Engl 520 Preamp

The three channels are very easy to use. The chassis could be opened on both sides. This is very cool.

For me the best Tube Preamp I ever played. I think I have tested nearly all preamps in the world ;-)
After some modding (inside between the tube-signal with a soldering gun) I have a really clean sound (with a full open Humbucker) and a very warm lead- and cruch sound with less sharp presence.
The sound is not so brutal like the new Englamps and not so muddy like an old Marshall.

Build like a tank.
I changed the transformer to a new ring core transformer because the original transformer is the only weak point.

After some time you get an answer. The know-how for older products like this is saidly gone there.

I like it to play highgain shredding and also Top-40-Stuff for 27 years.
I don't like virtual amps at all. But I use a rare Rocktron Velocity 150 poweramp, because of the weight and the transparent sound.
I had the old 1993 Triaxis, original ADA MP-1, all Digitech tube stuff, Marshall JMP-1, Rocktron Piranha, Rocktron Vooduvalve, Engl 530, Engl 570, Engl 580 and The Anvil before!
The next days I get a second Engl 520 and I will never sell these babies anymore. But a little modding for my perfect sound was really necessery.

As easy as turning on a radio.

It is good. But not phenomenal. I play it with a Reu??enzehn 2X50 amp and a Marshall 4x12 box. The clean channel is brillinat. Crunch channel is also very well. The lead channel, for my taste, is sometimes a bit to bright and not so specific. Off course one can work with middle and bass. I don't use it so ofen any more. So I am happy with the ENGL 520. If I would play more very heavy distortion sounds I would maybe try another preamp.

I had some minor things. But that is normal for a tube preamp.

I play it for more than 10 years and I am still happy with it. As I said, the lead channel I find a bit to bright.

it sounds fat and brutal. tight, aggressive, heavy sounds.

The clean channel is very good. this sound is very allround.
Fron that jazzy swinging sound to blues crunch if gain lever is increased. The Rhythm channel splits the eq with the lead ch.
hard crunch sound. All from blues to heavy crunching, as channel 1, the sound is very variable becoms of the boost buttons, hi switches etc.
now, my favourite channel, Lead.
This thing is just awesome! think of Meshuggah "Nothing" and metallica black album. then you have the sound. you sould watch out to not have so much trible on. then it gets kind of buzzy. but with the right combination of presence and trible the sound get perfect.

The EQ department is great. it has active eq's. Bas, mid, trible and presence. on clean channel, bas, mid and trible.

This preamp is a all-tube preamp. 4x 12AX7 high-gain tubes

The preamp has 3 channels. Clean, Rhythm and Lead.
Lead and Rhythm has 4 buttons. mid.boost, Lead boost, Bright and a Channel switch.

Clean has 4 buttons as well. Hi.boost, Bright, mid.boost and a channel switch.

well... i havn't had any trouble with it yet soo....

the only thing that i have done is to change the tubes from Sovtek to Electo Harmonix

havan't had a reason to contact them soo...

well... if you want a preamp that sounds lik a Savage 120 and a fireball. buy this preamp, if you can find one. its from the 90's.

very versatile for any music and style.

IT was made in the 80's before Engl went bankrupt for putting too much money in their preamps. it is a great amp. the clean is pristine and very fendery but can get dirty. the rhythm channel is great. it can go for your classic blues sound to your mild distortion/overdrive. the lead says boogie rectifier all the way. the lead is great for metal. each channel is footswitchable. it has a great quiet effects loop. it has a stereo headphone jack also. it is also all tube and has i beleive 5 preamp tubes(12 AX7's/ECC83'S).

The thing is from the 80's and is still trucking. i have replaced the tubes several times and it still sounds incredible.

never dealt with them except the dealer and he was cool.

great preamp. no problems.

I'm using a jackson with humbuckers and a fender style ibanez with single coils and the amp works good with both of them. I mostly play hard rock and metal and the preamp delivers beautiful tones for that.
There's enough gain in the lead channel for metal but with an equalizer in the effect loop to scoop the mids works beautifully.
the noise is quite low but mine has developed a little bit of hum because my tubes are getting old otherwise no problems.

Very versatile amp. All-tube ( 4x 12AX7) 3 channel amp with 2 independent tone control circuits and three 3 mastervolume controls (one for each channel).
the clean channel has a bright, mid boost, hi boost button
the rhytm and lead channel spots a mid boost, bright and lead boost switch and one gain control for each channel.
stereo effects loop, two input jacks (one front , one rear) headphone out with built-in 1W power amp for practice (enough to connect to a 4x12" for good practice sound), footswitch jack. Mine was fitted with the optional midi-module (in, out, through)so the amp is midi-switchable.

the preamp has never let me down. I'll just need new tubes now so i gets back in stock conditon.

never deatl with them

I've been playing for eight years now, mostly rock and metal.
I own 2 transistor combos, a laney EL-34 power amp, orange 4x12" the usual 5 or 6 pedals and other stuff.
This is my first tube amp and i love it. Perhaps i would not buy a pre-amp and a separate power-amp again, instead i would go for a top but the possibility of combining different brands is cool. And at the time when the interest in rack products is not very high you can get some real treasures second-hand.

It's a tube preamp with 3 channels: Clean, Rhythm and Lead.
The rhythm and lead share EQ so maybe it's really more like two and a half channels.

It's quite easy to get a good sound out of it. The first thing you notice is that it outputs a lot of bass but isn't very bright. This is easily fixed by simply adjusting the bass, treble and presence controls. It's completely analog, so you can't edit patches. There's a midi in connector, but as I don't have a manual I don't know what it does.
The controls on the front are, for the clean channel:
Buttons: Bright, Hi boost and mid boost.
Knobs: Gain, bass, mid, treble and master volume.
The controls for the rhythm/lead channel:
buttons: Bright, mid boost, lead boost (only active in lead mode)
knobs: Gain, Lead (only active in lead mode), bass, mid , treble, presence + rhythm and lead master volume knobs.
on the back you can switch output level between instrument and line level.

This kind of unit never really gets difficult to use though.

I have a Marshall JCM 800 4211 100 watt tube combo and a Jackson PS2 guitar.

The ENGL is very very quiet. Even at very loud volume levels and full distortion (max gain, max lead, mid boost and lead boost) it's still very quiet.

As it's a preamp its only effect is distortion.

My favourite sounding artists are James Hetfield, Vito Bratta (of White Lion) , Eddie Van Halen and maybe Kai Hansen (especially on the early Helloween albums).

As I mentioned early it's a bit unbalanced, but that's probably a lot due to the fact that I only play at home, and therefore I usually don't play very loud. And the marshall JCM 800 sounds very different at low volume and high. So all my impressions are from playing at low volume. Also, I play through the instrument-in jack of the amp, as it get all too loud through the effects-return. Of course running the sound through the marshall combo's preamp colours the sound too.

Still, I'm very satisified with the sound. There's lots and lots of gain in the ENGL (Much much more gain than the JCM 800 on its own), but it can also give crystal clear, clean sounds. You can also get very warm, lightly distorted blues sounds.
The only negative things is that it's difficult to get a really tight bottom end for metallica type sounds. Also, I could wish that the knobs were a bit more extreme. All the knobs are much more effective than those on my amp, but still, sometimes you wish you could turn up the mid to 11.

I think it's reliable, I've had no problems with it.
Hard to know though... I've only had it for 2 months.

I don't even know if they still exist. They don't seem to have a homepage on the internet.

I mostly play metal.
I've been playing for a year and a half.
If it were stolen I'd buy another one if I could find one at the price paid.

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