Engl Powerball

Engl powerball (V2) 2 channel 4 modes clean,crunch, low gain ,hi gain
2 master volumes (switchable by the footswich)independant treble for clean and crunch.see other review for more detail. Ps: upgrade for v2
is Improved noise gate,logarithmic treble instead of linear one and they worked one the bug with the power tube fault light4 6l6,4 ecc83.

i use the v2 with a musicman steve morse y2d. you can do any style of music you want from liquid crystal clean to brutal high gain.
Not really noisy at all with the noise gain threshold at 12 o'clock.
i play mostly Metal,but this amp could do blues, jazz or rock.
Ive played all kind of amp in the last 10 years (mesa,marshall,krank diezel,laney just to name a few) and the powerball is by far the best amp for price on the market.It DOESN'T sound like a mesa, its much more touch sensitive and the high are much more clear.u can played at half power and have a wonderfull clean,even for those that overdrive every tube amp u won't need to. But when u bought that head the choice of cab is really important it will affect the sound in a drastic way( i didn,t bought the engl cab, not enought power,u should look at the laney gs412LA and IA.)

i would use it without a backup,German steel!Never had any problem with it but engl gives a pair of preamp tube just in case.

never deal with them but if they are like there amp it should be Really great!

im playing for 11 years now, i owned a lot of amp but now i only have a powerball v2 and a laney gh100ti (really good single chan.amp
by the way!)the presence control give u that cryspy tone that i love!
No mesa or marshall can equal that.Engl is the future of High end guitar amplifier

07 model, also own an 04 model and believe you me both amos are completly different. unfortunatly the 04model was brought second hand and had been completly dicked with including one mesa tube just being plonked in.

I have three different bands completly ranged from metal to 50's rock n roll sound. Believe me this amp can do it and youl find the craziest settings in which they do. I MUST POINT OUT THIS HEAD DOES! HAVE 4 CHANNELS LOL and if you bought the custom footswitch with it, it is alot clearer. Although having said this the reaso for a 9 is that seperate gains for each channel would be highly prefered. and before people start getting arsy about the 4 channel comment a marshall dsl is 2 channels just because it has one eq doesnt mean its single channel.

Channels are: Clean, Crunch, Lo lead, Hi lead. All channels are highly usable the clean is suprisingly good! infact the clean and crunch channel's really come into there own when you boost the volume and role back the prescence to around 2 o'clock. Lead channels are just nuts and MUST STRESS that just because it goes up to 10 dont mean you need it. Any medium to high output pick ups will have more than enough sustain at around 10 o'clock gain setting and this is a crystal clear sound.

And finally YES its powerful. Used with any front loaded cab its a killer and again YES its cuts through amos do have MID sections that CAN be used.

However this doesnt mean that one of my head sucks becuase it sounds different. The earlia model is much like a marshall dsl/tsl with the Engl flavour, Where as the 07 model is what everyone really expects from Engl, absolutly brutal.

This amp is highly responsive to picking styles and the way you play which really helps bring ur own style out.

This amp is one of the lowest noise amps youl ever play through due to the built in noise gate which can be opened and closed to specific detail. IT REALLY WORKS!

Although this amp is my true amp it will not be for everyone! and it takes a little patience to find the sound you are comfortable with i have been using them for 3 years now and I find new things all the time with various guitars.

IF YOU HAVE BEEN LED TO BELIEVE THIS AMP IS ONLY FOR THRASHING METALERS WITH EMGS AND GAUGE 13 STRINGS IM AFRAID YOUR SADLY MISTAKEN! although there used fothis purpose mostly and even on occasion by myself, my main touring guitars are gibson's with stock pickups or seymour duncans (custom custom) and these are relativly high output but not off your face killer sustainers!

Every time i go into the guitar shops people are in disbelief atthe fact im plugged striaght into the front with the gain on 10 o'clock its that good.

