1:41 That tone man holy SHIT! So thick, tight and defined. When I heard that part I felt pleasure and smiled. Those sus chords with this amp sound so fucking beautiful and hard. God damn it!
I had the exact same thing. Was looking into buying one for several months now. That tone made me smile and tear up slightly hahahah. It also made me make the decision to buy one! What made me buy a diezel instead of an mesa boogie is the attack on the open strings. Metallica has been blending mesa boogies with diezel’s for 30 years now and you get the signature mesa boogie sound with the attack of diezel. Really unique and awesome!
Wow!! 😦, this one over powers the Marshall JVM410H, 6505, maybe the Engl or Red Seven are close, but not quite the same🔥 What an amazing inspiring tone!
Is it just me or is Jon the William Wonka of Amps? His studio looks like a place of pure imagination. I would totally buy lots of chocolate to win a Golden ticket to Jons Amp Factory studio :D PS- That Arctic ESP Phoenix is just *chefs kiss*
@@SonicDriveStudio I'm off to buy a shit ton of chocolate then! Have you ever played through a Redstuff Minotaurus? I only need another 12 kidneys and I think I could get one.
you know, Jon. usually you demo'ed these amps with variety of styles and guitars, also with variety of IRs that showcase the amps, within the sweetspot of your tweaking. I like your video series of 1 amp in 15 styles. But I (maybe we) need to see some videos that explore the possibilites of an amp with just one guitar. Just because many folks can only buy 1 guitar/amp at a particular time...
Great video. You reassured me that vh2 is my holy grail. Too bad you didn't record samples on the celestion k-100 speaker simulation. diezel has such a loudspeaker in its offer, I am a happy owner and I think it is underrated. 
I totally agree with this. Call me crazy but the Diezel had some similarities to the Peavey invective 120. Can't put my finger on the similarity I'm hearing. A shootout might put it in perspective. And hell yeah...throw the Stealth in for good measure. 🤙
Awesome video! But try a Blackstar Series 1 6L6 - same "fattness" -incredible awesome amp, but a fourth the money. they sound quite alike It´s a crying shame they discontinued the series 1 line. one of the best amps every produced...
Invective and/or 5150iii stealth against the VH2... Someone else said the quality low end tightness comes from the low end coming after the preamp distortion. The low end before the preamp is cut out. Please Someone tell me how to manage this on the Helix.
I love your channel man, and I just have a quick question for you and apologies if you've addressed this in a video already. In your mixes, do you use any EQ/compression or anything on the guitars or do you keep them raw? Are the isolated guitars raw? Thanks in advance and keep up the great work!
It's simple: by cutting the low end before the distortion, but adding it back afterwards. The 2 factors that influence tightness in valve amps are how little low end attacks the valves, and how high the voltage is that is driving them. They, especially ECC83s, can't handle too much low end upfront, and if the voltage is too low they don't function properly, and that's how you get sag/brown sound. But if the EQ curve entering the preamp looks like this 📶 and there's enough power to maximise efficiency, it'll sound tight. Then it's just a matter of boosting the bass in the power section. That's literally how the graphic EQ on a Mesa Mark series works, and why those amps never need overdrive boosts. Diezel probably does the same thing, but with internal electronics instead of conjugated EQs. Amp sims just -try to- replicate those circuits digitally.
Was playing with that earlier today actually. I haven't got any of the Neural DSP sims yet as they are quite expensive for a single plugin...although they do seem to sound great so I do want to get at least one (probably the Rabea) when they have a sale on again. IK MultiMedia on the other hand just gives you a ridiculous amount of stuff for the money. I only had to pay about £140 to get their full suite of products due to already having a certain amount of their software (which was free with a hardware purchase anyway!). I believe the Diezel sim in AmpliTube is the VH4. Clearly one of those they don't have the licence for to use the real brand name. I wonder if that means it gets passed over by some users who go for the name brand stuff first. It sounded absolutely great when I used my guitar with the Fishman Modern pickups. But the low end is too boomy on the lowest string when I use my other 7 string - an Ibanez AZ24047. That guitar has a more old school sounding bridge pickup. It sounds great on all the other strings but need a very tight pickup to handle that low end, or an amp that is more forgiving. Of course the Diezel will bring out all the low frequencies from the guitar so if I want to get a tight modern metal sound from my Ibanez it may be worth replacing the bridge pickup.
