Engl Ritchie Blackmore Signature

Simple, but got everything you need. The voicing of the amp is perfect to me too. No features you never use. If you don't like something in al live-situation, you'll get the sound you like within seconds...

Nevertheless, it has two switchable Master Volumes and a Contour funciont. The Contour is great I think, but I'm not using it. I play a lot with my guitar volume pot, I have a volume pedal, and I use the two master volumes. With the master I can quickly switch between "heavy-guitar-music" and music where the guitar hasn't got a big role. And I use a treble booster for my soloing. That's why I don't use the Contour switch.

Oh my god! If I compare this with other amps in the prize category, the Blackmore blows them away with ease! Even the 3000 euros amps are not better to, they just have more features which I won't use. So I got the ultimate amp I think!

As I said, the voicing is perfect to me. I don't mess a lot with the knobs, just for a sound check before a gig.

The sound is incredible... Just perfect. The clean is as smoother than smooth. The Lead is warm, full and rich, and at the same time aggressive like hell! Really, really tremendous tone. A 10+++!!!

Have it for nearly two years now, and never had a single problem. I don't have the money for a backup, but I'm always very careful with all my stuff, and especially my expensive and beloved ANGLE. I bought an expensive flightcase for it. Still have the original tubes...

Never dealt with them, so I have no idea...

I played the classical guitar for 7 years. But I always wanted to play rock, but my guitar teacher didn't want to loose me... So about 3 years ago I started the electric on my own. And it's going very well.

If my ENGL would be stolen, I would go testing (if I had enough money) more amps in the store, but I'm almost sure I would end up with the Blackmore again.

So I'm 99,5% positive about the amp. When testing, I liked some Marshalls and the ENGL Savage and Special Edition. But those were twice or even thrice as expensive, and weren't really "better" to me. Just more options. The Blackmore is like made for me, not for Ritchie Blackmore...

A pretty basic amp with not too many unnecessary features. Wich is fine, sometimes less is more.

Bought the amp with the Z-5 footswitch..
2 master volumes and the contour are perfect, when you need to get little boost for lead work. I rather try to find

ENGL says its a four channel amp but I think its more like a 2 channel amp with two different gain modes on each channel.

It can cover almost every style, except when you want to play some more dirtier rock. I would try to describe the distortion as bold and somewhat wet?/processed but stil clean..... In other words the distortion doesnt have that beatiful marshall dirt/crunch, and the clean doesnt have that fender shimmer, theres just something missing.
The lowend and the tone in general is very thick, but the attack/response is somewhat slow.

Don't get me wrong, my first impression of this amp was that it sounded great but after a while i just couldn't get along with its character and the worst thing is that you can't use distortion pedals or even connect a separate preamp thru the loop, It just sounds awful, the poweramp isnt just designed for that. On the other hand this amp wakes up on much lower volumes than other amp that I owned, my guess is that the poweramp either limits or compresses some frecuencies wich explains that with distortion pedals/preamps.

It has a wide sound, it sounds great when you play with yourself, but it doesnt cut thru in the mix when playing with a full band in my opinion, more volume isnt always a good thing, sometimes its better to find frequencies that cuts thru the mix instead.

My amp got wierd background noises after about 5 months, first I suspected a preamp tube but efter changing those I took the amp to a tech, he mentioned that the build quality was the worst he has ever seen, the PCBs were a joke according to him. I'm can't be 100% sure of this cause I havent seen it with my own eyes but I've heard enough nightmare rumours from other ENGL users, so there must be something behind that.

Just take a look at the forum on their website, totally pathetic, people asks questions and almost none of them get response. They should hire someone to respond, or they could close the forum.Same thing when you try to mail them and ask something, you won't get any answer.. or atleast It shouldnt take over a year to answer..?

Totally the opposite compared Soldanos tech support. They really take the time and answer you personally.

Well it has a good tone for the money you pay, but it doesn't matter if you can't come along with it. And if you know it could die any minute.

Z-5 had a expensive price for a simple pedal, if I can remember it correctly? but its well worth it if you want to go with this amp.
I wouldn't recommend it but the decision is yours.

Look it up

Ok, I am a metal player, more of a grindcore style kind of like Between the Burried and Me. This amp CAN pull off this style however it does not work as well as something along the lines of a much cheaper 5150. The distortion is clear and articulate, sounds amazing, great definition but there is a lack of saturation and low end that I cannot seem to fix. The voicing is very cool, very unique. For someone into old school thrash metal or metallica style music the high gain channel could easily pull that off but anything else, look for another amp. Enough about the high gain channel, the clean on this thing is AMAZING! Very Fenderish in character and the bright switch actually works hah. The low gain channels are very very nice and very responsive, the harder you play the sweeter the overdrive. To sum it all up, if you play jazz, blues, classic rock, alternative, hard rock, or classic metal... this is the amp for you. Any types of Extreme metal ala grindcore, deathmetal, doommetal, hardcore, metalcore ect. Get something else, the palm mutes dont cut it. I give it an 8 because of the extreme high quality in all of the other channels.