100% (noticed a tube burning bright the other day coming to the end of a year and half use so obviously was due a change) I have now rebiased the older head aswell and retubed with EL34'S.... 2 words (f$&*k me!)

I have rescently spoken to Michael Berger as i will be becoming part of the Engl family very soon. However customer support is very fast just follow the signs! www.engl-amps.com

Engl Powerball is just pure love. HOWEVER i have recently experimented wit mixing amps and if you want some killer sound mix this bad boy with a diezel herbert! UNBELIEVABLE SOUND

I have tried many other amps and they all have there time and place

I would like to point out this amp is very differnt through differnt cabs and SINSCIERLY HOPE YOU NEVER CONSIDER A MARSHALL CAB WITH THIS HEAD IT JUST DOESNT WORK.

Im sure you will be very suprised with the amp and if you wana give it a go one day i recomend you try this sound with a les paul

Hi Lead

gain- 12 o'clock
bass- 1:30
mid focused engaged- 2 o'clock
treble- 2:30
prescence- 1:30
depth- 2 o'clock

a sound like that for a grand phwoar (PLEASE NOTE THIS SOUND IS FOR USE WITH AN ENGL CAB!)

This is a two channel amp with some useful 'bright' and 'boost' buttons thrown in .
Engle ,annoyingly , seem to get a little confused about how many channels their amps have .
Reflective front panel is a complete pain .
Makes it very hard to read the labels on the controls .
Front panel buttons , should be up-down keys , not in-out buttons .
Also , the buttons are badly positioned .

Clean channel goes from warm jazz thru to Kieth Richards .
Gain channel is very useable too .
Both far better than Marshall IMO .
On sound quality ( esp. gain sounds ) , this amp is a 'keeper' .

Poorly made .
Tube sockets directly mounted on the circuit board , hence too much heat gets thru to the board itself .
Front metal grill weighs a lot and contributes pretty well nothing to case strength .
Spring clips holding in Valves are very awkward to use .
FX loop knob on the back : what's wrong with putting the controls on the front ???

Website forum has been down way too long .
They did help me by email a while ago .

I've tried Laney Marshall and others , over the years .
I go for Engl on quality of the Clean channel , together with huge 'clear' gain sound .
If stolen , I would replace it with another Powerball .

This is the V1 ENGL Powerball. Had it some time now so the honeymoon period is over and i'll submit my review :)

The amp isn't that versatile. People will say it is, but it isn't. It has a great clean channel and a great distortion channel, but very little inbetween. The crunch channel is near useless and there is very little difference between lo lead and hi lead apart from hi lead is more compressed (why you would want that is beyond me since lo lead is too compressed for me!)

If you're reading this you know what it is. 4 channels, 6L6 blahblah. Just look up ENGL's site for that stuff.

Overall, it's got lots of features. Whether they're good or not is another thing. I don't like the noise gate, but this is a V1 and apparently the V2's are better, so i won't mark on that.

ENGL Powerball 100W head (2006 build)

- 4 channels: Clean(1), Crunch(2), Low Gain Lead(3), High Gain Lead(4).
- Bright/Bottom switching
- Extra low end buttons for channels 3 & 4.
- Additional treble knob for Crunch channel.
- 2 EQs, each 4 band (One for channel 1/2, one for channel 3/4
- Presence and Depth Punch controls
- 2 Master Volumes and 4 volume controls for each channel.
- Adjustable noise gate
- Effects loop.

I've been playing this through a mahogany bodied LTD with EMG 81 pickups. The head runs through a Framus Dragon 4x12 cab with V30 speakers. No other effects or anything were used.

Channel 1 - Clean
It is commonplace for high gain amps to suffer in the cleans department, however this certainly isn't the case with the Powerball. This channel allows you to go from crystalline cleans to a low/med crunch without losing clarity. The bright and bottom buttons allow you to add a little bit extra resulting in either a sharp or warmer sound respectively. The clean channel is really important to me and Engl have done really well in this department.

