Genz Benz El Diablo Head

Made 2006. Very versatile it has 2 channels warm channel and hot channel. The warm channel is like two cahnnels when you switch from normal to vintage there is a huge difference in the sounds both very good. Hot channel is like 4 channels there is classic and modern gain switch and a dynamic and compressed switch. All of the combos of the switches sound good and with these 2 switches you can go from classic rock to classic metal to nu metal and any where in between.
The amp can run 50 or 100 watts both good. 3-12ax7s 4-el-34s 3 effect loops one fro the warm one for the hot and one global.

Warm channel on normal good cleans on vintage good bright cleans and with the gain up a pretty good crunch. The hot channel is a beast great tones stones to sabbath. Will do the scooped thing like no other amp. Like single coils and humbuckers hot pickups and not so hot pickups all sound good with this amp. I play anything from jazz, rock,funk, country and soul with this. I have it paired with a genz benz g-flex 212 nice open sound massive low end you cant make this cab fart. The amp is nice and quiet for such a high gain monster. Records well and pisses off my band mates with its hugh sound.

So far all is good I think it should hold up wellI really baby my gear anyway.Take care of your gear it will take care of you. I always have a back up because tubes may go at any time. If you are a pro you have a backup.

Havent had to deal with them but from what ive heard they are tops.

I been playing for a long time. I have several amps. Groove tubes solo 150,peavey classic 50, fender blues deluxe,mesa boogie subway rocket,I would buy this again. This amp is well thought out and has its own sound. If you cant find a tone you like with this amp you shouldnt be playing.

I love the versatility of this amp. Great tone shaping control, the EQ sections ae great.

Killer!!! Great clean tone. I recently had a 67 Fender Twin, Blackface, it doesn't get that tone exactly but is by far the best sounding clean channel I have heard. I have had many amps Mesa Rectifier, Quad preamp, Triaxis, Rivera, Soldano Sp77, Fender Twin, Marshall Lead 100 and 25th Anv head, PV 5150. I have run all these through a 74 Marsahll 412 with Celestion T1281's. The lead or gain channel has a likeness of a lot of these amp tones. No amp will give you the exact tone unless you buy that amp. So if you are looking from that Marshall tone, get a Marshall etc. This amp does have it "Own Tone" which I love. Great crunch from a slight overdrive to shred. The compression setting really focuses the tone, which I found Metallica-like.

I have an old G&L Legacy, Kramer Pacer and Barretta (W/ EMG's)and all sound good. The amp has a strong input stage.

I have only owned it a few months. Great so far

Have not called or emailed yet, but other peoples feedback looks positive.

Give this amp a listen. You may want to try it through different cabs and speakers. I have found over the past 24 years of playing that the cab plays an equally important in your tone and most people just buy a cab. This amp has the features I needed with the versitiality in tone I wanted.

This ampis my first head unit, was using a Laney vc100 until now. This amp has just about everything i need. 2 Channels, The eq is active and the knobs are notched to help prevent accidental movement. 50 or 100 watts with footswitch. go to genzbenz.com for the details. the only problem i have with this amp is that the reverb is not footswitchable with the footswitch that comes with the amp, you have to buy another single function switch to do this.

this amp does not feedback when the gain and channel volume are maxed, might when master volume is p a bit but the volume is incredibly sensitive, i play on three with earplugs in. I can get 80's mid scoop metllica tones or fiddle the tube contour and get nice sabbath. switchable compressor adds to the metal tone. Nice cleanbut you can get way TOO much reverb on this amp, each channel has a knob and ther is a master reverb.

you can call the company and the owner will talk to you. need i say more.

My friend has been bulshittered around by mesa becase his roadking and triple rectifier keep overheating. (you do NOT need 17 tubes)

have not contacted myself, just other reviews say what i did abouve

awsome amp, the led's make it look awsome and it will stad out against everything else.

The one I got was one of the first runs of the head. The most versatile tone controls EVER!

