Genz Benz El Diablo Head

TONS of features. Active EQ, compression button, attack, clean vintage crunch and lead channels...reverb. It has everything

Okay, sound quality was my issue. The cleans were amazing. Fender-esque, and very full. The eq could take you anywhere, and when switchting to the "vintage channel" you get even more. Vintage is just clean with easier breakup. Cranking it loud got me sweet bluesy tones. Now...the distorion channel. First off, let me tell you this: ITS NOT MEANT FOR METAL. You can get oldies rock, rock, and hard rock very nicely. But if you are expecting crushing distorion with nice precise muting, you will be horribly dissapointed. The compression and high gain buttons on the amp add more gain, but its not enough. You can tweak it and fool yourself into thinking its more gain, but it just scoops it. It is also very messy sounding. IM a very clean player, but the distorion is a bit out of control and fuzzy. Hard to explain. Lets just put it this way: it's no 6505. If you arent into metal, youre fine. But seriously, an amp named "El Diablo" should have a better metal vibe.

It seems sturdy. I dont own it, just played it several hours at a store.

n/a

I've been playing a good while, play shred and solo stuff ala Satriani, and play in a metal band with Bodom like riffs. This amp cant keep up and is meant for those who listen to music from 85 and earlier. Its great at that stuff though. And man, that clean channel was tasty. Pity I can't have that clean on my 6505. Also, for reference, I played my Ibanez RG with evolutions though it, as well as a LP. Sounded weak either way.

10 I have had this amp for 4 years now. I play metal. I tried and owned the mesa boogies and they suck!!! This amp delivers a way better sound for low end play. The built in compression is great.

The low end is great. It is not the best amp for mid players. If you like mid scoops and low end it is awesome. change the pre-amp tubes with tung sol 12Ax7's.

I have had it 4 years never a problem, just now having to change tubes.

never needed it.

I played every amp possible and I made the choice to get this one. It has a killer tone witout having to pay over 2000. I tried everything and nothing could convince me to buy something more than this. Even if you are not a fan of the distortion you can buy a good pedal for 200, and it is still cheeper than buying a more exspensive amp. But you will be brillianty supprised with the sound of this amp.

i have try this amps twice

at music store el diablo head and cab genz benz

at a band pratice with my band with marshall MFcab

beautiful amps blue led are cool :)

i using a jackson dkmg with emg 81 and 85 i have compare my guitar for a lot of other and she give me very good sounds!

i play mostly melodic metal...death metal..black metal(with good sound)

not very noisy with my guitar

ok theres the begining of my sound opinion

i have try this amps at music store with genz benz cab the boy of the shop say...thats the amp we have to compare with mesa boogie...
the sound dont give me amazing feeling...sound loud...but for the price im not surprise...thats sound ok for me

i tried the same head at a band pratice of death metal in a marshall MF cab supose to be a good cab but i have never try before..when i put the switch on and see how the sound has horrible i say...its impossible...i try a lot of seting but with this marshall cab the amps was always muddy sound i cant cut...try to push down gain...try to push down high frequency no result..to much muddy and no low end sound..this amps sound very dry with that cab

remember that cant be a good amps WITH THE GENZ BENZ CAB!!!!
if youre player cant play always in your own cabs in live never buy it

the good sound of the amps dont come from the heads he come from the genz cab....i have marshall 1960 lead loaded with celetion v30...i have try my peavey triple xxx in this genz benz cab and be very suprise of the low end and attack of that cab thats very nice...but more midle and definiton in my marshall can be a good complement cab to mix with marshall cabs

other point i want to say...some people here says this sound like rock amps...mostly tube amps need to be overdriving with pedals to get the best sound of it...thats what a lot of studio producer says to me....configure your disto gain at very low volume and put the overdrive

in fact for the price...you can get a better amps for metal like peavey 5150...peavey triple xxx...mesa dual rectifier(more expenssive but not a lot more)if youre sure to play always in benz cab that can be ok but not more than ok

remember a sound good in the store dont make you sound good with a band ...thats what some people dont keep in mind...

