Hi again I am an amp lover

[TheGoldenKid]

I introduced myself in the pickup lounge but found a lot of interesting discussions in this section. I love to talk about amp gear because I have lots of experiences with lots of amps like an encyclopedia of amp tryouts. Because I live next door to a boutique shop and only a few miles from another guitar store which amps come and go all of the time I play every kind I see. This will be a good section of the forum for me.

[SirJackdeFuzz]

Re: Hi again I am an amp lover

WELCOME to the Duncan Forums !

[SirJackdeFuzz]

Re: Hi again I am an amp lover

Got any pic's of that classy SLO ?

wink-wink

[Lampy H]

Re: Hi again I am an amp lover

Welcome to the forum!! I just joined not too long ago myself.

If I may ask, how do your VH4 and Hagen compare to one another?

[TheGoldenKid]

Re: Hi again I am an amp lover

Sorry it took me so long to return to this forum and follow up on my previous postings. The VH4 and Hagen are wildly different beasts yet still have the Diezel essence if that makes any sense to you. To explain what I mean exactly requires me to describe somewhat how I perceive Diezel amps. Otherwise throwing around terms and descriptions will be more subjective because there are no specific references to make. Diezels can be a tricky discussion because though they are perceived as metal amps, and they truly lend themselves to that, they are not necessarily designed without vintage qualities. It is not to say that I speak for Peter Diezel in any way when I say this because I have no idea of how they are truly designed, but it is my impression of it which I describe.

Compressed, high gain, hi-fi, dark, focused are not terms you usually associate with vintage amplifiers. More appropriately terms people tend to associate with vintage amps are open, dynamic, and bright. To tie together my points is that I like to plug into a vintage style amp and hear, for instance, the woody tone of a neck pickup. In the essence of vintage sustain you can pick up hints of grit which rolls out smoothly as you adjust the potentiometer of your guitar. They can be ridiculously dynamic to the point of frustration for players who use high gain as you can grip the pick right at your fingertips and gently brush the strings to ring out with such subtlety that the notes are almost suggested, but you can catch the strings with the tip of the pick and the notes ring out loudly in such a way that they begin modestly and start losing control. I think that might be the gist of what people refer to as bloom.

When one considers Diezel, these qualities do not come to mind. However, it is my belief that Peter Diezel has somewhere in the back of his mind in every Diezel design the essence of vintage amps because what puts Diezel among the highest echelon of amp manufacturing is that there is much more to the tone than most high gain amps. To an extent you can actually plug into a Diezel get get some degree of woodiness that may not necessarily be present in Engl amps. There are a lot of dynamics within the compressed range of whatever sounds each Diezel features. If you sit side by side, for example, a Hagen and a Peavey 6505, you will certainly notice there is a lot more musical character going on in the Diezel tone. It's very hard to describe or even pinpoint but whatever it is, it is inherent in their amps.

Now as to explain the differences between the Hagen and VH4, there is nothing to say that one is better than the other or that one is more versatile than the other because I have heard other people use them each in the same applications just as effectively. Both have 4 channels, both loaded with KT77's both have amazing clean and overdriven sounds, and both are more on the hi-fi spectrum. That being said, it is my perception that the VH4 lends itself to a more versatile array of classic sounds, and channel 3 is probably the most intensely stimulating overdrive of the whole amp. If you put a mild, ambient delay in the loop, you can just sit for hours and improvise with the most dreamy and melodical expression. It is the epitomy of high gain in all its glory.

Then move over to the Hagen which I think maybe came out much later than the VH4 and you would think that it would be the more modern beast, but it truly surprises you with what it can do on every level of clean and overdrive. Though I think it lends itself a bit more to the ultra aggressive metal styles than the VH4, even the 3rd channel of the VH4 is powerful enough to set the Hagen aside. There is no setting on either amp that you can possibly configure to make either sound less than stellar. I can't necessarily say the same for the Herbert, yet no less great of an amp.

With my VH4, I find myself more frequently exploring more and using a wider array of sounds. With my Hagen, I have specific settings that I really like which I might consider my go-to settings for any kind of application or style. It's very hard to explain. I can say with humility that I am very fortunate to walk into my room and have both of them at the click of an A/B switch.

I know this is a long and somewhat dramatic explanation, but I feel that more should be said in regards to Diezel discussions because many times I find such discussions to fall into the same "which one is better at...," "which one has the best...," etc... For someone who is fortunate to have access to the creations of the most prestigious builders, I can say without a shade of uncertainty that Peter Diezel is one to be revered in his field.

[Lampy H]

Re: Hi again I am an amp lover

Really thorough and detailed response, thank you. I appreciate you taking the time to write this up.