engl powerball

[fatoni]

im looking for something non mesa for a change of pace. what are your opinions on this little guy? coming from a mark iv what are going to be some of the differences and similarities?

 

[nitrous2400]

the similarities are its a very compressed tight, high gain head, it still has a very "modern" voicing with a decent clean. I'd say the difference will be that alot of ppl say that it doesnt cut thru the mix for solos which is all depending on settings and is still subjectable. Also its its voicing is somewhat scooped sounding which bothers some. its does has 4 channels but some share eqs, it has a few added controls like depth and such that change the sound a bit. Powerballs are very cool amps but they somewhat picky on the cab that you use with it from what others have told me. Its not a bad choice and not too big of a jump from a mark IV, i had considered one for a while and still entertain the idea for the future, but id really suggest trying it out a bit prior to buying if thats possible...

good luck with your decision

 

[ACHIEVEIT]

i agree with nitrous2400, i have a powerball but to be honest i never had trouble cutting through. Though my band plays metal so our sound is supposed to be just a little scooped. But don't forget that apart from the Master A/B function that you can use for solos there is a button called solo on the footswitch that engages the secondary mid control (if take a look at the bottom line of knobs you will see mids open and focus). So i have the mids open around 3-4 and the focus around 7-8 and that when engaged produces a very nice mid heavy sound (great for rhythm as well if you want). Even if you set those alike, they don't sound the same. Focus has, well, more focused and pronounced mids which makes it ideal for a middy sound while still being really really heavy. I absolutely love my powerball though it is completely modern sounding - no marshall crunch here. Hope that helps