StevenC
Needs a hobby
You guessed it, a Diezel Big MaX!
Been after one of these for a while and a good deal popped up on eBay over the weekend that couldn't be missed, so here we are. Single channel, dual input amp. Loads of versatility, spare on features.
Low input will get you from super clean to just breaking up, High input will get you from there to high gain. This amp is super dependant on pickups. I was playing for a few hours with my SG with whatever standard pickups are in it and it topped out at sort of Kill Em All/Killing Is My Business type tones. Put my Leqtique 9/9 in front and it turned the Low input into a mean machine. Tried the same on the High input and it became a firebreather. Never really had an amp I've needed to put pedals in front of to get enough gain, but that's fine.
That was not fine!!
Later on I plugged in my JPX and wow! Brought it right up to the gain you expect from Diezel. This thing does it all, more than any amp I've played you can roll off the volume and get a great clean sound. From any gain setting. I'm fully convinced you could leave the gain maxed and just ride the volume control to get any tone you need. It blows my mind.
As for what it sounds like, to me it sounds like Diezel's take on a Marshall. It has that Marshall snarly midrange thing, which I sometimes find a bit overpowering. I have a Marshall, and some people say it's a pretty good Marshall. I was playing that Marshall for a few hours last night, and then the Big Max for a few hours today. The Diezel has less gain overall, because frankly the Marshall has all the gain ever, and it doesn't have all the switching and control of the JVM.
However, for me the Diezel is better. This most important part is that it has the feel of a Diezel. As anyone who's played one knows, Diezels react super fast to your playing and it's addictive. Other amps just don't do that in my experience. Going between the VH4 and JP-2C messes me up because of how long it takes the Mesa to make a sound. The other thing I've noticed Diezels have is a legitimacy in low gain tones that I can't get anywhere else. I don't know if that's a compression thing, but they sound like album ready tones whereas other amps sound like they post work.
Finally, the lower strings. I've no doubt you can tune as low as you want and this will keep up. Diezels seem to just work with low tuning, the Marshall gets really muddy even at B and I sometimes find the Mesa hard to get to where I really want it for 8 strings.
And that's what the Big Max does. It's a Diezel. Like a 2204 by AMG.
And since you scrolled this far, here's a picture of the whole family as of today.