Me too. Ever since I discovered the VH4 and found out that Amplitube has that amp, I only play with that amp. I love that thick and tight low end and at the same time with distortion it is so defined. Someday I will definitely have my own VH4 or VH2 tube amp.
the newer VH`s sound just too PHAT for me, same with the vh4 synergy module..i had an very old blue front VH4-S and that amp was just a killer, too dumb that a sold it a decade ago..peter is tweaking the sound of the VH amps every 2 years so they all sound very different depends on the date of production. i know him weill because he lives near me, a very serious person imo, cheers 🖖🖖
Хороший обзор, спасибо! Только зачем так выгибать большой палец на правой руке? Почему бы не делать угол медиатора в другую сторону? Это же мешает делать флажолеты.
Excellent demo and playing of course. That makes me want to buy a VH2. I remember you had an EVH 5150 III 50w which is what I currently have, How do the 2 amps compare? I'm sure the Diezel is way better but is it a huge difference as far a metal tones go? Thank you
I've had both.. I just sold my 5150 III 100W. It sounded much better than the 50W but I think the 100W still sounded slightly better than the VH2.. I kept the VH2 because it has a more unique character. VH4 has also been my dream amp since I started playing and switching channels on the 100W via my controller would require a much sophisticated solution as opposed to a simple TRS cable for the VH2. The blue channel on the 5150 III compares closely with the OD channel on the VH2. 5150 I found was clearer. VH2 is a bit more compressed and slightly muddier. Gotta work the Deep and Bass controls more to clear up the mud but I run an EQ in front to take care of that. Overall 5150 sounded better, but VH2 won for me due to its character and how well it takes an EQ pedal and how well it responds to a boost. Boosted blue channel on the 5150 didn't really sound as good. Though there's always the red channel for that much higher gain solos and rhythm work. The Diezel also responds remarkably well to the volume and tone controls on the guitar. I like having 1 GREAT sound, I don't like switching channels too much. Using 1 sound and playing with the volume and tone pots, and/or OD/boost pedals feels much more coherent in a song rather than using 3 different great sounds. YMMV though.
Could you do an A/B comparison between the 2nd channel of this amp and the VH4 module from Synergy? Plugged into the same power amp and cab, of course.
Are you running through a power soak or just like deafening volumes? lol. Does the louder preamp volume with low master sound better than the other way around? Or pretty much the same?
Hey Jon, I have a video idea for you. You are an analog-digital hybrid player/engineer, meaning you do have physical amps but you put IRs on them. Now the video idea would be the "Wishlist of Jon for Lunchbox Amps". For example: when I saw the first Peavey lunchbox amp has a USB port I got really happy... Until I read that the sound you get out of it has already a baked in mediocre IR, that you _can't turn off_. So from your point of view, what would be the holy grail of lunchbox tube amps that work magnificently with IRs later in the signal chain. (Partially I want you to make this video as I hope by now some people from the industry started following you.) (Also please someone who can sing, sing over these song ideas, they sound so great!)
I just don't find it fat at all. Too tight, thin, shrill, and there's a 'hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh' sound in the back of everything (from 7:22 onwards). I just don't get that grumbling chest thumping vibration that Marshalls push. Maybe this is why they are commonly paired, e.g., Hetfield's rig. Am I alone in this opinion?
This amp sounds so fat! If I compare it to some of my other amps, which ones should I do?
Kraken & an Engl maybe? They sound pretty massive too. I can’t figure out which one I would want the most
Victory VX100 Super Kraken!
I’d like to hear it against a Hughes and Kettner.
@@thieveryguitars6206triamp mk2 or 3
Fireball 100!
1:41 That tone man holy SHIT! So thick, tight and defined. When I heard that part I felt pleasure and smiled. Those sus chords with this amp sound so fucking beautiful and hard. God damn it!
I had the exact same thing.
Was looking into buying one for several months now.
That tone made me smile and tear up slightly hahahah.
It also made me make the decision to buy one!
What made me buy a diezel instead of an mesa boogie is the attack on the open strings.
Metallica has been blending mesa boogies with diezel’s for 30 years now and you get the signature mesa boogie sound with the attack of diezel.
Really unique and awesome!
My dude, talk about underrated! Someone get this guy a 'Riff Beast' tee shirt. Killer jams👍
I think this might be favourite of this series so far. You just can't beat that Diezel distorted tone!
I love my vh4 . Such cool amps . Amazing with a simple old ts9 ! Crushing
Wow!! 😦, this one over powers the Marshall JVM410H, 6505, maybe the Engl or Red Seven are close, but not quite the same🔥
What an amazing inspiring tone!