Go for a ENGL if you have the money dont loss your time

3 chanel a lot of buton seting +

genz benz cab work great to get more low end in your seting +

not a good amps to play with a band-

head dont work with other cab than genz benz cab -

I???m hesitant on listing the features since there are so many but I???ll hit the highlights. All tube (comes with EL34 and 12ax7). It has two channels, ???Warm??? and ???Hot???. Each channel has Gain, Volume, Low, Mid and High EQ and Reverb level. The hot channel also contains gain type select, texture control and tube contour. There is also a global section that contains master stuff and an attack control. The warm channel covers super clean to vintage pushed that responds well with picking attack. The hot channel covers everything from punchy overdrive to high gain saturation. There is a separate FX loop for both channels and a global FX loop.

It comes with a 5 button footswitch that covers everything switchable on the amp. It is very versatile and allows for switching from clean to high gain and everything in between. I bought this amp mainly for the high gain feature but was blown away with all the rest of the tones you can get out of it.

As mentioned, this amp covers clean to high gain. I demo???d the amp for about 45 min before buying it. Within about 30 minutes of use at home, I had almost all my tones dialed in. Sure there are tones it doesn???t do, but no amp does it all. The distortion is sweet. It has very nice high gain and vintage distortion. I was looking at getting a Mesa recto but the cost was more than I wanted to pay. The Genz-Benz easily covers Mesa ground. I was looking for distortion similar to Hoobastank, 3 Doors Down, etc; not a problem for the Genz-Benz. This amp covers all of the tones I have been searching for.

The amp is built solidly. It features smooth detent position pots for the controls and the switches are all high quality. There was a problem with the global Attack button on the footswitch when I bought the amp, but I was able to fix it within10 minutes after getting it home. The most likely cause was a year???s worth of demoing on the showroom floor where I got the amp.

Never dealt with them.

This is a great amp; it is what I have been looking for for many years. I have been playing for about 25 years and have played throguh numerous amps. Currently, I play it through a Trutone Custom 2x12 with Vintage 30s and it sounds great. Main guitars are an Edenhaus custom and a Yamaha AES620. I would definitely buy this amp again. I looked at Mesa, Carvin, Peavey, etc. this blows away all of them.

skip all that shit. if you want this amp you'd have known all the features already.

This is a 'features' amp. It's flexible and you can get many different sounds out of it. It has the handlebars for carrying the thing around, which really helps. And unlike normal amps, when you turn the dials, they click like some dental hardware or something. its cool.

the blue glow is just fun, it adds a little mood to a show or practice in a dark room. my drummer cut out a paper cross and taped it to the amp so it would show and upside-down cross in the blue light.

Another cool feature is the 50/100 watt selector in the back. if you arent turning up super-loud, leave it on 50.

i dont have the footpedal. its functional, but unless youre going to be doing solos every five seconds and have to make 3 or 4 sound changes, the texture and global attack buttons are useless.

it can cover a lot of ground with so many fancy tools and gadgets, but for some that makes it difficult. I see people giving a lot of bad reviews for this amp and thats total bs. you just have to work with it for a while and once you get used to it you'll find the sound(s) you need.

The 'warm' channel does kind of suck, and when the gain is high it doesnt give in like normal amps. I can get a really good poppy rock sound out of it, but i cant get a good true clean.

okay so the 'hot' channel has two little buttons under the category 'gain texture.' I dont use the dynamic texture, i think it's just raspy mid and high tone. Everything else is pretty easy to fix up as long as you dont use too much global attack. Though it does absolutely make your sound cut through the mix, it tends to sound like a rusting rake after you hit half or so on the dial. Also watch out for the tube contour dial. I'm not sure if it's just my tubes, but this is a very sound-defining dial. It can make your sound deep and fat, or tight and crispy, and i find myself at a perfect sound right at half.

The low end is good, very tight and responsive, but through this amp you can easily make a muddy sound if you dont know what you are doing. If you get that sound, try something else, turn everything to half and start over or buy a new cab.

I play high gain punchy metal and this amp delivers. I replaced the original ruby tubes or whatever they were with 6L6's and they sound amazing.

