wave). My cabinet is a Bogner Uberkab ST hybrid, which is built like a tank, and houses two types of speakers, the Celestion V30 and the Celestion G12T75. This cab, so far is a perfect match for Herbert, was designed for high gain amps, and heavy settings. Plugging in each guitar, you can hear the differences between them like night and day, EVEN with active pickups! The slat, a mahogany body with quilted maple top, is warm yet punchy, the RR1 with an alder body is very bright, and the Les Paul, one heavy ass piece of mahogany with a carved maple top, is very warm sounding, punchy and heavy. All the tones of each guitar/type of wood really stand out with the Herbert. when plugged in, the Herbert is very quiet, even at loud volumes (and I am not running a noise gate/compressor) except with the Slat, which will cause a bit of feedback at dangerous volume levels :-)
Channel one was a very pleasant surprise. Just by tweaking the treble/mid/bass knobs, you can get an unlimited amount of tones. Now kick in the Mid Cut feature, and the combination of sounds are endless. I don?t use this much with my band, but because of it, I have been learning songs just to play on channel one (such as Clapton) props to Peter Diezel for channel one alone!

Channel two and three are nothing short of amazing! channel two is my classic rock/metal channel, although you can dial in a very heavy sound if you wish. it has a -/+ switch, with the - activated you can get muddy blues tones, van halen tone, queen, and on and on... now with the + activated, it takes those tones and makes them a little more modern (more bass response, a lot heavier). Very fun channel to play with.
Channel three......the beast. This channel is also very versatile. It is definatly NOT a "one trick pony". you can dial in a sound such as van halens "brown sound" (which comes so close its unreal), and then activate the mid cut and Deep controls, and BAM! you now have the most brutal sounds produced by a tube amp. Think of Hatebreed, Slipknot (who now use the Herbert), any insanely heavy band...and the heads sound never gets flubby...whatever you throw at it, it'll take, chew up and spit it back in your face, and still ask for seconds! very tight sounding, very responsive....and very unforgiving. If you lack skill in the playing department, this amp will point out all your flaws with ruthlessness.

Customs kept this thing for two weeks, and it was delivered via UPS. I have friends who work for them, and if it can stand up to them, it'll stand up to anything. The quality and craftsmanship cannot be described in words....but I?ll give it a shot. Peter obviously takes his time with each amp built (hand built, if you didn't know). From the tolex covering (with no seems, very clean) and the metal grill, right down to the screws used, all the parts are of the highest quality. Controls are simple, no graphic EQ's built in, or any unnecessary knobs. Even the light indicators are unique! it has 8 high intensity blue LED lights, which all activate when the unit is powered on. Although its not the lightest head in the world, what do you expect for a 180 6 tube amp? It is also built like a Sherman. As far as gigging without a backup, there?s no need for it! with a simple biasing, if a tube does go (which from what I?ve read, will not affect your sound, that particular tube is "shut down" by Herbert and power is routed to the remaining amps, and a light will activate to indicate which tube is out) you can put in any pair of tubes into the Herbert (have EL34's with KT88's or 6L6's all together!) this is done with a simple biasing. Is the Herbert reliable? you bet your ass! And Peter is a stand up guy, I?ve been researching this head for many, many months, and on numerous forums he'll post and help out anyone who is having an issue with any Diezel product (and most problems are due to the user, not the product). This guy cares about his products and it shows. I think it could stand a nuclear holocaust....but that?s just me.

OK, well I have not had any issues (and hope I never do) but, I have contacted Diezel in regards to pairing my Midi Mate controller with the Herbert and Peter himself emailed me right back with a contact number for help (a US distributor, Peter is German after all, and answering questions may be difficult). Very friendly guy, a person who really cares about his products and, more importantly, cares about his customers. Try to contact Mesa and you'll have a hell of a time trying to resolve issues (I live in Canada so its also an international issue). I've owned a Mesa Single rectifier and a triple rectifier. I contacted Mesa in regards to the triple rec's foot controller (FX light did not light up) and it took numerous attempts just to get someone, who, advised that I send it back in! I took it apart before I sold it and found that the lights are housed in small plastic clips, and that particular light had been jarred out of its socket, so I just clipped it back in. It was that simple and it didn't cost me shipping and handling to send to Mesa. Like I stated, Peter Diezel cares about the product he puts out, and for the price you pay, that?s what you should expect. Unfortunately with other companies its "hit or miss" in regards to customer support.

