Any body dig the ENGL amplification?

[Guitarzan]

+1000 on the Blackmore....such an easy to dial in, great sounding amp.

I traded my BM in on an ENGL SE...now I'm selling the SE and going back to a Blackmore

I've been eyeing the SE w/6L6's What's the reason for going back to the BM? Is it more organic? What say you?

 

[JKD]

+1000 on the Blackmore....such an easy to dial in, great sounding amp.

I traded my BM in on an ENGL SE...now I'm selling the SE and going back to a Blackmore

I've been eyeing the SE w/6L6's What's the reason for going back to the BM? Is it more organic? What say you?

The Blackmore is a more open, rawer sound to it but more importantly it's a much simpler amp....4 channels but only one set of EQ and still has the great mid contour switch for leads.

The SE has almost every feature conceivable in an amp and also has a lot more gain on tap on Low/High Lead channels ch3/4.

If you decied to buy an SE...pls don't buy a new one, buy mine

 

[Nitrobattery]

Wow, I just saw this thread. Thanks for the kind words. I was recently asked about ENGL's by a member on this board, so he's what I replied with...

"To me, ENGL's are cool if you like jamming at home and think you need a big half stack. I was really excited when I got my ENGL Savage 120 and it sounds AMAZING by itself...but it just got totally lost in the mix when playing with my band. That's a complaint I've heard a lot about the ENGL's...but I always just shrugged it off thinking people didn't know how to EQ their amps. I spent months trying to get a good live sound out of it...but it just wasn't happening. So, I decided to switch back to boogie. I sold the ENGL for $1,800 and planned on picking up another Mark IV and maybe another Recto. The problem though was that at that time there weren't any on eBay or Harmony-Central. I had read some reviews on the DC's and heard good things...so I picked up my DC-5 thinking I'd just use it to get me by until I found the amps I really wanted. I was in for a surprise. I got the DC-5 and it sounded ok, but I could tell the tubes hadn't been changed in a while. So I did a full retube...and I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Out my 2 channel recto, my 3 channel recto, my early Mark IV, my TriAxis/2:90 setup and my ENGL...the DC is by far my favorite. It sounds like a more pissed off Mark IV with a slightly grittier lead channel and it has more low end and low mids. To me it's the perfect blend of a Mark IV and a Recto. It has a great clean channel as well. It's not as nice as the Mark IV's...but it's pretty close. I actually like it so much I'm going to pick up another one for my band's summer tour. It's simple and sounds awesome."


The Savage 120 sounded great on its own and sounded badass recorded...but just didn't work live. If anyone wants to hear what the Savage 120 sounds like, you can check out the first 3 clips here

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=691843

They're just rough ideas for songs, but you'll get the picture.

 

[pmb]

That DC sounds freaking great too

 

[scottcrud]

I had a Blackmore, it didn't get lost in the mix at all and it sounded better right out of the box than any Boogie I've ever owned. I've owned a 95 dual recto, a 2002 triple recto, two MKIII's, two studio preamps and 2:90, a MKIV, a DC-10 and I still own a 1990 .50 cal+ that's been hella modded.
That said, i recently sold my Blackmore to try a single channel amp since all I ever use is the high gain channel on a amp, I tried a Mako Dorado and the Blackmore was much better to my ears. Next up is a VHT Deliverance 120...

 

[again with this]

ENGL and Recto. Two great tastes that go great together.

I love this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiTNXhIFVrw&mode=related&search=

 

[jdurso]

Engl SE is a bad *** amp...... one of the most versitile to being able to save 128 patches and a midi system..... it was between the SE, a VHT UL, and my roadster...... the roadster one out because the SE was way too expensive and while the UL is a kick *** amp it didnt have all the options as the roadster plus it saved be about 800

 

[Karl Hungus]

Big fan of Engl here. My main amp is a Fireball, which is basically the little brother of the Powerball, as it's only got 2 channels and 60 watts. Suits me though.

As far as getting lost in the mix goes, I've heard this a few times, but practical experience leads me to believe otherwise. I've seen a lot of professional bands using Engl live, and by god, you can certainly hear the guitars very clearly. If it's anything that Engl do well, it's having very clear and tight sounding amps.

Ok, I'm not saying you're wrong here, Nitrobattery, because I've had no experience with the Savage 120, and most bands I've seen were using Powerballs or SEs.

Engl aren't without fault though. My main criticism is that the presence knob is way too powerfull. If you have it up even half way, it can completely overpower the rest of the EQ, making the amp sound harsh, thin and very fizzy. The rule of thumb is to keep the presence knob below the 9 O'clock mark. I'd say most people who have trouble with Engl in the mix have the presence too high.

 

[Juggernaut]

Check the "non-boogie" classifieds.....