This amp is not noisy, with active pickups its absolutely silent when i'm not playing.

I've played this amp without active pickups and on the same settings that i would play actives with, i got a little squeal when i muted the strings but that is all. if youre going to play high gain music then get better pickups.

yes, this is a very durable amp. it seems to wear in tubes very quickly though. if the amp you are buying is used, get new tubes for it.

i've been playing guitar for 4 years.
i own another marshall head that sucks.

i wouldnt buy another one of these if i lost mine, i'd get a madison, which ironically, has a red light in the amp.

This amp is very versatile, and it can deliver lots of good sounds, not just crappy versions of all of them.

I hate getting used to it. When i first bought this amp i thought i made the worst move in my life, but it just takes time to learn how to manipulate the interface.

I have to hand it to Genz-Benz. This amp is feature stricken. With the effects loops, watt selector, compression, handy foot switch, side handles, direct out, tube selection, and very usable front panel, Benzler really did his homework. There are many practical features that would be embraced by many more pros if they only yielded better tone.

I am a studio engineer/musician and I play every style. Usually, I record with a wide selection of amps and emulators. In the studio, El Diablo's clean was very unpleasant and did not distort the way most tube amps do. It was almost reminiscent of digital clipping, like older solid state amps. On the distortion side, I was actually stumped. I couldn't figure out how an amplifier could sound muddy, yet I could hear every little mistake in my playing. Some amps give, others don't. Even though I play professionally, I still like an amp that gives a little. This probably won't make sense to everyone. Next order of business was to check the direct out. I was impressed. It actually sounded very similar to the cabinet in terms of how it responded (dare I say better?). I did notice that 3 Doors Down uses these amps and in actuality, I found one tone on both sides that would cover their style just fine. I could live with THAT tone, but as far as tonal versatility...if you spend your life looking for an amp that will cover every style perfectly, you'll come up empty handed. It's best to find an amp that suites your playing style and accomplishes the task at hand. The El Diablo is not a bad amp if you need some top 40 rock/pop distortion, but it's not for everyone. I've heard better stories about the black pearl, and I'm very interested to try one. As for El Diablo, I think a six is fair. Benzler makes good products and I don't think this reflects all of them.

I hear it's great.

I'll just talk about the features that I found interesting... you can read the other bits on their website:

The two-handle setup for transporting it is AWESOME. It's such a pain to cart heads around; the two steel handles on this thing make carrying SO much more comfortable.

The ability to switch between 3 power tube types is also very cool (6L6, EL34, and 5881). It also has a power selector.

It's got an active EQ, which is different than alot of tube amps, and it helps a good bit. It also has 3 effects loops: one for each channel and a "global" loop.

I'll make this "disclaimer" up front: I'm into a full-on metal sound for fast, rich, articulate, but brutal technical death metal. That's what I was looking for in this amp, because they had such a good sounding "metal" clip on their site.

Well, I fell for it and can say, without reservation, this amp *SUCKS* for metal. You want killer metal tone, stay away from this amp. Best you'll get is AC/DC type hard rock.

In fact, to my ears, it sounds like a cross b/t a pale imitation of a Marshall JCM900 and one of those little tiny Crate PowerBlock units. I'm no fan of a JCM900, but if you want that sound, buy a Marshall.

The distortion, slight as it was, was not crisp, nor was it articulate, nor refined. It sounded more like a crappy stomp box... thin and screechy on one end, dull and farty on the other.

I have 5 different guitars with all manner of pickups, and none of them sounded good through this amp. My current cabinets are Marshall Mode Fours with 2 of the speakers in each replaced with Eminence. These cabs sound great with anything put through them... except this amp.

But, on the brighter side, this amp's active EQ gives it plenty of low end.

Oh, and another thing... this damn thing is kinda noisy. Lots of pops and clicks... could be the tubes, though.

My ENGL Fireball destroys this head, hands down, for this style music.

I don't know and don't care, as it won't be in my possession long enough to worry about. Seems solid enough, though. Haven't seen the inside to see how things are mounted.

don't know.

