Overview

Heavy Tones Like No Other - And More!
As the sound of heavily down-tuned rock and metal exploded in the past two decades, a new need arose for guitarists who seek an amp that can handle it. And this is exactly what this ultra-powerful amp was made for! The unique 180-Watt Diezel Herbert can easily take on the massive headroom needed for high-output guitar tones. With the Herbert you can easily dial in a huge clean tone or an all-hell-breaks-loose distortion that will cut through the mix like nothing else. A truly timeless piece of gear and after 15+ years on the market, the Diezel Herbert is still the go-to choice for anyone looking to achieve those modern tones that are a key pillar in today’s heavy rock and metal arenas. And once you switch to Channel 1 you'll be blown away by just how elegant this amp can handle your clean chords and licks!

Herbert Leads The Way
The vision for the amp consisted of creating an all-tube head capable of unmatched performance, delivering everything from dynamic cleans, sharp crunch and ultra-tight distortion. Peter Diezel used custom proprietary transformers, offering 3 distinctly voiced channels, 3 effect loops and a number of switching options. The final package produced a head that makes it quite easy to play pristine cleans or rage with shattering high-gain tones. And now, the Diezel Herbert plugin is a perfect addition for anyone working on the go as it has everything you need for recording and mixing release-ready guitar tracks.

The Power of the 3 Channels

Channel 1
In Channel 1 you will find the classic Diezel clean sound - rich yet subtle like a piano. Ample headroom with a nice body and polished sheen pronounced mids, you name it.

Channel 2
With Channel 2 you have quite a few options when it comes to growly crunchy tones - easily get that signature Diezel crunch with dynamic and punchy attack if you are after a heavier rhythm section.

Channel 3
And Channel 3 starts in high gain territory right of the bat, providing outstanding picking sensitivity and detailed note control. This is the channel you need to join the heavy guitar gods and shred with pure distorted madness. It’s practically impossible to not have enough gain here, crank the mids and play around with the second master to get an even richer volume boost.

Go Even Further with FX
No Brainworx guitar amp plugin would be complete without their signature FX rack. Here you can find a Noise Gate, switchable high and low pass filters along with a Power Soak circuit that helps you control the amount of overdrive without turning up the output gain. On top of that, you can also scroll through over a 100 IR Recording Chains that were done with maximum precision utilizing a selection of cabinets, vintage mics and a heap of legendary outboard gear, all tracked through Brainworx’s legendary Neve VXS 72 console.

Features

  • Exacting emulation of the original Diezel Herbert Tube Guitar Amp approved by Peter Diezel and Peter Stapfer

  • 3 channels cover a massive range of gain

  • Each channel boasts its own 3-band EQ

  • Easily dial in pristine clean tones, well kept medium gain, and brutal high gain with this state-of-the art tone machine

  • Powered by 12AX7 preamp tubes and KT77 power tubes

  • 120 Brainworx’ Recording Chains (advanced impulse responses) included

  • FX Rack include host-syncable lo-fi delay, noise gate, tight and smooth filters, power soak, pre and power amp bypass

Audio Examples

Industry Reviews

  • Eric Steckel

    Eric Steckel

    Solo Artist, John Mayall

    After touring with the Herbert MK2 for years and now the MK3, I am intimately familiar with the nuances of this modern classic amplifier and it’s become synonymous with my Bluesmetal sound. This… Read More

  • Peter Diezel

    Peter Diezel

    Founder Diezel Amplification

    The plugin version of the Herbert captures the tone of the real amp. Brainworx did a great job!

Customer Reviews

  • Love the amp

    ★★★★★
    by YnJ
    I would really like to see the recording chains and using an IR loader made more accesible. Ideally I would like something similar to the IR loader you get with Nembrini amps included, a drop down… Read More
  • Very good!

    ★★★★★
    by MS
    I don't play metal and never will play metal and I absolutely love this amp sim. Perfect for when a more urgent sound than a hot Plex is needed. I'm amazed at how articulate this sim is and how well… Read More
  • Modern tube tones de luxe!

    ★★★★★
    by Faydit
    My favorite Diezel still is the VH-4, which is for me the ultimate "Modern Marshall", which Marshall unfortunately never managed to build by themselves, sonically some sort of extremely hot-rodded… Read More
  • OMG !!!

    ★★★★★
    by Athanasios Sgouridis
    This is one of the best vst for guitars that I have ever heard !!! Totally Worth it ! I use it for heavy metal and the sound is absolutely stunning
  • Diezel Herbert

    ★★★★★
    by tngyrlns
    Probably the best amp plugin I've ever used! The amount of IRs makes it extremely versatile and a proper studio weapon.

Specifications

Supported Plugin Formats
AAX DSP, AAX Native, AU, AAX AudioSuite, VST2, VST3

Supported Operating Systems
macOS 14 down to macOS 11
Windows 11 down to Windows 10

Mac
Intel, or Apple Silicon

PC
x64-compatible CPU

System Requirements
Display resolution: 1440 × 900px or 1280 × 960px or higher
Memory: 2 GB RAM

Downloads

With the Installation Manager you can select, download & install all the Plugin Alliance products. Select any and all formats you need for your system! Mac & PC.

ChangeLog

Herbert

Diezel Herbert - Changelog

Version 1.5.1 (Oct 9, 2023)
- General: fixed CPU spikes on Mac OS

Version 1.5.0 (Aug 15, 2023)
- General: added native Apple Silicon compatibility for AAX
- General: added macOS Ventura support
- General: improved plugin loading time in the DAW
- General: fixed issue causing Logic to crash when closing the plugin UI
- General: improved font drawing behavior

Version 1.4 (Mar 15, 2022)
- General: added native Apple Silicon compatibility for VST3, VST2 and AU
- General: added macOS Monterey support
- General: added Windows 11 and Windows 10 21H1 support
- General: discontinued Windows 7 support
- General: discontinued macOS 10.9 and 10.11 support
- General: fixed metering behavior in block sizes of 2048 samples and higher

Version 1.3 (Mar 22, 2021)
- General: Compatibility with Logic on Apple Silicon devices via the Rosetta-2 layer
- General: Fixed possible artefacts when freezing or bouncing tracks in Pro Tools
- General: Fixed automation highlighting disappearing in Studio One
- General: Improved license dialog visibility in dark mode

Version 1.2 (May 27, 2020)
- General: Qualified for use with the Windows 10 May 2020 Update
- General: VST3: Fixed potential hangs in a DAW upon loading
- General: Fixed logical issues in undo / redo behavior
- General: Fixed UI resizing issues in Ableton Live on Windows
- General: Fixed audio processing initialization issues on amp and delay products

Version 1.1 (Nov 06, 2019)
- General: Qualified for use with macOS 10.15 Catalina
- General: Qualified for use with Windows 10 November 2019 Update
- General: Fixed plugin validation in Logic under macOS Catalina
- General: Fixed preset name restore in Logic when reopening a session
- General: Fixed opening authorization dialog triggering automation
- General: Improved instantiation times for plugins
- General: Improved license functionality and branding for subscription
- General: Removed 32-bit support on macOS and Windows

Version 1.0 (Jul 31, 2019)
- Initial Release