Engl Road 112 Combo

This is a 50 watts ENGL combo, model "Road", made in Germany. All-tube: 4x ECC83 preamp tubes and 1x ECC83 + 2x EL34 power amp tubes. I bought it used so I changed them to JJ / Tesla tubes. One Celestion 12" Vintage 30 Speaker. Built 05/26/92.
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Input, Clean gain, Bright (effects all three channels), Rhythm Gain, Lead Gain, Bass, Middle, Treble, Presence (one EQ for all channels), Reverb (same), Clean Rhythm and Rhythm Lead knobs, Rhythm Volume, Lead Volume, Master Volume (front panel, left to right).
FX - Loop, Footswitch for Clean/Crunch/Lead and another one for Reverb, Frequency Compensated Line Out simulating a 4x12" cabinet, something called Mix Input with Level and Treble controls, 16 and 8 Ohm Speaker Outs. The Mix Input can be used for a second guitar, preamp or as a cassette / cd - input (haven't tried it out yet), lots of features, especially as far as Gain and Volume are concerned. A second EQ would be nice, especially 'cause of the three channels. Apart from that, many features, enough for me. And, I love the classic design that doesn't look like 1.000 other amps, that doesnt't say "MARSHALL" or "MESA" on the front - nearly everyone has one of these or dreams of owning one. Monkey see, monkey do . . .

My current setup looks like this: Ibanez GSA 60 (modified, JB in bridge, Coolrails in neck etc) -> Boss DS - 1 -> Electro Harmonix Small Clone Chorus -> Engl Road. To describe my playing style, mix Nirvana, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden with a healthy dose of Tool and A perfect Circle, add some Black Sabbath and - that's it. "Heavy -Alternative - Grunge", that's how I call it sometimes. I play covers, too, but mainly write my own tunes. Before I bought this Amp, I owned a Marshall 80 RCD, an 80 watts Solid State Combo. Well, I bought it 1 1/2 years ago when I thought Marshalls were THE amps (and Metallica were the heaviest guys out there . . .). The Marshall had even more features than this one, a bit more gain, I think, and a nice (Solid State) clean sound. But what I was looking for was real TUBE crunch. Alright, let's go:


1) Clean: Excellent, especially with the neck pickup of my guitar. Love it to death. Can be set from warm, dark and round (some kinda Tool - clean sounds, Nirvana's "Heart-shaped box")to typical fenderish clean tones when you kick in the Bright switch ("Under the Bridge", Chili Peppers) . . . but then, it's a bit too trebly. A bit more headroom would be nice . . . I do need a good clean channel, not only for soft songs and ballads but also for practising and my distortion stomp boxes. This one delivers the goods.

2) Crunch: This is the channel for classic rock a la Led Zep, Sabbath and beyond. The very effective Gain control allows you to dial in almost every kind of sound, from a natural clipping (with Gain at 1 and singlecoils) to a biting and fat crunch rhythm sound (Gain at 10, Humbucker) With Gain at 7 (that's what I use most of the time), the neck pickup blueses superbly and warm when I roll back the volume on my guitar and the Humbucker rocks. Raw. This channel smokes my old Marshall's "Crunch" and "Overdrive 1" settings . . . NEEDS warm tubes and some power tube crunch. Reminds me of some recordings from Seattle in the 90s.

3) Lead: To get the Lead Sound, you have to press the Clean Rhythm and the Ryhthm Lead knobs. And what you get is pure Tube distortion, much warmer and "cleaner" than my old Marshall's "Overdrive 2" sound. Both the Rhythm Gain and Lead Gain controls effect the sound of this channel - which means that you can't get an almost clean crunch and a mesa - ish overdrive. Well, maybe, you CAN with a guitar with a vintage singlecoil and a high - output humbucker. But usually, you have to find a compromise. An awesome sounding one, of course. This channel screams like a swarm of demons. Even when you strike full chords with both gain controls at 10, you can hear every single string. Of course, you CAN make it sound muddy and dirty, but even then, it sounds f%&#/ng great (hey, I play Grunge - so I sometimes need this sound. Examples: Alice in Chains "Dirt" (as for the lead guitar), "Facelift" (rhythm), hard to say - it's got its own sound)!


The tone controls are definitely very effective, but I wish it had a bit more low - end. Don't get me wrong - it sounds neither weak nor thin, but my guitar isn't a super - heavy - 5,7 kg - Les Paul and a bit more punch and I would take this beauty to the grave. I also find it a bit trebly - I never use the Bright switch and usually set Treble as well as Presence at 4. That's enough. In general, the basic sound of this amp plus the tone controls allow you to dial in almost any kind of sound. What you cannot get is a clean sound with ear - piercing treble, a round and full crunch and lead sound with scorching midrange. But if you really need that, go get an EQ pedal. The reverb could be a bit deeper - even at with the control turned up fully, it doesn't make clean chords that full. Ah, well - my Small Clone fixes that. Another problem: When you use the lead / crunch sounds and want to swich to clean, it goes "Bang" with some reverb

If you carry spare tubes and fuses, it's a ten. If you don't, it's a six. Hasn't broken down so far . . . not even after some excessive practising during the last week (Monday to Saturday, five hours a day). Ah, let me see - its handle had to be fixed some days ago. One screw, that's it.

www.engl-amps.com is a nice homepage but I didn't find my amp. Seems as if I was the only one owning this model. You're right, this is where you have to rate the customer support. Well, 10 points. Why? I wrote an eMail and Horst Langer wrote back some days later and sent me a detailed answer and the manual. He answered all my questions.
That's great, huh?

This is a great amp. Simple and the best sound I've heard in a long time. I've been playing for about three years, 3 1/2 I think. My equipment? See "Sound Quality". I've been looking for a new amp for months, played my guitar through many amps. A Lany Tube Fusion - well, nice price, horrible knobs you can't read, tube distortion? No, not really. A Marshall AVT - my last amp was a Marshall and its sound wasn't that great. Sure, Marshalls tube amps sound xxx times better, but the hybrid and all - tube amps are quite expensive. The AVT 50 was even more expensive than the ENGL. Peavey - I was actually looking for a hybrid combo, but I thought: "Hey, give it a try" The Studio Pro sounded like crap. Maybe this was a bad one and there are better ones out there but the sound was horrible. It also buzzed all the time. Fender Roc Pro's are amps with an excellent clean sound but their distortion is always sooo trebly. I don't like too much treble so I didn't like their sound either. Maybe I've tried even more amps (I am sure I have) but they don't come to my mind right now. For 500 Euro, this amp was a steal. It allows you to shape YOUR OWN sound and doesn't make you sound like any cheesy NuMetal boy - group out there. If it were stolen - let me see. I'd do what everyone would do - call my insurance agency.
Excellent, aggressive distortion, raw crunch (that definitely needs WARM tubes) and round clean. Because of the "banging" reverb, the lack of some low - end and the fact that I have to turn it up to "7" (otherwise, my drummer will drown me out), it's an eight. I think I'll have to look for an extension cab.
Would I buy it again? These amps are hard to find. I really like the option of having three channels, but I'm sure I could stand the feeling of having a two channel amp. I'd look for a halfstack, maybe an ENGL again . . . this one's a good amp that could be even better. If you want something different, look for this one.