Author Topic: Anyone tried an Engl Classic? (Read 4341 times)

Ratrod · « **on:** February 17, 2008, 05:25:28 PM »

I've seen a nice Engl Classic for reasonable money. Can anyone tell me some more about it?

Does it sound like a Fender (bassman or blackface) or does it sound like an early Marshall?

More on the bright side or more on the dark side?

Rock n' roll or classic rock?

Thanks.

dave_mc · « **Reply #1 on:** February 17, 2008, 05:32:44 PM »

more on the dark side, i'd say. not too well up on classic fenders, but i think that's tweed character? i guess that's not far off early marshall character either, but i'm not too well up on vintage amps.

don't play much rock n roll, don't see why it wouldn't do it (could be wrong, of course). could get up to classic/hard rock on the overdrive channel, which is also quite dark/smooth sounding.

i liked the one i tried, but i thought it was quite expensive, and i prefer their high-gainers more, it did feel a little like them building outside their forte, for want of a better expression.

it's a while since I've tried one, too, and my ears change all the time, so please don't take what i said as gospel.

But if you can get it for a good price, might be worth considering. :)

Henk · « **Reply #2 on:** February 17, 2008, 05:50:15 PM »

Ive tried one they set up in a testing booth at a shop, sounded like a modern take on a bassman type of amp to me, engl style though, meaning not the best cleans but a nice gain to mess with. I didnt think it was that great really, would maybe be better with V30's, dont know.

Ratrod · « **Reply #3 on:** February 18, 2008, 12:50:07 PM »

Hmmmm, bassman style sounds good to me. But I'm still worried about the darkness. My speaker cab is a bit dark too.

I guess the only way to find out if it's the amp for me is to take it for a test drive.

JamesHealey · « **Reply #4 on:** February 18, 2008, 01:14:11 PM »

To me it sounded like a very early boogie, very warm and fat mids.
Think Mark I Boogie sounds, Probably one of the nicest tones i've heard from a guitar amp i'd deffinatly have one!

dave_mc · « **Reply #5 on:** February 18, 2008, 04:22:21 PM »

Quote from: Ratrod

I guess the only way to find out if it's the amp for me is to take it for a test drive.

aye. it was definitely quite a unique tone (to me anyway). :)

Ratrod · « **Reply #6 on:** February 21, 2008, 12:54:58 PM »

Update: The shop keeper let me try the amp for a day. I took it home and plugged into my Bandmaster cab and hooked up the RE20. Getting the right tone was easy. This amp is very similar to a Fender Bassman and not too different from my Hot Rod.

Some have called this amp dark. While it's slightly darker than a Hot Rod, it's still very clear sounding. I'd call it a full bodied, round sound. Good note definition too. Very articulate. The clean channel has a gain control so you can add a little dirt to your clean tone wich is what every rockabilly player would want.

The dirty channel is great with low gain settings. Dialing in a Malcolm Young tone, reverend Horton Heat tone or a Setzer and Nashvillains tone is quite easy. Some would say it sounds a bit like a Marshall JTM45 but I would still call it Fendery. That might be due to the Jensen speakers. Celestions might yield a different result.

Unfortunately I didn't have the right footswitches so I couldn't try the reverb or the volume boost.

The amp loves pedals. The RE20 sounds great through it and so does my Hughes & Kettner Tube Factor. The last one is great for when I need some high gain rock tones.

I was able to try it in a band situation. The amp sounded great in the band.

I'm buying it!

Edit: just bought it. :D

Does anyone here know what type of footswitch will work for the reverb? I know it's a mono jack and the Fender footswitch doesn't work.

dave_mc · « **Reply #7 on:** February 21, 2008, 06:16:28 PM »

nice!

shouldn't a bog-standard two button switch work? there are cheapo engl ones if you're stuck, but if something else would work, i'd go with something else, to be honest. the engl footswitches are expensive if you ask me.

Ratrod · « **Reply #8 on:** February 22, 2008, 10:29:37 AM »

There are two footswitch inputs. The one for the reverb is mono and the one for channel switching is stereo. The dual button mono from Fender didn't work and neither did the Ampeg stereo one.

I e-mailed Engl about it. The manual recommends the Z-1 switch for the reverb but they don't make that one anymore and I haven't found them anywhere on the web either.

Ratrod · « **Reply #9 on:** February 22, 2008, 04:59:26 PM »

I also tried a simple short circuited jack. Doesn't work either. No reply from Engl yet.

dave_mc · « **Reply #10 on:** February 22, 2008, 05:24:45 PM »

ah jeez, that sounds different from mine and other engls. i'm not really sure to be honest. :( edit: have you tried the engl forum, lordriffenstein's place?

Ratrod · « **Reply #11 on:** February 23, 2008, 11:32:19 AM »

I checked the Engl forum. There was a topic regarding the footswitch for reveb on a Classic. It was over a year old but there was no reply. This guy also mailed Engl and got no reply.

All I've learned is that a Marshall footswitch won't work either.

How many ways are there to wire a mono single button footswitch? There's only two leads.

Edit: Never mind the above. I figured it out. It's the reverb tank itself that's busted. I hooked up the reverb tank from my Fender and that works.

I'll ask (read demand) a new unit from the shop. It's still under warranty. It's an Accutronics type 9 six string so it should be pretty lush.

dave_mc · « **Reply #12 on:** February 23, 2008, 05:08:56 PM »

sounds like a plan (getting it fixed under warranty)!

nice to see you've got it sorted. :)