Genz Benz El Diablo Head

They've been listed enough.

First of all, to all these "metal heads" out here than know absolutely nothing about tone, go buy a 6505+, crank your gain all the way up, and play whatever you want, no one will hear a single note you play. This is an amp for an actually talented guitar player. I'm using a Schecter C-1 Classic, and I play metal, death metal, metalcore, rock, blues, jazz, pretty much everything under the sun, and this amp performs like no other. I have a triple rectifier that can not tonally compete with this amp. The bass response when you get the volume up there is just thunderous, not to mention the G-Flex cab can handle a huge amount of volume and push out a ton of bass. I never turn my gain to full, it's unnecessary, you can get an amazing smooth, powerful, distorted tone without having to do so. I bought this back in February 09 and still love changing up the settings to see if I can find something even better, this amp is virtually limitless. I've heard terrible complaints about it, but when you actually own one and actually want your own tone, you'll find they're all bull ***t. If you want to sound like every other mediocre guitarist, get some turbo charged gain head, if you want your own unique sound and want to be able to hear every note and every dynamic of your picking, go with the El Diablo.

As with any tube amp head, never go to a gig without a spare power amp and a fuse. You never know if you're going to blow one out. However, other than that, neither I nor one of my acquaintances who also owns one have never had an issue. It is build like a tank, and though I still don't let other people move the head, the handles on it make me alot less worried if someone were to try and move it.

Never had to deal with them. From what I hear, they seem to be the best in the business. Then again, smaller companies usually care far more about your business than let's say, Peavey or Marshall.

Like I said, it bests my triple recto, it has a powerful, tight low end, and it's all about finding your own sound, not about getting something with one programmed sound and being a clone of everyone else out there.

Just about all the things your going to need for any style of music.

FIRST OFF, I'm going to clarify some stuff in here right not. There are lots of people in here who say this amp does not have enough gain. Or that this amp sounds like s***. Let me start off by saying, that the people who post these things are either A) haters or B) rookie guitar players who got into metal last week and want massive gain to cover up bad playing. A bad guitar player is a bad guitar player. No matter what amp or guitar. This amp has GREAT distortion and has LOTS of gain. You can play any style of music on this amp. From Coroner thrash metal to Skid Row to Jerry Reed. The cleans are what you would expect. It's not the most amazing clean, but sure as hell is a lot smoother and open than the Marshalls I got. But this amp is made to be played loud and with heavy music. I dont drop tune to C or anything like that. I play in Eb and this is a amp that I really work well with. Unlike other amps, the knobs actually do something. You have to realllly sit and tweak this amp. I am sure anyone will get a really great sound. And really, I found this amp for $700 almost mint. You cant find an amp like this for that price. PERIOD. THE ONLY THING I DID NOT LIKE, was the stock tubes. Honestly, they have to go. If you get this amp, before you start playing it, change the tubes. I changed them to special tubes and they are amazing.

still works great.

This is a players amp. You can play great metal music with this amp. You have to be a good player to play this amp. Or else your going to sound like crap. I have a modded Crate that has more gain than 100 marshalls combined and I am not kidding. I have so much gain on this amp that I modded, that the gain knob on 9 O'clcok is just useless...no one needs that kind of amp. The El Diablo is a solid working amp that can easily cover extreme music to rock to blues. If you get a good deal like I did. grab it and change ur tubes.

reviewing this amp for the second time. i didnt know what i was talking about the first time so here goes.

2005 or 2006 model. i put JJ 6l6 tubes in it for more gain and a better metal sound. fortunately this didnt take away from the clean channel at all.

I use this amp on 100 watt setting 100% of the time now, 50 sounds washy and half ass.

9/10 because of the time it takes to find the sound.
sensitive dials make for a articulate sound, dont just turn them and get pissed because it doesnt sound good. trust me, i did that for almost a year.

Dont be fooled. This amp has tons of gain, especially with the tubes i put in it. let it warm up. turn it on standby, make some coffee or walk your dog, start playing and you'll know the true sound of the amp.

channel 1: warm. it's like two channels in one. engage the vintage button and it makes a natural jangle clean baby spanking sound into a balls to the wall crunch. best clean i've ever heard, period. Clearest crunch i've ever heard, too. throw some reverb on there, and you've got yourself a clean that is unequaled...the on-board reverb is one of my favorite features.

channel 2: hot. Woah. someone ******** with my dials at band practice one day and i could tell, but it was still a brutal sound. Watch out for the 'tube contour' dial, i advise never turning it past 1 o'clock. It adds a lot of hair and makes any chord sound like a 100 square foot window being shattered. My settings, with the above listed tubes are somewhers around BASS 8 o'clock, MID 7 o'clock, and TREBLE 4 o'clock. seems very typical, but the sound is unique and can be changed with a single click of any of hte other dials. The mids are too much on this amp. I had to turn them way down to not sound crispy, but thats for a good chunky hard rock/metal tone.

Global attack: never use this. no opinion, no idea how to make it sound decent at all.


ever all, this amp does everything. better than a dual rec in some aspects, especially the clean channel and being able to cut through the mix. I want an engl fireball, but then again i dont want to part with this amp because i'll probably regret it when i start playing more mellow stuff to get chicks or something.

yea, just yesterday i was playing really loud and the amp went half-power or something, i pounded the top with my fist and it came back, i think a tube or wire came loose because it was so hot. this amp is reliable, it wont break, you wont ever drop it because of the handles, i just htink mine is old, and very used.

one day i called genz benz, their headquarters is in texas or something. Got a voicemail the first time because it wasnt during office hours. Next day, guess who picks up...Jeff genzler himself haha. he answers my question about biasing tubes and even offers me a footpedal at 20 percent off.

no warranty, no repairs done under warranty, no authorized dealers nearby. not in wenatchee washington, its a miracle we even have a music store.

i've been playing for 6 years, i pick up a guitar almost every day. i own a little vox vt30 or whatever with the preamp tube in it, and i use that when i'm not stage-volume, then i use my one and only half cab setup. genz benz el diablo 100 on a oversized mesa cab.

i love that i've finally found the sounds i've always wanted out of this amp, and they are better than i couldve ever imagined. i hate that it took me almost two years and 200 dollars in repairs to get that.

i compare it to a mesa dual rec, i've jammed with a guy who had the whole mesa half stack deal and a awesome les paul, and my setup was neck and neck with his, and this was before i had my whole sonic epiphany and found the holy grail sound of the amp.

i wish it had...oh wait it does have everything, nevermind.

buy this amp, replace the tubes immediately. be satisfied, because its not the amp, its you not being patient and letting it warm up long enough and not taking your time, moving the knobs one click at a time.

Tube Amp Head
switchable between El34 and 6L6 (although the EL34 is recommended in the manual)

Two channels with two choices each. Basically there are Four total tones selections. There is a boost switch (global attack) and the compression switch (which is awesome might i add)

100/50 watt switch for a different more grunty distortion.

I've had this amp for several years now and Ive been through almost every possible setting. This amp is a dream to fiddle with and come up with tones.

I have quite the variety of guitars. Schecter with EMG's, AMerican Strat with Hot gold Lace, P-90 Sidejack, Epiphone Sheraton II and several Baritones. running the gamut tonally here. High quality guitars to mid level champs.

I play alot of rock based music, everything from actual punk not that fallout boy crap, instrumental rock, shoegaze, a bit of metal etc...

at times the amp can be a tad noisy but that really seems to stem from the guitar your using. With one of my nicer guitars its practically silent.

Tones:
im going to break the tones down as such
A1 the standard clean sound, not over gained. I actually dont use it too much as it is pretty standard for a clean EL34 sound. It needs a bit of pushing to really shine. So use you boost pedals on a low gain boost or simple turn the gain knob and add some of that sparkle.
A2 This is main personal main clean sound. Its alot more touch responsive than A1 as it is further up on the gain ladder and the tone really shines here.


Distortion: i want to explain something here before moving on. This amp is not for your standard rediculous high gain sludge fest. This amp has something called...TONE...say it with me. TONE. goooood. Ok im not saying marshalls and mesas are no good but this amp is designed to give you tone that fills the room not overgained sludge that splits the ear. If you want a marshall...get a marshall..i have one too.
B1 Medium gain, very full. I love that the controls are based on + and - not 1-10. This means 12 o clock is a flat EQ and 1 o clock is added EQ etc..I like a nice middy distortion here, sounds very natural and is great for all around rocking. Also takes nicely to boost pedals and light overdrives.
B2 Love this channel, as i said before, its NOT super high gain, its just more full. When i played with my baritones on this channel people would come up to me after the show and just ask "what the f**k....that was awesome" Best description is FULL and POWERFUL.

this thing is a brute.

A BRUTE I SAY!

Jeff Genzler is the man and responded to my emails personally and within a few hours of me sending it.

I've been playing music for over 10 years. I have had a variety of amps and guitars. Currently my set up is a Vox AC30 CC2X and the El Diablo. And i have no plans on ever changing it. I wouldnt mind having Four individual channels to tweak but thats me basically wishing i could afford some boutique **** like a Diezel. This is a working mans amp

Two channel amp, reverb, contour knob, attack knob, 5 button footswitch, Svetlana EL34 tubes and switchable to 6L6's, and a TON of other features.

I would like to clear some things up that have pissed me off reading a lot of these other reviews. THIS AMP IS MADE FOR METAL. I simply cannot believe the people that say it isn't made for playing heavy styles. Obviously, these people played it for 10 minutes in a music store with the volume on half of one, without knowing how to turn the knobs properly, and then come home and write a review saying it's not a metal amp.

What I like about this amp is that is does NOT sound like a Marshall or a Mesa at all. It doesn't have any British vibes and it's worlds away from that hollow Dual Rectifier sounds everyone loves. It definitely has that boutique amp flavor without being horribly overpriced like a Bogner or Diezel.

I play Death Metal tuned down to B (real Death Metal like Asphyx, Bolt Thrower, Grave, Necros Christos, Winter, Mythic, etc) and the El Diablo sounds like a tank. It's also absurdly loud with the volume on 2. It's also MUCH quieter than most other amps if you have a decent pickup and don't stand right in front of it.

The clean channel is also very good and the reverb is plenty unlike a lot of amps where you wish it went up a couple notches more on the dial.

I would like to mention, if you plan to play HEAVY stuff with this, that you NEED a good cab. I'm playing it through a 400 watt Celestion Fender MH cab and it sounds great. If you try to play it through a Peavey type cab (which I have) it just eats the speakers alive. I would like to try the matching G-Flex cab someday, but I don't want to spend that much on a cab, so I'm happy with my Fender cab now.

I bought it used and have had no problems. It seems very solid and I don't picture any problems more than maybe blowing a fuse here and there.

Never had to deal with them, but I've read they are quite helpful. If I ever have problems, it's nice to know I can call them up and ask questions.

I have waaaaay more amps and guitars than anyone needs, but this is one of the best purchases I've ever made. If you bought it for the new price of $1400 it might not have been an amazing deal, but the fact you can get them used on eBay or Craigslist for less than $700 makes this a STEAL as far as boutique quality amps go.

I recently picked up a used B-52 AT-100 head which is also a very good head for the money.. But, after getting this Genz Benz, I'm going to sell it and grab another El Diablo. I really like the sound, character, and sonic destruction the amp puts out, and although I buy lots of gear and sell almost as much, I plan on keeping this one around for a looooooooong time.

As an owner of this amp for a number of years, I would like to give some advice about this amp. I always felt something was missing from the sound, as it had a crackly/ fizzy sound mixed in with the distortion, which always left me unsatisified. However, I finally figured out what was wrong.