By now, you might have read a lot of reviews on this amp, or might be about to, but this is the official scoop on the amp. True or false? The amp has no gain, despite Genz Benz's claims. False! The amp does have a considerable amount, but what a lot of people don't understand is that most amps sound like crap when they're completely saturated on the preamp. True or false? On its own, the amp has no versatility and the modes don't do much of anything. False! The amp's versatility, though reasonably good on its own, is fully maximized when combined with different pedals. The Visual Sound Jekyll and Hyde is a very stong personal recommendation, by the way. Best damn distortion pedal ever!

Works just fine.

I hear Jeff Genzler himself answers the phone all the time.

Like anything, it's a matter of personal taste. I strongly recommend it, because you can get any sound you want out of it, and that's just what I'm into. It makes a tremendous difference, though, what guitar, pedals and cabinet you use. My advice? Run whatever guitar you want through a Jekyll and Hyde and then the El Diablo and then the G-Flex 412. That cab is amazing!

all the features have been covered but my favorite by far is the tube contour, which should be included on all amps from this day forward! this amp, for me, covers all of these styles without changing any EQ or anything, with it's switching options. however it gets a 9 because nothing is perfect.

I play everything from blues, rock to metal, and have experienced tones appropriate for nearly any application in these styles. the clean can go from a near acoustic sound with the right pickups (I have and EMG 81 in the bridge and 2 SA's single coils in mid and neck), to a full bodied, jangly jazz tone, moving into SRV breakup with my TS-808. Probably the most lively and variable clean channel in any High Gain amplifier. The hot channel has a very warm crunch to it, and with the gain low enough can emulate an overdriven plexi with near perfect accuracy. Taking it up a notch the amp's excellent EQ can produce tones in the likeness of Clapton, Page, and Van Halen all on the first stage of gain. Delving into the realm of hard rock and metal, this amp, paired with a G Flex cab can dish out serious bottom end ranging from a hot rodded Marshall growl to a Framus or Soldano punishing low end punch with the ease of twisting the tube contour. If you're looking for an amp to cover all bases, this is the best amp out there in my opinion, especially for it's price! It's only competitors are hand-wired amps that go for upwards of 2000. I recommend running a Ibanez TS-808 pedal with this amp to maximize it's capabilities.

I haven't ever had a problem with this amp, and even if you have a minor problem with it, such as say a loose knob or switch, you get a brand spankin new amp because the warrantee on these things rocks tits.

I've personally met Jeff Genzler at a clinic in my area (Vancouver, WA) and the man is incredibly knowledgeable, courteous and is really out there for the customer. He personally addresses all emails and will answer any question, take care of any problem, and give suggestions. He shipped me out a new JJ tesla tube based on my description of the music I play. Can you depend on that from Mesa? no, I don't think so.

Overall this amp is the best piece of equipment I own, it has never given me problems and is the key to me souding great. If you're looking for truly extraordinary tone then this amp can produce it.

We all know the standard features by now. I have an older El Diablo model, one without the external bias features. I use this amp in band practice/gigging situations and it gets the job done quite well.

Playing with different tubes is where this amp shines. The stock EL34 tubes just weren't enough. They didn't have enough low end punch. Since my amp was already having problems and I could adjust the bias myself, I took the amp up to a local boutique amp shop. They fixed it up, with GT 6L6 power amp tubes and a replaced 12AX7 in the first preamp position.

My setup is as follows:
Genz Benz El Diablo with a matching 2x12" Gflex cabinet
Effects loop: BBE 482i, Alesis 3630 compressor
Guitars: Schecter 2001 Omen 6 w/ EMG 81 b/85 n, Epiphone '58 Goth Explorer w/ SD Screamin' Demon b/'59 n

Now, the clean channel with stock settings is extremely spanky and clear. With the new tubes, it looks some of its bite and sparkle, but some still remains. It's definately one of the best clean sounds you can get out of a high gain amp.

