Engl Savage Special Edition

Used this amp for a studio recording. We play stoner/prog-metal/doom music. This head has a vast array of options:
- 4 channels
- impedence check
- half-power switch
- modern/vintage voice switches for each channel

I'd say this was as versatile as your average modern boutique amp head (VHT, Diezel, Mesa, etc). This can, however, be a little counter-productive if you're not used to using multi-channel amps with lots of magic buttons. People often forget this when hunting for amps.

The head runs on 4x6l6 output valves and 5xECC83 preamp valves so there's plenty of gain and headroom on tap for those who need it. I think this head would be primarily aimed at those who play hi-gain stuff but need a totally clean channel as well. People after a 'vintage' amp are wasting their time here - too many features besides to make it a worthwhile purchase!

Ok, this IS a good amp. It didn't blow me away as I thought it might but there are some nice tones on here.

CLEAN: As I said before this has plenty of headroom. The clean tone is just that. Clean. The EQ works well and you can change the sound easily to get a warm jazz tone, through to a bright, sparkly sound. I found that this channel lacked character somewhat. Hard to explain but when you listen to a Fender or a Hiwatt, it's a Fender or a Hiwatt clean. When you listen to this it's a clean that you could probably rustle up using a decent effects processor.

CRUNCH: Nice for lead work - cuts through well and has that lovely "dirt between the strings" breakup kind of sound. Not buzzy at all. Can sound a little thin at times. The problem I had with this channel is that it was really not great for rhythm work. Very hard to nail a decent classic rock tone. Again, lacking a certain quality here!

LEAD 1 & 2: Here's where the amp falls short in my opinion. Lead 1 is great for heavy rhythm work - really punchy and shouty but the clarity is great and it really cuts through in a band situation. However, it sucks for lead. Big style. Really nasty top-end buzz and very little sustain. Lead 2 sorted this but it's hard to get more than one decent sound out of it. It does the modern hi-gain lead really well, but that's about it.

I used a Les Paul Standard (w/bare knuckle warpigs) and a Music Man Axis SS (also, with the warpigs).

We were in the studio for a couple of weeks. Preamp valves went microphonic on the last day. We hammered this amp at 3/4 master volume for about 4 days but I imagine it was used before we went in so no complaints here...

I've not dealt with ENGL before, but there appear to be quite a few fail-safe measures on this amp to prevent damage from the user, such as the impedence check (which is very handy).

Given more time I think it would reveal itself as more of a decent amp than I give it credit for being, but in all honesty if you can't get a decent basic tone on the first hit then it ain't worth that much money! I played through a Mesa/Boogie Roadster a while back for about 30 minutes in my local shop in London, and managed to coax quite a wide range of tones. Couldn't say the same for this amp after 4 days of tinkering...

NO SALE!

so many channels and configurations it took me a while to find my settings but with a couple of good weeks goin at it i got it all suss'ed and its the best amp my money has ever purchased, infact if i had to ever choose between being sponsered by say marshall or using my engl...id stay with engl it goes from clean to extreme and has every lil nuance between if you cant get the sound your looking for out of this thing...well your probably deaf!
it gets a 9 because mine doesnt have a noise gate altho i would prefer a rack unit with alot more configurable parameters

i play alot of varied style some jazz bluesy rock rock metal death and thrash from ry cooder to dave mustaine to nergal from behemoth this amp has hammered all the sounds
the only reason i knock the sound quality down is like alot of high gain amps the bass end altho very tight when compared to amps like mesa recto's for me being in a thrash trio with me as solo guitarist it just didnt punch quite hard enough altho fixed with my bbe sonic maximizer now i never use any amp without it! and if the amp dont work with the bbe..its usually pretty crap...

its great althoto get the hot sound i have a feeling they are squeezing an extra 5 watts out of each tube i do wonder how much that will shorten the life span altho the only tube trouble ive had is with venue music who i refuse to deal with at all costs unless im in dire need
id prefer to buy tubes from jaycar...cheaper and more reliable
i give it a ten as ive never had a problem with anythign but a few crummy tubes which isnt the amps fault..valves aer like light bulbs they may last years or minutes

never had to deal with em

ive been playing for around ten years i have 26 guitars at the moment a jem an assortment of ibanez' jacksons peaveys hurricanes hamers hohners
and well im looking at buying another engl soon a blackmorethere kind of like a cut down savage because i love my savage too much to let it get damaged on the road and a blackmore is cheaper
it gets a 10 because it is such a great amp they are expensive but you only get what you pay for !