1) CHECK YOUR AMP BIAS! My bias was way (read: WAYYYYYY) out of bias range (and was ever since I first got it). If yours is in range, adjust it to other mA values in tube range until you eliminate the fizzy/ brittle distortion. This finally took this amp to a new level for me. Also: YOU CANNOT SIMPLY FLIP THE EL34/ 6L6 SWITCH TO GET CORRECT BIAS when changing tube type (accompanying trim pot must be ajusted). I tried that earlier today with a multimeter to check, and it is not that straight forward. Though my bias was WAYYY off since I first bought the amp, so have things checked, even if you've never flipped the bias switch.

2) Have your guitars set up correctly. This amp is VERY sensitive to guitar setup. Pickup height, etc...

Hope this helps some people who have the same issues as I did. Now the high ratings for this amp make sense to me.

I'm lazy and they have been listed time and again.

This is why im writing this.

i hated this amp with the stock tubes...but i got an awesome deal.

change V1 to a lower output and the cleans are amazing.

my clean channels would break up at any setting and sound harsh and just plain hurt my ears...i put a groovetubes 12aU7 in V1 jj 12ax7 in v2 and a groovetubes 12ax7r-2 in v-3... i still want to change to 6L6 powertubes but i really like this amp now

seems to be good

customer support has been good..i still need the footswitch.

This amp was made in 2006.

The great thing about the El Diablo is that it is like having 4 amps in one. It's probably one of the most versatile amps I have ever encountered.

It has more features on it than I can list.

It is switchable from 50 to 100 watts so you can adjust the power level to your liking.

Mine came with EL-34 tubes. However with it has a switch so you can easily put in 6L6 tubes.

I use many types of guitars, Strats, Les Pauls, Hollowbodys, and a Gretsch. I play any and all types of Rock.

This amp can be used for just about any style due to its versatility.

If you read all the previous posts/ reviews about this amp you will see that peoples' opinions are all over the place. As someone who worked in a music shop that was a Genz Benz dealer, and who owns an El Diablo, I think I have found the problem. The problem is not the amp itself, but the G-Flex cabinet. The first time I ever played this amp I thought it was the biggest waste of money ever made. All I could hear was the mids, even when they were turned all the way down. If I had of written a review of this amp back then, I would have ripped it a new one. I'm glad I didn't. When I matched this amp with my Marshall 1960A cabinet with the standard Celestion G12-75 watt speakers, the El Diablo came alive. I couldn't believe it was the same amp. I also tried it with Warehouse Guitar Speakers Veteran 30's (Celestion Vintage 30 copies) and it sounded just as great. If you test drive this amp, make sure you use a Marshall or Laney type cabinet.

Also remember when test driving one to see what types of tubes are in it. With a flip of a switch you can change the tubes from EL-34's to 6L6's. My came equiped with EL-34's. When reading someone elses review of the El Diablo check what tubes where in the model they were playing. It might explain the differences in opinion.

The first thing I learned about this amp is that, the tone controls are the most sensitive of any amp I have ever played. You really have to dial in your tone. I personally like that. My Marshall JCM 900 SL-X's tone controls are totally useless. You have to take what it gives you. The El Diablo on the other hand has a huge (and I mean huge) wide range of adjustment on the tone controls.



There are two channels, warm and hot. However each channel has 2 channels within it for a total of 4 channels. On the warm side is clean and vintage. The clean reminds me a an old Silvertone amp. Not an exact copy, but that kind of smooth clean. The vintage reminds me of an older Marshall amp from the 60's. On the hot side is the classic gain, which is just about identical to a Marshall JCM 900 SL-X. The High Gain channel combined with the compression switch is close to Mesa type distortion. If you put the tone controls like the death metal dudes (highs and lows all the way to 10, mids all the way down to 0) you can get into some serious Pantera territory. I don't know how anyone could say this amp doesn't have enough distortion (I'm referring to another players previous review). Maybe they had an impedance mismatch, but play one for yourself, and you'll see that it's got more than enough distortion.

The clean channel stay's clean (from the amp.) Remember a lot of your clean tones come from the speakers not overdriving so quick.

The distortion can be brutal, but with the help of the compression switch it isn't muddy.

The only strike I can give is that my amp had an issue with blowing out fuses. I took it in, and the pro audio repairman said that it wasn't the amp so much as it was the tubes that came in it. They had a problem with not being as matched up as they should have been. It was an easy fix. The tubes were changed, and the amps bias was checked. It has worked fine ever since. Oh, and the warrenty covered the work and parts 100%.

I have to give them a 10 based on Genz Benz standing behind their warrenty 100%. Genz Benz has always been a good company for helping customers. They have a lot of authorized service centers so finding one was no problem. In fact the place that worked on it was 1/4 of a mile from where I bought it.

I have been playing music 20 years, and guitar 10 years. I own more gear than I really should.

I would definately replace this amp with another El Diablo head if mine quit working.

One of the neat perks of this amp is the blue color that it glows. It's just a nice touch.

There are two things on this amp that I don't particually hate, but I don't feel they are need to be on it. I'm referring to the attack control and tube contour control. I think they could do without both. Another thing that isn't really an issue, but I think I should mention is that that mids are a little strong. You can turn down the mids, and it will be fine. However, I thought I should mention it.

This amp has everything and more on it. I don't know if there's anything else that can be put on it.

I know I said it before, but if you test drive this amp, skip the G-Flex cabinet. Go with a Marshall, Laney, or Celestion loaded cabinet. It will make a world of difference.

this amp has a **** load of features
clean channel with classic/vintage settings
dirty channel with dynamic/compressed, high gain settings along with a tube countour knob
global attack switch for a boost
blue LEDs that look siiick!

my axe of choice is a Charvel AK for hard rock/metal/and jazzy bluesy things. the genz has a very warm and gentle clean tone..very delicate with the right eq settings. i love it honestly, and it breaks up superbly when things get rough. the dirty channel....well i found to realize the true tone of this amp you need to play it LOUD. yes at a low volume, it sounds muddy, mediocre, almost *****y. i actually don't mind it at low volumes, you gotta play with the eq, and have the right guitar if you're looking for a metal tone. that's what seems to be the problem most reviewers are complaining about. with my setup(which is guitar straight into the amp) its punchy, tight, hot and heavy. very pleasing to my ears. the only thing minor problem with them amp...is the treble. it's very hard to get a screaming pinch harmonic. this amp makes p.h.s sound like dog whistles...greg howe like which is kinda cool(greg howe is the **** go listen to him right now)

seems like it. the handles help me sleep at night cuz i know that there isn't a strip in the middle that might give out next time i pick it up.

never dealt with them but i hear they're excellent. and that jeff genzler will give you a new amp if yours is having trouble. that sounds good to me

i've read the reviews and it appears that players either love it or hate it. i've had this amp for 2 years before i was happy with the way it sounded. i absolutely love it. i found my tone. i'll admit i was unhappy with the way it sounded for the longest time, but i tweaked and tweaked and tweaked(the amp) and i finally got it. i've been playing for almost 8 years and i've gone to every music store and played other amps for hours and hours. i knew there was something special about this amp, it's very unique, not mainstream and you can find your true colors through it. give it a try, just remember to blast that **** all over the punks at guitar center

Alot of features including reverb and compression

Good for cleans, fairly good for old rock, TERRIBLE for new metal tones. Hardly any gain, quite noisy, terrible bass response - I had to turn the bass down to 0.5 so that my sound wouldnt resonate and sound so muddy. Generally not a good amp for metal AT ALL - the opposite of smooth!

Im not sure, but it looks fairly reliable

It looks appealing to the metal heads out there, but in this case, looks are deceiving!

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.

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.

Not as many features as i in my old amp, but alot for a tube amp.

I use a prs custom 24 brizilian limited with vitage bass pick and
hfs treble.

i just got this amp not to long ago. before i used a vetta 2
witch is a great amp, but this thing is even better
i use a line 6 vetta 4x12 cab puts out tons of highs and lows

I play mostly metal/metalcore/hardcore/ lots of blues and some punk
it can do any sound i want from trashy treble to
heavey f***ing metal and the clean is freaking awsome
i like more than fender amps lot of bass and lush

i just got this amp not to long ago. befor i used a vetta 2
witch is a great amp, but this thing is even better

the distortion is like marshall but better

it fell once i thought it would be messed up for shure .
I pluged it up stil worked fine

bottom line its the best amp ive ever played
ive played mesa ,mrashall,krank,peavey jsx,line 6 vetta 2,
line 6 hd 147,and rolland

All been listed before

I'm using this head with an Ibanez artist, gordon smith gs1 custom and a fender tc90 thinline. Most of the music i play is melodic rock / post hardcore and for that type of music this amp is really good. The head is put through a standard marshall jcm800 cabinet and the sounds i'm acheiving are wider than vanessa feltz. The sound is somewhere between a mesa and a marshall with a bit of 5150 thrown in for the bottom end, although it does have plenty of its own charactor to experiment with. I dont really do a great deal of cahnnel switching, so most of my stuff is on the drive channel, the clean channel sounds very good though and opens out nicely with a bit of reverb.

Brilliant build quality and the layout of the pre-amp valves surely means almost solid state style reliability.

Customer support is very good.

Its a bloody brill amp, so much better than the marshalls, mesas and peaveys that i have been using. I tried out so many amps before i got this one, i was all set on getting the engl powerball but this head blew it away with its more versatile controls and that valuable half power switch. I'd recommend this amp to anyone whos playing up-tempo rock, its got a vast array of sounds and its a bit different to all the mesas. Its a great amp, hear it at www.myspace.com/thefirst

Anyone who has read the other reviews or looked at the amp already knows its a two channel (plus "global attack" volume boost) high gain head with a number of special features - vintage gain boost on warm channel, hot and compressed switches on the hot channel. Individual channel and global effects loops. And as before mentioned the sexy blue LEDS inside the head.
I've had this amp for about 6 months and I play in a frequently gigging cover band that does 30 years of covers - so versatility is a must for me. It needs to be noted that I had to add two different stomp boxes to the front of this amp in order to get the variety of gain tones that I require. While the amp is capable of 5 different switchable sounds, not including the global attack, these sounds affect the presentation of the gain structure VERY little. The vintage gain is an extension of the warm channel top end, and both options on the hot channel take you from Genz Benz gain to Genz Benz gain-ier - as where the gain switch options on a Dual Recto head actually change the gain presentation.
Just don't be fooled, as good as the amp sounds, it is a one trick pony. I'm somewhat confused by other reviews stating that it is quite versatile?

A very important note on this amp is that its enviroment, the instrument plugged into it, the use of the effects loop, pedals in the signal path, even the cables you use WILL affect the tonal pallet of the amp. I've owned MANY amplifiers (marshalls, boogies, peaveys, etc) and I've NEVER seen an amp change so very completely from guitar to guitar. If going to the store to try one out, take YOUR guitar - or you will be dissapointed.
The overall feel of the amp is a hot-rod Marshall. There's no mistake that its in the EL34 family. The gain structure is not tight and compressed but rather brown and clumsy. Your technique will NOT be clouded by the gain - you will hear everything that you do clearly through the distortion. The amp is extremely quiet at the same time, no need for a noise gate here unless you use effects that make racket. The clean channel will break up (ala Plexi) when its cranked. I wouldn't recommend the amp for any kind of metal players - the gain structure is too muddy to give your mutes any definition. But for rock, blues, jazz - this amp is killer.

Genz Benz has had some reliability issues in the past. I own the head (current review) as well as the 112 60 watt combo. I havent had any problems with the head yet but the combo did shed a tube the first month I owned it.