Channel 2 - Crunch
You can source a surprising amount of gain out of channel 2, however as it shares the gain control with the clean channel it is better to use it for its purpose - a heavy and mean crunch! This channel comes with its own additional treble control. The bright and bottom buttons also apply to the Crunch channel to allow for extra tone shaping. An excellent channel for classic or hard rock tones.

Channel 3 - Soft Lead
This is where the fun starts. There is more gain available on this channel than most people will ever really need. I play a lot of death metal, mostly melodic, and I probably get the most use out of channel 3. The distortion absolutely rips and combined with active pickups you really won't need to use channel 4 simply because of the amount of distortion on tap.

Channel 4 - High Lead
This is basically more of the same. The gain is boosted a few knotches and it provides a slightly more modern tone than channel 3, but overall the differences are minimal besides the extra gain. I'd imagine this channel would be a black metal guitarist's dream.

This is what familiars would call a Version 2 Powerball with the improved noise gate. Honestly, this noise gate is excellent. With the noise gate turned up, there's barely the slightest of hums standing right next to my rig with this thing. I usually keep the gate at about half. Another great thing about the Powerball is that it sounds fantastic at bedroom volumes!

This is a quality built amp. It's an Engl, afterall! This thing is as solid as any other amp I've used and I'd definitely rely on it without a backup. I intend on keeping it for a very long time and I'm sure it will last without issues. I'm yet to have even the slightest problem with it.

I have never had to deal with customer support from ENGL.

I have been playing guitar for probably 8 years now and only just recently took the leap to buy a high end amp. The main contenders were the Framus Cobra and ENGL Savage 120, but I eventually settled with the Powerball. The Powerball is exactly what I had been looking for. The tones from this thing are unreal! It honestly never ceases to amaze me and was definitely worth the hefty price tag. If my Powerball was lost or stolen I would be destroyed and immediately begin saving for another.

I dont see too many followups so i thought it would be nice to post one.

Made in 2004. You know all of the details about it.
The Band that i gig with has a mixture of rock/hardrock with elements of Metal and Progressive stylings. To Hear sound samples please visit WWW.MYSPACE.COM/SUBROSAROCKS. All rhythm and lead tones done with the Powerball. All very raw and natural. No effects. True tone in samples. (A little overcompressed, from studio)

I have now had this amp for 2.5 years and continue to find more useful tones in it. I wish it was MIDI compatible so i could change all 4 channels with any MIDI controller. But instead you must purchase the Engl z-15 footswitch to do so. I run a G-Major for Midi effects. Ive performed in over 100 shows with this amp. The tone is consistent and have never had a problem. Ive more recently come across really warm lead tones (Mesa Mark Series warm) that i never thought it could achieve. but its there. There is a lot of useless gain (anything past 12 o clock) so i just keep it around 9 o clock on the lead channels. The main guitar i use is a EBMMJP 6 string. Usually in standard tuning. The other is an Ibanez Rg7620 (7 string). Both sound amazing. i only point the two guitars out because of the difference in tones. The Engl handles drop tunings beautifully. *Alot of it is in your hands, remember that*.. The lower you tune, the more gain you should drop!!!. I give it a 9 because of the MIDI issues.

Ive gotton beautiful lush sounds with the clean channel. Running it dry i *personally of course* would put it up against the cleanest of Fenders. Mix with a tad of chorus and/or flanger and wow. Beautiful.

The *crunch* channel i use a lot. Not that is the most versatile of channels but still useful. Sometimes i wish it to be warmer. but nonetheless will give you that Classic Rock tone.

Not too much difference from Ch. 3 to Ch. 4. tone wise. Both get insanely heavy. I prefer Ch. 3 for rhythm sounds. Its a tad tighter and i like to use CH. 4 for lead boost.

This amp all around sounds Fat! Huge! and is pretty versatile. Very Modern Sounding. If you want ONLY classic tones, look into the Screamer combos/heads.