NA

Over all I would say this really does kill any new age marshall or mesa for jazz to classic rock to alternative to classic metal but for all out balls to the wall metal, there are many amps out there that can out perform this amps high gain channel. I would probably buy this amp again just because the over all tone is amazing and the articulation is unmatched. If I sold this I would most likely pick up an older 5150 again, or possibly a framus or a different Engl model.

This is a tube amp with 5881 tubes.An effect loop,switchable would be cool.The parallel effect with potmeterb is perfect.It's a complete sound with the same sort of overaall character.Th e high gain sound is killer.The clean sound is very good.The first high gain setting is perfect for back up riffing,

I use it with a super strat with a distortion parallel axis pick up single same.And abill lawr. in the neck.
I'm a neo classical rocker.bach paganini etcetera.
Not noisy,a bit slow action comparing with my VHT pittbull,clx.
Very good clean semi distort is very good,I think the amp sounds best with the tone controls in middle setting.controls in center perfect.I did not own any amp which sounds that good if centered.

I do own this amp to short to say anything about reliability.

I want to change it in an EL34 powertubes .I asked the Engl factory and they respont in 4 hours so.
Heard very good stories about it,
I had to buy the back plate for my 5150 amp and the suckers asked 100 euro for it.For an amp which sounds as horrible as an 5150 that is way to much.That was one of my reasons to get rid of everything which said peavey.Yakk for Peavey

I do play for 30 years.Im 41 years old.I did own numerous Marshalls(very good rock amps) ,VHT's(very good amps)Fenders .
I would buy it again.For sure.
The VHT has more subtile tones for recording especially.Thje Marshalls are killer rockers.And the ENGL is a stage monster and a perfect recording amp.Brutallier than the VHT

Mine is a 2004 fast hand motion with the el34 power tubes. The amp has a beautifully simple setup no fancy knobs and switches to get in the way, the dual master volume is a great feature as is the contour switching for helping your solos cut through the mix and with the z5 footswitch your essentially get 4 channels from the amp clean, crunch, low gain and high gain i really love this amp and i really wanted to give it a rating of 10 because of it's useability but the 2 features i wish it did have are a switchable effects loop rather than a wet/dry pot on the rear and a noise gate built in like the engl powerball for those ultra high gain moments but i understand engl are very useful in this sort of situation and for a fee (and the cost of shipping your amp to germany and back!) these sort of mods can be retro fitted, me i just make do (and it's not really a hardship with this amp)

I'm fortunate enough to have access to a great deal of guitars due to mine and the other guitarist in my bands fetish for collecting guitars i was always a big fan of dimarzio pickups in my guitars as my playing grew up on a diet of ibanez and heartfield (fenders take on the ibanez RG made in the ibanez factory)guitars the dimarzio's sound great recorded but as another review stated they just don't sound full enough for me with this amp however this amp is very responsive to different pickups and i only tried the paf pro's i have in a couple of guitars with it. Now seymour duncans are a whole different kettle of fish i play in a metallica tribute band and i use this amp with a seymour duncan invader for a bridge pickup and the gain is brutal much better live than my dual rectifier! for that hetfield style i also play in a rock band which play our own songs a kind of mix of velvet revolver, R.A.T.M and 70's rock and this amp is just the ticket with some less powerful pickups i use duncan customs for the bridge and a 59' or a jazz in the neck mainly les pauls and an old esp 400 strat (got to have a strat with a blackmore amp and i'm not a big fan of his really) The cleans are super smooth and the 4 way switching on this amp gives every sound you could need for live use just add a wah pedal and maybe a chorus and delay if the need arrises and the engl will take care of the rest in any environment it's a 100watt tube head and with a 4x12 cab it can be a bit loud for smaller venues so i use an engl screamer 50 combo essentially the same amp but with 2 less power valves and reverb instead of contour for anything small

I've had this amp for about 18 months now and it has never missed a beat it's travelled all round the country with me and been gigged extensivly without any problems and i never take a backup these things are built like tanks (spill it's pint and it'd kick your head in!)