Genz Benz IS one of the best amp companies you will deal with. It is not uncommon for Jeff Genzler to answer the phone (owner). I wanted to try some different preamp tube configurations and Jeff gladly sent me some different tubes that he keeps at Genz Benz to try out. Good people.

At heart I think I'm a Boogie man and in the future I will probably go that way again - but if you're into creamy tones and an excellent quality amp - this amp will work very well for you.

At first I was a little sketchy about the lack of a lead channel, that was until I clicked on the global attack. It really sends you above and beyond for that perfect solo sound. AND THE HANDLES!!!! None of the rubber handle crap across the top of the head, this has metal handles built right in. its nice carrying your head around, not depending upon a piece of rubber and two screws.

Some people have been mentioning not really getting bottom end, my other guitarist uses a B-52 which produce serious amounts of bottom end and this amp will rumble back to where it came from. Maybe its the your cabinets. I play through the B-52 cabinet because of the low end it is able to produce. I do agree it is touchy about the types of pickups you use. I'm getting a dimebucker for better pinch harmonic definition along with a pair of celestions to fine tune the cabinet. All in all the head is pretty much ready to go, but you may need to make a few changes to perfect your overall tone.

I can't really say yet, because everything is 100% reliable until it malfunctions for the first time. so far no trouble at all.

no experience.

This amp is the best thing to have ever happend to my guitar and if someone stole it, I'd strap them to a chair, hook up 2 4x12 cabs and crank the amp to ten, turn the lows all the way down and the highs all the way up, and play the 24th fret on the high e string until there head burst.

When I tryed out this amp in the shop it was amazing - the sound was more appealing than a mesa.
HOWEVER, I took it home and tryed it out again, and it sounded like SHIT.
I think the guitar/pickups you use with the amp will make a HUGE impact on the sound its going to give you.
I tryed it out with a John Petrucci Music Man in the shop, and it gave me the most awesome solo sound, but when i played it with my ibanez rg570 (with evolutions), the distortion wasnt clear - it just sounded like fuzz - it was realy rough, dirty and very buzzy - also very mid range and not much presence. It sounded so awefull i couldnt play it.

make sure you try out the guitar/pickups your going to use with the genz benz before you buy it.

this amp was made in 04, it doesent have the bias adj. pot outside the chassis like the new ones.( a much needed feature for me.

my music style is van halen to late 20th century rock,this amp is a killer amp, very unique tones as well as hod rodded marshall EVH and recto, mark 1v as well, it is very loud. 2 channels + the add to switchs on the hot channel. IT GLOWS BLUE-----SOO COOL

GEAR 3 olp evh musicmans tone zones bridge air nortons neck
oh yea, with floyds x3.
one of the best, its no noisier than other hi watt heads
can even do a hot rodded ac30tb killer overdrive like brian may on hammer to fall or one vision.
its own tone very special can be very warm and brown with tons of sustain at more tha level 2 on volume.
can be very hot recto.
very marshall as well
you can hear your strings and not buzzy

talked tom jeff personally today, the owner Mr Jeff Genzler, i advised him on my concern on there was no bias adj pot. he advised to have store order another one and swap them and if there was a issue he would make it happen cant get any better

been playing 20 + years have had the best........ these rock i give them 11 in every catagory .............and did i mention it glows blue........

If you have read the previous reviews, you probably already know, but anyway:

2 channels: warm(clean to mild overdrive with "vintage" switch)and hot which follows from where the warm channel leaves off.Also has a global channel which contains the master volume and reverb and volume level of the volume boost.

Effects loop for each channel

50/100 watt power switch

Last but not least, the very sexy blue lights inside the head.

I use this amp with an Epiphone Les Paul Standard, a G&L Legacy,and a Gibson Blueshawk, all of which are completely stock.The sound quality is phenomenal.Though I mostly use it for blues and classic rock styles (Led Zep,Jimi,SRV,Cream,Stones etc.) it can definately handle metal. I typically run the hot channel with the gain on about 5, sometimes more sometimes less as I am still trying to find all the possible sounds I can pull out of this thing. This amp can pretty well nail any tone from any amp, whether it is a twin or and old SUPERLEAD OR JCM800.The high gain and compression settings add even more to all the possible settings.

I have only owned it about a month, but it seems it is very well built. Sure looks like it could handle some road abuse. No problems yet(knock on wood).

Though i havent had any problems yet, I have come in contact with Genz Benz. All i needed was an owners manual and the warranty cards for the head and matching G-FLEX cab that my local store owner forgot to give me. They told me they would send me what I needed and sure enough it arrived about five days later. They even threw in a Genz Benz bumper sticker, which was pretty cool. If you are in need of just a manual however, you can just print it from their website.

I have only been playing about three years, but i usually average 2-3 hours of playing a day, usually a little less when school is in session. I also once owned a TSL 602, which was a total waste of time and money. If it was stolen, i would probably hunt down the theif and well... you know(not that perverts). I wasnt exactly for the looks at first, but they have grown on me, especially the previously stated super sexy blue lights. I have to admit that I was saving for a Plexi reissue but I saw this on clearance and thought "what the hell, why not" so I played it and was instantly in love. Great job Genz Benz on a great sounding, well built,well priced amplifier!

made 2004-05. this amp, bottom-line kicks a**. i play a variety of mucic on an off and on 20+ yrs, finally an amp that does it all. cleans are great. the gain channels, in short, sell all marshalls, mesa boogers,etc. i use the amp at home to get the neighbors attention, ha!ha! the ruby tubes do a great job i usually swap for groove tubes, not this time. with a little tweeking with the dials, found the sound. can't ask for a better or more versitle amp. GREAT JOB for genz benz. rock on

i have 30 guitars, different types, from the great strat, to les paul re-issues, and eveything in between. stock single coils to seymour duncan heavy metal live-wires ( which eat up EMGs )which i also have. the amp is quiet on all settigs which i am happy about. no outrageous hummmmmm! bottomline, every setting on this el diablo works out fine. i took a chance buying it, without hearing it first. i'm glad i did.

i've only had the amp a week. its built like a tank. i work for guitar center, and i see amps and gear all day long. in my opinion, these genz benz amps and cabs, i have a 2x12 and 4x12, i think all others should be built to these standards.

haven't had to use yet. but i've called for a catalog, and it was sent out quickly. and the people on the phone very nice.

my overall on this super rig, el diablo 100 head, g-flex 4x12 and 2x12. doesn't get any better than this. everything about it, thumbs up. if it got stolen, i would hunt the theif down, and you can figure it out from there. i have a friend i jam with, that owns a marshall TSL100, he is aching to put each of our rigs head to head. the genz benz will eat his amp up. i just plan on using my 2x12 g-flex cab. i will update on that duel. bottomline if you dont own a genz benz, and are on the band wagon of marshall and mesa booger, come to reality, try one of these monsters out. you will change and get off the wagon. my marshalls are collecting dust.

All the features have been covered already. The 50w/100w power switch and bias switch is sweet. This amp has more than enough power for sure. It is loud, even at 50w!

The amount of sounds this amp puts out is amazing. I have only used EMG active pickups with it, so that is what the sound is based on. The clean (warm) is crystal clear, but you can increase the gain on it to get a different sound. The hot channel is just as good as the warm. It can cover anything from Hendrix to AC/DC to Metallica to Mudvayne. It is not noisey without a suppressor, but I do use one because of all the pedals I use. The clean breaks up nicely and the distortion is quite brutal, but not flubby. If you want flubby mess, get a messie boogie.

This thing is heavy and is built incredibly well. It's very solid and the handles are very nice on it. You feel very secure if you have to move it around.

It just simply does not get any better than Genz Benz in this area. Jeff is a very nice guy and will bend over backwards for his customers.

This is a great sounding amp. I don't see how anyone could rate this thing as low as some have and that's why I submitted this review. They are entitled to their opinion, but don't let those sway you when the majority say nothing but positive things. You can get any sound you want out of this amp, but at the same time it doesn't sound like everything else. I have owned Peavey, Mesas, Marshalls, etc and this is right up there with most of them and better than many of them. Oh and by the way, this is the best looking amp I've ever seen. When lit up, it puts a blue pattern on the wall...everyone I've shown this amp to comment on how cool it looks. Then they hear it and just smile. =)

Great features for a tube head, the attack and contour knobs are very useful. Seperate effects loops for each channel or one global loop. Amazingly clean channel switching, it is completely SILENT. And who can resist that awesome blue glow.

I run a Gibson SG Special with EMG 81s or an Ibanez SZ320, Shure UHF wireless, Genz Benz El Diablo 100 (BBE sonic Maximizer & Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor in Global FX Loop), split between a Peavey 5150 Straight 4x12 and a Genz Benz G-Flex 2x12. This amp is purely amazing, the cleans go to heaven and never distort, the gain is flippin' brutal, F the Rectos, this thing pull of the sound the right way. I play mostly Hardcore (comeback kid, bane, give up the ghost) and Grindcore (between the buried and me, bury your dead, modern life is war) and this amp does this sound right.

If you think Peavey builds tanks, you'd be hard pressed to bust this amp. The side handles are well designed, most people look at it as an inconveinence; but they're there to keep the amp from being banged in to shit that would snap the tubes out of their sockets.

Never dealt with them but I've heard great things

They just plain old did this one right. I've gone through a Fender head, a Peavey XXL, and a Peavey 5150 and they just didn't cut it, I can't emphasize how much you should gett one of these.

I just wanted to say that I have owned this amp for a while now, and I have already reviewed it; this is just a follow-up. Right now, the amp sounds amazing. However, I just needed to state that I went through a period when I didn't think it sounded that great, and it confused and disappointed me, because I didn't know why... But I figured it out.
This was because of the way my GUITAR was SET UP; I had played around with my pickup height, and it made MAJOR changes in the sound of this amp. I had the guitar set up so that it did not sound good. It adjusted the pickup heights and got it to sound muddy, fizzy, blown-out, and so on. Then I decided to take the guitar to the store to get some help. The adjusted PICKUP HEIGHT and POLE MOUNT HEIGHT (much differently than I had had it, before), and the amp now sounds wonderful.
SO-- ONE THING THAT I REALLY NEED TO ADD TO THIS POST-- The way your PICKUPS are adjusted makes HUGE changes in the sound of this amp. I don't know about others, because I never really messed with the pickup height and pole mounts with other amps a lot. I had my guitar adjusted at the store a few days ago, and this amp sounds gorgeours now. Before the adjustment, I was getting a really muddy sound, and then fizzy sounds when I tried to adjust them myself on my Les Paul. The shop adjusted the pickups way differently than how I had set them, and it now sounds AMAZING!
I was just thinking that that might have something to do with some of the poor reviews of this amp, as the amp went from sounding disappointing to wonderful after the adjustment of the guitar.

+++ As a side-note, it also seems to take a bit of time to adjust to a new sound when you're used to hearing a different one. I think the body just gets used to listeing to certain aspects of the sound, and other amps can then not sound as good at first. But, boooooy, can that change! I used to play Marshall, and, at first, the Mesa tones sounded hollow. Now I think they sound fuller and great... Sometimes I think you just need to adjust a bit. Just as a side-note... They sound great, now...

Most versatile amp I have ever played. 2 basic channels Warm and Hot with Clean and Vintage on Warm Channel and a variety of combinations on the hot channel. Tons of other features which you should read about at their website or the many other reviews below mine, but this is a Cadillac when it comes to volume,tone and control features. By the way the "Blue Glow" is absolutely too cool for words. I normally don't think about this much, but it looks great on stage. It was very easy to change the power tubes to a quad of the new Mullard EL 34 (Killer) but very hard to get the preamp tube srewed down retainer loose. After struggling for a while I just pulled the amp out of the chassis.There is a switch to rebias from 6L6's to EL-34' which is brilliant.