Only sometimes i hear this amp as being too harsh. Other times its very very very warm and ear pleasing. All in all its one of the only amps that suit my playing style and my bands style.

2.5 years later.
100+shows.
:-)ENGL

I called Engl about MIDI issues and they were very responsive. Of course they told me to buy more of their stuff but hey. Its their job and they at least talked to me. for that i give them a good grade!

This amp still receives an A!. Maybe a 97%(or a 9.7 right?) Ive played and been around many a amp. This one just suits my style. Anyone who has ever stood in front of this amp at a show, or just whereever, has been absoultely intrigued. My tastes keep maturing but now its at a point where i am getting alot of compliments and respect from mature players. When you buy an Engl you also get a UNIQUE tone. which is important. I dont like to down manufactuers or amps because everyone likes something different. but you WILL NOT sound like a Mesa or Marshall . To me thats a good thing. Just to be original. And there is so much tweaking that can be done that you wont sound like someone else with an Engl. Very Versatile.

4 channel tube amp, see the other reviews...
They forgot to give this amp an D.I. output, thats sad!

esp M-II (EMG81s), Samick LP copy.
You can get very different sounds out of this amp. In dependance of your guitar its character changes a lot. With the four channels an the two mids-stettings, it`s very versatile. The open or focused mids knops also changes the character of the clean and crunch channel. IMO the clean and crunch channels are much more versatile than the lead channels. The clean channel with gain turned down stays clean. If you crank up gain it gets a nice crunch sound. Both, the clean and crunch react very well on your picking. The crunch gives you a good crunched clean (gain down), a nice medium crunch (gain on 12 o`clock), and when cranked a nice heavy crunch. They are both very quiet, if you don`t play. The two lead channels sound basicly very similar. The difference between them is that lead2 has more bottom end, lead1 got more highs. The deep boost provides you a very low end, but if you handle without care, it gets very muddy! The lead channels with gain turned down only sound good with a low output pickup. It has got much gain but it doesn`t have that grind like a mesa or krank!
But there`s a BIG problem with the lead channels: It is VERY noisy!!! You hardly can turn the gain above 1 o`clock! The noise gate isn`t very good! The people at ENGL realised this and changed the noise gate in the new powerballs.
The scooped sound doesn`t cut through the mix enough, only with the mids focused you it is possible to cut through (i play in a band with another guitarist, it is very difficould to get a differenciated sound with the powerball, it is too loud or too quiet!).
The overall volume of this amp is not that loud! I wish it had 200Watts. Maybe, the noiseproblem would be solved...
A good thing about this amp is that it sounds good at low volume. You also can use it in studio and at home.
With low volume it`s the only way to crank up the lead channel gain, otherwise (with higher volume) it would only make noise.
Another problem is to get nice fedbacks. The feedback that are wanted break very fast into noisy, much too high ear-aching feedback.
The sound of the amp varies much with the cabinet used.
With the ENGL V60s 4x12 you get a very dirty sound. With the ENGL V30 4x12 you get a very articulated and deep bottomed sound. With a 4x10 the lead channel seems to lose gain and gets into rock-sound.
With the lead channels you get many different metal and modern rock sounds!

It is not constructed very reliable!
No handwireing, simple construction.
Good parts used, but built simple, maybe cheap.
I had to change one trafo.
Handle it with care, this is NOT a marshall. I think it will break fast.

Bad, they don`t send my tech the parts he ordered!