The high gain. Holy hell. If you think it sounds great with the stock EL34 tubes, you're going to get your gut punched out with 6L6's. One thing I have noticed is that passive pickups are a hell of a lot better on this amp than actives. EMG's just sound so sterile and lifeless; no response. The best way to setup this amp is to start with ALL the high gain settings up 12 noon, and tweak from there. You don't have to vary too far with the EQ; it's active, going to the left of 12 noon is to scoop the mids from your sound already.

Apparently my amp had issues before I even brought it up to the amp shop. Some of the resistors (or something, I've forgotten what they were and I'm not much of an electrician) were shot. My amp was only running at 50w! They only found this out by trying to check the bias on the amp to begin with. 5 minutes of running it out of the chassis and using the ohmeter, POP! Something blew. It happened again a bit later, as well. The guy working replaced the blown parts, put the new tubes in, biased it up, and had it running in less than two hours. Pretty good, I must say.

The amp was a little squirrely before that, I noticed. But now, the amp is solid and takes anything I throw at it!

Jeff is an AWESOME guy. He enjoys talking to us, the musicians. He told me what I had to do retube my amp and everything. It's a refreshing thing to see people who care running a businesse

You can't top an amp like this. The price, the sound, the quality of construction and the company itself.

Good on features. Could use a third channel. I am forced to use a GNX-3 amp model on the clean channel to get a nice crunch. I can't use the Hot channel any way else than with the compression on and hot gain engaged with global presence on (it sounds so huge).

I have been playing guitar for 39 years and no one on earth is pickier than me about tone. Have also put in my time as a front of house sound man (1500 gigs or so) and I have heard some pretty crappy guitar tones from some outstanding players. This amp is not perfect.(few are)It seems to me that this amp is voiced more for humbuckers than single coils (if it sounds good EQ'd for humbuckers is not good EQ for single coils) I use a 10 year old PRS Swamp Ash Special 90% 0f the time and it sounds like GOD. I was able to compensate for for EQ settings by modifing Strat with hotter pickups and an on-board pre-amp. Still not perfect but overall I am quite pleased with my sound. I am seriously considering another El Diablo and an A/B switch to EQ one amp for humbuckers and the other for single coils. I can't understand why anyone can't make their "go to guitar" sound fantastic through this amp. Either they are wearing mittens when they play or, they are deaf morons. A Q-tip might help.

Absolutely no problems in 1 year.

I had an El Diablo 60C before I bought the 100 that had a serious power tube meltdown after about 4 months. I spoke to Jeff Genzler and was assured that the issue would be resolved by the weekend. The store were I bought it happened to have another and Mr. Genzler authorized the dealer to exchange it without making me ship it back for warranty. I had a new amp within 24 hours of the meltdown. By the way I was told that it was only the second major malfunction that they had had with that chassis. Warranty period is 3 years which is incredible for a tube amp.(Hughes & Kettner is 90 days)This service heavily influenced my decision to go with Genz-Benz again when I wanted to up-grade to a larger, more powerful rig. If I could give a rating of 11 or 12 for service I would. I'll have to settle for 10.

The only other amp I might consider is a Peavey JSX but it doesn't have reverb.

Just look at the other reviews. As for the reverb, its pretty crappy.

I'm a rather picky guitarist, so when it comes to tone, its hard for me to find one thats near what I want. With this amp you can definitely get a lot of different tones. Only problem is the tonal quality isn't all that great. I play eighties shred-metal type stuff, and this amp isn't too terribly great at getting a shred-friendly tone. I use an Ibanez JEM, and this amp sounds brittle and harsh as hell. That may be partially due to the fact that the JEM has the hottest pickups known to man, but even when I played it through my 1969 Goldtop Les Paul (which has always given me warm, buttery tone), I encountered the same problem. I have to use a Boss e.q. pedal to get close to the crunch that I want without getting really honky-sounding mids, the bass is too muddy, and the treble is really tinny and thin sounding. I play through a Diezel 4x12" cabinet, so its not a problem with my cabinet at all. The distortion isn't horrible, but its not anywhere near as warm as I'd like it to be, and I've been twisting knobs for the better part of a year trying to get the tone that I want. I'm still not even close. And that's just for the hot channel! The clean channel on this amp is totally worthless. Even through the neck pickup on the Les Paul and my Eric Clapton strat, the tone is brittle and tinny. No SRV chunk to this amp. I hate to give the tone such a bad review, but I feel that a four is what it deserves.