First off, I usually don't comment on other people's reviews but there has been some extreme bashing of this amp on a couple of reviews that leave me scratching my head. I have owned many amps, '66 Fender BF Vibrolux and a '79 Marshall SuperLead 100 and sold a Marshall TSL 122 to buy this which I don't regret it in the least. I consider this "up there" and a better amp in many respects than others I've owned (a dozen or so) or played (hundred's) although all amps have limitations. I would hope that you can actually play one of these or any amp your considering buying, but in these days of E-Bay (how I bought mine) and internet discounters and not everybody being blessed with music stores that have a great variety of amps to check out this can be tough. There are some professional reviews by guitar magazines and such that are a good reference point as well and what I consider more balanced. 'Nuff said. The warm channel has Clean and Vintage. The Clean is pristine and sounds sparkly clean and beautiful. A lot of amps can never attain this wonderful tone much to my dismay. The vintage channel sounds like old Fender Blackface. I owned a '66 BF Vibrolux, a '79 Supertwin (still got it sounds fantastic with 6-count 'em-THD Yellow Jackets instead of 6L6's)and a '59 bassman RI as well as a Holland Brentwood combo that is basically like a 60's Bandmaster and Vintage is similar to those. I like this channel for Blues and Jazz and would say it's my main channel. More gain than the clean and just enough fatness to fill things out. There was kind of a volume boost I had going fom Clean to Vintage that I seemed to have calmed down by putting a NOS 5751 tube for the first preamp tube, V1. I did the same to my Holland and Bassman for the V1 spot and suggest anybody who loves a clean tone should check this option out. I also put in a quad of the new Mullard EL 34's and they are killer especially after about 20 hours break in. The amp is scarily quiet on Warm Channel (I had play somethin' to make sure it was on a couple of times)and the Hot Channel is as quiet as you'd expect and quiter than most. I think the Hot channel absolutely rocks. It also has several optional boosts you can kick on Classic or High Gain, Dynamic or Compressed. The main way I set the hot is tweaking the gain and channel volume control. There is a tube contour that set to one extreme pronounces the mids and the other direction scoops the mids. Very Sweet. The tone contols are extremely dynamic and are separate, thank God, for Warm and Hot channels. By dynamic I mean they will actually lower or increase overall amp volume. I also like the detented knobs. You want to tweak the control a litle at a time and really play with it. I use this amp with many effects mostly Keeley for OD, Fuzz and Compression and a Bi-Clone Chorus and SupaTrem and SIB Echodrive. They all sound great. I prefer going straight in but the effects loop is good for chorus tremolo and delay if you want to bypass the preamp. I leave the Global attack on all the time and it adds a little sparkle to everything, not just the screamin' rock stuff. I would recommend this amp to anybody who is into rock or blues and would go so far as saying it has great tones for Jazz. We do at least 3 jazz songs at most gigs-Blues for Alice, Take 5 and an original-my saxophone player is a Charlie Parker freak) as well but doubt any serious jazzbo would be caught dead with an amp that glows blue and is called "El Diablo". It also seems to be suited for Metal especially with the scooped mids option as well glassy clean channel, but other than the occaisional Palm Muted riff I play little Metal. I would like to give the sound category a 9.5 but that is not an option, apologizing for this in advance I will have to say 10 because of some of the extremely low scores, especially considering all of their other commments, others gave in this category. Once again my and everybody else's opinion on music and tone is s

I have had the amp for about a year and a half. I have only had one problem. The switch that changed it fromWarm to Hot was scratchy one day. It was not the footswitch but the amp itself. I took the amp out of the chassis wiggled all the tubes and put it back in and it started working again. I have gigged without a backup many times but alwasys carry spare tubes. ask mew again in ten years. Thisb is a tough category but I usually give the benefit of the doubt unless I have a reason not to.

I have asked emailed Jeff several times usually with tube questions and he has always gotten back right away. You can download thier manual on line which everybody in amp manufacturing land should have.

I have been playing over 25 years. My band "Frayed Knot" gigs and we do Jimi, Stevie, ZZ, Carlos, Nirvana, STP, Jazz, Weezer, Surf Music, Toadies, Albert King, Joe Bonamassa, Kid Rock, etc...I love this amp. I would buy it again if lost or stolen. I feel lucky that I found this amp. I am sure that there are other good amps out there that I like but most seem substantially more expensive or don't have as many options such as the great Clean and Vintage tones on the Warm channel that is a button push away. I wish more amps had clean tone this good as well as the OD High gain sounds.

I have to say it is really loaded with features. You can go from clean, to AC/DC crunch, to 80's Metal, and to High Gain Metalcore/ Death Metal. The channel switching is laid out well, and the footswitch is too. The lead boost is a really neat feature too.

Here is where I had a problem with this amp. It is really hard for me to narrow down exactly what just didn't sit right with me, but I will try my best. First of all the High Gain on the amp was not articulate and well defined distortion, it was what I call buzzy, or fizzy. I like my distortion sound to be agressive but I like to hear the notes clearly when played. I also did not like the bottom end this thing put out, to me it was not tight enough, really woofy and to loose. I was running through a Vintage 30 loaded 4 by 12 cabinet as well. The clean channel is OK but not very spanky or Fender style clean, just OK. The harmonics did not stand out enough for me, kind of weak, and to me it lacked some dynamics. By the way I sold the amp on ebay and lost some money.

To me this thing was built very good, like a tank, no qualms with build quality at all.

After I got the amp I was not that satisfied with the tone, and the loose, flabby/woofy low end. So I sent Jeff Genzler an e-mail about it explaining to him that I wanted the low end to be tightened up some. He told me to try a different preamp tube in the first position and sent me one for free. It did tighten it up some, but not enough for my liking. But his customer service was excellent, and I appreciate that. Something like this would have never happened with the Marshalls and Mesa's of the world. That is talk directly to the main man about a problem.

I have been playing for over 25 years, and I am not going to go over my equipment becasue it seems silly to me to brag about it on here. Lets just say everything I own has humbuckers in it and I play clean stuff, 80's metal, and Metalcore. It can't be stolen I sold it and I am glad it is gone now, even though I lost some bucks when I sold it on ebay. I loved the versatility of it, and I hated the tone, and buzz saw/ fizzy distortion, not articulation with distortion. I compared it to many other products, just wanted to be a little different tone wise, and the features were awesome. I would suggest to anyone that is buying this amp to listen to it first becasue you may end up with something you are not happy with. Now I have ordered a custom built Peters amp from James Peters, they are the bomb and I can't wait to get it in 4 to 5 weeks. Check out his stuff at http://www.petersamps.com

This is a 100 watts tube head. It is a real versatile one. There is two channel, Clean and distortion. The clean channel offers 2 different sounds controlled by the footswitch, one is a regular clean and the other is a bluesy crunch sound. The distortion offer 2 different sound controlled by the footswitch, one is high gain and the other is low gain. You have a reverb level for each channel and a master reverb. There is a gain and volume for each channel. There a compressor/texture feature on the distorion channel and an attack feature that boost mid freq. The footswitch control all these features. There is 3 effect loops, one for each channel and one for both. Two ouputs and other stuff on the back panel...
I forgot...most of manufacturers do not care about how the amp looks, but Genz Benz added a few features so that this head looks better than any other head. It may sounds strange but everybody talks about the looks of my amp!

My guitar is a ESP with EMG Hz pickups. My signal goes first in a standard Dunlop crybaby wha pedal, a korg pedal tuner and then right in the amp! My cabinet is a Behringer 4 x 12" (400 w).

I play most of the time metal and punk rock stuff. I really like when my lead tone screams and that my rythm tone sounds loud.

This amp is really great. I tried lots of stuff, racks and pedals, and I ended with this head. There is 3 things that is fantastic about the head.

First, I play with the gain in maximum position and with the low gain set up this amp is so quiet....it's really rare for that type of head. When you're on the high gain you can get a normal feedback that you can stop easily with you're fingers.

Second, all the possibility that you can do with the amp (that you controlled all by the footswitch). I use low gain for rythm parts, high gain for little lead parts and I just pushed the attack button (that boost the mids) of the footswitch for my solos. I always use the compressor that adds some distortion to the tone. For lead tone this amp really screams and you have a really nice natural distortion that sounds big and loud for rythm. With high gain at maximum gain you can hear every note.....as a matter of fact, I've changed the chords I used to play in lots of songs. Now I can play 6 strings instead 3 and it sounds much better.

The clean channel sounds good but I don't use it that much.

The reverb is not so good but I bought an amp not an muti-effect device. It does a regular reverb sound.

I have it since a month!

I was wondering about what settings should I use (4, 8, 16 ohms) because sometimes I use 2 cabs with different loads. I e-mail the company and Jeff Genzler answered me in less than 24h!!!

I've been playing for 9 years, I owned Fender, Boss, Crate and Rocktron amps. If it was stolen I'd sure buy another. I love the fact that I can have 3 different distortion sounds (low and high gain, and compressor) and a solo channel (attack feature) that I can controlled with a single footswitch. Great sounds with great looks !!! I'm really tired of seeing Marshall and Mesa Boogie everywhere....there are like Microsoft! I'm glad I've found a different head with a top quality sound that I'm sure I do not pay for the trademark. Great gear Genz Benz!

I won't bother to go into the features - you know them already or you can find them elsewhere. Suffice it to say that the feature set is close-to-perfect enough to rate a 10.

I use a Knopfler Signature Strat (primarily) and a modded '52 reissue Tele. The only pedals I use (or need) with this amp are a Rocktron Short Timer delay (set so fast and so low that the knobs are barely moved off minimum [so, yes, I could easily do without it]), and a George Dennis Parametric Wah/Volume. My style is eclectic and personal, think a cross between Jerry and Jimi, with some rhythm by Pete, inspired by the sitar master Nikhil Banerjee. Dig?
I like distortion - clean and crisp, with deep, nearly-out-of-control bass feedback, and lots of warble and fuzz in the mids and highs when the note decays. It's very important to me to have transparency - an odd word to apply to guitar amplification, I know - but I want to really hear what the strings and coils are doing when they interact. This amp gives me all of that, to any reasonable degree, allowing me to change exactly the right parameters to develop any subtle flavor of what I want.
I rarely use the clean channel, but it sounds nice and sweet.
I love the reverb of this amp, and the compression is excellent. I suppose one could wish for the latter to be adjustable, but that is a small point. Give me too few adjustments, and I won't be able to get what I want; too many, and I'll be fiddling with it forever.
My only other quibble whatsoever, is that the detented preamp level and master volume controls are too coarse for fine level adjustments. However, I can work around this by twiddling both of them until I get an overall volume setting I like. That said, I DO like the detented controls, because they give me, if nothing else, a feeling of accuracy. The controls on so many amps feel cheezy - these don't.
The amp exudes quality from every pore. Nothing seems overdone appearance-wise (who needs 20 lb. stainless steel faceplates that add $100 to the cost?), except perhaps for the blue interior lights - but they do look so freakin' kewl that I can forgive such a tiny lapse and just enjoy the low-rider indulgence. Compare the look of this amp to Peavey's XXX (trucker mudflap embossed naked girl face plate and "body" and "hair" controls), and you'll know right away which one you want to have representing you in front of the world. Frankly, the only drawback, marketing-wise of such a great look, is that a person might think the amp is out of their price range, as I did. If I wasn't for the heads-up by the salesman, I woulda' passed it and the Diesels by. (BTW, the salesman, whose opinion I trust, has a vintage Marshall; and when I asked him, "So, if you had to buy a new amp, which would you buy?", he unhesitatingly took me over to El Diablo. In fact, he told me personally that he would rather have the El Diablo than the Marshall but that he couldn't afford to spring for another amp just this minute. [Plus, if you ask me, the Marshall nameplate, he feels, has macho points on stage.] In fact in fact, he told me that the Diesel had, maybe, a better clean sound, but distortion-wise, they ran neck-and-neck. And the Diesel is four grand to the Diablo's $1300, the difference between which buys both my guitars)

The amp is made in Scottsdale, AZ, USA, and the owner of the company/engineer-designer is reachable on the phone. This is aside from the fact that the amp appears to be built like a municipal power station in Mordor. Time will tell if its looks are deceiving - but I don't think so. So, yes, I would take it on a gig w/o backup.

