Engl Powerball 100 Head

This is the newer version 2 100 watt 4 channel head. Has the usual effects loop connections, a midi custom Z-5 footswitch or 2 additional 1/4 inch connections for other outboard footswitches. Noise gate with a dedicated knob. This is the stock 6l6GC all Engl tubes in the power and preamp section. Has electronic power amp monitoring with 4 leds indicating a particular tube failure and automatically takes that tube out of the circuit to prevent red-lining the remaining tubes (very useful and advanced feature.) Has a shared gain and master for the clean/crunch channel with a treble control for each. Shared gain knob with dual mids for the open and focused mode switchable on the amp. Dual channel masters for the soft lead and heavy lead. Overall master volume with a second a/b master volume. Then global presence and a depth knob.

For guitars I am using an ESP Custom Horizon with a GFS Crunchy rails humbucker and a Usa Jackson King V with dual Emg 81s. For cabinets Im using a Mesa Mark cab with 2 black shadows and 2 EVs. No effects just guitar-cable-amp. I play technical death/black metal and neoclassical shred, and alittle classical as well.(big surprise, huh!)
Clean channel: the usual gain, middle, treble, with a bright and bottom switches. All these controls are very musical and effective at shaping just about ANY clean tone you could want- from crystal clean to jazz and country it is there. The bass does not get overbearing and the mids are smooth, the treble is not tinny- overall it is a phenomenal clean channel with excellent articulation.
Crunch channel: Shares the same gain and other controls as the clean except it has its own treble control. This channel is great at picking up where the clean left off and as you rotate the gain knob you can get a nice tight hard rock crunch loaded with sustain and harmonics. Very easy to get alot of different tones depending on your mids and treble along with the 2 switches for bright and bottom. This channel sounds great with no need to engage the noise gate. Nice liquid sustain.
Channel 3 soft lead: This channel has one dedicated gain knob and its own bottom switch as well as an open mid and focused mid knob engaging either the open or focused setting you can select. Yeah this channel is not a soft lead at all- it absolutely rips! Tons of gain available. The mids are very smooth and awesome and help change the tonal character of the distortion very well. The bottom switch adds a new level of tight bass and thickness to the tone- definitely doesnt muddy up the tone. Very quick response and articulation from this amp- it will catch your every mistake but will also reward your hard time put in practicing. You can hear and feel 32 notes and palm mutes. Also every string is clearly pronounced as you play full chords (sounds awesome for some atmospheric fast blackmetal chordal ala Dark Funeral,etc.)
Channel 4 heavy lead: Adds another gain stage and alittle more punch than channel 3. Great for leads or rhythms ( with the footswitchable contour button it adds alittle volume push and some low mids to bring your solos right out front) UNBELIEVABLE amount of gain in this channel- all very usable gain full of harmonics and tone. By far the most brutal distortion I have ever heard. Adding to further tone-tweakability is the global presence and depth knobs- they work extremely well to bring out the distortions crispness and punch. You have to play one of these amps to believe it.

We will see but I do see these amps toured quite frequently by quite a few bands that I imagine may not be able to afford a backup. german engineering- I drive a VW- I believe it is solid and engineered for the duration.

No experience with the company yet. I am looking forward to bringing it to our local amp tech and get his opinion on the solidity of the build, circuits, channel switching, etc.

Ive been playing 22 years in tons of bands and I have been gear hustling for quite some time for the quest of finding THE TONE. Ive had rack setups amps from Madison, Marshall, Peavey, Mesa. Before I got this my main rig was a older 2 channel Mesa triple rectifier and nobody could have convinced me there was a better amp for metal. Die hard mesa user. Happened to have a powerball at the local music shop- brought in my axe very skeptically and was ****in blown away by the tone and density of the powerball- it was THE TONE. Although tone is relative to each individual I dont believe it is possible for anybody to dislike this amp no matter what style of music they play. Engl puts out a top notch product that is a true musical instument.Cost aside you get what you pay for and a huge investment in such a tool to inspire art is worth spending whatever it takes and saving however long as most of us have limited means in this ****ty economy. I have no bad criticism for this amp or the price. The only thing is lack of reverb but believe it or not it doesnt even really need it-it sounds that good. Find one somewhere and try one out yourself- you might end up as surprised as I was.

Everything you need.

