Guitar Pics

Just a spot to upload random guitar pics for online linking.

Dean MD24 Floyd Rose leveling attempt.

To be continued.

Crab Guitar Effects Benzin Head (Inspired by Diezel VH4)

My order of the Benzin 50W head, inspired by the Diezel VH4, is making its way from Ukraine to the US. I contacted Crab Guitar Effects through FB Messenger to put the order in. My amp was shipped a little over a month after I put my order in.

Edit - 4/8/25 - The Benzin has arrived. The amp was well packed, with styrofoam on all 6 sides and several layers of bubble wrap. The box got to me with minimal damage as it passed through multiple countries.

Here are some the features:

• 4 preamp tubes instead/ 2 power tubes
• Toroidal power and output transformers
• 50W output
• 2 sets of EQ: VH1/VH2 and VH3/VH4
• Footswitchable between VH1/VH2 and VH3/VH4
• Tone Shift to take out lower mid frequencies
• 1 serial effects loop

I wanted to get use out of all four channels of this amp.

• VH1 - I like this channel the least. I’ve been spoiled by the cleans on the Dual Rectifier Multi-Watt and Rectifier Badlander. Whereas the Recto Multi-Watt’s clean seems to be perfectly matched with V30s, the Benzin’s clean sounds a bit honky through the same speaker.
• VH2 - I was hoping to get JCM800-type tones out of this channel, and it does a great impersonation. Setting all of the tone knobs around 12:00 with the gain past 1:00 sounds very Marshall-like, especially through Greenbacks.
• VH3 - This is the sound that everyone associates with the Diezel VH4. This channel sounds like all of the clips that I’ve been hearing online. The low end is big sounding. The hope for a thick high gain voicing was main reason why I went with the Benzin over the Mesa Mark-inspired Marcus model. I came across some marked settings from Adam Jones. He apparently turns the Treble (4:00) and Mids (Maxed) up very high.
• VH4 - This is a gainer and more compressed version of VH3. The level of gain seems on pair with the 5150/6505 Lead Channel. I don’t think I would deviate from setting the gain between 9:00 and 11:00.

Crab Benzin front.

Crab Benzin rear.

The Benzin is compact in relation to a typical head.

I took a look inside the chassis. The amp looks nice all around. The earlier examples of amps by Crab Guitar Effects appeared to have etched boards, but recent amps look like they are all populated with PCBs.

Benzin Guts.

Benzin preamp tube wiring.

Benzin on.

The video below is a demo of the amp that I posted on Youtube.

To be continued.

DIYRE Colour Palette

I bought a DIYRE Colour Palette MkII while it was on sale at $120, right before the price increase to $200. It is a vehicle to use up to 3 Colour modules, modular audio circuits for an already module 500-series format. I put off the build for about a year, but couldn’t justify an entire project sitting on my workbench any longer.

Each bypassable Colour module has a front panel trim/drive knob with a bypass button, with an overall master bypass button at the bottom. At the outset, I was planning on buying the Louder Than Liftoff Implode (1176 Rev F), Avenson MN-50 Smash (Fostex MN-50), and Tonecraft Audio Toneloc (Shure Level-Loc) compressor modules. At this time, I may skip the Toneloc since Shure has partnered with Korneff Audio and Black Lion Audio for the new plugin and hardware versions of the circuit. I am planning on going with the Louder Than Liftoff Pentode Mk2 module, a miniature tube saturation circuit.

Colour Palette with Louder Than Liftoff Implode.

The build came together very quickly over 2 nights because of the relatively low parts count and spacious PCB. Like the DIYRE EQP5 I previously built, PCB solder pads were generously spaced. It was easy to get the main PCB to line up with the daughter board. I had an easy time fitting and aligning the faceplate to the rest of the assembly. Without any modules, I could not test the functionality of the unit when engaged. I learned that the LEDs only light up with modules installed, and the color of the illumination is based on the module. I had to get at least 1 module to see if the Colour Palette was properly working.

Colour Palette mounted in 500 rack for initial testing.

I started off with a Louder Than Liftoff Implode compressor module. A jumper sets normal and high level of thresholds for the input section of the compressor, which doesn’t seem to be offered on earlier versions. Attack and release controls are set by trimpots, and are configured to Dr. Pepper settings at 10:00 and 2:00 respectively. 

A pair of jumpers sets ratio for either 4:1 or All Buttons In mode, although I will likely leave the module at 4:1. The Colour format does not provide visual feedback for gain reduction of the input. I fed some sine tones into the unit to get a feel for the amount of output gain reduction at different trim/drive knob settings. 

More to come.