Is it just me or is Jon the William Wonka of Amps? His studio looks like a place of pure imagination. I would totally buy lots of chocolate to win a Golden ticket to Jons Amp Factory studio :D
PS- That Arctic ESP Phoenix is just *chefs kiss*
Sounds like you need a golden ticket!
@@SonicDriveStudio I'm off to buy a shit ton of chocolate then! Have you ever played through a Redstuff Minotaurus? I only need another 12 kidneys and I think I could get one.
This!!!! 😆
Badass riffs Jon, your songwriting skills are excellent!
Thanks!
you know, Jon. usually you demo'ed these amps with variety of styles and guitars, also with variety of IRs that showcase the amps, within the sweetspot of your tweaking. I like your video series of 1 amp in 15 styles. But I (maybe we) need to see some videos that explore the possibilites of an amp with just one guitar. Just because many folks can only buy 1 guitar/amp at a particular time...
Great video. You reassured me that vh2 is my holy grail. Too bad you didn't record samples on the celestion k-100 speaker simulation. diezel has such a loudspeaker in its offer, I am a happy owner and I think it is underrated.

That's a very cool tone. Quite unique. I could probably never justify buying one though.
Yes
love it
I’d probably put it in a cage match with the Invective, a 6L6 5150iii, and for fun the PRS MT15. Interesting price point comparison too.
My thoughts as well. Invective and 5150iii stealth!
PRS Archon is pretty Boss for the price too
I totally agree with this. Call me crazy but the Diezel had some similarities to the Peavey invective 120. Can't put my finger on the similarity I'm hearing. A shootout might put it in perspective. And hell yeah...throw the Stealth in for good measure. 🤙
I love the criticism/suggestions of what he should have done. "Why did you make the video you made instead of the one I would have made?" For real??
Awesome tones and playing!
these vids prove that cab makes most of the tone for sure
the amp just adds flavor
Awesome video!
But try a Blackstar Series 1 6L6 - same "fattness" -incredible awesome amp, but a fourth the money.
they sound quite alike
It´s a crying shame they discontinued the series 1 line.
one of the best amps every produced...
Invective and/or 5150iii stealth against the VH2...
Someone else said the quality low end tightness comes from the low end coming after the preamp distortion. The low end before the preamp is cut out. Please Someone tell me how to manage this on the Helix.
Love my VH4
I love your channel man, and I just have a quick question for you and apologies if you've addressed this in a video already. In your mixes, do you use any EQ/compression or anything on the guitars or do you keep them raw? Are the isolated guitars raw? Thanks in advance and keep up the great work!
No post processing!
@@SonicDriveStudio impressive! Thanks for the quick reply
Found the Diezel amp sim on Amplitube and never looked back. The distortion is just so perfect. Fat but also tight? Not sure how, but it is.
It's simple: by cutting the low end before the distortion, but adding it back afterwards. The 2 factors that influence tightness in valve amps are how little low end attacks the valves, and how high the voltage is that is driving them. They, especially ECC83s, can't handle too much low end upfront, and if the voltage is too low they don't function properly, and that's how you get sag/brown sound. But if the EQ curve entering the preamp looks like this 📶 and there's enough power to maximise efficiency, it'll sound tight. Then it's just a matter of boosting the bass in the power section. That's literally how the graphic EQ on a Mesa Mark series works, and why those amps never need overdrive boosts. Diezel probably does the same thing, but with internal electronics instead of conjugated EQs. Amp sims just -try to- replicate those circuits digitally.
Was playing with that earlier today actually. I haven't got any of the Neural DSP sims yet as they are quite expensive for a single plugin...although they do seem to sound great so I do want to get at least one (probably the Rabea) when they have a sale on again.
IK MultiMedia on the other hand just gives you a ridiculous amount of stuff for the money. I only had to pay about £140 to get their full suite of products due to already having a certain amount of their software (which was free with a hardware purchase anyway!).
I believe the Diezel sim in AmpliTube is the VH4. Clearly one of those they don't have the licence for to use the real brand name. I wonder if that means it gets passed over by some users who go for the name brand stuff first.
It sounded absolutely great when I used my guitar with the Fishman Modern pickups. But the low end is too boomy on the lowest string when I use my other 7 string - an Ibanez AZ24047. That guitar has a more old school sounding bridge pickup. It sounds great on all the other strings but need a very tight pickup to handle that low end, or an amp that is more forgiving. Of course the Diezel will bring out all the low frequencies from the guitar so if I want to get a tight modern metal sound from my Ibanez it may be worth replacing the bridge pickup.