N/A

I'm no expert. I've only been playing two years, and I have not owned or even tried in-store many other amps. So I can only go on (1) what I hear when I play, and (2) my gut feelings. But I do have a great sense for music and sound, and nearly infallible instincts. Plus, I've owned more audio, electronic, speaker GEAR of every description in my 56 years that most people will ever see...and I know quality and what makes my ears purr and what makes me run for the door. This amp has all the signs of being a 1st class product - in the upper 5% of all the techno media tools I've ever owned or used - and that?s not something I say often.
Now, I only wish I had enough $$ to buy the matching cab...
Oh, and I LOVE the name!

This amp was made IN NOVEMBER 2004. This amp is very versatile. I just wished it had 3 channels. (TRUE) See below for more features.

I turned this thing on and let it warm up for about 15 minutes. (My usual ritual for my tube amps) I was blown away on how "purdy" she looks when it comes on. So now on to the next task of pluggin her in.
Wow! It doesnt sound like every other tube amp out there. It was nice. Clean channel was nice with a little bit of Chorus (MXR-134 - Latest). IF you are looking to imitate- do not buy this amp. If you do not want to sound like everyone else- get this amp. I found the same quality of sound in my Laney VH-100R. The distortion sound was excellent. I only tap my distortion pedal for the leads.(Pedal is set very low-)
I also use 2 Genz Benz G-flex 212. MY sound guy said that it sounded better then the 412. You can stack the 2 -212's or put them on opposite ends of the stage. Basically he told me that the 212's were ported perfectly. ( they did some kind of sound test with the 412)

In my living room I keep it at 50 watts so I dont get the police called me.

I like that this came with a padded cover but it looks tuff and it seems pretty solid. I have had no issues with it. Right now it is very dependable.

Have had no experience with them.

I think this amp will be the most sought after amp for years to come. Good Job Genz. The big plus is that you can switch from 50 to 100 watt by the flick of the switch.

what can I say? cheaper then a bogner, cool looks, versitile as hell, everytime I play it amazes me what I can do with this thing! 100 watts loud as hell it's just simply a balls to the wall metal amp that can be dialed back to get warm bluesy tones, to crystal clean fender tones. I'd take this amp of any others I've ever played, the only amp that would rival this for me is the bogner uberschall, but the bogner isn't as versitile. the genz is just a straight up sweetheart of an amp and a brutal mosnter.

I play everything from country to blues, to prog/power metal in the vein of iced earth and seven witches. the genz does it all. I hear people bitch about the reverb but if you turn the master reverb up and then turn the channel reverb to about 3 to get a nice spring reverb. I play a custom shop jackson warrior with 2 EMG 81's in it, a gibson V, and an assortment of gibson pauls, a couple jackson dinky's and a custom shop jackson solist. You can really dial this amp into anything. It really sings thru the emgs. You can get a mesa, marshall, carvin type sounds out of it and it's quite accurate. I use a tone that is uniquely genz. If you turn the gain all the way up on the hot channel, kick in high gain, compression turn the channel volume to 5 tube(presence) at about 8, bass on 8.5-9 mids on 3.5, and treble all the way up with the master volume on about 3.5. Really good crunchy metal tone great for pinch harmonics, sweep arpeggios, and quick modal leadwork. I use an ampeg cab loaded with v30's. great amp, especially for the price. tends to get a bit noisy at loud volumes but that can be partially fixed with a power conditioner, a quality cable, and a noise supressor. only real bitch i have is the fx loop ruins the tone.

gigged with it, pack it everywhere, tough, still showroom condition. I have a core 1 head case for it that is chrome diamond plate. Really great head case, you owe it to your investemant to protect your head.

I support graphic editing software by phone for a living so I am very picky about customer service ratings, but these guys are fabulous.

been playing for 8 years played an assortment of high end heads, mesa's, bogners, vhts, marshalls, diezels. I suppose I'd have to say a bogner and a diezel have a little bit better metal distortion but I have really carved my own sound with the genz. The genz straight up owns marshalls, mesas, and vhts. Love this amp to death, I've been playing for 8 years and this thing is just killer. First practice I brought the genz and my drummer sold his peavey head and went down and bought a genz and the g flex 412 and 212. Great as a 3/4 stack. I've actually run 2 genz heads with a 2 412s and a 212. 10 12" speakers and 200 watts of tube goodness. i could have never been happier with an amp, well worth the money

as written all over this page

I play detuned scandinavian-type of metal/hardcore, so I use mostly 7strings (Ibanez, ESP, Schecter). It had EL 34s inside when I bought it, the distortion was (I don't use clean sound at all, so I can't actualy say much about that) ok, but with too much mids, so I replaced them with JJ 6l6....it was like buying a new amp!!! the distortion now is bbbrrruuutttaaalll...it's kinda Mesa like, but much more original. It reminds me the sounds of Entombed, Bolt Thrower etc. When you realy crank it up, it's little noisy but I'm getting the Rocktron noise gate anyway. I play it through the Mesa cabinet 412 and it suits well...I've actually put a dual recto beside it (with same box) and tried to find out the difference. Mesa has brighter and crispier clean chanel, but when you hit the HOT channels on both of these metal-beauties, El Diablo tops it. The Genz gain is unbearable and loudness just crazy.

no problems at all. heavy duty piece

I needed a schema and they sent it the day I asked. Thanx!

As listed below.

The honorable mention goes to the 115 / 230 converter inside the amp - particularly useful as I ordered the head from the USA.

Im using a brian moore I-1 (which is hugely versatile in itself) and have the amp going through a gflex 4x12 (which i regret buying because its so damn LOUD - go a 2x12 everyone!)
There is a bit of dry noise when the amp is up at loud volumes.
Negatives out of the way though - this amp has a sound unto its own. I bought it not knowing what it sounded like (yes, a kamikaze some might say) but just got back from using it in a recording studio and i couldnt be happier with it. Can range from nice, tight and brutal to a looser messier distortion - and the clean channel is acceptable. No fender, but gets the job done.

No problems thus far.

Jeff Genzler is essentially the Jesus of all the support staff within any guitar amplification company. Within a DAY i have recieved responses to my questions.

Been playing for 6 years now. Guitars I own are a yamaha APX-5NA & Brian Moore I1. Amps consist of this gem and a marshall valvestate POS model.
At this stage im loving all the sounds i can get, but not the fact that i have to kill my neighbours to get it. Perhaps an attenuator of sorts is in order.
Bought it on blind faith vs. an Engl powerball - and was certianly satisfied. Ive never tried to be ultra ballbreaking heavy - this sports a geniune mix of all the distorions i enjoy.
If it were lost, id consider buying another but not without looking around first.
Rating is an 8 + 1 for its price. Pigs arse im going to pay around $4000 for an amp! Carn Jeff!

To the gentleman below, I just wanted to let you know that the Genz Benz El Diablo is pretty picky in terms of speaker cabinets. If you play it through a Genz Benz 212 or 412, you will most likely get a desirable low end out of it. I play through a Carvin 412, myself, and I get a desirable tone out of it. I'm not a gigging musician so I do not play it at its 100 watt setting, though.

Lots of features... you can change channels until the cows come home... I changed channels for three weeks and couldn't find a channel that I liked. The blue lights are super cool though. The side handles mean that you have to use 2 hands to carry it. I had to make 2 trips out into the rain to carry the amp with both hands and then go back and get the guitar. I generally have the strengh to carry a head with 1 hand. I guess that maybe someday I will need 2 handles to carry an amp but right now it was just pretty annoying.

I used this head with a Fender Lonestar strat with a Duncan JB humbucker and an Ibanez s470 with a JB in it as well. I ran the head through a Fender tonemaster 4x12 (v30's), a Marshall 1960 (gt75's), and a Mesa recto 2x12 (v30's) which also in my opinion is the best cabinet that I have ever played. I hate to question this forum because there seems to be a lot of knowledgable, intelligent guitarists who post reviews here. BUT, I had never heard one of these amps and I read all of these reviews about the diablo and how marvelous it was. I traded my 5150 for it and it was the stupidist thing I think I have ever done. I even threw in a guitar to the trade because I thought that the diablo was suposed to be so awesome. Anyway I drove about 300 miles to meet the guy to do the trade and then drove 300 miles back home and flew inside to try this thing out. I could not believe how awful this thing sounded. Maybe I am the one who has the problem, maybe mine was a dud. But I cannot for the life of me understand the stellar reviews that Genz Benz products receive.
I traded a Marshall cabinet for a G flex cabinet and that was the 2nd stupidist thing I ever did. Anyway back to the diablo... This amp had No low end, no gain, I could not force it to sound anything like I wanted it to. I changed tubes, I changed cabinets, I changed guitars, I talked to Mr Genzler... Nothing I did made any difference. It always sounded weak and brittle and just awful. I was in the situation where I had to used it for a gig because I am not independently wealthy and have only one head at a time and it was the worst gig I have ever played. My sound was horrible and I was so miserable because there was nothing I could do to get this thing to sound good. I ended up selling it on ebay and I lost about 300 dollars in the whole deal (because I traded one of my guitars). The guy who bought it from me loves it. Anyway, this is just a warning to anyone who is looking at these things... try it out. Oh, by the way, normally I get a lot of compliments on my tone (with the 5150s), the night that I used the diablo I got a lot of "you need to turn up, I can't hear you" even though I was at a normal volume.

I only had it for 2 weeks luckily... so I can't answer this

I talked to Mr Genzler directly. That's pretty good customer service. I got this used so maybe if I had bought it from a dealer he would have offered to take a look at it. I probably didn't give him enough of an opportunity to make things right.

I have been playing as long as I can remember. I think I started guitar before kindergarden and I am 35 now. I grew up in the 80's with big modified Marshalls and thats's just what I am used to. With the rating this thing receives, someone has to like it. I just wish I had not gotten involved with this thing. It is not the versitile amp that it is described as. What is equally puzzeling are the reviews that the g flex cabs get. They are literally the worst sounding cabinets that I have ever heard. I don't understand it... Anyway everone in my band was also sooooo happy to see the genz benz go, so it can't just be me. My singer said "I have a boss Heavy Metal pedal we can just plugg straight into the board, it's got to sound better then that piece of shiT". Coming from a singer that sums it up pretty nicely I think. Sorry Mr Genzler but no thanks!

Heaps of features as listed before

I play metal/rock - lots of lead solo stuff and heavy metallica stuff. Im using an ibanez rg570 - getting evolution pickups soon. Using a marshall 1960 lead 4x12 cab.

I have tryed EVERY amp avaliable, and in the end I was left with two amps which had this great tonal quality about them - these were the Genz Benz, and the VH100R Laney head which I have heard great reviews about and which also sounded very beautiful and clear, however there was something heavenly about the sound of the Genz Benz that did something for me.

