N(U)AD: Genz-Benz El Diablo 60 head

jtougas

jtougas

New member
Saw this at my local Guitar Center for the past few weeks, finally took the time to work it over today, then grabbed it and ran.

Haven't had a chance to set it up with a cab yet - I've got a Seismic 112 here...might need to move up to a 212...

So... got an Egnater Tweaker for sale... anybody?
 
Re: N(U)AD: Genz-Benz El Diablo 60 head

Congratulations. Thats a head I'd love to have eventually only in the 100 watt version.
Very solid made in USA build quality- I'd say on the level of USA Peavey.Very undervalued amp for the used prices.
The forum guy Surgeon has some great posts on those amps here , having owned them before.
They sound really tight and can get extremely aggressive metal sounds IIRC.
 
Last edited:
Re: N(U)AD: Genz-Benz El Diablo 60 head

I still want dibs on the Jet City iso cab if you decide not to keep it :smokin:
 
Re: N(U)AD: Genz-Benz El Diablo 60 head

Congrats! It's a very nice amp indeed. It's built stronger than any amp I've encoutered/owned since. It's insanely versatile too. I liked it a lot for the 3-4 years I owned it. My tastes changed and in the end it couldn't give me what I wanted but damn it if it's not one of those amps that has something that should please almost anyone. Go easy on the EQ, it's active and it does a lot with very little adjustment. Play with both reverb controls, they are interactive and will yield lots of reverb nuances.

Try to find my past posts about it, I wrote a lot of info there, some might be helpful.

Cheers!
 
Re: N(U)AD: Genz-Benz El Diablo 60 head

Those were sweet amps when they came out. A guy in a local band had one. He switched from a XXX to that and his tone was monstrous!
I hated to see them go under. I really liked the Diablo and the Black Pearl series.
 
Re: N(U)AD: Genz-Benz El Diablo 60 head

For whatever reason, the pedal wasn't with it... anybody seen a pinout for the footpedal jack, so I can build my own?
 
Re: N(U)AD: Genz-Benz El Diablo 60 head

jtougas said:
For whatever reason, the pedal wasn't with it... anybody seen a pinout for the footpedal jack, so I can build my own?
Click to expand...

Those basically use 5-pins jacks don't they (midi-style)? I'll see if I still have pics of mine when I repaired it back then. It wouldn't be hard to build one though. If memory serves me well, it's all basically just short the tip to ground to activate each function so just with a quick trial-n-error you could sort it out easily.
 
Re: N(U)AD: Genz-Benz El Diablo 60 head

Surgeon said:
Those basically use 5-pins jacks don't they (midi-style)? I'll see if I still have pics of mine when I repaired it back then. It wouldn't be hard to build one though. If memory serves me well, it's all basically just short the tip to ground to activate each function so just with a quick trial-n-error you could sort it out easily.
Click to expand...

I figured, I'm just trying to figure out which pin is ground.
 
Re: N(U)AD: Genz-Benz El Diablo 60 head

jtougas said:
I figured, I'm just trying to figure out which pin is ground.
Click to expand...

Ok, then I'm not gonna be able to help, I didn't make a schematic of mine back then... The Customer service over at GB was very helpful back then, maybe you could try writing or calling and see if they'll supply you with a schematic.
 
Re: N(U)AD: Genz-Benz El Diablo 60 head

DankStar said:
Huh, the one I tried was like an overdriven bluesy amp
Click to expand...
That sounds like you played the Black Pearl.
The Diablo could give anything Mesa and Randall made during that time period a run for it's money.
They took EL34 or 6L6 tubes I believe?
The 6L6 version I played years ago was a high gain beast and liquid tight gain.
 
Re: N(U)AD: Genz-Benz El Diablo 60 head

Yeah, the versatility of that beast was insane with the different output tubes (el34s were great too). A great lead amp for anything metal. The only thing it lacked was some chewyness but it can still be fiund in there once you really get to know it.

If it sounded like an overdriven blues amp it was either not a diablo or something was wrong with it (I'mmassuming you lnew how to crank the gain so I'm not putting this one on user-error ;) )
 
Re: N(U)AD: Genz-Benz El Diablo 60 head

The 60 takes EL34s *OR* 6L6s (mine is currently set for 6L6s).

In another piece of good news, I stopped by the GC, to check and see if they had the footswitch, and just hadn't ziptied it to the amp, and lo & behold, they did. W00t!

I'm thinking I may need to acquire some new preamp tubes for it... granted, I've only played single coils through it so far, but I haven't been able to get the warm channel to really get to the "just barely breaking up" point I love so much. Might have to break out something with P-90s... The Hot channel got some nice grit out of it, but nowhere near the onslaught I was able to dial up at the shop with an SG.
 
Re: N(U)AD: Genz-Benz El Diablo 60 head

For those that haven't owned one: there's a switch on the back to switch between EL34 or 6L6, plus bias ports and a bias trim dial.

A *lot* of thought went into this thing.


Sent from my iPad using a bunch of electrons, copper, and probably some fiber optic cable
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Wattage
NAD - Friedman Little Sister
Replies
16
Views
1K
playas
playas
devastone
Les Paul Classic Adventures
Replies
18
Views
721
misterwhizzy
misterwhizzy
JOLLY
New Guitars Days
Replies
19
Views
855
devastone
devastone
Masta' C
  • Poll Poll
Forum Pickup Poll #2: Everything Else
3 4 5
Replies
80
Views
1K
ItsaBass
ItsaBass
SZjammin83
Pre-Owned USA Peavey 6505+ 120w head n "Parts Cab" FINALLY A RIG OF MY OWN
Replies
4
Views
792
Danglin' Fury
D
Back
Top