The Diezel VH4 (Model) Thread

[MirrorProfiles]

SO 2dor got his hands on a VH4 as well this week, I believe it's a newer model. He kindly made some NAM models at similar settings to me.

I thought I'd try a similar test with emulations to see how close they get to his amp. Started with Helix's model and its instantly way closer in tone. It's hard to get the low end matching the same on all sections, and there's a few other subtle differences. But nothing meaningful and both have plenty of wiggle room to fine tune. Quite funny that with my amp, Helix was most different and with @2dor 's one, it was the easiest to match. The others all had more top end, even when turning presence to 0 and treble way down.

On this one, I didnt bother with Fractal or Amplitube because frankly, its too much effort. Among these are:

Real amp
Helix
STL Borland
STL Amphub
Plugin Alliance/Nembrini Official VH4

Curious what you think here @GuitarJon

 

[MirrorProfiles]

I’ve never played the real thing and now I think I’m glad of that. I might have been disappointed vs my (probably unrealistic) expectations lol.

My introduction to these has been via Adam Jones. I may have never heard his VH4 on its own outside of a VIP thing he did. And I don’t remember the actual tone that well considering I was about 6 feet from Adam and 15 feet from the amp and too focused on the discussion to really internalize the tones. It was a Blue and I did get a couple good pics of the amp that day.

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I recently got into some videos by Joey Jones who did some stuff about dialing in a great tone with a Tele. He likes to play in drop/low tunings and was playing blues rock through a Fractal VH4 sim. I remember him mentioning how the dark amp complemented the brightness of the guitar nicely. I was really liking those tones.


Model or capture or both? This has me interested in checking out some V2 captures to see if anything stands out as particularly excellent.

This is so damn cool. What an experience, and that would probably be enough to make me want a VH4 regardless of how it sounds.

 

[GuitarJon]

Model or capture or both? This has me interested in checking out some V2 captures to see if anything stands out as particularly excellent.

Both! I have captures available for the QC and Tonex: https://sonicdrivestudio.com/categories/captures

 

[2dor]

Yessir those are my earcups lol and weigthed duvet piled up on the cab (along with other home-grown insulation "innovations")

 

[deadpool_25]

This is so damn cool. What an experience, and that would probably be enough to make me want a VH4 regardless of how it sounds.

Well you’d probably want an old silverburst LP as well. I’d been reading about his main guitar and how it had a screw in it in a weird spot that he didn’t want to remove because he was scared it would change the tone. And then at that clinic he hands the guitar around the freaking room. Crazy getting to hold it (TWSS).

 

[FuzzyAce]

I’d been reading about his main guitar and how it had a screw in it in a weird spot that he didn’t want to remove because he was scared it would change the tone.

Damn, that even embarrassed EJ to read that!

 

[contrario]

I don't know much about the circuitry of these amps but I can share my little insight into the topic. I'm a huge TOOL fan. I've listened to them thousands of hours so I think I'm familiar with Adam Jones' VH4 sound. I've never had a chance to play a real VH4 before though but I've been using its emulations from several brands such as Line 6 and STL since they were released.

I could closely replicate his tone in the Fear Inoculum and Lateralus albums with the Helix but I never felt I could properly replicate his tone in the 10,000 Days album with it. Thanks to this thread and @MirrorProfiles posts, I tried the STL Tonality - Wes Borland plugin for the first time and bang, the 10,000 Days album guitar tone in your face immediately. I think the circuit STL has modeled sounds like Adam's silverface amp and his 10,00 Days album guitar sound.

On the other hand, I think the Helix model is also accurate and sounds more like his blueface Diezel and Fear Inoculum/Lateralus sound. I guess this post kinda confirms it.

SO 2dor got his hands on a VH4 as well this week, I believe it's a newer model. He kindly made some NAM models at similar settings to me.

I thought I'd try a similar test with emulations to see how close they get to his amp. Started with Helix's model and its instantly way closer in tone. It's hard to get the low end matching the same on all sections, and there's a few other subtle differences. But nothing meaningful and both have plenty of wiggle room to fine tune. Quite funny that with my amp, Helix was most different and with @2dor 's one, it was the easiest to match. The others all had more top end, even when turning presence to 0 and treble way down.

This probably explains why Adam uses two Diezels all the time. I think he likes the sound of these different circuits and finds something unique in each of them.

 

[2dor]

I think the reason he uses 2 is purely for backup purposes. IIRC his tone mostly comes from that Superbass and one VH4 but who really knows ... they probably blended a ton more in the studio.