SeriesGenz-Benz El Diablo

• 50/100 Watt Output Selector Offers The Tone and Feel of 2 Different Amplifiers • Dual Speaker Jacks w/ Impedance Selector Switch and Imp. Calculator • Direct Output section—XLR Freq. Compensated w/GRND Lift; 1/4" Line Out; 0db or -20db Switch • Effects Loops—Individual WARM Ch.; HOT Ch. & Global (serial) Effects Loops • Reverb Cancel Jack—Optional Single Button Footswitch • Foot Switch—Din Plug Input for 5 Button Footswitch (included) • Power Inlet/Fuse Holder Plug • 115/230 Voltage Selector Switch • Tube Buffered Input Stage • WARM Tube Ch.—Clean or Vintage Gain Sw.; Gain & Volume Preamp Controls • ±15db Bass, Mid, Treble Tone Shaping; Reverb Level Control • Channel Selector Switch • HOT Tube Ch.—Classic or High Gain Sw.; Dynamic or Compressed Tube Texture; Gain & Volume Preamp Controls; Tube Contour Control; ±15db Bass, Mid, Treble Tone shaping; Reverb Level Control • GLOBAL Section—Attack Sw. w/ Level Control; Master Reverb control; Master Volume Control • Two Independent Tube Channels • Six Triode Preamp Stages (3-12AX7 Tubes) • Four Power Tubes (ships w/Ruby Tube EL 34's) • EL34 or 6L6 Power Tube Capability • Rear Panel Bias Pot • Five Button Footswitch Included This is basically a 2 channel amp with a buttload of features. The El Diablo is supposed to be able to get you the utmost cleans all the way to high gain brutal distortion. UTILIZATION This is a bit of a complex amp. It's got a lotta knobs and the LEDs are all so bright and pretty! So it may take some time to adjust to a sound that you like. I personally had to even email Jeff Genzler a few times to get some suggestions on how to tweak this thing right and get in the ball park. The manual does definitely help!! SOUNDS I have owned this version as well as the 60 watt tribal head version, I tried both to see what the differences were and to see if I preferred one over the other and to be honest I now don't own either of them. I will review the 60 watt version soon. CLEAN: Actually, this is probably the best sounding channel of the amp. It's not sterile, has loads of headroom and spank. It's not particularly bright like a fender but not too dark either, it sort of has it's own thing but you can definitely hear a good sparkly clean. Distortion: This is where it came up short. I don't know why but there was always this buzzy/fizzy tone in the distortion signal that I couldn't get rid of no matter how I EQ'd the damn thing. This got to the point where I even emailed Jeff Genzler on this. He was very quick to reply and very helpful of course, his tips DID help minimize the fizzy tone I was hearing but did not eliminate it completely. I was quite upset overall though, the fact that this amp sounded like a solidstate amp for the price I paid and with all the tubes in the world, it couldn't change the overall sound. I guess it was just the design of the El Diablo, it's sort of a very modern tone and even on the vintage settings, still quite modern sounding. Though generally it is a unique sounding amp and I've heard some rather decent clips from other players using it. But it definitely didn't take off like some other amps. The distortion was overall just a bit too sterile for my tastes and I ended up selling it and buying the 60 tribal as I heard it might've been warmer sounding.. OVERALL OPINION Overall the amp's construction is great, the build quality looks very reliable and the service from Jeff is amazing. But the amp itself seems to lack something that most guitarist players are looking for. So it's worth a try but in my opinion, it sounded like a DECENT solidstate amp. I can't say that it sounds horrible cause it seems to have potential and I've heard good samples from others, but my experience with it was not super positive. The cleans were amazing but the distortion lacked something and had a fizzy character to it I couldn't dial out even with help from Jeff Genzler himself.