It has the low heavy tones of a marshall amp for great tight powerchords, but doesnt have that roughness and fuzz of a marshall when you are trying to play a solo! The lead tone is crystal clear - kind of like a mesa rectifier, but instead of having that single boring fundamental sound that hits you in your face when you play a note, it brings out many beautiful harmonic overtones that make every note shine out with the warmest sound that i never imagined possible - and the sustain is amazing! The reverb sounds so open and genuine, unlike some amps that sound digitalized and fake, and the clean channel is amazingly warm and clear.

N/A

Only had it for a few days!

N/A

Emailed them once to ask about registration and i got a reply straight away - they seemed very nice and helpful.

The sound on this amp is truly beautifull.
I have heard every sound created from every amp made, and finally found the perfect sounding amp that has the beautiful warm tone that many guitarists are searching for. No other amp has these qualities to them, so not a thought would cross my mind to getting a different amp if this one was stolen. I love everything about it.
If you're looking for a tight warm and clear tone, try this amp out. I think you will be pleasantly surpised.

As stated before - tons of features.

I'm sorry to the people that like it but, this amp IMHO is one of the worst sounding amps I have ever heard. I really tried to like it for over six months & have finally given up. First, the clean channel is the god awfullest, sterile sounding piece of garbage I have ever heard. I kid you not that I had a peavey SS combo back in the 80's that had a better clean than this amp & just for the record the clean channel is not even close to being fenderlike. But, I will say I wasn't necessarily looking for fender clean but, I want a good clean. Also, that pan reverb absolutely sucks! I have heard better reverb from a vox valvetronix modelling combo. Also, the gain that this amp has is very harsh & grating at all volumes. It's got a harshness that you just can't dial out no matter what. I have heard a Soldano HR50XL & a/b'd it against the El D. & it absolutely killed the El D. I tried several cabs - THD 212, genz benz gflex 212, mesa recto 412 traditional & the El D. sounded like ass through all of them. Also, I was able to take home an El D. 60 head for a day to see if maybe I just got a lemon & got pretty much the same result. The 60 watter did sound better than the 100 watter but, was still very harsh. If you like harsh grainy distortion for playing death metal like dying fetus or cannibal corpse then go ahead & buy an El D. but, if you like warm, smooth lead tones like Santana & Eric Johnson then stay away - far far way!!

It hasn't broken yet.

Alot of very promising features but, IMHO just failed miserably in producing any good tones at all. I learned a very valuable lesson about buying from an amp maker that obviously knows nothing about great tones. I've been playing for 16 years & this was one of the worst experiences I've ever had with an amp & I've had alot of them: Mesa Subway rocket, Mesa Subway blues, Fender Hot Rod Deville 410, Mesa Nomad 55, Reverend Hellhound combo, Mesa .50 Cal+, Peavey Delta Blues, Trace Elliot Speed twin 50 head & 30 combo, soldano astroverb, soldano hr50xl.

Tube amp

Two channels:
One Hot (distortion); One Warm (clean)... Each has different levels of ajustment and modes, as explained below.

Hot channel has gain knob and gain boost button for even more gain.
Hot distortion has a "contour dial" for changing from Marshall-ish (open, bassy sound) to Mesa-ish sound (harsher higher mids, tighter sound), to others inbetween. (It changes the focus of the mid frequencies).
Hot channel also has a compressor feature, which limits frequencies and gives a punchier sound.

Clean channel has Vintage mode (for more midrange breakup at lower volumes) and a Classic mode (for cleaner sounds).

A Global booster is present that can boost either channel when activated, allowing for more upper mids to cut through the mix when jamming... Makes things sound more intense.

E.Q. is great, and can change the sound of the amp a lot-- especially when used with the Contour knob of the Hot channel to change from more open, bassy Marshall to Mesa, with higher frequencies added to the mix.

3 effects loops-- one for Warm channel, one for Hot channel, one is Universal.

two different types of tubes can be used, and there is a bias switch to select from them.

100/50 watt max selector switch.

XLR and 1/4 inch slave outs, impedence selector switch (4,8,16 ohms), reverb killer pedal input, 5 button footswitch input.

And, as a last note-- of course, it has a Master volume knob and gain and volume controls separate for each channel, on top of that.

I played with a Marshall JTM-30 (all tube) combo, a Peavey Bandit 60 (solid state, and a cheap amp), and a Marshall Valvestate 8100 (shitty cleans, but great distortion... and cheap!)

This amp gives amazing sounds... I think the clean channel sounds very good on the Marshall JTM-30 (and the clean sound rated very well and "Fenderish" in the Harmonycentral review of that amp)... but the clean on this amp is amazing and even better. It sounds very full, and it gives great sustain. It gets edgier with more gain or with the "Vintage" mode activated. It can also sound very clean and warm (on the "Classic" mode).

On top of this, the distortion that comes out of this thing is amazing. I can play Mesa Coheed and Cambria, Marshall Indie stuff... The E.Q. and the Contour button can really change it up. The amount of distortion that can be achieved is amazing, especially with the High Gain button activated. It's amazing. The distortion retains clarity... The Marshall JTM-30 has nice distortion, but Marshall distortion can lack some clarity (and sound muddy), which is a tradeoff for it's airy openness... This amp can mimic Marshall quite well and can achieve many other sounds with tremendous note-definition. Perhaps it would lost some clarity (and sound even more Marshall) if I'd take the time to ajust it to sound even more like a Marshall... There are settings I haven't explored yet, but it retains amazing definition, overall.

A note-- Whoever rated this amp a "2" in the area of sound is entitled to their opinion... but I can't see how this would be justifiable, at all... at least not based on comparison to general amps. Perhaps, if your musical tastes are different AND you were comparing only to $3000+ handmade amps that fit that style, this would get a lower rating. But, for the general fan of rock/ alternative/ indie... and maybe even blues and jazz... This amp sounds damn great... Don't be swayed by one "2" rating, when the rest of the ratings are 9's and 10's...

Great amp!!!

The only problem I've had was that the lightbulb inside one of the jewel lights blew, so I went to the automotive store and found a replacement. Also, the assembly that holds the lightbulb came unscrewed inside of the unit, so I had to take the unit apart to reattach it. No biggie, though...

I got this unit used, and I emailed Jeff Genzler, the head-tech fot this amp to see about a warranty. I had no receipt, etc... But they still agreed to give me a 2-year warranty. This was because new amps get a 3-year warranty, and this amp had been out for a year. So, it was decided that, regardless of when the amp was originally bought, it couldn't have been purchassed over a year ago, and, therefore, I was entitled to at least 2 years of warranty, which they gave me.
Not bad at all, seeing as how I had no receipt and it was used.

This amp is great, I'd say. I have no desire to own a differnt one. I play a Les Paul Studio through a Mesa 2x12 Rectifier cab, and it is great. It can sound very clean and warm... very clean and edgy... a bit distorted... a WHOLE LOT distorted... etc... Very versatile... I play rock/ alternative/ indie and I like it A LOT!
Give it a try!

This is an update to an earlier review and also a comment on the review below about the dynamics of this amp.

This amp has GREAT dynamics. I have now had some time with this amp and experimented with more tubes for it. I replaced the power tubes with Sovtek 6L6WXT's and the pre-amp tubes with Electro-harmonix 12AX7EH's and this amp now sounds better than anything I have ever played through. Strat's sing through this amp and humbuckers scream to the heavens. I have played with the old super reverb's and twin's and this amp sounds just as good with the tubes I am useing.

This amp has proven to be very reliable. I left it in the back of my grand cherokee for two weeks between gig's because I didn't have anyone to help me unload it and it never bothered it a bit.

GREAT. I have spoken with Jeff Genzler several time about this amp.

This amp is more than anything you can get in it's price range. I would easily rank it among the Bogner, Soldano, VHT and Diezel amps and at a much lower cost.

More features than anyone would ever need!

I use strats loaded w/ fralins and play blues and Jazz. The amp is a quiet amp it would be good for recording and etc..

I am used to high end amps.. Vintage Fender Vibroverbs, Trainwrecks and etc.. I found that this Genz Benz doesn't even come close to the tone or dynamic feel that a good BF Fender has.

Do you know that feeling when you can gel with and amp as though it's a part of your playing? Well this amp does not have this!

You know when you can adjust the volume just by hard you dig in? Well this amp doesn't have it.. Really, ZERO Dynamics!!!

I neede to borrow an amp for 3 shows and the dealer gave me this Genz Benz to use.. Man I wish he would have given me something else to use!!

It didn't break down the 12 hours I used it!

I have been playing for 23 years and have a very dynamic playing style! This amp does not do my style well at all! If your into hard rock w/ humbuckers, maybe? I would never buy this amp because of it
s lack of dynamics and real tone!

2 month old Genz Benz El Diablo.
The only thing I would change is to add a 3rd channel. The contour on this lets you get any sound you could want. Everything from mesa to marshall to an uberschall distortion.

I play a ibanez uv777, parker nitefly, and a strat. I play this head through a carvin 412. The low end on this amp is crazy! I love it. There is plenty of distortion. Most of the time I only have it on a little over half way. Beats the crap out of the rectifiers. I traded mine for this amp. Couldn't be happier. Mesa can't compete with the low end of this amp. If you play metal this is your amp. The only thing about it I don't really care for is that the clean channel breaks up pretty easy. The clean channel does have wonderful tone.

I have only had this amp for a month, but I have had no problems yet. I hope it stays that way.

never used it

I have been playing for 6 years. If this amp was stolen I would definetly buy another one. If you want killer tone and low end this is the amp for you. This is absolutely the best amp in it's price range. The only other amps I would consider would be Bogner, Engl, or Diezel. The El Diablo is half the price and is the closest thing to these high end amps. Don't spend more on a Mesa.

This is an update to an earlier review in July. Now that I've logged on quite a few gigs and I've also purchased 2 G-Flex 2x12's; it's time be more objective. I'll start by describing my ever changing rig. I usually run a dual amp setup with the El Diablo (G-Flexs) and either a Marshall TSL/Mesa Dual Recto(no more) or a Peavey Classic 100 thru a 1960A Cab. I use a stereo volume pedal to fade between amps. Sometimes I combine 2 at once. I use hotplates with all the amps to get some power amp distortion. Not much but enough so that the preamp doesn't dominate the sound too much. I'm not a fan of "bedroom volume" levels. No tube amp should be judged in this condition. You just have to turn it up!

This amp continues to impress me after 2 months of gigs. I use a Strat/Paul/Wolfie/Jem 777/ and another Ibanez artrist with JB's. How does this stack up to other amps onstage? With the stock EL34's, I thought it has great heavy sounds. We don't play death metal but it does a gret modern tight distortion real well. I've switched over to 6L6's (old stock circa 1960) just to experiment. I'm still geting used to them. Overall this amp kills the Marshall and the Mesa in the high gain department. The El Diablo can mimic both amps with extensive Eq-ing but that defeats the reason for buying it. I WANT it to sound different and unique. Pinched harmonics are easier and low palm mutes with drop tunnings hold up fine. I enjoy all the options. I really like the "Drummer Killer" attack feature. It really pushes your leads over the top. I use this feature to record rythm tracks as well. This amp can do classic rock distortion well but it really shines when pushing the high gain into a more modern realm. The clean is rather nice. I prefer the Marshall TSL and the Peavey classic clean. Not that it is bad but doesn't have quite the sparkle as the Peavey. It does have lots of spank though. Try snapping a low E string agianst the frettboard with your fingers like the country pickers do. You'll see what I mean. Overall this amp can deliver the goods to any versatile tasty player.

So far so good.

NA

This amp is a keeper for me. I would like to experiment with more preamp tubes.
the G-Flex cabinets sound very good with the head. The distortion is very complex and
has a good dynamic range for flucuating pick technique. Play a Cadd9 chord with humbuckers and you'll see.

