the most versatile ENGL Amp for metal

[bermuda_]

Hey guys!

Lately there has been a lot of hype about these ENGL amps and I know there quite expensive to purchase

So I was just wondering what would be the most versatile sounding ENGL amp out there for metal music these days I hear that the ENGL Fireballs, ENGL Powerballs are top of the range amp according to a lot of metal guitarists out there.

What do you guys think about ENGL amps,did anybody ever get a chance to play one in my opinion I think these amps look very well build and are rather attractive looking in appearance

 

[TimeSignature]

I own an Engl Powerball. Simply put, the tone is incredible. Absolutely sparkling glass-like cleans as well as tons of headroom. The gain channel is insane. This amp has the most gain of any amp Ive ever played. Brutal in your face distortion with a ton of bottom end that will shake your house. The distortion is very bright with some hair but not fizzy like the Boogie rectifizzles. It may be a little too bright if you are playing through V30's in my opinion, but thru a Boogie cab w/ C90's the tone is amazing. Perfect for any of that Nu Metal type tone!

 

[bermuda_]

cheers for the info man I'll take your word for it on that one :wink:

 

[ak47]

I tried a Fireball E625 a couple of weeks ago and there were some great tones in there. Very straightforward and quite capable of pulling some amazing metal sounds. I would like to own one... :mrgreen:

 

[Turumbar82]

The most versatile ENGL amp is the SE. It can do all the gain that the Powerball does but it has more options than any other ENGL amp.

The Invaders are also very versatile.

The Fireball, Screamer, and Thunder are all simpler amps. More plug and play but they offer a huge amount of gain too.

 

[Nitrobattery]

The SE takes the cake. That thing is an absolute beast.

I had a Savage 120 for a while and it was killer. MASSIVE low end, super tight, and a sparkling clean channel.

 

[Rocky]

Preference really.

The Powerball, SE, Invader, Savage...even the Blackmore and Morse can h andle the task.

I have a Blackmore and a Powerball. Love em both and have actually let all my Mesa gear go as a response.

 

[katsumura78]

I have never played an Engl . I would love to but anyways this is just to give you an idea of what a few of them sound like. Go to youtube and check out the Musik Schmidt engl demo videos. Out of all of them I thought the Steve Morse sounded the best. The guy playing does some palm muted riffs and the tone blew me away. From what I heard they can all get very heavy sounding. Just like someone said already it seems like it boils down to preference more than anything else.

 

[Rocky]

I agree about the German Music Schmidt reviews...the Morse sounds best. Helps that the guy doing the review is the best player in the store. The review that is the most useless on their Youtube site is the Powerball review....I hve no idea what Joey was thinking. I have used he entire line and my fav is still the powerball, it just works for me.

I dont know if you speak German but these reviews are good regardless of your language:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbOI_9IzGss ---- Invader

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcwSjp5o3jU ---- Powerball (to be honest looking up newer Marty Friedman live clips is a better way to hear this amp)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ6Ny-3Ka3I ---- Blackmore

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-e_dTeBmmU --- Savage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJZ4RqP3MuY&feature=related ----- Morse

 

[Turumbar82]

I have an E530 preamp. Dirt cheap for a 2 channel 4 footswitchable mode preamp. It's like $599 brand new. It's really great for quiet practicing because it has a 1.5 watt stereo solid state power amp. It has a clean lo gain, clean hi gain, lead lo gain, lead hi gain. There is a bright switch on the clean and a contour that boosts mids on the lead channel. The clean is very clean. With bright switch disengaged it's very warm and jazzy. Switch in gives me a jangly clean. The hi gain switch just beefs it up and adds a tiny little bit of gain that is nice for single note clean stuff. The lead lo gain is crunchy and suits classic rock, punk, early metal. I think this mode works best with the contour engaged. On the hi gain setting it's tight aggressive metal and shred leads. I don't feel a need for a boost on the lead channel although I do use my Malmsteen pedal in front of it for that kind of signature shred neck pickup sound.

I really want a Powerball though. I haven't played on but I think it is probably similar to my E530 but just more of everything in tone and features.

 

[deftone82]

I have an E530 preamp. Dirt cheap for a 2 channel 4 footswitchable mode preamp. It's like $599 brand new. It's really great for quiet practicing because it has a 1.5 watt stereo solid state power amp. It has a clean lo gain, clean hi gain, lead lo gain, lead hi gain. There is a bright switch on the clean and a contour that boosts mids on the lead channel. The clean is very clean. With bright switch disengaged it's very warm and jazzy. Switch in gives me a jangly clean. The hi gain switch just beefs it up and adds a tiny little bit of gain that is nice for single note clean stuff. The lead lo gain is crunchy and suits classic rock, punk, early metal. I think this mode works best with the contour engaged. On the hi gain setting it's tight aggressive metal and shred leads. I don't feel a need for a boost on the lead channel although I do use my Malmsteen pedal in front of it for that kind of signature shred neck pickup sound.

I really want a Powerball though. I haven't played on but I think it is probably similar to my E530 but just more of everything in tone and features.

Enlighten me please...What do you need, besides a preamp? A set of speakers or still another amp?
Mabye a stupid question but it's only recently that I've started paying serious attention to amps, Before I thought only the guitar and the player would make the sound!

 

[Turumbar82]

deftone82, with a preamp you need a power amp of some sort. Could be tube or solidstate. Tube will sound better and then you need a speaker cab. You can run a preamp into the effects return of an amp but you would be bypassing the preamp on that amp.