Me too. Ever since I discovered the VH4 and found out that Amplitube has that amp, I only play with that amp. I love that thick and tight low end and at the same time with distortion it is so defined. Someday I will definitely have my own VH4 or VH2 tube amp.
the newer VH`s sound just too PHAT for me, same with the vh4 synergy module..i had an very old blue front VH4-S and that amp was just a killer, too dumb that a sold it a decade ago..peter is tweaking the sound of the VH amps every 2 years so they all sound very different depends on the date of production. i know him weill because he lives near me, a very serious person imo, cheers 🖖🖖
Хороший обзор, спасибо!
Только зачем так выгибать большой палец на правой руке? Почему бы не делать угол медиатора в другую сторону? Это же мешает делать флажолеты.
hmm...
Excellent demo and playing of course. That makes me want to buy a VH2. I remember you had an EVH 5150 III 50w which is what I currently have, How do the 2 amps compare? I'm sure the Diezel is way better but is it a huge difference as far a metal tones go? Thank you
I've had both.. I just sold my 5150 III 100W. It sounded much better than the 50W but I think the 100W still sounded slightly better than the VH2.. I kept the VH2 because it has a more unique character. VH4 has also been my dream amp since I started playing and switching channels on the 100W via my controller would require a much sophisticated solution as opposed to a simple TRS cable for the VH2.
The blue channel on the 5150 III compares closely with the OD channel on the VH2. 5150 I found was clearer. VH2 is a bit more compressed and slightly muddier. Gotta work the Deep and Bass controls more to clear up the mud but I run an EQ in front to take care of that. Overall 5150 sounded better, but VH2 won for me due to its character and how well it takes an EQ pedal and how well it responds to a boost. Boosted blue channel on the 5150 didn't really sound as good. Though there's always the red channel for that much higher gain solos and rhythm work.
The Diezel also responds remarkably well to the volume and tone controls on the guitar. I like having 1 GREAT sound, I don't like switching channels too much. Using 1 sound and playing with the volume and tone pots, and/or OD/boost pedals feels much more coherent in a song rather than using 3 different great sounds. YMMV though.
@@tanvarma4169 Thank you so much. I think I'll hold on to the 5150III for a little while.
Jon… maybe apples and ummm… oranges… lol… but how would you compare the VH2 vs a MKIII Rockerverb?
Is there a way to make you share the stemps (DIs) to this series... i would prefer payment bevor threaten you 😂😬😠🤭
Could you do an A/B comparison between the 2nd channel of this amp and the VH4 module from Synergy? Plugged into the same power amp and cab, of course.
Are you running through a power soak or just like deafening volumes? lol. Does the louder preamp volume with low master sound better than the other way around? Or pretty much the same?
Channel 3 on Herbert is fatter, different mid emphasis. But VH-2 is a very versatile Amp.
Why doesn't my VH2 sound like this? Mine sounds like a very flat JCM800.
Which tubes in it ?
How you like your Invective?
Hey Jon, I have a video idea for you. You are an analog-digital hybrid player/engineer, meaning you do have physical amps but you put IRs on them. Now the video idea would be the "Wishlist of Jon for Lunchbox Amps". For example: when I saw the first Peavey lunchbox amp has a USB port I got really happy... Until I read that the sound you get out of it has already a baked in mediocre IR, that you _can't turn off_. So from your point of view, what would be the holy grail of lunchbox tube amps that work magnificently with IRs later in the signal chain. (Partially I want you to make this video as I hope by now some people from the industry started following you.) (Also please someone who can sing, sing over these song ideas, they sound so great!)
name of the song at 3:09 ?
I just don't find it fat at all. Too tight, thin, shrill, and there's a 'hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh' sound in the back of everything (from 7:22 onwards). I just don't get that grumbling chest thumping vibration that Marshalls push. Maybe this is why they are commonly paired, e.g., Hetfield's rig.
Am I alone in this opinion?
Hi, how about a demo of each of the amp throught cabinet speaker?
do you think its better than the VH4?
I haven't tried the VH4
I heard on the internet the VH4 is better, louder, and more expensive because it goes to 4
I’m getting lots of Pearl Jam vibes off of channel 1
Sounds fat but I think thr Herbert and D-Mol are fatter. I think Bogner, like the XTC and Uber are even fatter.
I just hate the knob layout and the font looks like it was selected from MS paint, absolutely tasteless when it comes to visual design.
I want to try a Gibson 498t in my guitar 😮