This is a Reply to the gigging musician.

When playing with the amp in a stage setting, crank the amp on 100 watts, turn the master volume up to around 10 to 3 o' clock, and use the preamp's volume to adjust your volume, you'll notice that your eq's are more accurate, and the power tubes arent getting pushed.

This is an update to my previous posting. Since reviewing this amp, I have had the opportunity to actually play it in a band setting and I was blown away with the sound and power. I ran both my Schecter custom and Wolfgang during the session and had pure tonal bliss. One very interesting thing to mention was the fact that I was running my volume at 6 and my master volume at 1 1/2. Talk about power. I can imagine this beast peeling paint off of the walls at a master volume of 6. I honestly can't see playing that loud and really don't want to bleed from the ears but man o man does this amp rock. Go see for yourself and you'll be amazed as I was.... Absolute quality piece here folks and if you really want a wall of sound, purchase the George Lynch 4X12 G-flex they offer. Why settle for a puny 1960A or B cab?

Same as previous reviewers,mine has Svetlana EL-34`s as opposed to Ruby Tube EL-34`s in the new ones. Would be nice if the compressor was adjustable.

I`m using mainly 2 Gibson`s w/ this amp.a Pat Martino Custom (like a semi hollow Les Paul Custom)and a Johnny A.(small hollowbody). I`m running this amp at 4 ohms into an Avatar 2x12" open back cab.w/EV 12L`s. It really sounds excellent,both clean and distortion tones are great.But the clean sound sold me on this amp,I was using a Carvin Legacy prior to this(also a very good sounding amp).The way I play I need an amp that can play loud and clean and can also scream(Fender Twin & Marshall 100 watt)This amp does both jobs very well. In the past I`ve owned Boogie`s(mk1,2,3,tri-axis,quad,etc)Dumbles(50&100watt overdrive specials,Marshalls,Hiwatt,Orange,Carvin,etc. I feel I`m getting closer to what I want.

Have had an itermitant pre amp tube problem.

Seem very helpful.

I`ve been a professional musician for 30+ years.I also use a Fender Cyber Twin on jobbing gigs.I really like this amp a lot,but there are some other good ones out there too. I`ve recently tried the Mesa/Boogie Lonestar and I was very impressed.Also interested in Trying out Engl amps so I can`t say I would definitely buy again.

This Is Johnny, I reviewed my Genz Benz back in march i thikn, I had reliability issues, I just wanted to make something clear: Genz Benz customer support was excellent through out my whole experience, The owner/founder of the company called me personally a few time and was more than willing to work out my problems.


Even though I didnt keep mine, I just wanted to say that...

This head has so much going for it.
Specs are too many to list...check the website out through kamanmusic.com
Awesome!
WARM Ch. - Full, round, pristine Clean response cascading up to pushed Vintage gain with warm upper mid break-up, rich bass and abundant sustain.

HOT Ch. - Takes you from rich Classic tube break-up to full-bodied Hight Gain splendor. The option of a Dynamic or Compressed setting insures the amplifier respondes to your every touch, no squashed tone or harsh buzziness here.

HOT Ch. TUBE CONTOUR - An additional "Tone Stack" that interacts with the thube preamp and takes you from Texas tone to British zone and all points in between.

GLOBAL ATTACK - Boosts a range of upper mid frequencies that enhances pick attack and bite; extremely effective as a lead boost and cutting through the mix.

I'm currently playing with the band "Mooseknuckle" from the Mason/Dixon area on tour with Eubrontie's Uncle. This amp has blown my bandmates away with the amount of distortions you can achieve through it. Our rhythm guitar player is now looking at one. Trust me, I will lend him the extra loot to get us to have that genz-benz sound all over the stage. I have called and in fact spoke to Jeff Genzler himself(I believe it was him unless there's another Jeff there)and he just made me feel that much better about my purchase. We play mostly rock and some soul from the deep south. All I can say is find a dealer near you and try this thing out. It's a monster. I tried a Mesa and that dog ain't gonna hunt. You'd be better off playing with home stereo onstage in comparison.

This baby is as solid as my Southern drawl. Yep, ain't ever goin away. If this ever was stolen I'd take my dog Jarvis and find that crook. There repairs are pretty easy per our conversation with GB and the dealer. My grand-daddy says that this is like one of them boutique Ford's you may find in our local junkyard.

Anywhere that you can call and not be on hold for longer than it takes Jarvis to get that duck from the pond is gravy in my potatoes.
My friend Artie at the shop said that the company has the triage part of business downpat. I guess that means something good? He kept talkin like I don't know what he was sayin but hey he wuz right.

Please just go and look for yourself. Take this Southern boy's word and go try it. I can't even think of anything else this baby needs. You can Rock, you can Roll, you can even try and jazz, or fry up some country. What ever you do don't let this baby sleep for longer than a few hours, it'll start to get into your head and make you play.

I'll spare you all the technical details as to this amps inner workings/guts etc.. I'm sure if you're looking at them you have some idea of what it is made up of and to do. The key to this amp is the versitility that it has. You have basically a clean and a hot channel with a global boost and volume control over the boost hence a 3rd channel lead. This function cuts a bit of the bottom out and boosts the mids and uppers allowing you to bury your drummer if you want (Nice Feature). Then there's the fact that you have a contour control that allows you to go from silky smooth Marshall JCM800-900 to that modern rectifier buzz saw sound. Here's the crazy part folks. Mesa Boogie players always brag about the amount of gain their amp is allowed to achieve which is cool but the hiss they make at high gain setting can be very annoying. I owned a double rectifier myself and ran my gain at 8 to get that sought after distortion but get this..... My El Diablo has more distortion at 3 than any mesa running over 8 and I don't have that noise associated with heavy distortion. This amp was made to rock and knock you over. I also run the G-flex 4X12 ported cab and this has more bottom end that sould be allowed but I love it even though I did have to replace my cracked window in the living room. This amp is hands down the best I have ever owned and I've had them all. I would put this amp against aany VHT or Bogner on the maarket.

I use a custom shop Schecter and a Peavey archtop Wolfgang into the amp. I run a MXR phase 90 (with the r-28 removed ofcourse) and a DOD analog delay in the effects loop. This amp is pure raw tube power. From shimmering clean to rip your head off....

I have had no problems at all with my amp and have contacted Genz Benz with questions to which I recieved prompt answers...

The guys/gals at genz benz rock and will do what ever it takes to make you happy...... 100% excellent customer support hands down... Nice going guys/gals...

Iif you want the last amp you'll ever buy then go pick one up. You won't be dissapointed...

Lots of features. (see other posts) One of my favorite is the high voltage grid circuitry that allows you to change to most tubes on the market without re-biasing. I like the blue lights inside too! Looks great.

I play a Gibson Les Paul Standard, and am using a Genz Benz 412 G-flex cab. I can't describe how lovely this thing sounds! It is heaven to my ears. Great clean tone, great distortion tone, lots of flexibility... this thing is just what I was looking for! Clean channel has good gain flexibility and sounds warm and wonderful. Hot channel goes from classic stack sounds to ultra heavy modern sounds and everything in between. Again, the flexibility is very good and allows you to dial in lots of great tones. Mainly due to the 30db boost / cut EQ controls.

I have had no problems with reliability. I suppose that tube amps are less reliable than solid-state in the long run, but the tone makes up for it to me.

Genz Benz has very good customer support. I had a question and emailed them and got a quick and courteous response from Jeff Genzler himself.

I've been playing for over a decade, and have gone through several amps trying to find that "sound in my head", that perfect tone that us purists drool over. This did it for me. This amp has tone that only a tube amp can deliver, and the tone is lovely indeed. I have finally stopped looking and am settling down to a long relationship with this amp.

This amp has a few unique tricks up it's sleeve. The details have already been posted.
If you need versatility....it's here

The clean channel has tons of headroom. My strat loves the spank that the El Diablo delivers. Sorta reminds me of Steve Morse's chickin pickin clean tone. The vintage mode adss a bit of dirt...not much but very pleasant. The "Hot" channel is downright evil. Playing thru a 1960A revealed some very botttom heavy chunk with the bass around 7. This was very evident using a Peavey Wolfgang which provides a a good low end, but even a Les Paul provided some tasty low end. The tone never got tubby. I'm still waiting for the G-Flex's to come in, so there may be another review.
The "Modern" mode will please any player who digs Zak Wylde/Godsmack/A Perfect Circle but it's the classic mode that convinced me. Somewhere between a Marshall Plexi and a Mesa Rectum Fryer without the annoying fizz in the high end. This is very hard to describe because the EQ is so dam responsive that it can go from AC/DC to Early EVH with just a miniscule turn of the EQ
The "Compressed" mode is something that I've always wanted in an amp. Fans of Dan Huff would be very impressed. The Attack mode is very effective. I wish I knew which exact Freq and Q is boosted. The reverb was nice as far as pan verb goes. The footswitch has extremely bright lights and feels very sturdy...kudos

I hope this thing lasts. The warrany is pretty impressive. I do wonder about the lights inside, if one burs out do I have to replace the whole strip?

This amp seems to be built by real guitar players who know what they want in an amp. I own Mesa products and have owned Marshalls and Fenders but this amp really sticks out. The light show this thing puts out pretty impressive. Great Value. Great Tone...nuff said

I love the tones this gets stock but I swapped the EL34's for some Sovtek 6L6's and it REALLY made it crisp. The clean channel is a little harder to break up now but it WILL on 50w with the gain turned up. It is MORE than powerful enough to drive my gflex 4x12 to the limit.

I can get this amp to go from Country clean to Metal chug in no time flat. I use a Gibson Les Paul standard flame and a Peavey Wolfgang. The clean channel RIPS even at super high volume.

I had a few issues with this amp but Genz-Benz and my shop, Zeagler Music were AMAZING. Justin at Zeaglers drove up to Arkansas 3x to get me squared away. In the end it was the wire from the chorus package that touched a tube and melted. This caused some damage inside. Genz-Benz built my amp with upgraded parts and sent it back. The show even gave me a new head to keep or wait on the other one. In the end I wanted the other head back and have had NO trouble since. YOU MUST USE LOW NOISE CABLES!! If you don't it will buzz a bit.

Best I have seen!

I have been playing for 9 years. I have owned a Johnson JM60, Peavey studio chorus 2x10 and used EVERYTHING. I would buy this amp again. I am looking into getting a bass amp for my cousin and Genz-Benz is where I am going FIRST!

2 channel 100 watt amp with 4 svetlana el34s, footswitch, comes with a nylon padded cover. Has a bias switch it you want to use 6l6's instead. Effects loop, EQ on each channel, the footswitch has 5 switches for vintage warm gain (the boost on the clean), channel selector, hot gain (switches from classic to high gain), texture (compression) and attack (not really a boost but seems to add character to cut thru) Well made, heavy duty case.

I like the versatility this amplifier offers, the clean channel is like no others I've had almost pristine, you can add some gain and it goes from a really clean to a warm growl. The hot channel sounds fantastic at all volumes. There is a seperate tube control that adds contour. The distortion is amazing, the kick it into high gain & it blows you away.

I have a shenandoah no problems

never had to use it, thats a 10

I've compaired this to a few others in the price range and for what this does & the sound it delivers it was a no brainer. I was going to buy a used mesa head but it was a little darker sounding than I like. This amp shines, and when you let it krank, look out.

