Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: Antag on May 20, 2010, 10:00:13 AM
-
Got my birthday present setup yesterday (OK, my birthday was back in Feb, but it's taken this long to get everything):
Engl E570 SE preamp
MJW Goldstar 10w valve power amp
(http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh23/george204/BKP/th_E570_1.jpg) (http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh23/george204/BKP/E570_1.jpg) (http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh23/george204/BKP/th_MJW_1.jpg) (http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh23/george204/BKP/MJW_1.jpg)
The MJW is a single-ended 10w valve power amp, intended for home use (though it's capable of getting plenty loud!). It might look familiar to some - Feline has one. I was so impressed with his, that I called Martin & ordered one just like it. The only differences are that mine has the diamond-shaped MJW nameplate & a 5881 valve. It sounds so sweet - really smooth, organic with a great range on the volume control.
As for the preamp, I've been agonising over whether to get the SE or an Egnater M4 for nearly a year. I very nearly pulled the trigger on an M4 at Christmas, but the current £:$ exchange rate made it prohibitively expensive (>£500 more than the SE from Thomann). The final clincher was when I downloaded & read through the SE's manual & properly appreciated some of the great features it has. Plus I already have a Savage 120 so I'm happy with Engl & was confident I'd like this. Holy Jesus. What an amazing piece of kit! I have been playing/tweaking for hours & have not even scratched the surface of what this preamp will do. But despite a wealth of features, it's actually really simple to use.
I also got the Engl Z12 Midi Foot Controller which is great - the SE powers it down the midi cable so no need for a power supply. The Engl MIDI switching is an absolute winner.
Together into my Mesa rectifier cab, they are fantastic - a versatile, great sounding setup that can do it all. Between this, my Savage 120 & my Marshall SL-X I can cover every sound I want at any volume from conversational to raise-the-roof.
(http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh23/george204/BKP/th_SE_MJW_1.jpg) (http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh23/george204/BKP/SE_MJW_1.jpg) (http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh23/george204/BKP/th_SE_MJW_2.jpg) (http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh23/george204/BKP/SE_MJW_2.jpg)
Happy Antag :D
-
Well done George - looks great
I'm such a fan of the small 10w approach - especiaslly using the larger valves like 5881 or EL34 etc
-
Nice one Antag, that some set you have there! :D
-
Nice one :D
I can see Martin looking at the pics and thinking "hang on... if he's putting it on the cab like that, I should have put name-plates on the sides..." :lol:
-
v nice, look forward to some juicy clips of the SE in action.
-
Nice one :D
I can see Martin looking at the pics and thinking "hang on... if he's putting it on the cab like that, I should have put name-plates on the sides..." :lol:
Well, I did tell him that it was going to be placed like that when we had a discussion on where to locate the power socket... :)
In fact, that's the other difference between mine & Feline's (http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=14509.0) - mine has the socket on the back, his is on the front...
-
awesome
-
Very nice ejoy :D
-
"Impressive ... most impressive"
-- Darth Vader
-
Nice! Great rig but now you've given me an idea which is leading to a GAS build up :( :lol:
-
Lucky Antag = Happy Antag :)!Was it expensive?
-
If George is half as happy with his killer rig as I am with mine he'll be ecstatic
The 10w power amp is just loud enough to get you evicted if you push it , but it lets you get the proper sound at sensible volumes too.
Here is my 10w power amp - which is very slightly different to Antag's one
You can see that I had the IEC power socket put on the front as well to allow the power amp to sit close up to the side of the rack without the plug cable getting in the way.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v662/felineguitars/amps/Slavestar10W014-1.jpg)
Here it is next to the rack - it usually sits a little closer than in the picture above
The rack now has a TC Electronic G Major instead of the M1 shown and the Piranha is not in the rack anymore
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v662/felineguitars/amps/P1050086.jpg)
-
Same power conditioner (PS10), same BBE (old 482), same FX unit (G-Major), 2U multi-channel valve preamp (& but for the exchange rate it could have been the same preamp), MJW 10W valve poweramp, 2x12" cab
I'm such a sheep :oops: :lol:
Joking aside, my rig is heavily inspired by Jonathan's excellent setup, which I've had the good fortune to play on the many occasions I've visited his workshop to get various work done on my guitars. The Goldstar is such a great idea - kudos to Jonathan & Martin for coming up with it.
-
I agree, it is a great set up. I've played my custom Lion through that rig and I loved it! :D
Your setup is very neat and tidy too Antag!
-
Hmmm...
Rack gear. Something in the back of my mind tells me that within the next 5/10 years I will be using an Engater preamp in a rack...
-
NAD = New accessories day! :D
(http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh23/george204/BKP/th_SErig_cables.jpg) (http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh23/george204/BKP/SErig_cables.jpg) (http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh23/george204/BKP/th_SErig_valves.jpg) (http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh23/george204/BKP/SErig_valves.jpg)
Got some Cleartone cables in the correct lengths from Award Session, plus an XLR cable to take advantage of the balanced outputs of the SE (which allegedly have cabinet emulation built in, will be interesting to see how it sounds direct)
& some valves from Watford Valves (as an aside, I put this order in Thursday afternoon & the postman knocked on my door Saturday morning)
JAN Philips 5751 for VI, 2 JJ ECC83S DR250 for V2 & 3 & another JJ for V4.
Will post some impressions of the valve change when fitted (plus gutshots if I remember to take them :))
-
Holy mother of ....
Just changed the valves, it sounded good stock, but now it's absolutely unreal :twisted: :lol: :D
Interestingly the stock valves in the Savage looked identical to JJs, but the stock valves in the SE look identical to some TADs I have. Also, in the SE there's a fairly sturdy metal plate that the valves are mounted onto, but the Savage looked like they were mounted directly onto the PCB.
Had a problem initially, in that there was no sound from classic mode :? (but was from modern mode). The problem is that the manual isn't entirely clear what the valves do. But the SE head manual has a bit more info:
v1 "Input & TD circuit
v2 "2. stage & lead driver
v3 "3. stage & Classic enhancer"
v4 "FX buffer & PA driver"
So I deduced that the JJ I put in V3's second stage was dead. Swapped back to stock & it worked. Luckily I had a spare JJ DR250, so I put that in V3. It sounds absolutely wonderful now.
Here are some gutshots:
(http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh23/george204/BKP/th_SE_gut1.jpg) (http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh23/george204/BKP/SE_gut1.jpg) (http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh23/george204/BKP/th_SE_gut2.jpg) (http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh23/george204/BKP/SE_gut2.jpg) (http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh23/george204/BKP/th_SE_gut3.jpg) (http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh23/george204/BKP/SE_gut3.jpg)
I am so tempted to pull a sickie & stay home to play :lol: ;)
-
pull a sickie and record some clips too mate, dying to hear this setup!!!!!!!!!
-
pull a sickie and record some clips too mate, dying to hear this setup!!!!!!!!!
:lol: sorry, had to come to work, far too much to do... :(
But I played for an hour or so & was struck most by the amazing clarity of the high gain sound - so tight, clear, punchy, yet organic & warm at the same time. After the valve change I actually liked it better without the BBE which was a surprise.
Compared to the Savage the mids seem a bit "spongier" or less "stiff" (but not in a muddy sort of way if that makes sense). I didn't adjust the controls at all after changing the valves, yet what were good settings with the stock valves sound awesome now.
One cool feature I really like is the little "Level" push button next to the outputs on the backpanel. It's meant for using when you want to run the preamp out into an FX unit rather than use the loop, so that you don't overload the unit, but it also acts as a sort of "half power" switch.
I can have it in the "out" position, leave the MJW's volume at 6-7, yet it drops the volume to a level that won't wake the kids up. Push the button to its "in" position & it gets LOUD! :) Running the preamp at "full" power with the MJW volume at 8 or more give me the kind of volume that the Savage does with its Master on 4-5 (i.e. very loud).
-
GAS....rising.....