haha...the heading for this posting really caught my eye, quite an obnoxious statement. But, hey, thats my opinion and what do I know?
I have to agree with oas on the Diezel, I've got a VH4S and it sounds different. Not better than the Plexis, Soldano SLOs, old and new Mesa Rectifiers or even the Engls, the Framus Dragons or the Bogner Shivas which I really love. Just different. When I listened to the Herbert and the VH4 series, the dirty channels sounded a LOT like a cranked VHT PitBull - angry, loud, with a very heavy tight bottom end. Think Helmet during the Aftertaste sessions. And that was through a Marshall 1960 cab which tends to be on the trebly side!
The Diesels can go plenty loud and breathes pretty well in terms of tonal balance and clarity even at high volumes. I could only crank mine a little past 12 o'clock without making everything near the cabs (a pair of straight Rectifier 4x12s) vibrate like hell.
Its good and nice but overkill in a lot of cases but works wonders when your record with hit for heavier stuff. I STILL enjoy playing through small 2x10 Fender DeVille amps more these days because it doesn't kill my ears as much.
Phil, Stratman...have you tried using the Palmer PDI-03? I found out that Joe Satch uses one of these to run his JSX straight through disc when recording at home. No cabs needed...just plug your amp straight into it. I am kickin myself for not having known about this thing all the time...now, if I can only find one.