Dope! I run mine through a Mesa 4x12 cab and an Orange PPC 4x12 cab. I use a Esp with EMG 85 in the bridge and a ISP decimator noise gate. We tune Drop G and the tone will bring plenty of wrecking balls to any fashion show.

No problems here...

never had to deal with em.

The amp is just a monster shred machine in general, can be used for other styles, but to me its built for metal. The clean tones are super fender clean. We play spastic grindcore www.myspace.com/chyme

Follow up review after posting my 1st review on 2/7/2006

4 channel, all tube, very versatile amp.

Follow up review after posting my 1st review on 2/7/2006

Have been playing the Powerball solidly for nearly 2 years now without missing a beat. The Powerball is an awesome amp with balls and tone to spare.

It has no reverb which would have been nice for the odd occasion and my only beef is still the noisegate. It doesn't really work so I don't use it. However the amp is only noisy when you have the channel 4 gain cranked. I just hit channel 1 (clean) at the end of the song. I find most of my overdrive work is done with channel 3.

I still love this amp after all this time.

Follow up review after posting my 1st review on 2/7/2006

What can I say. The Powerball is still singing after a couple of years and shows no sign of causing any trouble.

These are well built, German made amps.

Follow up review after posting my 1st review on 2/7/2006

Haven't needed any service from the manufacturer, however I did enquire about the new Steve Morse model on the horizon. Got a prompt response with some info and possible pricing. It looks pretty amazing which is not surprising considering the company and the player.

Follow up review after posting my 1st review on 2/7/2006

Just a great powerfull workhorse.

I love this amp.

Check one out for yourself. Sure as hell you're not getting mine !!

This amp was probably made in 2006 and it has the improved built-in noisegate. I won't get in to the features in detail since my peers here, already done that.

It's a versatile amp and you can get a lot of different sounds from it. From clean to extreme distortion.

It's supposed to be a 4 channel amp, but since you don't have a separate eq for each channel, it's in my book a two-channel amp with extended tone features on those two channels.

If this amp had separate eq for each channel it would be all thumbs up.

I use it with an Engl pedalboard to switch between the channels and i'm not that excited about the switching-system. When you switch it's not "seamless" if you know what i mean. It doesn't sound natural and in my ears it's a nanosecond delay before the new channel punch in.

I use this amp for rehearsals and for gigs. It got loads of power. It's just pure brutal force!!!

I use a Gibson Les Paul Standard, Yamaha AES 620, Ibanez Iceman IC400, all loaded with Gibson Classic 57 Plus in the bridgeposition.

I play hardrock/metal with the loins from Judas Priest, Ozzy and so forth.. Before i bought this amp i used a beefed up Marshall and can only say: -Why didn't i change to this amp years ago.. The low end, the gain, the sustain.. It really shakes the foundations.. The only thing i miss, is a little more "open" sound. Sounds a little bit compressed and i can not get the guitar to sing. But maybe by tweaking the eq a bit i can get to that.

You can get totally cristal clear tones to all the distortion you could ever need. I use this amp with a Marshall 1960 cabinet and this combination is very good, if your not after the modern ultra low end thud... Try Engl, Mesa Boogie, Framus or some cabinet that's built for extra low end. But for my taste it works just fine!

The amp isn't more noisy than any other amp. In fact, the opposite. The built-in noise-gate is actually quite good, but if you use the 3rd or 4th channel and backing down on the volyme it cuts the sound. An external noisegate in the effect loop would do the job i imagine.

Don't know.. But it's built in German and seams to be rock solid!!

Haven't had the need for customer support. It just works...

I've been playing for about 30 years and as i said above, I wish i would have changed to Engl earlier. I've tried the 5150/6505 and to my taste, i can't get the tone i'm after. But that's just personal taste. I didn't want to spend too much money, like a Mesa Boogie since i'm a semi-pro and for my wallet, for my taste of sound the Engl Powerball rocks! The Engl Fireball is also really, really good and if you don't need a clear/crunch sound i think the Fireball good be an option.. Don't mind it's only 60 watts. You won't hear the difference. I didn't.. :-)

For sounds, check out www.myspace.com/mobrockz.. for sound samples..

www.mobrockz.com

This thing has just about everything. 4 Channels, FX-loop and FX-loop blend control, a built in noise suppressor, deep (resonance), presence control, Low boost, a bright switch on the clean and crunch channels, a low boost on each of lead channels, a master mid-boost (i use it for solos), 2 master volumes, individual channel volumes, and hell the thing even has tube indicator LED's for each valve so when a power tube goes bad the one of the lights will go on telling you which one. The only thing I wish it had was MIDI instead of serial port for the foot switch so i could control it with my other amps that have MIDI via the Ground Control units (just in case you dont know what that is a serial port is the same I/O that a computer monitor uses to connect with the computer). other than that this beast doesn't have anything i wont use on it, ive utilized everything on it already, its amazing.

