Engl inbound...

[Red_Label]

Hi all. I've mostly been living in the acoustic world since January. But lately I've been getting back into electric more and more. When I do play one of my ESP Eclipses, I've been totally satisfied with the sweet Marshall roar of my DSL50 head into a 1960B straight cab loaded with G12-T75s.

Last weekend I popped into my buddy's shop and they recently became and Engl dealer. So I plugged into an Engl Powerball II and was BLOWN away. Even at talking volumes, the tone was just SO fat, organic and alive, plus I could get nice, controlled feedback all day long. The tone seemed even more organic and complex than my my old Bogner XTC Classic, Shiva, and VHT Ultra Lead. It really surprized me! The only two previous experiences I've had with Engls were an old Ritchie Blackmore head (SWEET mod'd Marshall tones ala ACDC, etc in there) and an older Fireball 60 head (very buzzy, like an old Crate amplifier... ugghhhh).

Anyways... through some horse-trading and girations, I've got a mint Powerball II head on the way tomorrow. Just seeking input from current and former Engl users out there.

P.S. I'm an "old school" rocker who grew-up in the 80s and the modded Marshall tone has always been my holy grail. That's why I've been so happy with the DSL. But I also really enjoy the newer Power/Euro/Melodic Metal ala Kamelot, Nightwish, Within Temptation, Lacuna Coil, Nocturnal Rites, Dark Moor, etc. So the itch that I intend to scratch with this Engl is more along those lines.

[Van Noord]

Congrats dude! Those amps sound great for sure! There's one on my local CL for sale, but I'm not convinced I need a 4 chan amp. I think he wants $1500 for it. Mint condish. Tempting, but I'm ordering a custom 4x12 next instead.

[UberMetalDood]

Wow! I'm jealous. Seriously. I had one and then sold it for a Steve Morse head. Unfortunately, the Steve Morse head was phenomenal but I couldn't dial in the high mids that I wanted. Basically, I was trying to kind of get it to sound kind of like a Marshall, but the Invader is much better at that kind of thing. Unfortunately, some financial issues came up after I sold the Morse head and my plans for an Invader fell through.

I ended up getting an Engl Raider which, if you love the Powerball II, you will crap your pants when you play the Raider. I strongly suggest checking it out if you want a versatile, loud 1x12 that can also be played at home.

I recorded a couple of audio samples of my Powerball II. They were totally improvised but I think you can hear that it's quite versatile considering that it's widely considered a metal amp. Like I said, totally improvised, and I've improved since then.

Here we go. Powerball II:

Metal rhythm & lead


Clean rhythm & driven lead

[Chris of Arabia]

Here we go. Powerball II:

Metal rhythm & lead


Clean rhythm & driven lead

Colour me unimaginative if you will, but don't both those links go to exactly the same clip?

[UberMetalDood]

Oops. Fixed.

[Red_Label]

Wow! I'm jealous. Seriously. I had one and then sold it for a Steve Morse head. Unfortunately, the Steve Morse head was phenomenal but I couldn't dial in the high mids that I wanted. Basically, I was trying to kind of get it to sound kind of like a Marshall, but the Invader is much better at that kind of thing. Unfortunately, some financial issues came up after I sold the Morse head and my plans for an Invader fell through.

I ended up getting an Engl Raider which, if you love the Powerball II, you will crap your pants when you play the Raider. I strongly suggest checking it out if you want a versatile, loud 1x12 that can also be played at home.

I recorded a couple of audio samples of my Powerball II. They were totally improvised but I think you can hear that it's quite versatile considering that it's widely considered a metal amp. Like I said, totally improvised, and I've improved since then.

Here we go. Powerball II:

Metal rhythm & lead


Clean rhythm & driven lead

Nice tones there! That second clip reminds me of a Maiden meets Metallica sort of thing.

My amp should be shipping this afternoon. Will definitely post a follow-up review once I've spent some time with it.

Will keep an eye out for the Raider. My dealer may get one in eventually. I wish they'd get an SE in sometime that I could try. I would LOVE to have one of those and totally integrate it with my G-System. A guy could RULE THE WORLD with a capable setup like that!

[Red_Label]

WOW!!! The Powerball II and Z9 footswitch showed-up on the brown truck yesterday. The minute I plugged-in and hit the Crunch channel I was in LUUUUUV. I could live on this channel alone. Very organic and meaty. Thumpy on the bottom end, but tight. I've got it plugged into a G12-T75 loaded 1960B cab. I can only imagine how she'd have sounded into my old Bogner Uberkab (biggest sounding cab I've ever owned).

After thoroughly enjoying the Crunch channel for some time, I started moving around to the Clean, and Lead 1 and Lead 2 channels. Loved 'em all! Though I could see why Lead 2 was more gain than many reviewers could see using. Still, what I noticed about most of the gain on this beast is that even though it does get some good compression going, the sound is never muddy and the notes stay articulate and defined.

Note that this amp sounds AWESOME at speaking volumes (pretty much all I was able to try at the music store) and like any good tube amp, only gets better when you pour on the coals. The thick chunk and massive bottom really start to come-on with the master at about 9:00 (preamp vols about noonish+). Really couldn't get it higher than about 10:00 in my house for fear of killing the neighbors. VERY loud and house-shaking at that volume!

Just a MONSTER amp and the box I should have had last year with my last modern rock/metal band. I was rocking an XTC Classic and an older VHT Pittbull UL for those shows and though they did fine, I think this Powerball would have kicked so much more ass, For a classic rock gig, I'd probably give my old Shiva, XTC or Triamp the nod. For country, the same. But for modern rock and metal, I think that this beast slays. And for an all-around amp, I'd likely choose it every time over those also very versatile amps. I feel like I could do a country, jazz, blues, rock or metal show with this amp and never be left wanting. Only inspired!

I though that I'd tried just about everything that really mattered in the tube amp world, but I gotta say... if you haven't tried an Engl you owe it to yourself to give one a spin. Honestly, having owned or possessed some of the most sought after hard rock/metal amps (XTC, Pittbull, Twin Jet, Elmwood), I would stack the Powerball up against ANY of them and though the honeymoon phase is still here... for my money right now I think that it blows them away. Even my buddy (who owned the Twin Jet and still owns the Elmwood) says that the Engl smokes 'em. He's currently still madly in-love with his Splawn Quickrod, but he's got the new Engl Classic on the way and it salivating at first plugging into that based on his time with the Powerball.

VERY stoked about this amp and my poor (but beloved) DSL50 is just sitting there in the corner now... looking like a poor old hag after a Victoria's Secret model walks into the room.