I've been playing close to 20 years and have been through all manner of amp gear (Peavey, Marshall, Mesa, ENGL, VHT, Rocktron... heads, cabs, power amps, pre amps from them all...).

It really bothers me when people talk about Metal Tone, but don't REALLY know what they're talking about. Real Metal is not just fuzz-faced, inarticulate, non-sensical garbage-gain... it's focused, tight, articulate, has much depth/layering, and is actually quite dynamic if you take the time to listen. If they all sound like this one, to say this amp can produce metal tones is disgraceful.

This amp, like so many others (particularly the Marshalls) has been a huge disappointment.

2007 model - This amp roars, side by side with a dual rect. it puts it to shame. I play everything from Metal - Hard Rock - Ambient Clean Tones and it does it all. I wish it's FX loops were arranged differently but maybe i just haven't perfected them yet since there are 3 one for each channel even the boost. the glowing blue tubes rock, i know its not important to sound but its got a nasty look to it glowing blue behind and to the celling. I has these side handles that make it great for moving. It's knobs click and lock not a smooth roll so they stay in place better than other models making a consistent tone easy without the hassle of marking them with tape or such.

This sound can do tones, i got rectifier tones, old mesa Carlos Santana tones,Texas blues and so on. so far if i want it I just dial it in. The Distortion tears and with the ported g-flex has a low end that outmatches anything I have seen. I use a an American Strat with standard pickups and a seymor duncan in the bridge, great tones but my LTD with seymore duncans unleashes the beast. not noisy at all, the classic tube buzz but breathe and its louder than that.

seems sturdy, haven't had it long enough yet

great go get it you wont be disappointed, sounds good on any cab but get the g-flex and bring the beast to life!

I think the amp is 2005 or 6

I play SRV, ACDC, Jimi I guess old school. More of a hobbyist than a performer. OK fine, I suck but I still rock out in my spare time.

If you want the specs look it up. Find a music store that has one and try it out. You might be pleasantly surprised how flexible this thing is. It is absolutely stocked with different dimensions of tone control.

It was a floor demo and had replacement Electro harmonix EL34s. I'm not touching them. I love it.

I has too much power for my living room. On the 50W setting I can get it up to about 5 before getting the cops called.

Number one, it's quiet even with a ton of gain. I've tried the big names and it's as good or better.

The clean is a tad sterile If I switch to the center PU of my strat it improves. The reverb is not classical souding but it's different and can lead to some interetsting effects. Can't turn up the reverb toom much or it loses the harmonics.

The hot blues is great.
The ACDC sound just makes me want to play until my fingers bleed. Oh yea I use a Marshall 1960 CAB, that helps.

I tried some Eddie VH tones and it was sounding really good -no BS.
The muted crunch is freaking fun. Makes me want to try some of the newer stuff.

The Genz Benz cab I tried was totally punchy, that's a good thing sometimes. I was tempted. I bet it would crush Doritos with some d tuned crunch. Don't hesitate to go with a Marshall cab though. You won't be disappointed.

I have a POD XT LIve and I have not even been tempted to plug it in. That's how much flexibility this thing has.

who knows? I've had it for three weeks.

Ive heard great things but you never know.

If it burns in a fire, I'll buy the exact same thing with the insurance money.

I swear you can get both Marshall and Mesa sounds out of it, not fender though. If you are looking for something a little different get a benz cabinet and you'll be blowing people away.

My seymor duncan texas special humbucker isn't even that hot. Get a hot PU and you'll be in crunch heaven.

This great amp have all features what you can imagine. Most important for me is how easily you can switch tubes from EL34 to 6L6 or how I use, with Tung-Sol 5881.

I??ve used earlier Marshall like 30th anniversary cab and head and old JMP. But from this amp you can get so much more varieties.

No problems this far, I have had it now about year. I have gigs about once in a month or so, but using it at least twice a week.

Excellent! Jeff Genzler himself have replyed for all of my questions.

I??ve been playing now about 20 years, mostly rock and stoner kind of things. This is just best I have tried. And price is half than other similar amps. At least here in Finland.