Dear lord, ive used Mesa, Marshall, Peavey, Krank, Crate, Line 6, Bogner, Soldano, H&K, and VHT... I even tested this thing against a Deizel herbet and a couple Framus amps... The powerball flat out in all price ranges killed these amps. Take a 5150 with a JJ re-tube, and then imagine making the low end much more stable and robust, the high end not so grainy (not gritty, but grainy, ha) but pristine and clear with plenty of bite, and make the mids much more defined but subtle in some ways so you dont get that nasally sound, not to mention a bit quieter in the hiss and feedback category. I cant find anything wrong with the sound of this amp... If you want my suggestions, if you play in any tuning below drop-C, dont use anything but a Vader cab. Most cabs just cant handle the power ball... I play in A on a 7 string and most cabs just cant handle the low end of the 7 and the powerball, and i keep my "deep" at about 4 and my bass at about 5, it still shakes the room, but the amp is sounds so great that even with all the low-end my notes come through clear and thats important in a death metal band

Never had a problem with it, other than not being able to play it after a certain time of day ha, thats why the band got a practice studio.

Never had to call them, but Im sure they're great. I bought the amp from rocksolidamps.com and they've answered every question ive ever had, they even took my order at 1 in the morning

I've only been playing for about 6 years not, but i study amps inside and out and i know that to look for in different amps... I may play in a death metal band but it doesnt mean that i dont know what any other good tones are... I mess around a lot and i know quality when its put in front of me and i can tell garbage as well... If you play anything from Rock to Goregrind, this is your amp.

Made in 2004 I belive. Super versitile on all ends of the spectrum. Please note that just becuase this thing cost me 1800 bucks, I am not jaded when I say that this is THE metal amp to own!! 100 watts, all tube. 6L6s and several 12AX7s. Two channels with master volume switches. Makes whirling through tones a BREEZE! LOUD, LOUD, LOUD Built in noise gate and tube monitor lights on the front (awsome) great effects loop as well. Knobs gallore so...... START TURNING!!

If you are considering purchansing a Powerball for a hard rock or metal band...... DO IT!!!! I play in a band that mixes styles of thrash, groove, doom, stoner etc. I run this baby through a BBE dual channel sonic maximizer/compressor and a TC Electronics G-major. So, you have tubes, you have a lot of power, and you have knobs... USE THEM! First, I would like to talk about the clean channel. Being a previous owner of a 5150 II, really anything could impress me here. However, I never thought that the clean channel would be so impressive. Im telling everyone who is considering this amp... The clean channel is abolutely beautiful. Big, fat, glass. Thats how I like to describe it! Sounds great when you slightly break it up with a little gain too. The crunch channel is great but if you want AMAZING crunch you should honestly look elsewhere. The brits have them beat here but never the less it is a great setting! The hi-gain channel NEVER fails to impress me. Im playing through a mesa rectifier 412 cabinet and the low end resonates like a train but is NEVER muddy (muddyness can make me ill). oh yea, CRANK THIS THING UP, IT ONLY GETS BETTER!!!

Had it for a year and have no problems. Had a few with my 5150 and that thing is considered a tank.....

never done it

been playing about 10 years. have some rack gear and a few stomps and wahs and what not. Use a jackson RR3, 7 string Schecter, Les Paul Custom, Fender standard strat, Fender Tele Deluxe, and a Jackson DKMG. Sounds great with all guitars!! In my opinion this is THE metal amp! I dont believe that metal amps are unversitile any more. Leaves boogie at the doorstep. Makes peavey look like the "training wheels" of metal amps and sounds as good or better than its more expensive buddies ( VHT, Framus, Bogner.....blah blah). If you want big, sticking, mucky, 70 dirt-bag fuzz (which I happen to love actually) buy something else or buy a Big Muff, I DID . So yea, I love this thing

The Engl Powerball is a powerhouse collection of tones aimed at the rcok to metal player.
Each of the two channels has two gain modes and two mid-range modes - which amounts to a really versatile collection of sounds from clean to ultra heavy dirt.

