I've always liked my E520 and E530 with high-power poweramps. ENGL preamps have lower output than e.g. Mesa Studio or Triaxis. Bigger poweramps make up for the difference. It sounds bigger and I don't have to drive the preamp too high. The sound gets too much highs that way. I had two 50-60W...
If you love E530, chances are you wouldn't be happy with E570. It depends on what you're after. I owned E570, Invader 100 and Savage SE at the same time. I kept the Savage SE and I have recently bought E530. E570 is certainly more versatile with way more options than E530. But I found Lead I...
Bummer... I'm glad you dig it when it's working. It probably is a loose connection or some bad solder. Hard to say. I'm no technician. Btw only first three preamp tubes have an effect on the sound. V4 is buffering the loop. ... and I prefer clean channel of E520 to E530, too.
Happy NGD! Although being quite old (it was produced from 1988 till 1993 or 1994) this preamp does not sound vintage at all. It is capable of classic 80s metal with ease and beyond. It reacts well to different guitars and preamp tubes. Rhythm channel is pretty useless because it's too bassy...
Zilla cabs are made in UK. Awesome cabs BTW. I have a 2x12 Fatboy with V30's. I was thinking of selling it when I bought my Bogner 4x12 (V30's) but I really like its sound, so it stayed. ENGL cabs are nice. I have a mix of V30 and C90 in it and it sounded really good with Savage 120 when I...
No, I don't feel the need to use a gate. I used to use Hush when I had Rocktron Xpression but I didn't like how it affected the tone. The same with the noise gate built into Invader. I don't like it. It takes away some of the nature of the tone and leaves an artificial trace in it. In that...
Yes, I've read that too but I spoke with a guy who owned it and he said that he had not noticed any latency with preset switching. I'd like to see it by myself. Neither my E520 or E920 has a MIDI. I use an external unit for it. However programming of any ENGL is very simple - choose a button...
Funny thing is that both Masotti poweramp and E570 popped up at roughly the same time. But I had the funds only for one of them. So I went for Masotti since it's rarer. Somewhere in the future I'd love to have an E570 or an E580. On paper E580 has everything I want from a preamp.
I have an Invader 100 and a Savage SE - different beasts. Invader has more low mids and fills the room better while Savage SE is tighter, rawer, with more hi mids it's more punchy and in-your-face. Invader has warmer cleans but Savage SE's is no slouch either. Invader's separate EQ for all...
E520 preamp is not thick as per se which is not always a bad thing. It's tight and it has good note separation even under high gain. It cuts well but one must keep highs under control (I keep preamp's presence maxed and treble usually around 9 or 10 o'clock - the sound retains the aggression but...
I don't know about headroom but with 2xEL84's one could doubt it. Anyhow I wouldn't be afraid of a volume jump if you went for Fireball 100. ENGL amps have very good master volume taper. Choose whatever suits your sonic needs better. If you decide to go with E530, I'd suggest to pick some...
Generally speaking I do not touch Volume and Gain sliders. The settings really depend on the guitar and the pickup and the amp itself. For example with my Jackson SL1 and ESP M-II I do not need the EQ in the loop. But if I do have it engaged (for example with other guitars) the settings are...
I'm using MXR 10 band eq with my ENGLs. It is a very powerful tool but I prefer to use it as a spice - I'm trying to tweak the amp as good as it gets and then fine tune the sound with MXR. So basically I use it to get rid of some nasty high frequencies that make the sound shrill.