I`ve been playing for 10 years.
I love the versatility. The distotion gets better the deeper your guitar is tuned! Around C tuning it gets the grind, other amps got at D tuning. It is built for downtuned guitars. In our band we play in Es, so it doesn`t provide me the distortion i would like to have!
But that isn`t the fault of the amp.
I think the amp is most usual in a band with one guitar. If it has to compete you another guitar, it will lose, except it is a very similar sound.
I wish it would be louder and not that noisy! I`m disappointed of the noise gate. I though that it would be possible to get the ammount of gain, it has in lower voulumes in band context, but with this noise gate it`s impossible. I hope that I will soon get the upgraded noise gate!
It sounds good when miked, but in some cases a D.I. out is very practicable. I wish it had one.
I played a hughes&kettner Tube100 before. The ENGL is better for heavier sounds, the H&K has a better mid-gain-lead sound.
Compared with a mesa or peavey the high gain is compareable with them! But it`s got basicly another sound.
I`ve often heard a Recto or 5150 in live situations. If you haven`t got a good person for the mix, they both wil only sound muddy and undifferenciated, muddy, all in all poor in high gain situations. The ENGL has this problem too. But not that much than the Recto and 5150.
You can get marshall like tones as mesa like tones our of this amp.
But that should not be the reason to but such an amp. It has its own character, you can get an individual sound, it takes time, but it`s possible.
The powerball hasn`t got the aggression of a marshall or the grind of a mesa. If you want such sounds better buy the originals.
This amp will alway remain a ENGL, it can sound like...but it has the ENGL sound, which I like a lot!

Ok...if you're serious about this amp, read the specs on the ENGL website. As no doubt if you're spending this much you know what features it has, its mainly the sound you're after...right?

In saying that, the 4 channels in this thing work great even though each pair of channels share an eq on the amp. The eq knobs work a treat!! The first amp I've ever had that happen. Amazing.

Doesn't come with footswitch which is dissapointing. Who would use this amp without a footswitch is my question.....obviously people who buy the amp are buying the footswitch, so just add it in for petes sake. That is my only gripe. Although the footswitch does enable you to access a contour change which you can't do otherwise (Z-5 controller only). This adds extra mids to whatever channel you're on. Great for cutting through in a live performance.

I'll give this an 8 due to a lack of reverb.

I play a Dean ML79 which I've placed Bill Laurance pups in....as in the hand made Bill Laurance pups, not the mass produced ones from LA (Dimebag for ever!!). Anyway....I also play a strat and a modded Ibanez RG.

I've been playing the guitar for over ten years, and have always thought Marshall was my sound as I play an old school type of rock based around classic Sabbath type riffs. Of course the first amp any music store staff member will plug you into will be the best amp they have. Let me say, as soon as I played my first notes on this amp, I knew it had to be mine. This is my ultimate sound. I've had the amp for about 6 months now and I still smile every single time I start playing. Its a dream.

Note: When purchasing one of these heads, take the time to try out different cabs. When plugged into a Marshall cab with 75s in the back, at first I thought it sounded mean as. But after having a good play I realised it as a bit too metally for me, reducing the heads versatility. I like to turn the gain back (I have it sitting just below half way), put heavy gauge strings on just to hear and feel those tubes as I play. Even at this level of gain I've got no dramas pulling out pinch harmonics at will. Mind you Dime did design his pickups for that. With this amp I seem to have 150% control over my instrument when compared to my old amp. There is truly much to be said about connecting with an amp and guitar. I settled with the ENGL cab with vintage speakers. This was after plugging into a Mesa rectifier cab too. The Mesa cab sounded insane....it really did. But looking at the price difference between that and the ENGL and the superior construction of the ENGL I matched the cab with the head. To me, the vintage speakers are capable of a little more feeling than the more metal based cabs I tried.

Then comes the clean tone. This thing sounds sweet as with my strat. It has chilli peppers written all over it....and SRV...whoa. This inspires me to play and play and play.

The crunch channel is neat too......great tube sound

All in all....this is by far the best sounding amp I've ever heard. Tone is very subjective, so you may not agree....but I will say this much, I can't believe only one store stocked these in my city. Cause everyone who has heard my band play now automatically asks what that insane looking/sounding amp (red LEDS are tops) is. 9/10 will say "huh" when I tell them its an ENGL. I love that. :)

gigged and gigged with no drama.