No need to add anything in here, its a 10/10. Suits ALL my styles of music, and then some. I've been playing for 11 years and have owned/played anything from Fender amps, Crates, VHT's, Soldanos, Mesas, Peavys.... and so far, this is the best amp yet. I'll own this for life, or until it gives out (which will most likely exceed my lifespan). The only thing I didn't like about the product, was that there was no footswitch....or even an amp cover! I got one made by Custom Amp Covers for 25.00 US...other then that, it?s a great piece of gear!

Channels: 3, with second master and mid-cut up to 6 voicings
Loops: 1 parallel, 1 insert loops, 1 switchable insert loop
midi in & thru / phantom - power
Equalization: gain, treble, mid, bass, volume per channel
add. gain switch on Channel 2
switchable mid. cut with adjustable volume
Pre-Amp: 3 individually voiced, all tube pre- amps. Clean, crunch, lead
Power-Amp: 6-tube power amp section. Accepts 6L6, EL34, 5881, 6550, KT66, etc. Pairwise mixings possible, pairwise bias control
Dimensions: 74x29x28 cm
Weight: 27 kg

it's the best sounding head that i ever tried in Italy!!

This amp it's buit like a tank.
No problems, no broken, it's all perfect.

It's a pleasure speak with Peter Diezel!!!
It's a guitar player and friendly person who can answer quickly to all your questions.

i own a ton of gear and nothing sounds good like this Herbert.
If i lost or stolen it i will buy another one the next day!

I'm not going to go over all of the features because I'm sure that's been covered by now. I got this thing because I like playing around with power and preamp tubes and this thing will let you do that in really crazy ways. Everything else on here is just nuts (in a GREAT way).

This is the MK 2.5 version. Ruby EL34B-STR's in the power section and Ruby relabeled Chinese 9th Generation 12ax7a's.

I mainly use a PRS Singlecut loaded up with an Anderson H3+ in the bridge and an Anderson H1- in the neck. I use a Gibson Les Paul with the H3+ in the bridge and Dimarzio PAF Pro in the neck. I also have one of those Ibanez Mike Mushok Baritones with an EMG 81 in the bridge and an EMG 60 in the neck. So, that's what I run into this sucker and 99% of the time it's Guitar -> Cable -> Amp.

The Clean Channel - I have a first year Silverface Fender Twin Reverb that has been Blackfaced by Clark Amplification. I've also owned a few other Twins. The Clean Channel on this amp is very Fender Twinish. It has the airy vibe that a Twin has when you're plugged into the high gain input of that amp. I also like pulling the V1 preamp tube in my Twins to get a little bit more preamp gain and it makes it a little more airy sounding. The Herbert can cop that vibe as well. The cleans are a little warmer than the Twins and they're a lot more wide-bodied and bigger sounding. The Twin is a little more compressed. The Herbert's clean also has that snap to it that a Twin has. This is the best clean channel on any multi-channel high gain amp that I've ever plugged into when you compare it to the Fender Twin. The VH4's clean tone is more of a Hiwatt vibe if you ask me. I prefer this amp's clean tone by far. Peter, you did a wonderful job here my friend.

The 2nd Channel - This channel is very nice. It has that Diezel vibe happening, but it's a lot fuller sounding like the Clean channel is. You can pull off anything from Blues to a good Hard Rock/Metal rhythm tone with this channel when you flip back and forth between the Plus and Minus switch. The Plus switch just adds gain and the minus switch takes some away. It's nice.

The 3rd Channel - This channel is a beast. You can do so much with it. It has an extremely liquid vibe. When I say liquid I mean the notes sustain forever and everything feels very soft and spongy. The feel is like a Bogner Ecstacy 101B or an Uberschall, but the amp sounds a lot bigger and is more powerful and brighter. You can back down off of the gain, adjust the EQ to be a little less aggressive and get a really cool boutique lead tone that a lot of these Dumble type clones shoot for. You could do the same thing with the VH4's 4th channel, but the Herbert is just a lot fuller and less compressed. Some folks like compression and I have to admit I like it too in a lot of instances.

