Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: octavio_amzer on October 27, 2006, 07:18:03 AM
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so... it looks like I'm in need for extreme high gain for my rythm tone. Nothing seems to satisfy, but most ENGL clips leaved me happy.
I want to know which ENGL would suit my progressive heavy metal playing best. As you know I'm the only guitarist in my band and always play in E standard tuning. the "war of worlds" clip by Thor amazed me too!!
ENGL best rack system and best heads please... help...
thankyou guys...
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They use what look like IDE wires to connect PCB boards.... WHAT??!?!?!
That said, I think they sound pretty good... I'm not the best guy to ask about ENGLs.... someone here who owns one will fill you in better.
Powerballs are a common choice among many. Blackmores and Special Editions seem to be the most desirable though...
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Savage
SE
Powerball
all get ya into that zone
Invader, prolly uber for it
Blackmore (K.I.S.S. ver. of savage,bit more vintage voiced).
Engl, IMO/Experience, very good, not built like 'booteek' amp but can be very good for money (that said, SE and Invader are getting to/in Booteek price territory).
Actually, with an EQ my Screamer 1/2 Stack can roar with best of em :twisted:
Have emailed Engl before with NO reply. They peruse their forum at times, it seem's, but their 'contact' is abit sketchy to say the least.
I would say their 'materials' are NOT top notch, but their 'playability' belies the cost of 'materials/quality' (this is comparing to a more booteek amp.
Find, quite easy to dial in a tone. Even the limited functions on the Screamer are easy to dial-in and many tones available.
So, in short, not BEST for quality build, but VERY good in price/sound.
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very good for the money, they aint gonna fall to bits, but they're not boutique..
I've played through a Classic 50, Thunder 50, Screamer 50, Powerball, Savage 120 and Special Edition.
and i must say they're all pretty damn good amps!, probably the best affordable high gain equipment out there and it sounds better than most of the stuff twice it's price.. It kills any Peavey, Boogie or Modern Marshall i've ever heard.
It's not a Soldano, Bogner or Splawn though ;)
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^ agreed, but dos'nt kill my Boogie, to my ears (why am selling Engl,keeping Boogie).
And is not a VHT,Bogner or Diezel but then again nowhere near price either.
Bang 4 Buck is what they are :)
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i pretty much agree with most of what's been posted here so far.
what type of tone are you after, octavio? mostly modern metal? some rock stuff? could you break it down into percentages?
it's just that most of the engls will do modern metal more or less (especially if you crank them), but some do metal a little better and other tones not just so well (powerball), while others favour versatility (SE, savage (SE)).
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The Screamer I sold recently was a very very nice amp, very versatile too. IMO it can do well Metal to Funk and all in between.
I was just missing some mojo ... the 3D-depth was lacking a bit. In my own words I would say great "sound", ok "tone".
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they are fantastic amps, maybe not quite bootique build but they dont cost boutique money, in fact the ones (owned 2, my guitar teacher has gigged relentlessly with 2) i've come across have been bullet proof! The amps front grill is a large piece of metal grating that could have been ripped from a factory walkway in germany for gods sake ;)
You cant go wrong, when my old guitar teacher plugged into my Fireball after borrowing a 5150 he couldnt believe how good it was, plugged in, took 30 seconds to get a sound, and then slayed everything (his band plays ultra technical \ death \ hardcore... kinda like Atheist and Watchtower meats Black Dhalia Murder and Lamb Of God...no joke!)
They are flexible, well built, keenly priced and sound great.
and a cranked Fireball on the UltraGain channel....well the only note you'd ever play is a palm muted low E.. and NEVER tire of it :P
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is there something more "boutique" that sounds as pissed of as an ENGL?
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i pretty much agree with most of what's been posted here so far.
what type of tone are you after, octavio? mostly modern metal? some rock stuff? could you break it down into percentages?
it's just that most of the engls will do modern metal more or less (especially if you crank them), but some do metal a little better and other tones not just so well (powerball), while others favour versatility (SE, savage (SE)).
need something for progressive heavy metal tuned in E standard. need modern high gain for my rythm section only, that's all. I would also like a pure clean if that is possible, but not essencial. My mesa marks are my lead tones.
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problem is, "pissed-off sounding" is quite subjective- I guess you just want to try as many of the usual suspects in terms of expensive high gainers, and see which you like best.