It is a tube amp though and must be treated as such. People writing bad reviews in here about reliability, I'm thinking aren't giving the care that is needed to this thing. Tube amps are almost living and breathing creatures...for it to sound goo, you must take care of them. End of story.

If this was stolen...I'd find someone who had the same amp and steal theirs, as I couldn't afford another one. :)

But seriously.....forget Marshall (the idea of buying a new amp and changing tubes and transformers straight away is just ridiculous to me...but then again if I had the money) and Mesa. The ENGL will win hands down.

Oh and try and find a cooler looking amp. Yeah yeah, I know, its really all about sound.....but looking cool is a bonus.

I can't believe I didn't buy one of these years ago.

WARNING: For those of you that will buy this amp, you may soon suffer from the symptoms of jealous friends and farkin sore finger tips!!!

It's a brand new and updated 2006 model (improved noise gate, modified gain-structure and the treble in the lead channel has changed from linear to logaritmic scale). 100 Watts power from 4 6L6GC tubes and four ECC83 in the preamp section. 4 channels (in fact 2 channels with 2 different gain stages), bright and bottom switch in the clean/crunch-channel, low-punch switches in the lead channels, presence and a depth-punch in the master section. Also it has two switchable master volumes.
It has two different and switchable midrange styles (open/focused) in the lead channel. Switching from open to focused causes a massive boost of the low-mid range which makes leads really stand out in live and rehearsal situations. It has a protection circuit for each of the power-amp tubes which recognizes a damaged tube and shows this with a led on the front panel. The volume drops a bit, but the amp stays operable.

There is no footswitch included when you buy the amp, nor can it handle any midi-commands - midi can be installed optionally. So for proper use of all the functions the amp offers (4 channels, 2 master volumes, open/focused) you need to buy the Z-4 Custon footswitch which costs additional 160 EUR. Only 8 points here because of that.

My main guitar is a Jackson Soloist with an EMG 81 humbucker and two EMG SA single coils which goes straight into the amp and then into an ENGL 4x12" standard cabinet (Celestion V60s).

The sound I get with this setup is just brilliant. I don't find any words to really describe the lead-sound of the Powerball. The amp has a real character of its own, it does not try to imitate the sound of other popular amps like the Mesa Rectifier etc.
The sound is tight, full and stays extremely transparent. If you want to, it delivers a ridiculous amount of gain - I have the gain-knob round about 12 'o clock and it has already more gain then many other amps around. The tone control really does its job and allows you to dial an enormous variety of sounds. Still, the amp never loses its character.

The clean and crunch channels are also very usable, even if they don't stand out like the lead sound. Definitely a rar better clean sound then a Rectifier. Clean stays really clean until you turn the gain over 12 'o clock.

It's by the way pretty simple to get that delicious lead sound out of the amp. Just dial gain and tone controls round about 12 'o clock, presence at 1 'o clock, master at 11 'o clock (if you habe tolerant neighbours...) and strike a low chord.... and there you go.
The amp really likes low tunings - I play mostely in drop C with 052-010 strings, and if you don't push the low range too much, it does not get muddy there.

Important - be sure to use a proper cabinet. A poor cabinet can make the best amp in the world sound like a vacuum cleaner.

A bit annoying are the feedbacks you get when you play a bit louder. Even with the active EMG 81, I get loads of feedback - mostly in the bass and low-mid range. The noise gate does a good job there, but nevertheless you get a deep hum here and there when you play fast an partly muted riffs.

I play mostely metal with my band and the amp suits this style perfectly. I have also gigged with it, and I had no problem cutting through the mix. The other guitarist uses a Line6 Head plus 4x12" and the Powerball simply kills this amp in band situations. He is now seriously thinking about buying something with real tubes in it...

I must give 10 points here, the amp sound simply to good to give a lower rating.