This thing is solid. It has a lot of fault fuses placed in critical positions within the amp to prevent any further damage if something goes wrong. The VH4 is the same way as well. Peter did a great job incorporating this in his designs and it makes life a lot easier. If you have a duet of power tubes go, the fuse blows and prevents further damage.

Uwe Salwender is the U.S. distributor for Diezel Amplification. I've spoken to him on the phone twice and he is a very caring individual. I have nothing but great things to say about Uwe. Peter is a very wonderful person as well who takes time to interact with the public via the internet. If you have a problem, they will help you in any way they can. You're just as important as their Professional Clients. That means a lot. Keep up the great work guys.

The one main thing I love about this amp, overall, is it's ability to sound so big, so clear and still be able to deliver a sweet spongy, saggy vibe. It's the perfect blend of everything that I can think of. Ed Yoon at Tone Merchants described the amp very well once to me via an e-mail and he pretty much nailed it.

I've owned a lot of different amps and they're all great in their own way, but when you find the amp that best fits you, your playing style, ears, etc., you need to keep that amp. The Herbert may not be for everyone, but it's a very fine amplifier that I'm very proud to be able to play through. I think it's the best multi-channel amp on the market and it's definitely worth the price you have to pay for it.

The Herbert is the Master of Domination!!!

I own my Herbert for a small year now so I think I can write a decent review, based on my experiences with this amp. The amp has the serial number 001/112 and I purchased it in Februari 2004 at Jukebox in Boekel (Holland). The music I play varies from experimental pop to very heavy metal. I like artists like: muse, oceansize, Peter Gabriel, Tom Waits, Radiohead etc. In my band I play Pantera, Machine Head, Sepultura etc. I wanted an amp that could cover it all. Because it uses MIDI it opened a new world for me. I play the amp with an all origional '92 Gibson LP std. I guess you know the features of this amp but I'll write some down.
- 3 channels (clean - overdrive(vintage viocing)/distortion(modern voicing)- heavy tones.
- Mid Cut and 2nd volume.
- 3 loops (parallel-serial and switchable which is serial as well)I connect the swtichable loop to the parallel one so I can turn the parallel loop on and off.
- 180 watt tube power. The three bias-pots allow to use three matched duets of whatever comes up to you (EL34, 6L6, KT66, KT88, 6550) You can even mix them if you want to! The tubes the amp comes with are a subject to change as Peter selects the best ones aviable all the time.
- MIDI capable (midi in/midi out/midi thru)
- 5 speaker outputs (2x4 ohm, 2x8 ohm and one 16 ohm)
- Compensated out/tuner out/ mute switch

As you can see, this amp has heaps of options. The reason why I gave it a 9 instead of a 10 is that I'd like the 'vintage/modern' to be midi switchable. If the amp was stereo I'd give it a 11.

As I said, I use it with a Gibson LP std. I play some experimental pop/rock and heavy metal. The Herbert can cover all my styles and sounds. The amp isn't noisy at all. Well, it has some hum on the thirt channel but that isn't strange as this is the most insane-gain channel. 'Deep' and 'presence' can change you sound dramaticly, so go and turn those knobs to get your sound out of it. I think this amp is more 'one' amp compared to the VH4. The VH4's channels sound differend in style to each other and the Herbert doens't, either you like it or not. The amps sound rather dry. It doesn't have the 'soul' like most vintage amps, but I guess that's not what you're looking for when you're reading this review. Don't get me wrong, the Herbert can produce some awsome vintage tones!

Channel 1 (clean) : Channel 1 produces a very rich and warm clean. There is definately some soul in this one! Very dynamic for both finger picking and funky stuff. It has nice low end but still sounds very open.

Channel 2: You could sell a whole amp for just channel 2! I'm just in love with this one. It's SOOOO! dynamic. On 'vintage' setting you can get sound from a cranked up Fender to a Hot rodded Marshall (to stay in therms everyone understands). It has a round, warm, punchy sound. If you play gentile (without touching your volume knob) it's close to the clean channel and if you start playing louder ot turns into AC/DC. Inmagine using the volume knob as well. And I have my gain on about 9 o'clock. When you turn it up it goes to Guns'n Roses. On 'modern' setting (with the same gain settings) you can get even further. Great for some (hard)rock tunes and heavy riffs.
Channel 3: This is a tricky one. You have to know how to use it correctly because it has a huge amount of gain! If you turn the gain all the way up...........yeah, it might get muddy (never tried it actually). I have the gain at aproximately 11 o'clock which is MORE that enough! I can produce the most heavy tones I could ever inmagine. I use this one mostly for heavy leads because of it's insane rich and dynamic tones. Channel 3 really has some BAD ASS, smoking leads! With the Mid Cut turned on you can get those pumping metal riffs on the fly.