More u need baby!
http://www.engl-amps.com/

I mainly use a Peavey V-Type with Floyed Rose.
This amp is very flexible!
The clean sound can handle all u want (warm jazz, ska, twang, light crunch!)
The crunch 1 channel is amazingly warm in sound! (crunchy rythms, santana like soloing,...)
The crunch 2 is good for old school rock and metal riffing (maidon, ACDC,...)
The Lead channel Blows it all up! CHECK IT OUT! BEST DISTORTION I EVER HEARD!!

The smooth switch offers u a loud and warm round solo sound!

I played it fore about one year now on many gigs, rehersals and at home.
It still did not get any damage!!!
NOTHING!

I would never thing about needing a backup when giggin' with this amp!

Never needed to contact them,.. this amp is simply t00 greate!

The Best thing there is!
u have to check it out yourselfe!!!

4-channel 100W tube amp; 2 reverb units; triode/pentode switchable via midi or custom footswitch; smooth/rough switch for the cruch 2 and lead channel; line out; effects loop; boost switches for the crunch and lead channel and finally two master and presence knobs

I use a Gibson Les Paul Smartwood with stockpickup (490T/490R) as well as 2000 American Standard Tele.
I mainly play Rock and Emo, and now and then a little Jazz, but I think ths amp could cover about any style you want it too.
Channel 1 clean: very warm and only a little bit of crunch at maximum gain
Channel 2 crunch: everything from nearly clean to classic rock it's all there
Channel 3 crunch 2: more gain than crunch 1, good sounds for metal, hardcore etc.
Channel 4 lead: has a modern touch to it; a shitload of sustain and more bottom end than crunch 2; thick distortion; I mainly use this one for solos

The amp is veryquite, even at high volumes and full gain settings.

It looks very well built and i never had any problems with it.
I gig it without a backup.

I've played many diffrent amps over the last 10 years but the ENGL blew everything I've owned away.
If it was stolen I would definitley get another one.
Before buying i compared it to a VHT Pittbull 50/CL, wich I liked very much, but the ENGL is definetly more versatile.

This amp was made in in 2000 or 2001. traded it ,used in mint condition together with the matching 4x12 and MIDI-interface, for my rack-system (H&K Access, Marshall 9200 and Marshall 4x12 WHAT A DEAL!!).
Is it versatile? Hell yeah! It is as flexible as my entire racksetup, just not stereo (but who cares with this sound). 4 USEFUL channels. rough and smooth switches in the crunch channels. Gainboosts in two channels. Pentode/Triode-switch. Speaker A/B-switch, two presences, two masters, etc. Incredibly flexable EQ. effectloops for the two mainchannels and a masterloop. Directouts with level-control. All switching is midi-programmable/switchable with the MIDI-interface or simple footswitches. I use this amp in my room, bandrehearsal and gigs and it is loud enough I can tell you. 100 watts of tube-power. Uses 6l6's for a lot of headroom. I can't think of anything I could wish for, except for MAYBE stereo for an occasional weird sound that bounces from right to left. But for that I can always buy a second one, hahahahaha....

I use this monster with my beloved Ibanez JEM90HAM Vai-model that goes to my Bad Horsie-WAH into the Engl with a TC Electronic M-One in the loop. I play just about everything, but mostly rock, hardrock and metal. From Pink Floyd to Slayer/Panera/Death Metal. It can do everything, and good too!
Channel one is a breathtaking clean that can get just a bit crunchy at maximum gain. Fantasticly warm and dynamic.
Channel two is classic Rock territory, from nearly clean to full on Deep Purple and ACDC. Very good crunch
Channel three takes off where two ends and has definitely more gain, with a lot of harmonics and dynamics. Very good for 80'ies hardrock and heavy metal like Maiden. Also very useful for nice solo's.
Channel for is MY channel. Warm, dynamic, reacting perfectly to volumepot-changes, and a lot of sustain. In conjunction with the rough and smooth switch you can go from a blistering rythem (full on metal shred) to a fantastic solo-sound. In the smooth setting the mids get very pronounced so you WILL be heared. Very round, warm sound.
No noise, not even on high gain and with my crap cables.

Looks reliable enough to me. Haven't had it long enough for anything to break down yet

Have heared nothing but good things about this people. We'll see in time when it's time to change the tubes.

I have been playing for 12 years now. For my gear, look above. I further own a 1976 Ibanez Doubleneck, an Ovation Celebrity Deluxe, a Yamaha RGX112 (my first guitar) and a crap Marshall JFX-1 effectsunit. If it was stolen I would cry my eyes out because I can't afford to buy it new. I love everything about it. It's looks and most of all it's sound. Kinda heavey though.... I compared it A/B with MESA Dual and Triple rectifiers (crap), Marshall TSL100 (good on heavy sounds, not so good crunch, even worse clean) and a Rivera Knuclehead (this one's better).

