It is a sunny day in Bad Steben, a neat little spa town in the national park area “Fränkischer Wald”. Peter Diezel is standing in front of his ancient home, built in 1898 and formerly used
as an embroidery place by his aunts, looking complacent and content. Today, the old place is his office. In the backyard, five craftsmen are soldering and assembling the electronic components for the legendary handmade full tube amps which are truly beloved by rock and metal musicians due to their rich and “dirty“ sound.
Peter Diezel took his time to reach his current status. In the mid 80s he lived in Munich and tried his hand at surviving as a guitar player, with negligible success, though. Due to
the fact that the standard amps of the time did not meet the sound requirements of the skilled sound engineer and electrician he started taking Marshall amps apart. „At that time I
experimented a lot with these amps, then I found that, finally, the only original parts left were the transformers; the sound, however, had really improved.“
In 1992, Peter Diezel met the guitar player and businessman Peter Stapfer and in 1993 they started their company. Today, they’re still working together; Diezel is responsible for the
electronic components in Bad Steben while Stapfer has them installed into housings in Dillingen.
In 1994, they laid the foundation for their current success story by constructing their legendary VH4 model, a stroke of genius which didn’t need a lot of marketing. „We didn’t have the money to invest in marketing, anyway,“ Diezel remembers, „our brand was propagated by word of mouth, by guitartechs.“
"Pretty fast these Bavarian tube amps reached their excellent reputation of today in the international rock world. They are used by bands and musicians such as Nine Inch Nails, Metallica, Bon Jovi, Tool’s Adam Jones etc. Reviews in the trade press are little short of ecstatic and Diezel amps have been winning numerous musical industry awards.
In 1995/6 a certain Manfred Kuhn served an internship with Diezel and, together with Diezel, spent some time in a workshop next to Diezel’s Munich rehearsal room, looking for the „perfect“ cable. They stayed in touch, both still fascinated by cables, when Manfred Kuhn became CORDIAL’s productmanager. Peter Diezel states: „I use cables professionally and constantly every day and that is why I really appreciate CORDIAL cables. They are sturdy and durable and guarantee a great sound.“ Does he fancy a specific cable? „That’s hard to say, it all depends on what is required at the time. CORDIAL offers a unique range of cables, guaranteeing any top sound you could wish for.“
Guitar players that have used/use Diezel amps are Matthew Bellamy (Muse), Alter Bridge, Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins), Ian Crichton (Saga), Richard Fortus (Guns’N’Roses), James Hetfield (Metallica), Adam Jones (Tool), Adam Ross (Rihanna), Richie Sambora (Bon Jovi),
Nick Sterling, Neal Schon, amongst lots of others.