The Diezel Herbert is a great amp. It produces a Diezel tone (duh..) which you have to like. You have to know how it works and what it does. There are so many nice sounds you keep on tweaking. I finaly found my favorite settings(for most of the stuff) after a year tweaking.
I does sound really good at low volumes too, for you bedroom rockers :D. If you're looking for a modern multi-channel head which is FAR MORE than a simple minded metalamp, look no further! (oh, you might check you wallet first :D)

Hell yeah I'd use it without a backup (can't afford myself to buy a second one anyway). Never had any problems at all. It looks very (!) well build. I tought it was like 27 or 29 kilo's or so, so it's a heavy baby!

Never dealt with them.

It just IS a great amp with more than enough features, period.
No questions about that. I have been playing it for a year and still getting new, inspiring sounds. If it were stolen I'd get a new one right away. I compared it to a lot of other high end gear and prefered the Herbert, but offcourse that all a matter of personal taste and style.

Cool- Tuner out (get it out of line),Serial,Parallel and Switchable! FX Loops, Midi (more on this later), Footswitch option (No Footswitches available!) Compensated out (wish it were a slave out). Has the ability to take many different types of tubes and combinations. 3 channels with Midboost/Cut option so really 6 sounds settings can be saved. (although it's an overall Midboost/Cut) Also has a Mute feature and 2 Master Volumes (Midi controllable!) Hit the website for more details.

I'm using a Gibson Les Paul Historic w/ 57 Classics. I play Modern Rock, Classic Rock and Progressive Instrumental.
I use the amp mainly on Channel 2 without the mid cut feature. It punches thru the mix better. And on Heavy tunes I'll Use the Mid Cut feature. (Or change to Channel 3 and use the mid cut.)
Basically Channel 2 and 3 are very similar (at least the way I have them set) Channel 3 being a little more modern sounding. But I think that Channel 2 has the best overall tone.
Channel Ones clean tone is excellent as well. I am using an SIB Fatdrive in front of this channel and it's the best clean tone I have ever had.
But I'm a High Gain guy and Channel 2 is phenomenal. I have gigged steadily with the amp for 6 months and it always sounds KILLER.
I don't think a regular Shure 57 or 609 mic gets the real tone to the audience though, so I'm looking for a mic that brings the killing tone to the audience as well.
It's extremely LOUD being 180 watts. In fact I play fairly loud and it's rare that I get over 1 on the master volume! When you can get this amp that loud it comes alive and is a beast! INSANE!
My most used Channels are the clean, Channel two and Channel 3 with the Mid Cut.
I think this amp shines on the lower 3 or 4 strings The Lead tone on both the VH4 and Herbert can be a little "doggy" on the the unwound strings. I usually bump it with an overdrive to take care of that though when soloing.

I've owned a VH4 that gave me midi switching problems. At first I wasn't sure if it was my Midi switcher or the amp, cable etc. But it was consistent where I would have to hit the switch twice on the controller in order to get to the desired Channel. (A real bummer when you go from a clean sound to a high gain sound and your stuck playing rhythm on the clean tone until you try to switch again!)
I wish Peter Diezel would include (amongst the many features this amp already has!) an "old fashioned" channel switching set up on the amp similar to what other amps have. (Mesa, Soldano, Bogner) Just in case the Midi is goofing up or you don't want to get a Midi Switcher. I have a friend that sold the amp due to the unavailable footswitch.(the amp can be switched on the amp itself of course)
I'm not saying that I don't like the MIDI feature, it works great for me. I think other amps should include this feature!! It would be great to save actual channel setting presets though and not just point to which channel you want. (although you can save a channel with the MUTE button open to tune! which is really cool.)
I have had NO problems with this Herbert though. So it MUST have been something with the VH4 I owned. Where are the Diezel Herbert Footswitches?

Diezel looked at my VH4 and gave it a check FREE of charge! (shipping these amps are expensive though) Although it still came back with the same MIDI problem! UWE is great at responding to emails and very polite.