Excellent effects loop, intelligent switching, two master volumes, noise gate and a tube failiure monitor - some really nice 'player's' features.

The amp has plenty of volume, even when driving a 16Ohm cabinet - I use it live with my rock band every week and never found it lacking in power.

The amp is used with a PRS at gigs, and occaisonally a Vigier Expert (Str*t sytle. Cabinet is a closed back Bogner 2x12".

First up, the clean channel is good, which is always a good start for any amp. With the gain boost engaged it has enough crunch to get some killer classic rock sounds. The definition is superb, every note in a chord cuts and you can hear everything - sound engineers love it.

The high gain channel is bonkers - I've never had the gain above 11 o'clock live and that's more thn enough for heavy rock leads of the saturated Steve Vai ilk.

The bottom end it huge, but by careful control of the Depth Punch knob you can get a sound that really kicks without being overwhelmingly boomy.

Seems good so far. I have an Engl Screamer 50 as backup.

Excellent speedy response to enquiries.

I've been playing for 17 years and own a bunch of nice amps - Budda, Engl, Vox, Fender for a vareity of different tones.
The Engl was recommended to me by Steve at Guitar Guitar in Newcastle, UK - it meets the requirements of a gigging rock player perfectly. Very good sounds, brilliant channel and volume level switching (with the custom Z-5 floorboard) - it's just a great workhorse amp.

For blues - go buy a Fender, for all out metal, get a Diezel or a Mesa - but for a killer, super-usable rock amp with good tone this is the one to get.

(2006 improved model)This is as basic of an amplifier as you can get. The controls are straight forward and easy to use. I play mostly heavy rock and even modern metal at times and I have had few issues with the amps performance. That being said my only complaint is that I think the noise gate isn't good/smart enough for the amount of gain/feedback this thing can produce at times. I was forced to by a ISP decimator pedal and it worked excellant for me! Other things I did to the amp was changed tubes to the cleanest Sovtek 5881's and re-baised it accordingly. 5881 tubes are a readily available military equvalent of the 6L6 power tube. Knowing this I figured out that they can be a little bit quieter than your run of the mill 6L6. Needless to say I have always been a fan of 5881's for their low noise and I love their tone as well. I give the amp a 9 in the "features" area only because the noise gate is sub-par.

My findings with the sounds of this amp are: The clean channel is SUPER clean...I am talking near fender clean. I don't know what people are hearing with this amp when they say the clean is just O.K. It sparkles on my amp in a way NEITHER my marshall or even my Bogner ecstacy did. I think the key is in dialing in your gain just right. The crunch channel is O.K. I personally liked my marshall JMP-1 better for crunch sounds but the ENGL in no way is terrible at it. It has a little bit too much gain for me. The clean and crunch channels share a gain knob...therefore when you dial in the gain perfect on clean it is just a hair too much on the crunch channel for me anyways. The gain channels are BRUTAL! I have the gain on about 3-4 and it has more gain than you can EVER EVER use! I have the "depth punch" knob turned to about 9 so when you palm mute you really get kicked by the low end. I keep the presence around 5 because it can get to be a bit much if you go any further. And....last but not least....I have the volume at 2...yes 2. It is so loud that any more and I just drown out the rest of the band. I have played alone and discovered that there is a "sweet spot" in the volume....using it between 2 and say 4 the amp sounds the same....beyond that and it not only makes you deaf in 3 seconds but the amp starts to voice a little differently probably due to pushing the tubes harder. The distortion is very tight sounding similar to something your would hear from bands such as: Pantera, Helmet, Filter, NIN, etc... For a cabinet DO NOT use a marshall 1960 and expect it to sound great. It sounds like turd. I use an old Ampeg V-2 oversize cabinet with celestion v-30's and anniversary speakers in it and it sounds awesome....please remember you need a cabinet like this that is oversized and designed for the extrem low end this amp is voiced for. Crappy marshall particle board cabinets are not going to do it. Overall I love the tone of this amp...like ANY PIECE OF GEAR YOU NEED TO EXPERIMENT AND TRY OUT EVERYTHING before writing a review saying you played the amp for 2 hours and it sucks. I have owned this amp for 6 months and I love it...I traded my bogner ecstacy for this because personally the bogner was very overpriced and to tell you the truth was noisier than the ENGL powerball is. I don't regret trading at all....this amp is awesome! just remember to use it with an oversize cabinet and you will like it.

