Diezel VHX-100

[TedEH]

Next thing you're going to tell me it doesn't fellate me either.

At that price, that's about the only way you'd convince me to buy it anyway.

But sarcasm aside, I still think the option to use basic switches would have been a good idea. I don't think any gear I own doesn't have jacks for basic latching switches. Fractal stuff is basically a spaceship, but even they have the option.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

At that price, that's about the only way you'd convince me to buy it anyway.

But sarcasm aside, I still think the option to use basic switches would have been a good idea. I don't think any gear I own doesn't have jacks for basic latching switches. Fractal stuff is basically a spaceship, but even they have the option.

The assumption is that you'd either have your own preferred switch (MIDI switches are not rare or expensive), or buy the existing Diezel one, much like it's assumed you have a speaker cab or will buy one.

They seemed to put a TON into this amp, so it just seems silly to complain about needing to source a switch, which again, is neither expensive or hard to get. You don't have to buy the $500 Diezel Colombus, just about anything MIDI will do.

It's not even like MIDI is new. I have 40 year old rack reverbs that use it, and a controller that's probably as old as yourself that I got on eBay for $10 before it even had a BiN feature.

 

[StevenC]

Also, anyone who buys a Diezel Columbus specifically for this is an idiot and stupider even than people who buy the Columbus for other amps. That hunk of junk costs more than a Morningstar MC8 and has less than a hundredth of the functionality.

Really if we're going to complain about Diezel footswitch incompatibility we should focus on the rest of the amps and Columbus which don't support midi CC.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Also, anyone who buys a Diezel Columbus specifically for this is an idiot and stupider even than people who buy the Columbus for other amps. That hunk of junk costs more than a Morningstar MC8 and has less than a hundredth of the functionality.

Really if we're going to complain about Diezel footswitch incompatibility we should focus on the rest of the amps and Columbus which don't support midi CC.

Yeah, I always got the impression folks buy the Columbus because of the branding.

 

[StevenC]

Yeah, I always got the impression folks buy the Columbus because of the branding.

It sure is well built.

 

[Meeotch]

Just to clarify...is this an updated version of the VHX with the built-in load? Or did the VHX always have the load?

 

[StevenC]

Just to clarify...is this an updated version of the VHX with the built-in load? Or did the VHX always have the load?

Always had the load.

 

[Azarea]

Isn't that the amp that tells you to go fuck yourself if you try to profile it ?

 

[CanserDYI]

I'm a mere peasant and am not in the market for one of these so I should take my opinion out of the "what should it come with" hat.

 

[TedEH]

Isn't that the amp that tells you to go fuck yourself if you try to profile it ?

As I understand it, it logs profiling attempts, but doesn't actually block you or do anything about it. In theory, someone could "know" it's been profiled, and there was some argument a long time ago about how this could affect warranties or something. I don't think anything ever came of it.

 

[gnoll]

Why is it so fucking expensive and why is reading the list of features like reading a novel? Why do they need to put a bunch of crap in it? What's wrong with simple amps that sound good?? I don't understand this product at all. Diezel amps are so weird to me. They're really expensive but I've never heard one that sounded any good so I don't understand why they exist? Like what is the point???

 

[Steinmetzify]

Why is it so fucking expensive and why is reading the list of features like reading a novel? Why do they need to put a bunch of crap in it? What's wrong with simple amps that sound good?? I don't understand this product at all. Diezel amps are so weird to me. They're really expensive but I've never heard one that sounded any good so I don't understand why they exist? Like what is the point???

There’s nothing wrong with simple amps that sound good.

Where most amps seem to suffer is in one area or the other….take a 5150. Great amp, brutal as fuck. Love em to death and have owned 3. But you’re not getting clean tones out of that amp, because the channels share a preamp.

Sure, a Herbert costs quite a bit of $, but you have 3 dedicated channels that all use their own preamps. Plus 3 loops, one of which is switchable, MIDI, a tuner out that silences the amp, a Master section that controls volume for use at lower volume settings plus a ton of other stuff, besides being built like a tank.

The VHX is a simple (although expensive) solution to a problem….can I have a tube amp that sounds great and can sound like any Diezel in the product line? Can it run without a load? Can it store IRs? Can it have FX built in so I don’t have to take my pedalboard everywhere?

As far as sounding good, that’s a matter of opinion….I personally get it; I think the VH4 sounds like ass and hate playing it but I LOVE the Herbert and think it’s one of the best amps ever produced. It’s in my top two amps as far as tones and how much fun it is to play.



Something about a 180w metal monster boosted with a fuzz really gets me pumped for riffs.

 

[gnoll]

There’s nothing wrong with simple amps that sound good.

Where most amps seem to suffer is in one area or the other….take a 5150. Great amp, brutal as fuck. Love em to death and have owned 3. But you’re not getting clean tones out of that amp, because the channels share a preamp.

Sure, a Herbert costs quite a bit of $, but you have 3 dedicated channels that all use their own preamps. Plus 3 loops, one of which is switchable, MIDI, a tuner out that silences the amp, a Master section that controls volume for use at lower volume settings plus a ton of other stuff, besides being built like a tank.

The VHX is a simple (although expensive) solution to a problem….can I have a tube amp that sounds great and can sound like any Diezel in the product line? Can it run without a load? Can it store IRs? Can it have FX built in so I don’t have to take my pedalboard everywhere?

As far as sounding good, that’s a matter of opinion….I personally get it; I think the VH4 sounds like ass and hate playing it but I LOVE the Herbert and think it’s one of the best amps ever produced. It’s in my top two amps as far as tones and how much fun it is to play.