If all you need is a good clean and high gain rhythm tone, the fireball might do it for you- i haven't tried it, though. Powerball is worth a look too. Though any of them are worth a look really, they all have their own thing going on.
It just depends how much cash you're willing to spend, and which one you like best.
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Diezel or a Bogner maybe... for ££££ pissed off tone?
A Fireball is a great clean \ dirty old school setup amp without shiteloads of EQ \ freqency cuts etc etc.. 2 channels, no fuss.
2 master volumes aswell.
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Savage SE on Evilbay right now
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Savage SE on Evilbay right now
can't find it!
link please :D
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the savage se is more all-round though- it'll do modern metal no problem, especially if you crank the master- but if all you know you want is metal rhythm, and then clean, I'd say some of the other engls would do it as well (if not better) for cheaper.
It's a kickass amp- but it comes into its own when you need versatility, and a seriously wide selection of tones at your feet- not just two kickass tones (which it'll do, but I suspect you'd feel that you're paying over the odds, if that's all you want it for).
That's in my opinion, of course. And obviously, if you can get it for a good enough price...
:twisted:
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Not tried an ENGL myself, but have you considered trying out a Krank?
http://www.krankamps.com/home.aspx
Muttley
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http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ENGL-SAVAGE-SPECIAL-EDITION-GUITAR-AMP_W0QQitemZ220041223648QQihZ012QQcategoryZ10171QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Engl-2x12-guitar-speaker-cab-closed-back-Excellent_W0QQitemZ180043389922QQihZ008QQcategoryZ10171QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
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Not tried an ENGL myself, but have you considered trying out a Krank?
http://www.krankamps.com/home.aspx
Muttley
Boooo!
seriously, it's all personal preference, if you can try one, do it- my money is on engl, though, in my opinion, they own krank.
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Yeah, engl are much better than krank, IMO.
I'm really quite confused as to why krank are popular? They sound muddy and fizzy to me.
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^ yeah, i'm guessing if you crank the master volume up they're better... but when you have engl, mesa, laney, vht, etc. which all sound way better at lower volumes, are way more versatile, still sound great cranked up, and (in some cases) are cheaper, I also don't see the point.
Another thing to remember with krank, which seems to be shared even with the guys who like them is, you can only really get one good tone out of them on the overdrive channel.
you know the way with, say, an engl if you set it one way, it sounds like a certain tone, then you tweak the knobs, and it sounds like a different tone?
with a krank, it sounds like cr@p, until you hit the sweet (loosely speaking- more like "where it doesn't suck just as much") spot- and then you quickly realise that that's the only place where it sounds any good at all (i'm talking about the OD channel).
I also disliked the way that it sounds fizzy way too early on the gain control- my engl has twice as much pre-amp gain before it even sounds half as fizzy as the krank. And to dial out the fizz, it doesn't really have enough gain for modern metal at low volumes.
And as for the mud, it's a similar thing- there's a very narrow sweet spot on the EQ- turn the treble any higher and it's too bright/fizzy/trebly, and turn it even a fraction lower, and it's muddy as hell. Also, the much-ballyhooed (to quote niles) sweep knob acts in a similar way to the EQ; it's not so much a device to increase the versatility, as is claimed by Krank and the many reviews- again, like the EQ, it tends to suck everywhere except the one place where you can get a usable (i.e. decent but far from great) tone.
I don't think it's fair to say that it totally sucks (i'm not sure it's just as bad as some guys on some of the forums contend), and personal preference and all (also, if ALL you play is modern metal, you probably don't need the versatility)- but it just seems to me that there are, as I said in my first paragraph, amps which sound better at the modern metal thing, which are more versatile into the bargain, and which are cheaper.
At least on this side of the Atlantic, it seems, to use an expression from the other side of the Atlantic, a no-brainer. It just seems to me that, like a lot of things in the guitar world (and in the wider world in general) that lots of good marketing wins out over common sense, and people are too scared to go by their own opinions.
To me, at least. If any of you guys like krank, fair enough. You're entitled to your opinion, lol.
:drink:
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the Arch Enemy \ Krank guitar clinic on YouTube sounds pretty bad tbh...
espcially compared to Mattias Ecklunds Gorilla amp > cheap distortion pedal on the Freak Kitchen one!! :P