This amp really has it all. 4 useful channels (clean, crunch 1 and 2 and lead), 2 FX loops, 2 reverbs, 2 pesences. But what I like most of it's versatility is the possibility to turn up the volume with either the preamp volume knob or the poweramp section (there is of course also a gain knob per channel (one shared for clean and crunch 1)). This allows you to play at below bedroom levels with complete tube saturation, very cool. This tube-amp sounds even better at low volumes than my former solid state Hughes and Kettner Attax 200.
The tubes that are in it are 6L6's. I'm not sure wich preamp tubes that are in it, but there are at any rate 6 preamp tubes in it!
I have not yet bought the midi pedalboard, but I already know that it has a lot possibilities.

I play an Ibanez Jem7BSB with dimarzio evolution pickups and use no external FX (not nessecary with this amp at all) I use a Marschall 1960A cab. What can I say, it sounds amazing (I haven't used it yet on the rehearsel though).
I play mostly prog (tech) metal, and I find its lead channel amazing!
I've tried the rectifiers (single and dual), Duotone, TSL 100 and 60, Nomad 55, Ritchie Blackmore's Engl model, Yamaha solid state head (not sure which type) and I prefer the Savage SE without any doubt. I have the amp for a week now, and the more I play it, the more I'm starting to worship it. I can get all the tones I want out of it (From Pantera high gain to Metallica on AJFA to...) but the coolest thing is that the amp has a very characteristic sound, nothing compared to that of the Marschalls and low mid rectifiers. On my current setup it sounds not at all low mid (this can be caused by the 1960 cab), and I kinda like that especially for solo's. The reverb is very responsive and sounds good, but for rythm I set it not active, cause I want it to sound tight.

The crunch 2 channel. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to use this channel or the lead channel for rythm. This one has less gain, but when I turn it on 10, it's defenitely enough for me; it sounds quite different than the lead channel, but it's also very good IMO, the more I hear it the more I like it (I was a bit disapointed at first, but unjust). At any rate both channels provide great tone! It's really addictive.

Clean: this is the first amp I've tried with both good distortion AND clean sounds!! I'm no authority when it comes to cleans, but You can take for granted that this one is really good, it provides all what I want a clean to sound like. I can get all kind of tones when I combine my single coil pickup with my bridge or neck pickup (I can get it quite fenderish sounding). And it has lots of headroom!!!
There's still a billion things to say about it....

I have it for about a week now...

I really like it.

Has got all that you can dream of! For details go to the ENGL-Homepage...

I use the Savage special edition in combination with a Mesa/Boogie Rectifier 4x12-Cab (loaded with Vintage 30-Speaker). Sounds soooooo good!! Can't describe! Sometimes I hear sounds from famous guitarists, and I think: "Shit, I want to have such a good sound..." Then I turn on the SE, and wow, there it is!!! I'd give a 15, but the scale goes only to 10... ;-(

VERY solid, with very nice leather on it... I don't think I'll need a backup, but maybe I'll a backup - who knows?

Contacted ENGL, and didn't believe that Master Hort Langer wrote me back! Very quick!! Can you imagine that? MASTER HORST LANGER, the Amp-Designer himself wrote me! And he'll do it, if you write him, too! This is support. We discussed about a new effect - I wanted xenon-light instead of the orange light... But I gave up, would get very expensive... *g*

I'd say it's the best amp you can get for money! I tried my longtime-favourites, the Mesa Rectifiers, but I was disappointed about the sound... Sounded bad in comparison with the ENGL! Try this amp, if you can find it!!

4 channel amp (Clean - Crunch - Crunch1 - Lead), 2 Mastervolumes (switchable via MIDI), 2 Presencecontrols (switchable via MIDI), TRIODE/PENTODE switching via MIDI ... !!!, 2 Reverb-units, possibility to connect 2x10 / 4x10 cabinets for CLEAN sounds and 4x12 cabinets for BEEFY sounds ...

i use the ENGL SE with a Yngwie Malmsteen Strat & Peavey Wolfgangs ... just plug`n`play ... this amp is a killer ... translates more than perfect what guitar you're using and what you're doing with your fingers ... usuable in almost any style ... plus looks that kill ... this amp defenitely sets you apart from all the masses ...

i never had any problems with this amp in the last 6 years ... Thanx you guys @ ENGL !!!

The US distribution / B-THUNDER Inc./ very knowledgable, friendly & supportive ...

http://www.ENGLamps.com

i owned almost every major amp out there ... but this is it ... one killer value ... i never heard an amp with more sustain and CHARACTER !!!