I only delt with them once when i first bought the amp the dealers i bought it from did not have the data cable required for the z5 footswitch engl sent one out to me free of charge next day delivery so i can't complain about that and my local music store is an engl dealer so i have no problems if and when i require spares (such as valves) etc

I'd like to give this a 9.5 overall but i think it's good enough to warrant a 10 as i can't give it 9.5 it looses half a point from me for the points i mentioned in the features and the fact that the footswitch alone was #125 (and that is cheap now because they have recently put the prices up and i believe the head is now #999 and the footswitch #150 plus the obligatory engl 4x12 at #469) this is not a cheap amp but compared to how it sounds it kicks ass for an all rounder over mesa's marshall's peaveys etc i've never tried bognor's or diezel's much as i would love to because there is no one near where i live who stocks them for me to be able to try them out and i don't have time with the bands to travel just to try them out but reading others reviews i can quite believe that this will be on par if not beat them too if it were stolen i'd definatly get another i have pleanty of other amps which i use for recording but they are all a bit one horse wonders the engl does it all in one indestructable package

2001. It is the most versatile amp on the planet bar none. 4 channels that do 4 channels worth of work. I wish it had a line out other than an fx loop. I wish it had reverb. It does 100 watts like a marshall. this amp can be used on stage, in the studio or wherever you would need it. I had Electo-Harmonix tubes put in and it almost doubled the output and the tone improved dramatically. I have literally had everything out there. enough gear to piss off about every girlfreind I have ever had. this thing does not sound like ritchie blackmore to me. It does not sound like any amp I have heard. You need to get a splawn cab with it. (rocks and is clean as a whistle).

Jackson PC-1 and PRS CE-22. Crunchy and I can get Paul Gilberts tone out of it. See, I have Paul Gilbert's fingers.LOL. Its' preamp is reminicent of an ADA Pre used back in the day.(wow). I have a Splawn Quickmod and blend them together with a JCM 800. Let me put it to you like this. This is the rig that everybody wants to play thru and for good reason. Clarity and tasteful gain that moves you out of the way and keeps you there. Multiple styles. It will do whatever is asked of it.

As soon as I say it is reliable it will break so I wont comment here for carma's sake.

Have not dealt with them. I got a feeling if you buy em some kraut and liverwurst with a beer they would be very helpful to you.

20 years or so playing. If it were lost or stolen I would be crushed, but I don't gig with it for that reason. I read where another guy said that it was to pretty to gig with and that some butthead would steal it for sure and I tend to agree with him. I think it is awsome. I love the gain structure alot and it is very playable without being abrasive or mettalic sounding.

Made in 2000 or later. It does seem to be very versatile. I do play a variety of styles. It is strong if you like smooth sustainy distortion. cleans up like a twin. 4 channels. It mainly stays at home. It is too pretty to take on stage. some butthead would steal it for sure. It has the power but it is not for the marshall lover.(you know, the one that wants to get heard really well).As I said it is smoother. I definetly suggest a v-30 cab over g-12-75. Ritchie swears this amp does not do the things that he hates about marshalls. But what the hell do you think he knows? have you seen him lately?(including the tone) in my opinion it is good for the rectifier lover that likes Mesa. I prefer Marshall.

As I said before it is meant to be blended with a raw Marshall. Which I have two of. All alone it sounds different. You know like a frog that has just had it's nuts chewed off by a rattlesnake.(he just aint the same) Its like a cup of coffee that tastes like chocolate.(don't taste too much like coffee). Its like once you let that fart and your thinking about what it is gonna smell like before it gets to your nose and it turns out worse. I like dimarzio pickups with my marshalls but pickups seem to sound different with this. Disortion is wide open raw singing gain.

n/a

n/a

I will keep it unless somebody wants to trade me a bogner extasy for it.(yeah right). I have been letting her rip for about 20 years now and have yet to get any on me. I like the fact that you can get a good sound at a low volume. You know,(don't have anybody yelling down the steps to cut that damn shit down). so I just farted and it stinks, how about that? By the way if anybody wants to trade a bogner extasy to me for my ENGL I would do it but otherwise it stays with me right here in the toilet.all bullshit aside buy one if you got a job and got your bills caught up otherwise get yourself a peavey, and then you can play freebird for real. Smoke on the water don't sound right on this thing.

10-because there`s no knob too much on it and it has two switchable Master Volumes-all I need.

I play a Fender Strat with Seymour Duncan Jeff Beck Neck pu on it, a self made Tele with Schaller Humbucker neck pu, a singlecoil old style Strato and a Gibson LP Classic with P-100 pu`s. All these guitars sound characteristic and very different on each sound mode of the amp-even at killer distortion.
The sound quality is excellent in each mode. The clean Sound is very direct, but far away from sounding hard-you can hear the quality of the parts inside.Just take a Strat and switch on the low gain channel-yeah Jimi`s here. Then for solos with the strat I step on a Boss Sustainor in that low gain channel-now it screams as hell, you can feel the sound in your teeth. The highgain solo sound is excellent-hot and mean, but rich and full of character. With the Les Paul it sounds more smooth and elegant, with the Strat with Jeff Beck pu it sounds rough and strong. All in all tons of tone, but you have to buy a good cabinet for the amp-mine is a custombuilt with 4 Celestion Vintage 30. The only amp I`ve ever played that sounded 90 per cent that good was a HughesKettner Tube 100. I play 20 years, 20-40 gigs a year Cover Rock and Blues.-AC/DC, Led Zep., Purple, ZZ-Top, Jimi, and much more-the amp fits for all this styles.