I'd like to respond to John's review about the amps failure and to the reviewer that defended Genz Benz. Firstly, I'm the Product Mgr. for Genz Benz and a frequent contributor to the forum. I do appreciate the person defending Genz Benz but, I also don't want the other reviewer to feel "attacked" under the name of Genz Benz. I do want to let the readers of this forum know however, that the first amp the store had only experienced a bad tube...nothing else. We don't know why the second one wasn't working as we haven't received it back yet. As for our service please know that Jeff Genzler called the consumer directly and we offered to send out a replacement in advance before even receiving the amp that wasn't in order. In the end, we can't have full control over what condition an amp is when the player receives it but, we can have control over our customer service. Thank you all for taking the time to read my comments.

Kindest Regards,
Roger Hart

This is in response to Johnny's reliability issues:

The El Diablo has a 3 year warranty. I've talked with Jeff Genzler personaly on the phone, and he's a great guy. Why didn't you send it for warranty repair?

Also, the mainboard is manufactured in Taiwan, the same country the computer you wrote that review was made in. Physical assembly of all components is done in the USA.

If your dealer wasn't authorized, then you have to deal with Genz Benz directly. If they were, then call Jeff Genzler and tell him that they're giving you the runaround. I suspsect they won't be a dealer for much longer.

I bought this 3 weeks ago new off of ebay. So far I'm impressed.
Its a 2 channel switchable 100/50 watt tube amp. Each channel has a boost and and comes with a footswitch and padded cover. I've had no promblems like to guy in the previous post. I was looking some something that would be extremely versatile & this amp is fitting the bill. It has an effects loop on eact channel and a global effects loop. The clean channel has a vintage switch that activates a boost on the clean that adds some grind and punch to the clean channel. The hot channel has a high gain switch the basically adds some punch and volume. The tone on the clean is crystal clean but can be driven using the preamp gain to give it a sound that reminds me kinda like 50 watt plexi (I've owned a few) and the hot channel can give me that VHT pittbull sound (I have one of those as well). There are tons of tones you can dial in in between. I do with it had a bypass for each effects loops, that way I could just leave my boxes behind my rig & have my effects preset for each channel and just ust the footswitch. The footswitch is a quality metal case with blue led's that are kinda bright but you'll appreciate this on a stage with lights. The amp is plenty loud. I have 2 g-flex cabs that I've had for a couple of years origionally bought for my soldano & vht, Playing this head out of those cabs make a great match.

Soundwise I couldn't really ask for more. I Use an Ernie Ball Axis, Ernie Ball Petrucci, A hand made Tele and a Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul. Being kind of an amp nut, I can get the sounds of several amps thru this. Warm or Hot. I play mostly classic rock and some shreddy blusey stuff along the line of Gary Moore. I have a few high end amps and the tone this produced with my guitars is right up there. One of the things that attracted me to this amp is I have a lot of amps that give you that trademark tone but thats it, one great tone when its cranked up. This on the otherhand, give me great versatility no matter what I'm playing. Fender clean to Marshall grind to VHT punch. The g-flex cabs provide a pretty heavy, extremely full sound that will make your normal bass played bitch and moan unless they have a decient rig. Effects on the amp need to be put in the loop. I'm not crazy about the reverb, Its good but I really dont care for pan reverb at louder volumes.

No problems, came with a 3 year warranty.

I had an 1160 rack amp I used in the studio from them once and had a question, called them up & they answered my question.

After playing for about 25 years I've had just about everything and just about still do. That includes, Fender, Soldano, Mesa, VHT, Marshall, Ampeg and ENGL. I could have bought just about anything but thought the features looked pretty cool. I'm glad I picked one up. I bought mine without hearing it in a store, figuring if I didnt like it I would do something with it. I know some of the components are made overseas but I look at it more or less as a tool, and if it does the job, that mainly what I'm concerned about. I've paid for hand wired amps, amps made in little shops ect...don't really matter to me. Its all about what works for you. I will say that so far this amp seems to be the most fun I've had with an amp in a long time. It took about a week of playing thru it to figure exactly what I wanted out of it and the nice thing is that it not one of those amps that sounds good one night & crappy the next. Once you play with it its easy to adjust it for exactly what you want, none of this cant find my sound again stuff & dicking around with it for another week. The only effect I use is a digi delay in the global loop (short) for a little reverb effect.

I bought this amd in Feb. of 2004
It is very versitile and you can get many different sounds

sounds good,. seemed kinda flat.. but none the less,.. sounds great.
Very natural sounding amp...
if you have the gain up past 7 and the compreeion switch is on.. the amp makes a loud hiss sound,and the louder you turn it up, the louder the snow is...

I went to the music store to buy this amp,.. and the one that was at the store was not working right,. the drive channel was out. So I figured I'll give it the benifet of the doubt and order a fresh one,...NOPE!... two weeks later the amp went "zap",. and I couldnt get any pwer to the amo,. it wouldnt turn on ,. nothing!!

I barely got my money back after arguing with my salesman, then going over his head and talking w/the owner of the music store....

went through two of these amps in 2 weeks,. and they both broke,.. This is not a gtreat amp,. dont get me wrong , it sound great.. but they are made in Korea, and I would advise caution to anyone looking into this amp,.. if you buy it make sure your dealer has a money back/satisfaction Garauntee

I work in a local musical store in Sandy, Utah by the name of Hyland Music. We sell primarily Crate solidstate amps until we got this satan of a head in. I have played this amp through hollow-bodies, Ibanez RG's, Hamer's, My Schecter C-1 classic, and a few Talmahns.
This amp has alot of shaping tools for me, and I play everything from Jazz to metal, to hardcore. IT comes with a five selector footswitch, with many ways you can shift the settings it has a couple of fun "stoner-tools" as listed.

This amp is one of the best tube amps I've heard since the VHT-Ultra lead, the clean on this *ucker has so much clarity it rivals some of the acoustic amps ive played. I've played tube amps from Re-issue, and original marshalls, to top of the line krank, VHT, ENGL, MESA, PEAVEY, CRATE and DIEZEL, this amp rivals all of them, and beats out many to leave it gasping for air in its rear-view mirror. Best of all its half the price.
On my favorite, high mid, high low's, and neck selected jazz tone, i can get the beefiest clarity while playing jazz, you can feel the bass on your legs, if I could exaggerate the feeling, its like riding on a small harley on the freeway, smooth and ego filling.
On my metal setting, Im usually scooping the mids, for that metal-core sound, (chum-chum) as i like to call it. This thing really is an el diablo, it came out of hell, and we cranked it in the store on its 50 watt setting and I could tell it could drown out drums. The 100 watt setting is a extra ego trip for those stadium players. I really think some people will be dumping their mesa triple's for this one, and use the extra money to buy that extra money to mic their drummer's kit. lol. the distortion on this thing at 3 is so heavy and blisteringly loud, it almost makes you wanna get sick. its so tight together it sounds like you could put it right on a metal, cd.

I have not gigged with it yet, but i would love to.

ive been playing for about 4 years now. I have been wishing for a gigging amp for a while, it was between a peavey 5150 II, and a MESA triple rect. and then i heard this thing, Im thinking im gonna go with this one, what do I hate? that i dont have the money to buy it cuz its hard to get money when your 17 and have only one job, and a car.(damn insurance companies)

I am assuming that my amp was made in 2003. The styles of music I play are pop rock, rock, and the occasional jam band song. The El Diablo has two channels: Warm and Hot. Warm is your clean channel, Hot is your distortion tone. This head has three effects loops: one for each channel and one global effects loop. What really makes me excited about owning this amp is the amount of features included. It has a half power switch taking it from 100 to 50 watts, a boost feature called attack for soloing, reverb on each channel, two types of gain for each channel, the list goes on and on.

My two guitars that I use are a Godin LGX equipped with Seymour Duncans and a Godin Soldiac with Godin designed pickups. These two guitars seem to work very well with my musical style. I was looking for an amp that had channel switching ability, with a great clean and a great distortion. The El Diablo fits the bill. This amp is very quiet, as quiet as the Rivera Knucklehead I used to own. I have tried almost every amp out there: Rivera (great amps), Mesa Boogie, Fender, Carr, Soldano, Budda, and Bogner. I love the Bogner, don't get me wrong, but for $2900.00 I can think of a lot of other things to buy. The El Diablo has the cleanest clean channel I have ever heard. If you turn up the gain it will distort, but almost every amp will. The clean is as good if not better then my Rivera, and is comparable to the clean on the Carr Slant 6V. The reverb is good, but not better then any other amp. As for the distortion, you can get any distortion tone you want, from modern to vintage with the flick of a switch. The amp has classic and hi-gain settings for the Hot channel, as well as a compressed and dynamic setting. What ever your style maybe, this amp can cover that sound. Bround sound to nu-metal, its all here.

Since I have only had this amp for about a month, I cannot yet rate reliability. As far as I'm concerned, Genz Benz's 3 year warranty is good enough for me.

Have not dealt with the company yet, but I hear they are awesome! The warranty is three years, which is better than the one year warranty on my Rivera.

I have been playing for 11 years. Like I said, I have tried about everything out there. To me, this is a great amp. That does not mean you will love it, I am not even shure I love it. But, it does what I want and I like the tones I am able to produce. If it was stolen or lost, I would definetly try to replace it. I compared this amp to a Soldano Lucky 13, Soldano SLO, Budda Superdrive Series II, and a Krank Evolution 1 Head. Those are all great amps, but this is what I felt drawn to. I know I have had several bad cases of GAS. My band is tired of me switching amps every month. Since I am on my 10th amp, I hope this will be a keeper. All I can say is that for right now, I am completely happy with my purchase! I will write again after I have had it for several months.

Features...too numerous to get through. From clean to classic gain to warp drive all a footswitch away. Seperate Reverb controls for each channel. 50/100 watt switchable. Massive tube power! A new adjustment called "attack" that kind of takes a presence and mixes it with a solo switch for a heightened picking attack and volume boost. A tube contour knob that will take you from growl to bite your head off instantly! Built in compressor!! 3 effects loops. Switchable speaker impedance. switchable power voltage. The power is overwhelming! Mesa who??? This is by far the best amp I have ever owned and after having almost every amp imaginable I can honestly say that I truly believe I will play this amp for the rest of my life. 2 word...unbelievable tone!! And last but not least, recessed steel handles for comfortable and safe lifting. This is also the first amp I have ever bought that not only comes with it's footswitch but with a cover also!

I play a Gibson Les Paul with a Dimarzio Tone Zone in the Bridge, the El Diablo head through a Marshall 4-12 cab (though I will be purchasing the Genz-Bens G-Flex 4-12 soon!), a Sabine Pedal tuner and a Ibanez Chorus/Flanger. Thats it, bare bones. You can get any sound you want out of this amp. I play everything from country to blues to hard rock to metal, this amp never fails to give me the tone I am looking for. The Highest gain channel setting has a slight hum, and I mean slight. The distortion can be very warm or like a chainsaw depending on how you set it. I have finally found my tone!

This is a new amp for Genz-Benz so it's hard to say as yet, but everything they have ever made has been very reliable (they make cabs, acoustic amps, and Tube Works products). I never really feel comfortable without a back-up, but with this amp I feel pretty secure.

The amp has a three year warranty. You can download the owners manual and all specs from the Genz-Benz web-site. I have never had to call so I can't say on support. But I have found two service centers in my area and they say that the company stands behind their gear so I guess I'll have to wait and see ( but I'm betting I won't need them this amp is awesome!)

I have been playing about 25 years. I have owned Marshalls, Fenders, Ampegs, Engl's etc., This is by far the best amp out there for this kind of money. The Boogie Road King is the only amp that might possibly contend and it's more than double the price! I love everything about this amp! If you stole it from me, I wouldn't want to be you! Would I replace it? YES Don't buy this amp because I say it's great, find a dealer and try one out, I think you'll be glad you did!