I'm using the am for about 2 months now. 3 weeks ago, one of the preamp tubes broke down and the amp got practically silent from one second to another. I took the amp back to the shop, they had a phone call with ENGL and I got a whole new and matched set of preamp tubes within 3 days - best thing, I didn't have to pay for them. Tubes can break down, so I don't think this can be counted as a real reliability problem. Since then it works perfectly again.

It is constructed very solid with a metal grill on the front (which even looks great with the illuminated tubes behind it) and weighs about 25 kilos, so I think it can withstand most of the situations a normal guitar amp is confronted with.

Becaus of the failure, I think 7 points here.

As I said, ENGL sent a complete new set of preamp-tubes immdiately and they did this under warranty (even if tubes normally are not changed under warranty). So, full points there.

I play for about 10 years now and I have owned a couple of amps since then. My last one was a Hughes & Kettner Tube50 which I also liked, but which could not give me THE sound I was always looking for. The Powerball now has exactly that kind of sound. Before buying it, I compared it to a Framus Cobra (also a great amp, was a hard decision), to a Mesa Rectifier (to expensive, no clean sound and too unoriginal) and to some Randall (lead sound was too harsh for my taste) and Line6 solid-state amps (no character at all, sounds too artificial... well, they WANT to sound artificial...).

I really love this amp an I hope that it is too heavy to get stolen that easily. Additionally I'm taking care of it like it was one of my eyeballs.

If you ever get the chance to play the amp - do it.

Full 10 points.

I won't go into to much detail here as its already been listed about 30 times. I will say that the features on this amp are very useful, especialy the effects loop mix and noise gate. However, a foot-switchable effects loop would make a lot of difference. I have invested in a Nobels loop switch which acts the same but i can sometimes end up tap dancing over my pedal board.

I mainly use a Gibson Explorer Gothic with Seymour JB/Jazz set up or my ESP Eclipse with active EMG's or my Fat-Strat which also has active EMG's. All three guitars have very distinctive tones and the Powerball handles both very well.

Most "high-gain" amps lack a good clean tone but this one covers a huge range of sounds on main channel 1.
The "clean" channel can produce crystal clear tones when i use the strat on the neck and middle pickups. Push the gain a bit and plug in something with a humbucker and the feel totally changes. You get a much more dirty sound that can go from mild break-up to AC/DC style tones.
The "crunch" channel is also very versitile. With a bit of help from the volume pot on your guitar you can get similar tones to the clean and then push right up to early Maiden territory.
Main channel 2 has some of the best tones I've ever herd. I've owned a 5150mk 2 and various bits of Mesa and Rocktron rackgear but none of them compare to the Powerball.
On the "lo lead" channel the sustain is great. There are plenty of harmonics and the clarity remains even at extreme settings. I play in a metal band (www.myspace.com/eighthnerveuk) influenced by Killswitch, Slayer, Lamb of God and Funeral for a Friend so I need a clear tone with plenty of balls. This amp provides that. I spend most of my time on this channel and its just great. The dynamics are fantastic, this amp provides a great tone and one that can be made very individual.
I don't use the "hi lead" channel much because the "lo lead" has everything. I have an H2O chorus-echo pedal in the effects loop wich provides a bit of a volume boost as well as a cry baby from hell so when i need a push i dont need the "hi lead" option.
The sounds this amp can make are just breath-taking. It could be used with any style given the right guitar and a few good pedals.

I've not had the Powerball long but it seems very well built. I dont have a backup. I'll be looking after it well so hopefully it'll last a lifetime.

I have never had to deal with them.

I have been playing for nearly 10 years and in that time I've owned vintage Marshalls, a 5150 mk 2,a Rocktron Prophesy, a Mesa/Boogie studio pre, a Mesa Rectifier power amp etc etc ....... This amp wipes the floor with them in terms of tone and versitility. The powerball is a high end amp so if you want one you need a good guitar. Get something with good pickups and made of a decent bit of wood and you can get any tone you want from this thing. I've got it insured so if it got stolen i'd get a new one a.s.a.p.