Engl Powerball Tone

[musicmaker29]

Hi everyone!

I recently got an Engl Powerball (insanely cheaply  :lol: ) and Im currently trying to get the 'perfect' tone out of it (well perfect for me anyways)!

I have the low end sounding fantastic, solid as a rock - love it! but i'm struggling with the highs/mids.  I have a Maverick F-3 guitar with a BKP Painkiller in the bridge.

The overall tone I'm going for is kinda like this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTdhXxxWREo&NR=1

I think, although I realise that they use recto's.  I have a 10 band EQ pedal, so I can pretty much shape the sound how I like, Im just struggling to find the right starting point.  any suggestions??

thanks, Alex

[MrBump]

Sorry mate, out of my comfort zone, but that video is going to attract LOTS of comments!

[Stevepage]

I had a Powerball once but sold it because of the things you've described.

What I did was use an EQ pedal in the FX loop, boost the mids and raise the highs just a touch.

A Philips Jan 5751 preamp tube in V1 and tung sol's for the rest of the positions, what this does is reduce the gain a tad but you get more clarity which helps with cutting through.

I also used a overdrive pedal to boost the signal a bit more, but seeing as you like the bass as it is, this might not be something you'd need to consider.

[Antag]

BBE in the FX loop - makes a world of difference.  "It's like lifting a blanket off your amp" as Feline said to me.  A 362 is good, but one of the older 482s (the black/blue panel ones) is best.

[JamesHealey]

I find the ENGL stuff to have a too strident tone it's sorta stiff and unforgiving and kinda has this upper mid thing going on that doesn't suit the 5881 power section.

I much prefer Mesa/Boogie's for higher gain stuff they're much more forgiving and warmer, Bogner and Soldano get a huge mention too but they're way pricey.

[BigK]

I find the ENGL stuff to have a too strident tone it's sorta stiff and unforgiving and kinda has this upper mid thing going on that doesn't suit the 5881 power section.

I much prefer Mesa/Boogie's for higher gain stuff they're much more forgiving and warmer, Bogner and Soldano get a huge mention too but they're way pricey.

I've got a powerball and I find as steve says having a 5751 in v1 helps alot, warming it up JJ tubes in the rest of the preamp also helps.

you want to boost the uppermids I'll have a play around with my 10-band tonight and see if I can get near it.

I wouldnt recommend boosting your engl with an od though as I find that most Engls dont take kindly to being boosted with and overdrive.

Also what speakers are you using? I've found that using greenbacks instead of vintage 30's really helps to remove alot of harshness, and lets you use more treble without ripping your ears off.

Finally I've found that less is more when it comes to gain on the powerball mine rarely goes over 10 o'clock.

[Antag]

Also what speakers are you using? I've found that using greenbacks instead of vintage 30's really helps to remove alot of harshness, and lets you use more treble without ripping your ears off.

+1

I couldn't believe how much better my Engl Savage 120 sounded when I switched to a 4x12 with Classic Lead 80s & K100s...

[musicmaker29]

Thanks for all of the replies.

I'm using V30s atm, but I'm borrowing the standard Engl 4x10 cab, which apparently has more modern soudning speakers (have a complete mental block on what they are called).

Thanks for the suggestions of less gain, I'll give that a go first thing tomorrow and see how things sound.

I'll also try the EQ suggested and see how that sounds - "JackBauer" - thanks very much, if you do manage to nail the tone them please let me know - my search for it continues tommorrow!

I'll be having it re-valved soon, so I will consider the suggestion made about valve types too!

thanks again, Alex

[MDV]

I get round the harsh breakup of the powerball while keeping its precision brutality with a boss EQ20 (it MUST be the boss; its has its own sound that de-grits the top and thickens up the sound), 5751 (jan philips) in the phase inverter and mixing V30s with swamp thangs.

I love and hate basically the same things about the amp, and these let me keep its strengths and diminish its weaknesses.

Also, for general tone settings, keep precense very low to off entirely, treble higher to compensate and use channel 4 with the gain low.

Doing that (minus the swamp thangs - this is before I got them) yields some approximation of this - (as a general guideline, obviously with recording there are a million and one variables, but you'll get the idea of the sort of voicing all the above gives) http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=19791.0