Even though this amp lacks in the tone department, this thing is built like a tank. The handles in the side really help carrying it around, and the amp has had any problems in the year that I've had it. Haven't had to change tubes or anything. I would, and have gigged with this amp without a backup. If only it had some friggin' tone...

Genz-Benz has without a doubt the best customer service that I've ever dealt with. I emailed Jeff Genzler himself with a couple questions about the amp, and he responded to me within the hour. And this was even on a Sunday. I've never had to get the amp serviced, but from the other reviews, I can tell that wouldn't be a problem at all. Again, if the tone from this amp was any better, I wouldn't have any problems at all.

I've been playing all my life (more then 20 years), and although this amp rates very highly in all the other departments, it lacks in the most important-tone. I would recommend this amp to everyone if it just had some friggin' tone! The blue lights look totally amazing, and the amp is so reliable. In summary, this amp is one of the best I've ever owned, except that it sounds like crap. Try it for yourself and see what you think. Maybe you'll have better luck.

This is an update on my previous review.

I've now used my genz on a recording and on a couple of gigs too, i've been more than impressed with its sound. It doesnt actually make a bad noise at all, the eq controls are so responsive but never seem to lose the direction of the amp. I'm now using it with an esp viper301ltd, its so bloody quiet, theres little or no hum at all. Before i'd described the sound as a bit mesa/marshall/5150, but in all honesty its a lot more than that, it has a unique drive sound thats wide and articulate, it retains clarity no matter how much gain you pump through it. I've taken to using the drive channel in its classic mode and cranking the attack round to half way, i dont use the channels switch at all so i havent really played with the clean sounds, although the clean did get used on our latest recording (the other guitarist used it over his engl), it was a good clean sound pretty similar to an all valve fender pro-sonic i'd say. I'd recommend this amp to anyone whos tired of hearing marshalls, mesas, 5150s and all the new breed 100w heads, it has a real individual voice that cuts through any mix. I've also found that it sounds alot better through the marshall cabs as opposed to the mesa ones, it just gives a better more cutting sound thats of more use to me.

No problems at all yet, great build quality!

This really is a great amp for modern and classic rock sounds, its got more gain and bottom end than any amp i've ever used, its loud and its built extrememly well. Theres not much more you could ask from an amplifier really, ok, its a bit ugly but at least it dares to be different.

Clean, Vintage Clean, Distortion, Compressed Distortion, Raw Distortion, Tone Controls, Tube Contour, Pan Reverb, Bias Settings, Attack Modifier, 100/50 watt switch, 4/8/16 ohm switch, Looks Cool @ Night...

Use Gretsch 6117. I play modern rock. Not very noisy. I think this amp has a sound all its own. The distortion is better than anything I've heard and in a class all its own. The clean channel is very smooth and will break up in "vintage" mode. It is easy to dial in just about any cabinet with the tone controls. This amp is will make its mark in modern rock.

Haven had it very long.

3 year warranty.

Been playing 10 years. Owned/Own 59 Bassman, Marshall Bluesbreaker, Peavey 5150, Gretsch 6117, Gretsch Firebird, Tacoma acoustics, Takamine acoustics, Jackson electrics, Fender Telecasters. If it were stolen or lost, I would definately replace it. I have been searching for a 100w 2 channel amp for a month or so. I tried the Peavey 6505, Mesa Dual Rectifier, Peavey JSX, & Marshall TSL 2000. At first I was not sold on this amp because I tried it w/ a Hot Rodded Zakk Wylde guitar at the store and it sounded a little odd. I came back w/ my Gretsch 6117 and was blown away by the sound of this amp. I would definately suggest being selective w/ the type of guitar used.