 

[abecon5]

I can see how ENGL's can get lost in the mix very easily, but trust me, it's user error

ENGL is already Voiced very dark and comes stock with ECC83's.
So be sure to turn the bass down and DONT scoop the mids...that is the biggest problem i had.
My settings for "cut through" lead while maintaining the heavness of the amp which drew me to it in the first place
Bass at 10oclock
Mids at 11oclock
Treble at noon
Presence at noon
Gain at 9oclock
Depth engaged
Bright not engaged

"Karl Hungus"
Engl aren't without fault though. My main criticism is that the presence knob is way too powerfull. If you have it up even half way, it can completely overpower the rest of the EQ, making the amp sound harsh, thin and very fizzy. The rule of thumb is to keep the presence knob below the 9 O'clock mark. I'd say most people who have trouble with Engl in the mix have the presence too high.

the Manual says that the most usable range of the presence knob is between 10oclock and noon.
If you turn it down to 9oclock - it WILL get lost in the mix. It might sound great with presence at 9oclock when playing alone, but it will suely get lost when in a band situation.

one last tip in helping the amp cut through. As i said, it comes stock with ECC83's...these tubes are too dark for my taste as the amp is already voiced pretty dark. I changed them to Groove Tubes 12ax7 in V1 and V2.. And Mesa 12ax7 in V3 and V4.
these "lower gain" tubes also allowed me to push the power tubes a little since i was now able to turn the gain up more while maintaining a tight sound.

its a whole new amp!! Cuts through like a sharp knife!!!!

 

[Nitrobattery]

I can see how ENGL's can get lost in the mix very easily, but trust me, it's user error

ENGL is already Voiced very dark

Maybe the Fireball is voiced dark, but the Savage 120 is the brightest amp in ENGL's line. It just didn't work for me.

 

[Slaytallica]

As an owner of a 3 Channel dual rec and an ENGL Powerball and ENGL SE, They are 2 totally different monsters (That being Mesa and ENGL).

The Recto is a solid amp and can get mean as hell especially with a boost but it still has that MESA buzz to it. Some like it some dont.

The Powerball is a cool amp real dark and evil but still stays tight. The clean is as good as the Mesa but the gains are a whole lot better.

The ENGL SE is IMO one of the top 2 High Gain amps on the market. The other being the Diezel VH4.

The SE is just so amazing sounding. The cleans are superb very crystal clear and shimmery. I can compare it with my Two Rock as far as cleans go. Just perfect.

The gain channels are totally insane I can get any tone I want out of this amp. From pushed blues to Classic and hard rock. To 80's metal to the most insane brutal death metal tones. Very very tight very open very organic sounding not compressed at all. Great attack and super clear the mids and highs cut right threw you and the bottom end makes your heart stop. It is just the most versitile head out IMO. Worth every penny. I have the EL34 Version and it totally crushes.

 

[Rocky]

The SE I tried was fantastic.

 

[Nitrobattery]

I definitely want the EL34 SE. It was clips of the SE on rocksolidamp.com that got me interested in ENGL to begin with.

 

[Slaytallica]

I definitely want the EL34 SE. It was clips of the SE on rocksolidamp.com that got me interested in ENGL to begin with.

Hey Nitro,

If you ever want to come by and jam on it let me know.

I'm in Poughkeepsie NY.

 

[Nitrobattery]

That'd be cool man. I'm not far from you.

 

[chris_EIT]

Hey guys. Funny thing is that I tried out the new Engl Invader and found that it's much closer sounding to my mark iv then a recto. I don't know buot the other Engls around but if we are comparing apples to apples here id say go check one to a Mark IV not a recto as most people would compare it too!
But yeh it sounded GREAT! MY idea would be grab one of them for my rhythm and some leads but use the mark iv for my true lead tone XD Ahhh to dream
Just my 2 cents

 

[Nitrobattery]

yeah the ENGL's are VERY tight sounding amps. they don't sound like rectos at all.

 

[Karl Hungus]

Hey guys. Funny thing is that I tried out the new Engl Invader and found that it's much closer sounding to my mark iv then a recto. I don't know buot the other Engls around but if we are comparing apples to apples here id say go check one to a Mark IV not a recto as most people would compare it too!
But yeh it sounded GREAT! MY idea would be grab one of them for my rhythm and some leads but use the mark iv for my true lead tone XD Ahhh to dream
Just my 2 cents

Just like Mesa, Engl have their amps that exceed at rythm, and those that exceed at lead tones. The Invader was definetly more lead orientated, I thought, so it definetly compares with the Mark IV moreso than the Recto. The Fireball/Powerball are more in the Recto ball park.

I think my next amp is definetly going to be an Engl E670 Special Edition head.

 

[atonal]

A buddy of mine had a Savage 120, that thing sounded MEAN. Too bad it got stolen.