Something about a 180w metal monster boosted with a fuzz really gets me pumped for riffs.

Yeah I just don't like the idea of one amp that does everything. What are the odds that the amp that has the distorted tone I like also has the clean tone I like? Pretty low! I might like Vox-type cleans which a big 6L6 amp could never produce. And as for features and effects, it's so much more flexible to have the effects from somewhere else where you can choose exactly what effects you like/need, plus you get to put them where you want in the chain. If you want your effects before the preamp you can put them there if you get them from a separate unit/pedals. But if they're built into the amp you're screwed, they are where they are and what they are.

And with all these features and switches and channels and whatnot you lose all the advantages of a simple circuit. There's more that can go wrong and all the different tones probably don't sound as good as they could have if the amp was simpler in layout with fewer options.

I get what you're saying but I just dislike this kind of amp concept. I wish there were more bare bones amps. I will say though I'd be curious to try a bunch of Diezel amps to see if I could find something I like. That Herbert sounded pretty good!

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Yeah I just don't like the idea of one amp that does everything. What are the odds that the amp that has the distorted tone I like also has the clean tone I like? Pretty low! I might like Vox-type cleans which a big 6L6 amp could never produce. And as for features and effects, it's so much more flexible to have the effects from somewhere else where you can choose exactly what effects you like/need, plus you get to put them where you want in the chain. If you want your effects before the preamp you can put them there if you get them from a separate unit/pedals. But if they're built into the amp you're screwed, they are where they are and what they are.

And with all these features and switches and channels and whatnot you lose all the advantages of a simple circuit. There's more that can go wrong and all the different tones probably don't sound as good as they could have if the amp was simpler in layout with fewer options.

I get what you're saying but I just dislike this kind of amp concept. I wish there were more bare bones amps. I will say though I'd be curious to try a bunch of Diezel amps to see if I could find something I like. That Herbert sounded pretty good!

The effects are digital and created by the likes of Eventide, one of the best, and can be upgraded/modified in the future. They didn't just stick the guts from a DD5 and call it a day.

This is why amp manufacturers don't do anything new. Folks just want three knob carbon copies of 60 year old amps and can't even be bothered to read the manual to learn about features they're actively complaining about on an amp they decided they already don't like on principle.

 

[narad]

The effects are digital and created by the likes of Eventide, one of the best, and can be upgraded/modified in the future. They didn't just stick the guts from a DD5 and call it a day.

This is why amp manufacturers don't do anything new. Folks just want three knob carbon copies of 60 year old amps and can't even be bothered to read the manual to learn about features they're actively complaining about on an amp they decided they already don't like on principle.

Diezel already makes the simple barebones amp the guy was describing. But if you're hating on all Diezels anyway, what's it matter if this one has digital effects.

 

[gnoll]

The effects are digital and created by the likes of Eventide, one of the best, and can be upgraded/modified in the future. They didn't just stick the guts from a DD5 and call it a day.

This is why amp manufacturers don't do anything new. Folks just want three knob carbon copies of 60 year old amps and can't even be bothered to read the manual to learn about features they're actively complaining about on an amp they decided they already don't like on principle.

But that notion of "anything new" is so lame. Digital effects, what's exciting about that? Fine on a practice combo but a tube head, why?

I don't want copies of old amps, I want *new* simple amps that sound good, offering alternatives but without being lame digital stuff with a million lights and switches.

And yeah I have been unimpressed with what I've heard of Diezel and seeing this amp certainly doesn't improve my view of the brand. But I'm happy to be proved wrong and change my mind.

 

[CanserDYI]

I'm wondering what impresses you? If diezels and engls you hate, seems you hate effects thrown in amps for some reason, iirc you hate lunchbox small wattage amps, should we all just be running gigantic nightmare pedalboards into 100watt marshall heads and everyone who does anything else is stupid? Kinda how it feels.

 

[runbirdman]

This is an example of a company trying something new to its own detriment. Just take the VH4 and Herbert as an example and disregard all of the other features. If I wanted the sounds from both amps, it would cost me $4500 for the VH4 and $4300 for the Herbert. Instead, you can have what has been marketed as exact copies of both amps with a ton of other features for $4900. If the sound matches the marketing, this amp would be a gamechanger for Diezel fans. With the VHX in the marketplace, it greatly reduces the marketability of every other amp in their range and ensures customers have virtually no reason to buy multiple flagship amps.

The Mark V is relatively analogous because Mesa tried to pack in almost every iteration of Mark series amps into one head. To take it one step further, what if Mesa made a super-head containing the Lonestar, Mark, Recto, and California series amps and only charged $300 more for the package than for the highest-end counterparts of each amp. And then partnered with Strymon and Two Notes for all the rest of the features. People would be falling over themselves to try it out. At one point, I had a Lonestar, Dual Rec, and Mark V at the same time. I would have done a backflip if I could have all of them contained in one amp.

Guitar players stifle innovation so badly. I've never been a Diezel fan, but this appears to be an incredible piece of technology. Users aren't deciding between this and a JCM. If you want simple amps, they exist in abundance in the marketplace. What other amp did you want Diezel to release instead?

 

[akinari]

Guitarists on the internet whenever brilliant engineers with years of experience add high quality features to their products to make them more useful:

 

[technomancer]

Got to love guys ranting for literally pages about something they have no interest in buying to begin with... and it seems to happen with literally every new product release, especially if it's something expensive.

Guitarists on the internet whenever brilliant engineers with years of experience add high quality features to their products to make them more useful: