Engl Thunder 50 Head

This is a 2 channel amp, basically a clean and a crunch/lead. Both channels share the same EQ and, unfortunately the same gain. I thought I'd find this to be a problem, but there are no issues that have rose, although I've only owned it for a couple of days.

Seems to be able to play a bunch of styles. For a crunch sound, handles AC/DC riffage quite nicely and somewhat harder stuff with the flick of the gain knob. The lead sound is perfect for my lead work, not buzzy and lovely saturation with nice distinction of notes.

Simplicity is the way to go, too many amps have too many features. There's less here to go wrong, and let's be honest, it's nice to have one or two sounds and have them sound AMAZING as opposed to other amps that try to do everything, and come out average sounding. That said, the amp is fairly versatile and has nice cleans, crunch, and leads.

Only downside is the stupidly expensive footswitch that you'd have to mortgage your house to buy. Not really, but it's too expensive for what it is.

For hard rock approaching on classic metal sounds, this head is it.

Only possible downside is no built in reverb. Loses a point for that. For more than $1000 CDN, they could have included that.

As it stands, I use a Cort "Matt Guitar Murphy" guitar and play in a hard rock style. Most people don't like this guitar for this style, however I think it sounds just tremendous. Mostly use the humbucker in the bridge position.

I have the engl head paired with a 4x12 Framus cab. I'm not too sure of the exact spec's as I'm not a tech guy, and I'm by no means a tone freak, as you can tell from my guitar choice :P That said, I am very specific about the type of distortion I want to hear from myself. Most other amps that I played sounded too buzzy (like grindcore type sound) or not thick enough (brit rock style), and I had originally purchased a 6262 Bugera combo, thinking it would satisfy my needs. After a week or so of playing with it, I couldn't stand the feeling that it was going to break down on me (the top of the case actually flexed about 1 cm when picking up that beast by the handle. I can't imagine what will happen in a few years with that thing.) and I returned it for the setup that I'm currently describing. The sound on the Bugera was NOTHING compared to what I get with this. It's like the Bugera is the young, immature son of the grandfather Engl :)

Let me explain further; with the Bugera, sure, it has tonnes of gain, but it gets all buzzy and chainsaw-ish and was very brutal to listen to. I got ear fatigue almost every time I played with it, especially at band practice. Some people may say that it sounded poor because I didn't have it turned up enough, but I've played with it at 8/9/10 and it still sounded like cheap garbage.

This amp is the polar opposite. At bedroom volumes it still has some balls, but they're squished :) When you start to open up the master and lead volumes, your sound begins to soar, and you get lovely, thick, rich guitar tone. I was worried with the Bugera that perhaps tube amp gain just sounds like that (this was my first foray into tube amp territory), but when I tested this out at the store I was so happy to realize that it was just the crap sounding Bugera that made those sounds!

I'm not a super high gain player, as the gain on this amp will probably never go past 11 or 12 o'clock, but I do like my pinched harmonics, and this amp will deliver.

I'll be the first to admit, a nice clean channel isn't that important to me, but I gave this a quick once though, and it certainly goes loud enough without breaking up, even using humbuckers. No reverb on the clean is kind of too bad, as with what I would play clean, some slight reverb would help fill out the sound. That said, the cab makes everything so nice and rich, perhaps it isn't totally necessary.

Doesn't seem to be too noisy when on the lead / crunch channel, at least not for a high gain amp.

As previously mentioned, this can go from clean to classic rock to hard rock lead tones. For the lead tone, think "Big City Nights" by The Scorpions or "Seventeen" by Winger. I'm sure you could dial in a couple different sounds, but I really dig that sort of vibe.

Sure can depend on it. It's nice and small too, so it's not a huge pain to lug around if I ever need to get it fixed or bring around to shows... Too bad I have this huge 4x12 cab to carry as well now, but that's how it goes.

I'm very paranoid about reliability, and that was one of the main reasons I decided to get the head.

Haven't dealt with them, got a year manufacturer's warranty. Seems like it's not long enough for what I consider to be a rather expensive item, but people have said that they last basically forever. Engl seems like a reliable company, but I do wish it came with a 4 or 5 year warranty. I mean, if it's this expensive it had BETTER last for more than a year.

Not that concerned, there's only a couple dials and it seems pretty sturdy, so what could really go wrong?

I've been playing guitar for 3 years and in the past I've owned a boss GT-6, and I was amplifying it with a Pignose Twinmix 150R. Sounded awful when I had to turn it up at band practice. Bothered me so much I decided to buy (as previously stated) the Bugera 6262 212, which was basically a mistake because it forced me to open up my wallet further and buy this beast. I'm not that upset though, as it simply sounds fantastic and I'm pretty sure everything else I could afford would pale in comparison in terms of sound, and versatility. It's what I've always wanted.


Things I love:

- Gives me the nice, rich, full, creamy, distortion I've been longing for from my GT-6 and the Bugera. Hello lead tones!

- Simple == good. Too many people want too many things from their heads. I'm an engineering student and I have to tell you: the more stuff you add to any product, your chances of failure get much higher. Keep it barebones, so it's simple to use, it delivers the sound you want, and it's easy to fix if anything goes wrong. Nice.

- Nice variety of sounds possible. I'm not going to be one of those idiots who say they play jazz fusion, grindcore metal, and classical, as that would just be a lie. I play classic rock and some more aggressive stuff, but that's basically it. This amp delivers on that front, for sure. While I don't play the other styles, it does have nice cleans and a nice low gain crunch, making it suitable for other stuff.

- Compact, easy to carry around.


Things I dislike:

- No reverb, a slight downside.

- No footswitch. Wtf Engl? Why does it have to cost a million dollars for something as simple as a footswitch. Way to make it proprietary too, that's always just lovely when a company does that when other generic options are available.

- Can't see the tubes light up from the front. Childish and irrelevant, I know, but it's cool when you can see that.





Overall, the pros totally outweigh the cons. The reverb is no huge deal, and the footswitch is more of a pain than anything else. I spent double what I had allotted on this setup (Engl head & the Framus 4x12), and I had to finance it for basically the rest of my life :P However, it's worth it on account of I look forward to playing again, instead of with the Bugera where sometimes I didn't want to sit down and practice. I know that buying a huge expensive amp doesn't make you any better as a player, but anything that's an incentive to get you to practice more is excellent. I am a very religious practicer, for my first two years of playing I played 2-3 hours a day, almost 6 days a week, purely because I enjoyed it. With university now, I haven't had the same kind of time that I did in high school, but this amp makes me want to force some time in there just to hear that sound.


To anybody who is wondering if this amp is for them, I hope that this review has proved useful and will aid you in your decision.

Lo stretto indispensabile, questa cosa a me piace molto!
Non mi piace manipolare molti pomelli! Tre canali ognuno con il suo taglio di eq molto ben pensato per cui, a mio gusto,l'eq in comune non comporta problemi. Ottimo il send return seriale (volume tutto aperto) o parallelo. Volume e botta impressionanti per un 50W!
Mi sarebbe piaciuto il reverb e soprattutto la direct out XRL veramente ottima nello Screamer ma.... pazienza!

Il suono e' questione di gusti. Quello che posso dire e' che in trent'anni di rock non sono mai stato cosi' contento e rilassato come con questa testata. Ho avuto in passato vari Fender fra cui la mitica AB165 completa della sua cassa,Marshall JCM800 head,Vox AC30,Mesa Boogie DC3 e MKII,Laney VC30 e LC30, Tech21 Trademark 60 e prima di questo un ENGL Screamer combo.
Uso la thunder con cassa Laney 2X12 vecchio tipo, una vecchia strato del 64 con un Hot Rail al ponte (qualcuno inorridira' ma....non sono un collezionista!), CRY baby moddato a monte, tremolo boss e TC electronics nova Delay nel loop tutto qui! Suono in un gruppo nomato Crosscover il che da' un idea del genere, prendiamo materiale di vari generi e lo riarrangiamo in chiave power; chitarra,basso,batteria e voce femminile.
Quindi? La testata Thunder mi fornisce tre gran bei suoni base:
Clean veramente sontuoso a mio gusto, spesso, ricco ma definito.
Crunch perfetto, molto ben tagliato come eq ed un ringhio gradevolissimo con bella botta e buon attacco.
Lead piu' che abbondante con un gran bel pal muting e grande sustain.
Inserendo l'hot Rail chiaramente il pulito diventa un crunch e cosi' via........tavolozza che mi soddisfa a pieno.
Ascoltato da solo ad alcuni puo' non piacere puo' apparire un po'... poco ricco, un po' troppo tagliente. E' per questo che consiglio a tutti, quando possibile, di provare un ampli in gruppo. La particolarita' di quest'amp e' che taglia il mix come il burro, non occorre assordare il resto del gruppo per distinguere le frasi, e tutto questo lo fa' con corpo ,spessore e classe. Anche lo screamer non e' male, ha qualche gadget in piu' che io non usavo a parte l'ottimo reverb, ma soprattutto aveva una struttura di gain piu' spinta il che lo rende secondo me' piu' compresso, piu'confuso, per assurdo pur avendo diversi controlli e un po' di gain in piu' e' piu' difficile da settare piu' casinaro! Secondo me il Thunder e' anche piu' sensibile al tocco, piu' dinamico.
E' possibile suonarci di tutto dal country al metal ed ho ovviato l'assenza della direct line out con lo scatolo rosso della Beringher e funziona da dio!
Insomma sono molto soddisfatto e il resto del gruppo pure!!!

Esteticamente a me sembra molto bello, essenziale ed anche ben costruito. Mai avuto problemi per cui......... ho dato un occhiata dentro e sembra ben concepito anche li' con componenti di buona qualita', certo come tutta la produzione odierna non aspettatevi una realizzazione point to point o roba del genere in questa fascia di prezzo!

Mai avuto necessita' di sentirli cmq il sito sembra ben fatto!

Come ho detto a me sembra un ottima soluzione qualunque genere si suoni.
Questa testata ha corpo, spessore, volume e soprattutto definizione in abbondanza, accoppiato ad una buona chitarra fa' il suo lavoro in modo egregio. Dopo anni e anni di incessanti cambi di amp ed effetti rimanendo sempre soddisfatto a meta' penso di essere finalmente a posto senza tra l'altro avere necessita' di rompermi la schiena per trasportare il tutto!
Tra l'altro ho raggiunto l'obbiettivo con una spesa sensata a differenza che in passato e con molta piu' soddisfazione!
L'unica cosa che penso di fare in futuro e' quella di trovarmi una cassa con i celestion V30.
Ad ogni modo Vi consiglio caldamente una prova!

Honestly this amp is a case of less is more. Instead of having a plethora of useless and unusable features this has three channels, separate volume for lead and crunch and a master volume so you can make it all balance. It doesn't have a reverb but I'm not really worried about that (more on that later) It would have got10/10 if it came with a bloody footswitch AND the OEM one is prohibitively expensive. Also a standard switch doesn't work in it so I can't used a generic cheapy or one of my Marshalls.

After my one gripe with the amp I get to this part - this amp is like a supermodel who can't cook. I forgive her because everything else is so fine...

I play three guitars on stage, an acoustic (Maton) my main guitar is an Ibanez s470 (dxqm) and I have a detuned Yamaha Mike Stern Telecaster as well, both run varying Dimarzio pickups. We play covers and have about 100 songs in our repertoire. It is everything from ballads to AC/DC and newer sounds like The Killers, Good Charlotte to heavy like RATM. It is a broad list. I play mostly lead and I am average to slightly above average I guess.

I stopped playing guitar for years and picked it back up in my late 30's. I have tried many many amps and own a Marshall and Laney as well (I have enough cash to keep everything I buy - no sell one buy one) and I must say I believe the journey is over. This thing sings, the clean sound is clean and fat, although it does break with higher gain, the crunch is very "Reef" and the distortion is totally on song as well.

I play a Boss GT-8 through the effects loop, but I have also achieved a state of zen with this. I have created patches that instead of masking the amps inadequacies (like with the other two) I just add bits to the sound, most of my patches are nearly straight through, with a little compression or reverb or flanger/phaser or whatever, but the amp does the work, the pedal provides an almost infinite variety of subtler additions. I could not do this with any other amp. Also, being 50 watts you can actually get the valves heated up and working like they are supposed to, I couldn't do this with my Marshall (100 watts) and I am not a stadium rock god, I do pubs and clubs. This has more than enough noise and character to do it for you.

The amp be a little noisy but the noise suppression on the pedal sorts that. This thing makes beautiful sounds no matter what you are doing, and the sound doesn't need to be disguised with effects, it is so 10 from 10 it's unbelievable.

I use it without a backup and it is fine, I treat it well and it goes everytime.

Billy Hyde Music (Brisbane, Gold Coast) is the Engl dealer. Good choice Engl, they are super easy to deal with.

Like I said, I am not a stadium rock God or Malmsteen style shredder. I play pub rock and lots of it and I can tackle 99% of leads I have to do. This amp is the sound I think every rock guitarist who is not playing stadiums is looking for (Engl do other stadium amps). This is whatever you want it to be because it is so simple. It doesn't kill the sound or create sonic mush through an excess of trickery and wizz bangs, good sounding guitar is what this does so well.

Thunder was shipped new from the factory back in October 2006.

I play alot of different styles of music ranging from "tech" metal, death metal to alternative and jazz. Properly set up this amp captures it all and what helps most is having a guitar that is also properly set up.

This amp is three channels (clean, crunch, lead) or is it one channel three modes? Who knows but they all work. I mainly use the clean and lead channels.

I really wish this amp had a seperate eq for each channel. But I guess thats why ENGL has the other amplifiers.

I use this amp in practice and at shows. When I was playing with my old band I only used one cabinet and could barely hear myself over the drummer and bassist (who had a full stack). In my new band I've added another cabinet and guitarist and I'm the loudest even with the master volume at 9 o clock!

If you have the patience you can get any tone out of this amp. I have it set up so when I turn the volume down on my guitar I get Fender cleans, turned up I get a nice gritty blues tone and when I stomp my footswitch I get gain so insane Kerry King starts to cry. It took me awhile but I finally arrived at the tone I was looking for.

The guitars I use are a LTD MH100 w/ JB/59, LTD MH300 w/ Evo's, and a stock Epiphone SG. They all sound very different with this amp. I'm also using a cheap Crate Small Bo 4x12.

This amp is an absolute dream for my style of music. My jazz and tech metal runs are clear, articulate, and loud. My blues are gritty and my chords are prestine, clear, and ringing.

This beast is extremely noisey but not to the point it hinders your playing like a solid state does. Live when I hook up my wireless the issue becomes a little bothersome but I use it to my advantage much like Hendrix.

I've been gigging with this amp without a back up since I got it new back in October. It's survived long rides in a trailer during Minnesota Winters and is now begining to experience Minnesota Summers. During the cold months I always made sure to allow the amp to cool down or warm up before moving it or playing it.

I've gigged this amp 2-4 times a month with practice schedules 2-5 times a week and never have experienced any sort of problems. So far it's proven to be a workhorse and isn't showing any signs of stopping now.

This amp has outlasted Marshalls, Mesa's, and B-52's.

ENGL Customer Service was very nice and gave me an awesome deal on this amp.

It's never had to be repaired.

This thing takes very well to different tubes. When I was playing a B-52 the new tubes I put in it barely shaped the tone it had. When I put different tubes in this beast I was rewarded with a whole new amp to play with! HAHA!!!

I've been playing guitar for about 6 years now and have gone through tons of gear. I've played with 2 marshalls, 2 peaveys, a B-52, a Fender, and a full Line 6 rack and I don't miss any of it. I always try out new amps at stores and everytime I walk away going "Damn nothing can top my ENGL".

I wouldn't really compare it with anything else because it's something in it's own class. To me it beats it's competitors... but I've yet to try a Bogner, Soldano, Framus, and Madison. But I think ENGL is in a class with those guys.

If this thing was lost or stolen I'd diffently replace it with another ENGL.

Made in 2006, pretty simple front panel, Gain, Bass, Mid, Treble, Crunch Volume, Lead Volume, Master.

The word here is simple. I've read some reviews saying its a bit annoying only having one gain for all the channels but its not a problem. The clean channel stays crystal up to at least 2 o'clock and to be honest I have no idea why you would want to put the gain knob past 2 o'oclock any how, it starts sounding a bit my first heavy metal fizz if you do that on the crunch and lead!

I bought this amp for its lack of bells and whistles. I had a Triple xxx with all this s**t on it that you never use, and their is an un-useable drop out when using the footswitch between channels.

You turn this on and there is no midi pedal to break and cost you ??120, just 3 useable channels which can be switched with a jack input footswitch. The guy who designed this just made an amp but without all the features that you never end up using. Genius

I use a Framus Pantera Custom w/seymour duncan JBs, TC electronic G Sharp, Boss EQ, Maxon OB808, TU2 tuner and a Maeshall standard Cab.

I have been playing for 12 years and have owned a couple of mashalls, Peavey 5150, Triple XXX, Orange etc.. There are parts of all those amps that I liked but stuff which really annoyed me too. 52150, great metal tone, no clean, Triple XXX, great live amp but brittle as hell and lifeless on tape, ok the clean is sucky too. Orange, rich mans marshall, too pricey for the quality of the sound.
I have basically been looking for an amp that does it all, its a tall order, fender clean, AC/DC crunch, marshall lead, 5150 saturated distortion without a fancy expensive footswitch which isn't gonna put me over my credit card balance. This amp is all of these things!! All last!!
CLEAN - Fender type clean, complex and belly. Good with TS pedal for a bit of break up, sounds lovely with a drop of TC reverb thru the FX loop. Everything here from Chili's to Explosions in the sky.

CRUNCH - This channel does those touch sensitive Brit rock tones at low gain, turn up the gain and its Foo Fighters with thick overdrive and plenty of gain, brilliant for hard rock ec etc.

LEAD - Ok, every metal player is looking for that tone. I don't want a recto tone because everyone wants one and it sounds dated as hell. This amp cranked is more like a 5150II without all the fizzy overtones. Its got enough gain saturation and is brutal. Its not my bag anymore getting that really fizzy thing but it does it, but with a little more style then the competition.

This amp could be used for any style from people who want super cleans to tech metal stuff. This amp only start to get noisy runnig hot, nothing a NS can't fix.

In my opinion this is the best amp I have ever used. Its perfect for gigging players, I Love it

Seems stable. Its german, nuff said

All good so far, haven't had to make that call

I play in a Hardcore, Punk, Rock band so I need brutal crunch for palm muting stuffage, thick rhythm crunch and maybe now and again stuff delayed cleans. This amp is awesome.
Go buy one

Not sure when it was made. Probably less than 3 years old. Three channel clean, crunch & lead. Footswitchable between channels. Effects loop as well as a two different cabinet impedance options allowing one 8 ohm cab, one 16 ohm cab or two 8 ohms cabs or two 16 ohm cabs. No reverb on board. Basically quite simple and straight forward with master volume, gain for clean channel, crunch vol and lead vol along with bass middle treble eq's. 50 watts and mighty mighty powerful.

This amp is absolutely fantastic if you are looking for a classic rock sound as well as sparkling cleans. I have a Marshall DSL401 as well as a Fender Hot Rod DeVille and this amp covers both of those sounds and then some. The lead channel is very powerful and will give you that classic overdrive saturated tube driven sound. I have matched it with a Marshall 1922 2X12 cab with G12T75's and the sound blows me away every time I turn it on. The crunch channel is very versatile and can provide lovely crystal bell cleans which can be pushed to overdrive by controlling the guitar volume knobs. I use a Fender strat time machine CS 1960 model as well as a Fender Lead 1. Both guitars absolutely scream through this amp. It is typical Ritchie Blackmore through & through.
If you want a portable, loud, classic rock, classic clean, classic everything amp then this is your nirvana.

I have not had it long enough to judge it's reliability but it looks like it is built like a tank. Meatl everywhere from the steel grill like front to the aluminium plate that the knobs are attached to. It is fairly light at around 19 kg's but seems to be very well built. Not much in it to go wrong, really.

The amp is made in Germany but I purchased it second hand so I wont need the customer support. The web site looks very informative and does provide some goodinfo.

I have been playing on and off professionally and for fun since the late 70's. I wish I still had some of the gear that I have sold over the years including an old Marshall JTM45 head that was fantastic. This amp is as good as anything I have heard since I started and if anything was to happen to it I would replace it instantly with something from this company. For rock, rock & roll, heavy rock, metal and anything else you can think of (other than that slashing, slayer type crap) this is the amp for you.

I'm not quite sure how to rate the features. It's an ULTRA-simple amp, and as such has only the basics. However, that being it's intended purpose is a no-nonsense, ultra simple amp, I'm giving it an 7.

I'd give it a 10, but I don't like the way they do their speaker outputs: They're not switch selectable, you have to choose the right combination of cabs/ohms and plug them into the proper set of jacks. Could be confusing at times, but, also, if it's dark you have a hard time telling which ones to plug into. Between that and some of the jacks being completely shunted when number 1 isn't plugged in, someone unfamiliar with this amp could easily turn it on in a way that would hurt the transformer.

Well, I play rippin', articulate metal using Jacksons with EMGs wired 9 and 18v. My cabs are Marshall Mode Four.

I must say that, even compared to my big, pricey rack system, this is one of the nicest sounding amps I've ever played through. It's akin to a 5150 or new VHT Deliverance series (VHT opinion based on a recording I heard only!) in some ways, with less "fuzz", and more balls. A lot more saturation and sensitivy than I remember my former Mesa Triple Rectifier having. And, based on more recordings I've heard, it's not as raw sounding as Krank.

It doesn't appear to be geared "entirely" towards super-hi-gain freaks, but with the gain set between 8 and 9, I get all that I want, and that includes good, articulate leads. (I made a supereasy mod to get a little more headroom though, so I now turn to 6... more a couple paragraphs down).

The distortion never gets muddy, nor sounds too thin, with any of my guitars (I also have some custom guitars with Duncan Distortion and DiMarzio Evolution, in additoin to the EMGs). It never, ever sounds farty (a la Marshall), and it's pretty darn sensitive/responsive. At first, I thought it was a little lacking in gain, but I must have been on crack, because I love it now. And when I plug back into my rack, the rack sounds harsh in comparison, though a tiny bit more sensitive.

I know how to mod amps, and I actually played with a couple of values on the circuit board, but I actually ended up pulling all but one change to the cuircuit and love it. I just "untamed" some distortion going to the 3rd gain stage, so I can actually push it further into a very 5150-style fuzz tone if I want. It also adds a tad more dynamic range. But, seriously, you don't really need it. It's just really cool that you can so easily b/c the amp's so simple :).

It has no gates or noise supression of any sort, so raw it can be noisy with the gain above 5 in hi-gain mode, but nothing a little pedal gate can't fix.

Summary: Not muddy, good EQ values, crisp and sensitive. A+!

IT's so simple, and looking at the parts they use, they're actually rather high quality, from my perspective. So, it seems like it would be reliable... but I don't want to rate it 'cause I don't really know.

I dealt with their US distributor who stocks and sells them. They even accept returns if you don't like it. They were very helpful and prompt.

Oh, and they provide schematics right on the website. THAT is very cool, and I'd give them a 10 just for that.

I've been playing for 17 or so years, and have been through thousands of dollars searching for great tone. Most of my life I've been disappointed. But not with ENGL. This amp actually met my expectations and I really enjoy it. I bought this as a "jam-session amp" to travel easily with, and also cart from my basement to office for recording sessions. My main rig is powered by a VHT 2-90-2 with various other goodies and a Rocktron pre-amp. It was my favorite tone generating machine for a long time, but this tiny, simple amp might have supplanted it in my opinion.

You know, as simple as this amp is, a do-it-yourselfer might consider actually trying to build one like it rather than buy something like this (I know I did). But, seriously, as good as all the materials are, the visual workmanship, and the quality circuit design/materials, I really don't think you would save any money at all doing something like that.

I say it's a good value when you consider that something this simple, that sounds this good, that doesn't force you to buy a ton of features you may not want, is very very hard to find. Also, for someone looking to get the sound of a really serious amp, but doesn't have the $1000-3000 to get something with more features, this is a SUPER alternative.

So buy one! ;)

Three channel Valve/Tube amp (Clean, Crunch and Lead) Single EQ for all channels, Seperate volume controls for Crunch and Lead, making it easy to set up boosts on different channels.
On the back of it is an FX Loop (with blender)The usual outputs and The footswitch jack hole.
No Reverb though, but to be honest it doesn't really suffer for the lack of it.

I'm currently using a Fender '72 Tele thinline through it and it sounds absolutley awesome. I play various styles but it's mainly blues and rock based stuff, needless to say, this thing fulfills them both wonderfully. Currently I put this amp through a Marshall 2 by 12 loaded with Celestion vintage 30 speakers.

The amp can supply a vast variety of sounds, and fiddling with the eq has so much more effect that i've noticed on many other amps, subtle changes can really help bring the sound together.

On the clean channel it's possible to dial in everything I can see myself needing, from sparkly clean to warm and round fat tones, it can do them all. If you start really pushing the amp volume and gain on the clean channel it will begin to break up slightly, but the amp has plenty of headroom if you want to keep things perfectly clean.

Crunch wise (this is my favourite channel) you can go all way way from just breaking up to some seriously rocky sounds, you can really drive stuff from this channel if need be, and again, not hard to dial in some seriously sweet stuff.

When switching to the lead channel things really begin to thicken up, although it's still possible to get crunch sounds with the gain down low, a simple switch from the Crunch channel to the Lead channel gives you a nice gain boost, and the sound begins to become very smooth and saturated, some seriously nice valve amp tone right here.

The Single EQ for all channels doesn't really pose a problem, set up a good sound for one channel, and all the others more or less fall into place, with only a small tweak from the tone pot at the most being required to bring things into line.

If you start really pushing the amp volume and gain on the clean channel it will begin to break up slightly, but the amp has plenty of headroom if you want to keep things perfectly clean.

You want metal from this amp? Hell yes, it can do it. You want jazz from this amp? Hell yes, it'll do that too. Blues, rock etc... Looking at it's small amount of controls you may be tricked into thinking it's not particularly versatile, but it really does have a wealth of tones to offer on all channels.

I've not really used this amp much yet and so can't really comment on it's internal reliability, it is however built solidly as a rock, and i've no worries about it being damaged easily.

Construction wise, everything inside looks very neat, and with the aformentioned rock solid construction this thing gets a 9, i've no complaints, the only reason I don't give it a 10 is because i've not used it for that long.

I've not had to deal with customer support yet and so can't really comment.

I've been playing for around 5 years now and have owned various pieces of equipment. I used to play through a H&K tour reverb combo and as you'd expect, this thing completley blows it away. Having put various guitars of very different styles and configs through it, I can say i've yet to encounter one it sounds bad with.

I tried out various Valve/Tube combos before this in the shop such as a KOCH twin reverb and a THD bulldog, both more expensive than this amp and cab together. To be frank, I was enamoured with both the aformentioned amps when I tried them, but when I came around to trying the ENGL head I knew it was what I wanted, sounds good even at low volume (Which is something the THD just doesn't do at all) and absolutley fantastic at higher.

Overall, a bloomin good amp.

dont let the small size and low number of controls fool you this is one hell of a versitile amp.
3 channel amp 50 watt all tube and its loud has hell this thing is louder then my 120 w 5150 go figure and allot more versitile.

one of the best clean for a high gain amp (vox like)
crunch is like a marshall plexi with more balls
lead is just crazy much better then my 5150 i love it.
the thing i like about this amp is the fact that all channels are usable even if they share the same eq all you have to do is set your lead channel to your liking and the clean and crunch sound as good and it can all be switched via little 2 botton foot switch (nice).
and this thing as NO back ground noise at all(WOW).very simple to use set it and leave it thats it.......
it sounds very organic,and smooth.

seems well built

never delt with them....

great amp!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
engl is way up there with bogner,framus,vht and all of the bootique amp guys.
this is the best i had so far and i had allot of amps including,mesa,marshall,peavey,fender,garnet, the mesa stuff was good but not like this. this one will be hard to beat............

This is a dual channel amp with shared EQ .

Clean is very clean .
Low noise is a feature of this amp , even with the gain wound way up .
The distortion channel on it's lower gain setting ('crunch') is great . Bass strings are very strong and well defined , unlike Mesa Boogie Triaxis 'mush ' .
Definition is the strength of this 'modern' sounding amp .
The better the pickup , the better it's going to sound IMO . I use Les Paul / humbuckers .

Case is a joke .
The heavy metal grille on the front weighs a ton and is just for looks !! The only strength in the otherwise MDF box is in the single plywood panel behind the grille .
The power tube sockets are mounted directly onto the pcb !! ... even Marshall don't cut this corner . This risks circuit board heating / cracking problems over time . Light aluminium chassis is a useful weight saver . Components , transformers etc .. look to be of high quality .

Engl web site is very good . All the manuals are there . ANd unlike silly ***ker Mesa Boogie , the *.pdf files are not 'locked' against cut and paste by me ( when I want to edit the manual for my own "easy reading" version ) .

I have played ' amp - wars ' with Mesa Boogie / Marshall / Engl .
The Engl sound is punchy and can be a little rasping . Marshall tend to be thin and rasping , but can be easily bass boosted for a great sound . High strings really sing with the Boogies , but the bass lacks definition compared to the Engl ( which can almost match the Boogie on the highs ) .
If it got stole , I'd try Laney's new 3 channel midi TT50H . Anyway , I'm so impressed with the electronics and tone of the Engl that I'm probably going to go for their mega-buck E580 midi preAmp with *** KNOBS **** !!!!

50 watts tube-amp,lots of decibels.
channels; clean,crunch,lead. NO footswitch included.
overall EQ; bass, mid, treble.
gain, crunch volume and lead volume.
FX Loop whith ballance pot.dry/effect.
Footswitch connetor(clean,crunch,lead).
What more do you need:footcontol to switch the channels, speakers,guitar.

I play in a cuverband for 2 years (U2, Fleetwood Mack, Liam Linch,etc.)I play on a Mexican Fender Stratocaster.
closed speakerbox 2x12 inch BOTS speakers.
Marshall JFX-1 (Reverb-echo-chorus) conected to the FX loop.
Behringer fcb1010 midifootcontroler conected to JFX-1, and conected to footswich connector on the ENGL-amp.

The clean sound is super, no noise, Hi-Fi, tube music. IF there is noise its from a singe-coil pick-up from me guitar.
Crunch is just O.K. dont use it mutch.
Lead is super, nice harmonics, more gain gives more high.
this amp is organic sounding, yes its alive.

I buyed it second hand in a musicshop, at home I found out that the amp crackels at high volume, the amp was repeared the next day at the shop, thee resolderd a bad contact in the amp.After that I never had a problem. its extreemly solid build.It will survive me.

The sound is super.
Also at lo volume you can make a nice sound.
Dont need to tweak allot for a good sound.
I payed a lot of euro's for amp. but it keeps his value high.

It is an all tube amp, with 50 Watts.
I mostly play Metal and Rock, and this Amp is simply made for that styles.
It is a single Channel Amp, but ja can switch to a lead oder crunch mode, which creates a typical lead distortion. The crunch channel does not work very crunchy.
One more channel would be cool, but even with it's single channel it is very versatile.
For a 50 Watts Amp it is very loud, on high gain it screams like hell and the punch is enormous.
I use it for live and in rehearsal.

I use a PRS CE 24 with HFS Treble and Vintage Bass, and a Larrivee LS-1 Custom with it. The combination just works perfect.
I guess that Amp was built for rock and Metal.
The clean channel distorts a bit at high volumes, but hell, that sounds really good, especially when i split the Humbuckers, i get the pure rock tone.

Very reliable.
I own it for a year now, never had any problems.

not dealt with em..

I play for 5 years now. I owned a Marshall JTM Superlead and a small Marshall solid state combo, the Engl just beats them down.
If it were stolen, i would try to get another Thunder 50 for a good price.
I don't like Marshall sound, so i choose the Engl, of course it does not have the tone of a rectifier, but hell, a recti is much higher in price.

Here's an update to my previous review. The Thunder just got louder! Also a much bigger soundstage with even more tone!! If you own one of these bad ass puppies here's what you need to do - Change the Engl/Sovtek 5881 output tubes for Harma STR 6L6GC tubes & change the ECC83/12AX7WB tubes for Sovtek 12AX7EH tubes. You WILL notice the difference! After all the years wasted playing thru Marshall & Mesa Boogie's etc. I have finally got the Big, Fat soundstage I was looking for!!

Thanks must go to the guy's at Watford Valves for putting me straight on how to improve my sound even tho' I thought there was no way I'd be able to just by changing my amp's tubes.

www.watfordvalves.com

As previously stated, not many!. This is a simple amp with only one quirk. When playing clean, the input gain becomes the clean volume, in other words, if you set up a high gain sound and switch to a clean sound,the rise in volume can be shattering!.Therfore,finding a balance with the Master volume is essential for parity of volume across the channels. This is an Amp made with Classic and Heavy Rock very clearly in mind,and,as such, does not dissapoint.

I use a duo of Peavey Wolfgangs as well as an Eighties Fernandes Superstrat(STJ175).I like to think that my style is reminicent of the great Eighties icons such as EVH,Lynch,Degarmo et al.It is easy to attain the Brown /Powerful sounds associated with these players. The Clean channel is just that, if a tad sterile without some Delay/Chorus etc. The Drive channel on the other hand, is why anyone will buy this amp. Superb clarity with quality pick-ups,even at very high gain levels. The need for very high gain settings diminishes as the Master volume is increased. The Power amp saturation is nothing short of astounding!.

After I had owned the amp for 4 months, it went down at a band rehearsal. I returned it to my dealer and after a trip to Synergy,the distribitor,it was repaired in no time. It turned out to be a dry joint on a valve base.I do believe,however that problems with Engl products are extremely rare.

The warranty is one year. The above repair was done under the warranty with no problem.

I have been playing on and off for 24 years and have owned a lot of gear. My amp prior to this was a Mesa Heartbreaker which was an awesome amp. I replaced it because getting "that" sound was not easy due to the ridiculous number of bells and whistles on it. It is the simplicity of the Engl that I like and I would definitely buy it again. I would like to point out that whilst this amp is fantastic value for money, it is NOT point to point wired as has was suggested in a review for the Combo version. It is based on PCB technology which is why you are getting the 'boutique sound' without the cost, indeed,were this amp point to point wired,you could expect to pay almost double the price. After all is said and done, a truly superb Rock/Metal amp for the discerning Rock/Metal player.Me!.

Built 2003, this amp was bought after having read all the positive reviews in this section. The amp is not that versatile, basically I found it to be a "typical" hard rock/heavy metal amp with lots of distortion but not too many different sounds except clean and distorted.

Well, I am a beginner and probably not in a position to comment on the matter, so do not take my words as the be-all and end-all.
I am playing the Engl Thunder with a cheap Ibanez GIO with humbuckers of unknown origin (experts might know better). The clean channel of this amp is clean even when played at high volumes, I for one could not hear anything disturbing or "not wanted". The distortion, on the other hand, can be brought to the extreme when the gain knob is adjusted accordingly. What I miss, however, is the thick, broad sound I hoped for. Probably a second-hand version of the Marshall JCM 800 (is that the correct name of Marshall`s legendary Rock amp of the early eighties?) would have suited me better...

No need to bring along backup equipment as this amp seems to be built in a most sturdy and reliable way - and I do throw it about when the going gets tough.

Not applicable as I have not had to deal with them so far. Warranty is 2 years, as far as I know, in accordance with European law.

I have been playing this amp for some six months now and would probably not replace it with the same model. It is not that I am unhappy with it, it is just that the sound is not one hundred percent the one I expect. I have now obtained a Roland GP-8 to alter the sound to a more compressed, thick one but I feel a good amp should have means to do that itself, without the player having to buy external devices.

OK, I purchased this little mother secondhand when it was 3 months old. This amp travels light - do NOT buy if you want lots of buttons & knobs.......or Reverb! I like to switch on, turn the volume right up & ROCK, and this rocks like no other! 50 watts of tube power & is loud!! It drives my two 4x12 cabs easily.

I use an Epiphone SG with Kent Armstrong pickups and pumped thru my Engl/Behringer stack this set up delivers all the white trash heavy shit I want from it!!! I'm into low down filth like Unsane, Kyuss, Clutch etc. I don't need a clean channel so it is Gain all the way. The Crunch channel for Rhythmn is superb, take it up from 4 & it just get's better, all the way to 10!! The Lead channel is AWESOME - tone, tone & more tone plus the best Bottom end power I have ever heard from a 50 watter!

German built - that will do for me!

I will let you know if & when I have to deal with them.

I have bought & sold many amps tryng to find "the one" & I believe I have now found it. After reading countless reviews on this site I decided to try out a Soldano HR50XL, a VHT Pitbull 50 & the Thunder 50 head. The Engl wins for simplicity, tone, ease of use, no reverb & power! My last amp was a Mesa Boogie Tremoverb 2x12 combo - I thought that it would last, I could get most of what I wanted & was looking for until......I plugged into the Engl for the first time.

This amp is definetily reduced to the max. It is a amp made for people who know what they want. It has no unnecessary functions, knobs and led's. Very easy to handle.

It has a clean, crunch and a gain channel.

I give a 10, because of its simplicity.

I use the Engl with a `93 Hamer special FM with a seymour duncan 59 and a Jeff Beck pick up.
I use the head with a Engl standart 2x12 cabinet.

Although this amp has only 50W it is VERY loud.

The clean channel is realy clean (Gain at 12), it has this special tube sound which i like very much. The sound is warm and rich. This channel was the main reason for me to buy this amp.

The crunch channel is great. If you work with the volume poti at the guitar you get excellent vintage sounds.

The gain channel...what should i say. I didn't realy tested the gain channel before i bought the amp. Therefore i didn't expected anything from that channel. It ROCKS, it was a real surprise for me. It has a lot of gain. In the past i always thougt you can't have enough gain, but this amp does.

You can use this amp for any style of music. Metal (gain channel), blues (crunch channel) and whatever (clean channel). Therefore i give a 10!

I have been playing for 10 jears now and this amp is the best i ever played. You can use it without any problems at home, because of the master volume. The amp i had before was a class A tube amp which was loud as hell, less volume wasnt possible.

This one has everything a real rocker needs:
-it is easy to use
-it has three great channels, fantastic sound!!!
-you can use it at home and it can be loud as hell!!!
-it is affordable, i think there is no comparable amp in this price category

Engl did a good job with this amp. It is a workhorse which is not going to disapoint you.

I got this amp new in 2003 no reverb though, so i guess they haven't addressed that problem yet.The features of this amp are quite simple. but its meant to get godlike tube-tone, not have a bunch of useless features. Quite versatile, and the controls for bass, middle, and trebble... extemely reactive. this amp covers my brutal gain styles, and my funk metal and clean stuff quite nicely.

2 CHANNELS, EACH WITH ITS OWN BOOST SETTING (CLEAN/CRUNCH1) (CRUNCH2/LEAD).ALSO HAS EFFECTS LOOP WITH NOB TO ADJUST LEVEL AND VOLUME CONROLS FOR EACH CHANNEL AND MASTER VOLUME.

CLEAN CHANNEL, VERY BRIGHT. HAS THAT NICE "TUBE-SHIMMER". FIRST IMPRESSIONS WERE NOT THE MOST FOCUSED MIDS BUT THAT IS EASILY FIXED WITH THE TWEEK OF A KNOB, AND THE CLEAN CHANNEL STARTS TO DISTORT AT HIGH VOLUME LEVELS, BUT I LIKE TUBE OVERDRIVE SO ITS GOOD FOR ME.

THREE BAD THINGS: 1AMP COMES WITH NO FOOTSWITCH, (((wHy)))
2.NEEDS SEPERATE GAIN NOBS FOR CLEAN AND LEAD CHANNELS.
3. NO REVERB, NOT A BIG FAN, BUT IT COMES IN HANDY SOMETIMES WITH THESE TUBE HEADS. OH WELL, I'LL JUST HAVE TO GET A HOLY GRAIL.

I USE AN EARLY CHARVEL MODEL 6-7 SOMETHING LIKE THAT, SWAMP-ASH BODY WITH AN EMG-81 IN THE BRIDGE POSITION, AND IT SOUNDS F**CKIN GREAT.
I PLAY SHRED AND OTHER SPEED METAL, AND THIS IS THE BEST AMP I'VE EVER EVER EVER HEARD. THIS IS WHAT THE AMP IS MADE FOR, NOT A BUNCH OF KNOBS AND SWITCHES, JUST GREAT TONE, NOT TO MENTION THE VOLUME. AND THIS IS WHAT TUBE DISTORTION SHOULD ALWAYS SOUND LIKE. AND THE CRUNCH CHANNEL IS AWESOME TOO, IT SOUNDS GREAT TO SWITCH BETWEEN THE CRUNCH AND THE LEAD GAIN CHANNELS. THE CLEAN CHANNEL DOES GET A LITTLE OVERDIVE BUT THAT IS BECAUSE BOTH THE TWO CHANNELS SHARE SAME KNOB AND I HAD GAIN SET AT ABOUT 3 O'CLOCK.

BRAND NEW, LOOKS LIKE TYPICAL TOP-NOTCH GERMAN ENGINEERING.

((((ONE THING THAT SCARES ME THOUGH IS THE AMP GETS QUITE HOT, AND THE FRONT GRILL IS MADE OF METAL. DON'T THINK SO, BUT THE TUBES COULD OVERHEAT IF PLAYED AT EXTREME VOLUMES FOR LONG TIME.))))

HOPE I DONT HAVE TO DEAL WITH THEM, I LOVE THIS AMP

I'VE BEEN PLAYING FOR ABOUT 4 YEARS NOW AND I THINK I FOUND MY FAVORITE NEW AMP FOR LIFE, I WON'T SAY THAT I'VE TRIED ALL THE HIGH GAIN AMPS OUT THERE, BUT I DID REVIEW A BUNCH (MARSHALL TSL, BOGNER OBERSHAUL, H&K TRIAMP), THEY'RE ALL NICE ESPESCIALLY THE BOGNER, BUT FOR THE PRICE I PAID YOU DON'T GET A BETTER DEAL.IF IT WERE STOLEN ID BEAT THE SHIT OUGHTTA THE GUY THAT DID IT AND GO BUY ANOTHER ONE.

This is a brand spankin new amp that I got right out of the box! This amp can do just about anything and some more. It's got 3 channels.....clean, crunch, and lead. It has an effects loop although i haven't put anything in the chain to see how good it is ..but none the less I don't use it so that's ok. The features are perfect! Simple and well designed. Gain, Bass, Middle, Treble, Crunch Volume, Lead Volume and Master Volume...outstanding feature for including that! This amp uses 2 x 5881s for a loud 50watts of pure tube power! But here's where I have to take off points ...it doesn't include a footswitch you have to buy it!! unreal!!! If it wasn't for that i would've given it a 10 it gets a 6 for making me spend an additional 40 bucks and a 1 point off for no reverb ,only there combo has it!

I'am using a Fender American Deluxe strat and an Ibanez AX220 with a sweet looking maple veneer top. The Fender sounds absolutely gorgeous through this beast as well as the Ibanez! The cleans are excellent with a bell like chime but I like my Laney VH100R cleans a bit better, but not by much. The crunch channel is great for a lighter distortion but you can certainly turn the gain up for more crunch to make this amp distort. This lead channel is outstanding!! Unbelievable crunch and sustain ..more than i'll ever need especially with humbuckers!! The best thing about this amp is that it sounds fantastic! Very warm , thick and smooth with alot of crunch unlike other amps that sound buzzy but not the Engl!

One thing that i did do to make this amp sound even sweeter was changing the preamp tubes.

For V1 Telefunken# a great tube!! Great balance, buttery sounding with outstanding clarity!

V2 JANS Phillips# Adds some richness and it's very warm and round sounding tube.

V3 Stock Engl(JJECC83S) Sweet vintage sounding tube

V4 JAN Phillips 12aTA for the phase inverter really smooths out the sound.

This is the amp for sheer tone!! Nothing compares at this price range!

This thing is built to last, the front grill with the Engl logo is all sturdy metal. It can take a licking and keep on ticking..but at this point i can't rate it because i haven't had it long enough to say so but it seems to be built with alot of care.

No opinion on this one but since it's a small company i wouldn't be surprise if they had great customer support...most small companies do.

I've been playing for 6 years and have always been very picky about tone. i've had lots of guitar amps during my time whether i bought it and returned it or bought it and realize it wasn't what i wanted and end up selling it. To name a few that I had and didn't like we're Carvin MTS Combo...now the cleans sound fantastic the best of all amps but the distoriton sounded too bland for my taste and tailoring the sound was a pain I never got a tone that I was happy with. Marshall DSL was pretty sweet but just didn't sound as good as the Engl and not as versatile. Now my Laney Vh100r is definitely right up there with the Engl I love the VH100R because it's so versatile and it sounds great but i had to work harder in getting the tones out of this amp. The Engl was a breeze to achieve great tone at any settings and that's a sure sign of a great amp!. I've tried just about everything out there Orange AD140..Great british sound but too dark for my taste Mesa Dual and Triple recto....Great distortion but not very inspiring in the cleans, Fender family...you name it i've tried it and the only thing i can say is that the cleans are sweet ...that's it...plus they are way over priced as well as the Marshalls and Mesas. Line 6 all of them suck except for the Vetta but that is an amp you have to worry about not going bad down the road..they just aren't reliable unless you happen to find a good one out of the lemon batch. The only other amp that rocks is the Laney and Bogner, but the Bogner is too damn expensive.
If it was stolen i get another for sure not question about it. This amp is everything I would want in an amp ....simple, elegant and just great sound!! Thanks Engl and Horst Langer for making the best amps out there!

Brand spankin new right out of the box!
This amp can do any style and do it with conviction..but it's made for loud rock and metal. It has 3 channels, Clean, Crunch, and Lead. The layout is extremely simple and straight forward. Bass, Middle, and Treble for EQ. Gain, Crunch Volume, Lead Volume and an awesome Master Volume. I wonder why haven't more manufacturers try to include this feature. No reverb..... but after playing it for a while I really didn't care for it but, still every guitar amp should have reverb. Other than that everything i need is there and I love simplicity.. it gets a 5 for no reverb and no footswitch....especially for no footswitch! Other than that i would've given it a 9. They charge you for a footswitch...can you believe that crap??!!!

This head is fuckin unbelievable!!!
very simple and compact and not to mention straight ahead no frills control layout. All the tones you can imagine what a marshall/mesa and fender are striving to accomplish are there inside this head! It's extremly quiet in both channels. The cleans are great! They stay clean even at high volumes which is what i love...The crunch is great also ..it can get pretty crunchy but you have to turn the gain pretty high but that's ok because some of the things you play would require less gain but still retain a good crunch with clarity. The lead is outstanding!! I don't play leads but i use it for stuff that requires more gain. I can't say it's better than a Marshall, Mesa, Fender, Line 6, Orange and many others out there because it is a subjective issue. But i will say this of all the amps i've tried this one beats em by far...except for Bogners, but not by much.. which I consider are the best ..but out of my price range.

this things seems to be built like a tank and the worksmanship is first rate! The front metal grill with the Shiny Engl logo looks great!! and the steel polish face plate adds a touch of elegance.

This is the best head for the money!! I buy another one if it were lost or stolen. I'm thinking about buying another one as a backup I've never brought home an amp and spent less time tweaking it to get great sounds....to me that is a sure sign of a great head. The less time you need to spend tinkering with the settings the better the head. I compared just about all amps out there Reverend, Orange, Marshall, Carvin, Crate, Line 6, VHT, Rivera, Fender, Laney, and so many others. This is by far the absolute best out there not only for you money but in sound and quality! Bar NONE!!

My Amp was build in 1999. It has three channels: clean, crunch and overdrive. You can switch to the three channels individualy it has options for two 16 ohm speakers and two 8 ohm speakers. It also has an effect loop. I do miss a reverb though. I use for practice with my band and on stage. Th 50 watts are more than enough it goues very loud. Buy the way i forgot to mention its tubed.

I use it with a ymaha pacifica 821dx with dimarzio humbuckers and it rocks. clean is really clean even when the gain is all the way up to 7. I play rock and grunge at it suits me for both syles. it can go from great rythm overdrive to screaming distortion wich creates a sustain in combination with my guitar that goes on and on and on. The crunc channel though is to my opinion not crunchy enough it goes very fast to a overdrive at 1 - 2 its ok but after that your out o f the crunch zone. in spite of that crunch at 8 - 10 makes a great rythm overdrived tone, you can switch than to overdrive for soloing that's cool.

i have it for half a year now. It;s compact and real solid. never left me.

Never had to use it.

So far it's the best amp i ever used so far. I had an Marshall valvestate combo. I also own a mesa boogie caliber .50 top + EVM thiele cabinet and that sounds great to. But the ENGLE beats the MB. it;s more versatile, screames like hell and the ENGL can be adjusted much better. THIS AMP ROCKS, it's very worth it's money. Go and chech one out yourself you will be surprised.