This is the best amp on the market. Killer guitar Rock tones! I like the VH4 just as much maybe even more. Get a Diezel if you can you will NOT be dissapointed!

Herbert MkII head. Not going to bother with features...

Extremely versatile amp. I XTC beats it in the swiss army type category in terms of non-foot-switchable features. I think soundwise, it is a little less versatile then the VH4. Although with foot-switching, you have more sounds immediately available.

The second MV is a really nice feature for boosting. I don't use pedals for that anyway.

Channel 1 - fantastic FAT clean. Very 3D sounding. I also have a VH4S and think that that clean is more versatile and nicer then the Herbert's.

Channel 2 - Incredible distortion sounds from slightly dirty to very heavy. It's a wall of sound in one channel. Just plain monsterous. Bigger sounding then my VH4S, or the VHT UL, XTC, Uberschall, you name it.

Channel 3 - A bit disappointing. I didn't think that there was enough of a difference in the voicing between this channel and channel two. It also seems that this channel is a bit thinner sounding then channel two. I also preferred the mid voicing of the VH4S channel four for lead tones.

MidCut - What an awesome feature! I absolutely love it. Makes the amp sound meaner but also more present.

This amp is LOUD. However, it is THE BEST SOUNDING amp when playing at bedroom volumes. Peter Diezel is a genius.. no doubt about it.

Built like a tank.

I've e-mailed with Uwe and Peter. They've always been great!

This amp is phenominal. I would hunt down whoever stole it. I also have a VH4S and a Tremoverb.

I guess it would have been nice if the +/- was foot-switchable as well as a foot-switchable bright switch.

You know'em allready...

I play Gretsch 6128(mod. bridge pu), Carvin, Fender Strat and like Grunge and Numetal.

Channel 1: Very good clean for a high gain amp. Has more headroom and bass response than my VH4s, but more over, very rich and warm sounding in comparison! Amazing!!

Channel 2 (-) : The low distortion section of this amp really makes my guitars ring!!! Incredible, very dark, deep, bright and sparkling all at the same time - there is areal danger in getting addicted to this sound! Every little articulation shines through, very transparent! Its hard to describe!!!

Channel 2+
BOooooooooooooooommmmmm - it's a blast, just imagine a B52 bomber coming down on you!!! Once you let this beast out of it's cage there will be no one left alive in your neighborhood!! Disaster Area!!!
Its absolutlely crazy...Turn up the "deep" level and dial in the "mid cut" and this channel will cut you into pieces.

Channel 3: Sorry, but to some point I am dissapointed with the results, especially when you listen to channel 2 and switch over to No.3. Don't get me wrong, I don't expect Peter to copy his own designs, but it would have been a far better idea to give this channel some of the VH4 channel 4 characteristics.
My point of criticism: It has far too much compression even at moderat levels of gain (for this channel) i.e. at 11 o'clock it starts to be flubby and muddy on the lower notes and because of the compression the high frequencies are damped far too much and this flattens the sound dramatically! Lowering gain solves the problem but then there is no difference in gain between ch2 and ch3, so ch.3 would be obsolete!!

Don't blame it on my cab, cause unfortunately I own a VH4s and therefore I am in the lucky position to do a real A/B testing on the same cab. And I came to the conclusion that channel 4 on the VH4 is my personal, ultimate lead sound, cause even at higher gain it stays alive!!

Lately I had a problem with a small caps near the power supply. When I turned on my amp, one of these bloody english caps was blown away because of a quality problem! Not that funny...see Customer Support!

Peter is always kind and is does an excellent job! He gave me instructions to fix the cap problem with some real old school methods: "Just cut out the caps!". After that, it didn't work but it was my fault cause I forgot to take a look at the main fuse. Shame on me!! So Peter had to do it...Sorry Peter, but I would have sent it over to you anyway, I don't trust myself ;-))

I like the "Herbert" very much, except the ch3 character. Ch1 and 2 are a real deal for rythm gutiar players and I found nothing comparable so far. Ch2 was the reason why I bought it! The lead first sounded ok but not too overwhelming...after buying my VH4s I know that this was the right impression and I won't change my mind. I think I'll have to have a mod from Peter! But finally decide for yourself....

Finally, if I had a wish for the future: the parallel fx loop should be switchable,too.