With my ENGL preamp it has a built in solid state power amp which isn't very common for preamps that I've seen so I can plug it straight into a cabinet if I want. It's not super loud but it works for quiet practicing.

 

[pmb]

For metal, I'd say the SE is the most versatile one, but I don't really like its rock-tone.

 

[scottieL]

Most versatile amp for metal? Sounds like asking what toilet is best for sh*tting in :lol:

Just kidding folks, to each there own.

 

[droptrd]

The SE for sure. But my other guitarist has a fireball. 2 ch's, butt loads of gain, killer cleans and all for under $1800 new. the gain ch is fairly versatile. it can do light crunch to malcom young to 80's metal to full on shred, and do it well. Id love me an Engl

 

[madryan]

Just remember that you're getting an amp that's built about as well as a Peavey. They're really expensive because of the exchange rate and customs and whatnot but they're not as well constructed as a Diezel or a Boogie. That being said, I've played all the ENGL's and if you dig the big processed sound they're fine. What I mean by that is that they sound less like a real amp and more like a recorded guitar sound. I'm not a fan. Not organic or warm enough for me. All that bottom end and whatnot doesn't come through when you mic them up anyway.

EDIT: I should add... If it breaks good luck getting it fixed. As far as I know they put all their boards in upside down so you have to pull everything to get in and troubleshoot them. I'm not even sure you can get warranty support in the US.

 

[Turumbar82]

Just remember that you're getting an amp that's built about as well as a Peavey. They're really expensive because of the exchange rate and customs and whatnot but they're not as well constructed as a Diezel or a Boogie. That being said, I've played all the ENGL's and if you dig the big processed sound they're fine. What I mean by that is that they sound less like a real amp and more like a recorded guitar sound. I'm not a fan. Not organic or warm enough for me. All that bottom end and whatnot doesn't come through when you mic them up anyway.

EDIT: I should add... If it breaks good luck getting it fixed. As far as I know they put all their boards in upside down so you have to pull everything to get in and troubleshoot them. I'm not even sure you can get warranty support in the US.

You can get warranty support in the US. I had a small issue with my ENGL preamp and I dealt with the US distributors. They were great. I got set up with a repair place not too far from me but I ended up fixing the problem so I didn't need the repair. They were great and sent me a free t-shirt and some free bumper stickers. I definitely wouldn't say they sound processed and would disagree that they don't sound like a real amp. They sound pretty real to me! lol

 

[madryan]

Just remember that you're getting an amp that's built about as well as a Peavey. They're really expensive because of the exchange rate and customs and whatnot but they're not as well constructed as a Diezel or a Boogie. That being said, I've played all the ENGL's and if you dig the big processed sound they're fine. What I mean by that is that they sound less like a real amp and more like a recorded guitar sound. I'm not a fan. Not organic or warm enough for me. All that bottom end and whatnot doesn't come through when you mic them up anyway.

EDIT: I should add... If it breaks good luck getting it fixed. As far as I know they put all their boards in upside down so you have to pull everything to get in and troubleshoot them. I'm not even sure you can get warranty support in the US.

You can get warranty support in the US. I had a small issue with my ENGL preamp and I dealt with the US distributors. They were great. I got set up with a repair place not too far from me but I ended up fixing the problem so I didn't need the repair. They were great and sent me a free t-shirt and some free bumper stickers. I definitely wouldn't say they sound processed and would disagree that they don't sound like a real amp. They sound pretty real to me! lol

Different strokes...

Diezel and Engl both sound really processed to me. I don't get that from my Mark V or my old Marshall. It's just taste.

You've got a preamp (I'm assuming the E530?) which is a totally different beast than one of their heads. Their heads are a cast iron ***** to work on. You're also in Florida which to my knowledge has the only authorized ENGL service place in the states.

Their rack stuff is fine. Were I looking for a regular amp I'd go elsewhere but that's just me.

 

[Turumbar82]

There are actually 15 authorized service places in the US for ENGL. This information can easily be found on the ENGL webpage.

 

[rjf]

Just remember that you're getting an amp that's built about as well as a Peavey. They're really expensive because of the exchange rate and customs and whatnot but they're not as well constructed as a Diezel or a Boogie. That being said, I've played all the ENGL's and if you dig the big processed sound they're fine. What I mean by that is that they sound less like a real amp and more like a recorded guitar sound. I'm not a fan. Not organic or warm enough for me. All that bottom end and whatnot doesn't come through when you mic them up anyway.

EDIT: I should add... If it breaks good luck getting it fixed. As far as I know they put all their boards in upside down so you have to pull everything to get in and troubleshoot them. I'm not even sure you can get warranty support in the US.

You can get warranty support in the US. I had a small issue with my ENGL preamp and I dealt with the US distributors. They were great. I got set up with a repair place not too far from me but I ended up fixing the problem so I didn't need the repair. They were great and sent me a free t-shirt and some free bumper stickers. I definitely wouldn't say they sound processed and would disagree that they don't sound like a real amp. They sound pretty real to me! lol

Different strokes...

Diezel and Engl both sound really processed to me. I don't get that from my Mark V or my old Marshall. It's just taste.

I bit my tongue on your first post, since the Powerball does have a more processed flavor to it when compared to the other Engl heads, but if you are going to say the same about Diezel......
Ever actually played a Diezel head? They produce the most raw, dynamic, pick sensitive hi gain sound I've ever heard or played through. I really like my 2 channel Dual Rec, but compared to the Herbert.... it's like comparing a Dodge Charger sedan to a Dodge Viper.

Just because Engl and Diezel don't use a bunch of fuzzy fizz as it's sound structure, doesn't mean they are "processed" sounding.