Engl 2x20 Power Amp

Two rack spaces, 2 channel (20 watts per side) all tube power amp. Two 12AX7 (ECC83) and two EL84 per side. It's got one presence and one volume knob per side and a gain button for both channels, separate stanby switches. Can be run with 16 or 8 Ohm cabs. For a two space tube power amp it is relatively light-weight - about 9kg. It also has handles on the front plate for easier mounting. I wish all tube poweramps had them, make life a lot easier especially considering the weight. Hands down this has to be the loudest 40 watt amp in the universe. I wish it had something like a half power switch to be able to crank it at home. I have my volume set on 8 o'clock running one side only, and it's still almost too loud for practice.

This poweramp has been for quite some time in my rack. What I like about it is that it has a disitinct character. Due to the EL84s it has almost a hi-fi type of sound - very smooth and open with great dynamics. My rig goes as follows Ibanez RG 550 (Steves special/Blue Velvet/Air norton) into H&K Access with either a Rocktron Piranha or JMP-1 in the preamp loop, Rocktron Expression configured to run either serial or paralel into the Engl out to a Laney TT 412 loaded with Vintage 30s. My rig is dead silent and i DONT use the Hush on any of my patches. The poweramp itself makes no noise whatsoever unless you have old tubes. Obviously the poweramp sounds killer with a good tube pre, but I also plug a Pod XT from time to time and it really makes the Pod come to life. I think if I pluged into a Metal Zone and then straight into the Engl it would still sound good.

No problems whatsoever. The thing is built in typical German quality - very solid and reliable. I've had this power amp for more than ten years and it has never failed me up to now. The labeling on the front plate starts to disappear gradually, but the pots still feel like in the day I bought it. One thing I hated about it was the screws holding the cover that have to be removed to change tubes. Instead of normal srews one can uscrew with a screwdriver, Engl used very tiny bolts you can only unscrew with a 5.5 key which is not all that common. I exchanged them for normal screws, so that I don't have trouble if I have to change a tube and nobody around happens to have a 5.5 key.

Thank god, I've never had to deal with Engl. They used to be a fine small company taking care of their customers.I used to buy tubes directly from them in the past. Since their popularity has grown in the recent years however you can forget about customer support, at least if you own an older product. Funny enough this poweramp is not even listed on their site. I've e-mailed Engl a number of times recently with questions concerning biasing and tubes and never got any response. Luckily there have always been techs around to bias the amp for me. The forum on the Engl site seems to be a pretty silent one as well.

Been playing for about 15 years now. Been through a lot of gear, started with stomp boxes/solid state amp, upgraded to tube heads, then went into racks, had a monster 14 unit rack at one time, then downgraded to the equipment I already mentioned and I can say I finally found my tone. I've kind of got attached to this poweramp. I've had/tried other poweramps also (H&K VS250, Mesa 50/50, Peaveys, Marshalls) but I always went back to my Engl. I think I'll never part with it even if I one day decide to ditch the whole rack thing. It is a very rare poweramp and definately a keeper, I have only seen one other 2x20, although I live in Germany.

4xEL84 and 4x12AX7, ALL TUBE !
Two seperate channels, each 20W. 2 Volume knobs and two Prescence knobs. One gain switch and one Standby-button for each channel.

Two outputs for each channel, 16/8 ohm. Two inputs and one cooling-fan.

It's perfect for any style of music. I play mostly metal and it sounds so brutal. But cleans is also good. But im mostly into HiGain sounds and this unit seems to like it too ;)
Im using it with a JMP-1 Preamp.
20W doesn't sound like much but this thing is really loud.

Cooling-fan!

I've been playing for almost 10 years and i can finally say that im happy with how my gear sounds. Engl is a great product and it could easily be compered to Mesa Boogie in quality/sound.

If it were stolen i'd buy it again. And if it were stolen again, i'd buy a gun and...