Got a brand-new Engl Savage 120 a few days ago. I know there are a few Savage owners and fans here, so I thought I'd share my thoughts: Its a very tight, bright, somewhat compressed amp, with a definite Marshall 2203 edge and bite to the tone. Its billed as a 4 channel amp, but it is more accurately a 2 channel, 4 mode amp. My first exposure to this amp was via Hammerfall who used the Savage 120 on many albums (Legacy of Kings is a great example of the Savage 120s tone). It has a good amount of bass and chunk on tap (channel 4) for the chugga, chugga stuff, but it always stays tight, focus, and mud free. Just to give a brief rundown of the channels:
1. The clean channel (channel 1) is a warmer, thicker slightly darker clean sound than you might expect. The bright switch and preshape (mid boost/mid cut) buttons help brighten up your tone, but its not a bright, chimey Fender Blackface clean by any stretch. The clean channel actually sounds pretty nice with a slight mid-scoop.
2. The crunch 1 channel (channel 2) is pretty much your average light blues breakup to AC/DC. Not much to see here. Good and useable.
3. The crunch 2 channel (channel 3) basically sounds very, very similar to a stock Marshall 2203 just a little darker. As you start to crank the gain your into modified territory or the equivalent of running a boost in thru the front. EVH to early Lynch are good examples of this channels capabilities. Plenty of bite here.
4. The lead channel (channel 4) is basically the reason why the majority of people buy this amp. Definitely more gain than most will need, tight, focused, articulate, with a good amount of bass and lowend but not supersaturated or muddy like a Mesa Recto or Bogner Uberschall for comparison. The amount and type of bass are very similar to the VHT/Fryette UltraLead. This is a high-mid voiced amp. The Savage 120 also has a very fast, super quick attack very much like that of the UL. You play a note, you hear it your play a fast, heavy, downtuned rhythm passage you hear every note. Notes dont run together and you can hear each and every one. Theres plenty of gain here, and all the gain is useable all the way up to 10. It does have more than enough preamp gain to get most any job done, so dont worry. There is a lead gain boost button (channel 3/4), which I pretty much leave on all the time. Its not the most saturated high gain amp around by todays standards, but this is also why its so tight and focused. Noise is very, very low. I bought an ISP Decimator just incase Id need it, but I havent even taken it out of the box yet. Its definitely one of the more quiet high gain amps around. Its very similar to a super hot-rodded Marshall JMP/JCM800 2203. Bright, musical, edgy and it cuts great. Plenty of mids, but sounds fine with a slight scoop as well. I can see why a lot of the death metal guys like this amp. Children of Bodom, Amon Amarth, Behemoth, Arch Enemy, InFlames, and similar tones can be had from this channel with ease.
A couple of the extra features like the deep mode sound great. The deep switch adds a good amount of bass and lowend, but still no mud or mush even with it on. The contour switch is also pretty handy and acts as a low mid boost (off) or high mid boost (on). There is one for each main channel. There is a whole bunch more this amp can do, but I've only had it for a few days.
A couple of negatives: I hate the rough/smooth switch. I greatly prefer the amp in rough mode. I had the same experience with the Powerball. Smooth mode acts like a mega-compressor although it is described as a mid-boost for leads. It compresses and squashes your tone to ass IMHO. Also I wish it were midi capable. Yeah, you can buy a midi converter box, but build in midi in/out jacks would be cool.
Some pics:
1. The clean channel (channel 1) is a warmer, thicker slightly darker clean sound than you might expect. The bright switch and preshape (mid boost/mid cut) buttons help brighten up your tone, but its not a bright, chimey Fender Blackface clean by any stretch. The clean channel actually sounds pretty nice with a slight mid-scoop.
2. The crunch 1 channel (channel 2) is pretty much your average light blues breakup to AC/DC. Not much to see here. Good and useable.
3. The crunch 2 channel (channel 3) basically sounds very, very similar to a stock Marshall 2203 just a little darker. As you start to crank the gain your into modified territory or the equivalent of running a boost in thru the front. EVH to early Lynch are good examples of this channels capabilities. Plenty of bite here.
4. The lead channel (channel 4) is basically the reason why the majority of people buy this amp. Definitely more gain than most will need, tight, focused, articulate, with a good amount of bass and lowend but not supersaturated or muddy like a Mesa Recto or Bogner Uberschall for comparison. The amount and type of bass are very similar to the VHT/Fryette UltraLead. This is a high-mid voiced amp. The Savage 120 also has a very fast, super quick attack very much like that of the UL. You play a note, you hear it your play a fast, heavy, downtuned rhythm passage you hear every note. Notes dont run together and you can hear each and every one. Theres plenty of gain here, and all the gain is useable all the way up to 10. It does have more than enough preamp gain to get most any job done, so dont worry. There is a lead gain boost button (channel 3/4), which I pretty much leave on all the time. Its not the most saturated high gain amp around by todays standards, but this is also why its so tight and focused. Noise is very, very low. I bought an ISP Decimator just incase Id need it, but I havent even taken it out of the box yet. Its definitely one of the more quiet high gain amps around. Its very similar to a super hot-rodded Marshall JMP/JCM800 2203. Bright, musical, edgy and it cuts great. Plenty of mids, but sounds fine with a slight scoop as well. I can see why a lot of the death metal guys like this amp. Children of Bodom, Amon Amarth, Behemoth, Arch Enemy, InFlames, and similar tones can be had from this channel with ease.
A couple of the extra features like the deep mode sound great. The deep switch adds a good amount of bass and lowend, but still no mud or mush even with it on. The contour switch is also pretty handy and acts as a low mid boost (off) or high mid boost (on). There is one for each main channel. There is a whole bunch more this amp can do, but I've only had it for a few days.
A couple of negatives: I hate the rough/smooth switch. I greatly prefer the amp in rough mode. I had the same experience with the Powerball. Smooth mode acts like a mega-compressor although it is described as a mid-boost for leads. It compresses and squashes your tone to ass IMHO. Also I wish it were midi capable. Yeah, you can buy a midi converter box, but build in midi in/out jacks would be cool.
Some pics:
Everytime I save up some cash for a digital recorder, I wind up spending it on another pedal or something else. I actually need to buy a new camera as you can see from my pics. My camera is around 5 years old.
