The Engl Fireball CRUSHES all other amps

[Hollowway]

Yea, I want to get a Sovereign and convert it to a head. Those are actually pretty cheap for what looks like the Savage SE circuit. Neither of these pop up in Japan often, as you might imagine.

It's funny though -- I don't think of the Engl lineup being that different tbh, and I thought a bunch of models were basically the same circuit with different power tubes, but the factions seem pretty divided. And that's even before we get into prog metal where everyone likes the invader. I wish the fireball was my favorite though, there was just one locally for like $650 which was why I was watching this discussion pretty intently!

Yeah, I pined for an Invader for years, but now there’s virtually no talk of them.

 

[Emperoff]

And that's even before we get into prog metal where everyone likes the invader.

That might be because Misha had an Invader for a while and hyped it to death (before moving to the next thing).

Yeah, I pined for an Invader for years, but now there’s virtually no talk of them.

See above. Not used by Periphery anymore, not cool.

 

[narad]

That might be because Misha had an Invader for a while and hyped it to death (before moving to the next thing).


See above. Not used by Periphery anymore, not cool.

Maybe he could go back to using it as the poweramp for an axe-fx, for old times' sake.

 

[ExMachina]

See above. Not used by Periphery anymore, not cool.

And here I am thinking its the opposite.

I always felt like the Powerball was the least polite of engl amps.

 

[Gmork]

I gigged with my fireball100 for a good few years , it absolutely excelled at technical deathmetal! Incredible amp

 

[T00DEEPBLUE]

I prefer the tone and overall versatility of the Savage over the Fireball. But the Fireball is still pretty damn great.

 

[Kosthrash]

And here I am thinking its the opposite.

I always felt like the Powerball was the least polite of engl amps.

I thought the Savage was the least polite of engl amps...

 

[Emperoff]

I thought the Savage was the least polite of engl amps...

And it is.

 

[BabUShka]

Fireball is great! I had the 60W versioner long time ago. I also owned the powerball. The PB has cleaner and more compressed sound. While the Fireball was angry on steroids all the time.

I prefered the Fireball, but the PB was great too. Highly condidering the 25W version

 

[cGoEcYk]

I've never owned or played one but I experienced one live. It was old school styled thrash two guitarists. One with dual or triple rec the other with fireball. The Fireball guy... you could see him playing, but you couldnt hear him. His sound was like a wall of noise/volume but TV static distortion. Maybe he didnt know how to dial it or the FB is very picky on cabinet choice. The Recto chainsaw buried him.

Now tha Savage... if I was rich enough to collect badass amps, top of my list.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

I've never owned or played one but I experienced one live. It was old school styled thrash two guitarists. One with dual or triple rec the other with fireball. The Fireball guy... you could see him playing, but you couldnt hear him. His sound was like a wall of noise/volume but TV static distortion. Maybe he didnt know how to dial it or the FB is very picky on cabinet choice. The Recto chainsaw buried him.

Now tha Savage... if I was rich enough to collect badass amps, top of my list.

I know that's a common issue with the FB60. The FB100 seems to fix that with some voicing tweaks and higher headroom. Though I hope @BadSeed eventually gigs/rehearses with his Fireball 100 just to see which side that argument it reinforces.

 

[hensh!n]

I've been a fan of Engl amps for a while now. Their highly compressed/saturated tone and usable built in features (e.g., power soak, lead boost, channel separate EQ's, etc.) are what separate them from similar high-gain amps on the market. Or at least they did 10 years ago when there were less accessible boutique amplifiers out there.

However, for my taste I tend to dislike amps that require an up front boost. In my experience, you're really just bringing up the noise floor and there are amps with tighter character that can make the use of a boost redundant. I'm sure a built in boost will also bring up the noise floor, but amplifier manufacturers should have a better understand from an engineering perspective regarding the best way to achieve a tighter and more saturated tone without unnecessarily complicating the signal path. Naturally that removes some of the fun of experimentation, and it is a trade off. Another thing is built-in boosts are usually less susceptible to noise or interference like the pedals pedals are - especially when connecting multiple together (can you tell I hate noise?).

Anyways, I prefer my saturated tones straight out of the box. Yes you can't uncompress what is already compressed, but it could be a faster and less complicated way of achieving the desired end result. On another note, it's always been a bad experience when I buy something based on a demo, only to discover afterward that you need at least 5 other things to get to the the look or sound presented in that demo. But to each their own. Love the video by the way!

 

[sonoftheoldnorth]

I had the older Fireball 60 silver face and can confirm it got drowned by any other amps live. It sounded awesome on its own though.

I was under the impression they fixed the issue with the newer black face ones?

It would indeed be useful to hear amps pitted against each other in live environments.

 

[BabUShka]

That s

I've never owned or played one but I experienced one live. It was old school styled thrash two guitarists. One with dual or triple rec the other with fireball. The Fireball guy... you could see him playing, but you couldnt hear him. His sound was like a wall of noise/volume but TV static distortion. Maybe he didnt know how to dial it or the FB is very picky on cabinet choice. The Recto chainsaw buried him.

Now tha Savage... if I was rich enough to collect badass amps, top of my list.

That is spot on.. I was guitarist in a metal band at the time. At home it sounded fantastic, but I had huge struggles live and in a band situation with my 60W version. Cant crank the mids too much, as it sounds too harsh. Great sounding amp, but bad live amp.

 

[narad]

Anyone ever try putting different transformers in Engls? They sound good, I like the tone tbh, but the power sections always felt a bit weak / not as ballsy as to fit the aggression that's voiced in the preamps. When you look at them, they have some of the smallest transformers I've ever seen in an amp that pricey, so I'm just curious if there's a correlation there.

 

[T00DEEPBLUE]

Anyone ever try putting different transformers in Engls? They sound good, I like the tone tbh, but the power sections always felt a bit weak / not as ballsy as to fit the aggression that's voiced in the preamps. When you look at them, they have some of the smallest transformers I've ever seen in an amp that pricey, so I'm just curious if there's a correlation there.

Can't say the same for my Savage. The power section on that has enormous amount of super clean headroom, indicative of a strong power section.

 

[CTID]

and here I am thinking, 15 years into playing guitar I'm not sure I've even seen an Engl in person. where does one even try one before buying it? i've never seen a store carry them

that is, if they even exist in the first place. i'm not convinced

 

[Zado]

I had the older Fireball 60 silver face and can confirm it got drowned by any other amps live. It sounded awesome on its own though.

I was under the impression they fixed the issue with the newer black face ones?

It would indeed be useful to hear amps pitted against each other in live environments.

The getting buried thing was something the old FB had in common with the old PB. You could dig holes with them, which is a shame cause both sounded brutal alone.

 

[gnoll]

Eh... I don't think they sound good on their own.

With Engl I really don't think the tone lives up to the hype.

But I suppose hype is more important than tone anyway.

 

[T00DEEPBLUE]

and here I am thinking, 15 years into playing guitar I'm not sure I've even seen an Engl in person. where does one even try one before buying it? i've never seen a store carry them

that is, if they even exist in the first place. i'm not convinced

There's only one store in the whole of the UK that carries ENGL; Peach Guitars. Which for a large proportion of people is a several hour's drive away

ENGL have a poor distribution network outside of the EU. And with the overwhelming focus on guitar stores to cater towards beginners on a tight budget and the diminishing demand for large, expensive tube amps in general, there's not enough incentive to the majority of stores to carry them.