I have taken the chassis out of the cabinet once to re-bias the amp for the 5881 tubes and it looks good inside. It is not a point to point vintage style amp inside. It is all PCB construction and appears to be high quality. It seems everything thats german made these days is decent quality now, don't believe the naysayers on the HC forums that crap on ENGL....trust me they are high quality.

never had to deal with them so I cant comment on this. If you are reading this and are on the verge of buying one of these amps feel free to e-mail me...I can answer any questions you might have from a real life user and an unbiased opinion (unlike a salesman) on the powerball. Good luck!

This is a great amp for modern rock/metal. It has a great clean channet and the high gain is just brutal. That being said don't buy this amp if you play SRV, Dave Matthews, or Phish type of music an expect it to fit in...it won't! It has more gain than any human could ever need! It is priced right on with your typical Mesa Rectifiers and marshall JCM's as well, which makes it a good alternative to using something that everyone and their mother uses nowadays. Ohhhh and the red lights behind the power tubes are a nice little touch that mesa and marshall haven't caught on to yet...totally a gimmick huh! Enjoy!

I love everything about this amp, with the only exeption that I'd like to use the midi switcher to kick the FX loop on and off, I don't really have a use for the wet/dry sweep right now. Aside from that there is no built-in reverb (which is a plus for me).

Fu*king brutal!!! Studio tone. Any reviews that say "I played this thru a Marshall 1960 cab and it sucked"... This head isn't voiced for a marshall cab, and marshall is NOT the standard for the range this thing puts out. Any low-end resonant cab using 4 Vintage 30 speakers will kick the shit out of you. I personally decieded to go with the ENGL straight cab, but I played it thru a Mesa straight cab traditional (not the new taller cab) and it sounded sick!!!

All tube amps require maintenance, if you keep your gear clean and take care of it you should be good with this. These are hand made which means play it alot before you buy it. They will all be subtly made differently. The first one I checked out had a punctured preamp tube out of the box. The one I bought sounded awesome but the handle seems a bit off on it. I still wouldn't use anything else, I love this thing.

Never dealt with ENGL but my dealer in Skokie, IL is very pleasant to deal with.

Expensive, but worth every penny!!!

fair for todays standards.

been playing 42 years. toured the country a few times. had a video on mtv once. always a marshall user because of the tone and reliability they have. though i am an older rocker, i love the metal scooped mids thing, the marshall superlead on 10 thing, and just about as much saturation as i can get and stay clear. i should have known before i bought this it would not cut the mustard. dr z smoked it bad for tone. so does the superlead marshall loaded with mullards. this amp has tones of gain, but it is muddy, unclear. ibanez rgt42 with duncans and original 90s les paul produced about the same thing. preamp tube distortion never ever gets you there. though i already knew this, i guess i had hoped engl pulled off a miracle. so then the cranked power tube distortion was nothing to write home about either. this head lacks the marshall singing amplifier tone. i mean the warm fuzzy pump your chest tone. the singing leads that sustain clear and long. i tried everything at my disposal. i used 2 marshall 1960 cabs. some may say with an avatar cab it comes alive. well that may be true. but a good amplifier should sound great through any marshall 1960 cab which has been the standard for years. it's not broke so don't change it is my theory with amps and cabs. i was really pretty bent out of shape after spending $1800 for this head when all 4 of my old marshalls smoked it bad, i mean bad too. don't buy it if you want true warm distortion and a sustaining tone. buy a vintage marshall, use a variac and some good distortion pedals, and you are done for the rest of your life. as far as a clean sound goes, for $1800 it's terrible. for $399 it's great. as far as a satisfying clean, it's about half way there.

i used it for 2 hours and it survived. wow!

?

because of the price i have to pull it down off it's high horse. if it were $399 it might be worth it. the engineers missed it on this one.