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Huge drive in a compact package

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Germany has a solid reputation for being the most efficient country in the world. When it comes to design and manufacturing, the Germans are considered second to none.

Lucky for us, then, that Peter Diezel, joined by Peter Stapfer, set about applying the famed Germanic spirit to building their own amps in the 1980s, and Diezel Amplification was born.

The word 'boutique' is thrown around like a pre-nup at a WAG's wedding, but in Diezel's case it still applies. The Einstein is a two-channel, 50-watt, all-valve combo, and is said to have the capacity to make your guitar "sing or cry, scream or shout".

Diezel claims that the Einstein can go from "sparkling cleans" to "mega crunch" and while it certainly looks like a clever creature on paper, the proof is in the ear test.

Sound

Getting a loud, clean tone from a pure valve amp can sometimes be tricky, so TG's itching to test Diezel's boastful claims of sparkly clean sounds. With the gain and volume set to half way, its assertions are proved correct. It's only when you really dig in to the strings that things start getting crunchy.

"Channel two is where the most saturation occurs – it's pretty much soaking."

The other gain modes fail to disappoint too. A quick tweak of the controls takes you from an indie-licious vintage drive, through perfectly useable blues tones, all the way to heavy distortion.

Channel two is where the most saturation occurs – it's pretty much soaking. With the gain up, fast legatos roll out with ease, and turning up the 'deep' and 'presence' controls gives a huge metal rhythm sound.