Got the amp 4 years-no problem. We had a bikers gig in a tent in January-the footswitch worked a little unreliable at that temperature.

No Idea,no problems,

The Ritchie Blackmore Signature 100W all-tube head was customised by Engl using different tubes. There are two alternatives to the Signature amp: The Engl Slow Hand Motion with 4 x 6L6GC-STR tubes and the Fast Hand Motion with 4 x EL 34 tubes.
My amp is the Slow Hand Motion and was built in 1998. I'm playing anything from Blues/Rock/Funk/Jazz to Heavy. The amp features 2 basic channels wich can be split again into high/low gain and clean/lead. So you can switch between 4 different sounds with 2 footswitches. I loop in a Boss GT-6 and it works excellent. I'm using this amp once a week for a session and plyed about 5 gigs with it already. There's definately enough power: 100W just blow your head off! Especially when using a closed(!!) Marshall 2x12 or 4x12 box, you can feel the enormous preassure from clean to lead sounds. There are only the necessary features to set up the different sounds -- not more. And that's what makes the amp so simple. Comparing to Mesa Boogies with complicated equalizers, you find the appropriate sounds within seconds.

I'm playing a custom made guitar with the following pickups: neck (2x Seym. Duncan SRV single coils, possibility to play as single coil or humbucker), middle (Seym. Duncan classic single coil), bridge (Seym. Duncan Jeff Beck humbucker). I like the sparkly SRV strat sound and the amp works quite well with it. When playing hard solos with heaps of sustain I use the bridge humbucker and the lead channel of the amp. If you wanna play the heavyest metal it's probably not the right amp for you. It's so loud this "little" bastard! Made for playing on stage, even open air. It sounds like Hendrix'/SRV clean sounds and distorted sounds sound pretty much like the Deep Purple live in Japan albums. More about the sound: Clean: sparkly, preassure, if you want heaps of bass, much treble, creamy; Crunch: SRV, Fender/Vox, very bluesy, as louder you turn it as better it sounds! Lead: endless sustain, creamy, Blackmore sound

Never broken down using it for 3 open airs and 2 indoor gigs.
I put it in a box so it is protected when I carry it around.
No probs with the tubes so far, I guess it's quite normal to change the tubes after some years, but for that tube amps sound so much better!

It's a German amp and I'm living in Germany so the Engl company isn't far away. I can't say how the service is overseas. I bought the amp used so I didn't have contact with an Engl dealer, yet.
Unfortunately you can't get the manual of the Slow Hand Motion on the Engl webpage (http://www.engl-amps.com/) cause it isn't produced any more, damn...

I'm playing the amp for 3 months now and had some good possibilities to test it (gigs, sessions). I have also a Mashall Valvestate 8080 which is a crap amp comparing to the Engl. I'm using the 80W speaker of the Marshall when I'm playing at home. I'm also owning a Hoyer Les Paul form the 70ies and a selfmade guitar which is quite similar to the Ibanez RG series. Also using the Engl to play with my Washburn acoustic guitar. As I already said, the clean sound is just stunning! I searched for an amp for about 3 months and played many different Mashall heads, Mesa Boggie heads/combos, Matchless, Vox, Fenderand Soldano. I read through many many review also here at harmony central and finally I chose the Engl Slow Hand Motion which unites the clean sound of Fender/Vox with distored sound of Mesa Boggie (Not Rectifier!)/ Marshall.
Any questions? Write me a mail!

I wanted to mention something for those who hate the metal channel. I find this necessary for those looking for a REAL AMP and not just a bashing for those who didn't like this amp. First it's not fake distortion. You just don't like it because you are a poser who counts on fuzzy or totally buzzsaw diode grit to cover up your playing technique. Fake is slapping a digital distortion pedal onto the clean channel. You just don't like a clear articulate metal sound. If you can see why this is awesome, then you are nothing. This amp shreds your ass off. RAZOR SHARP and a palm mute god amp. Again, this amp enhances your character and style of playing/technique. Just buy a peavey 5150 like the one guy said he did. LOL!!!!!!!!!! 5150 stands for the amount of losers who own one