Getting an ENGL but need help choosing!
- Thread starter undercurrent217
- Start date
Also, speaking of Laney...I really dig Opeth's lead tones and I guess they use or used to use Laney. Maybe worth looking into as well? I'm not too familiar with them..i'd imagine they would need a boost pedal for high gain stuff.
Revson
Member
Why not look into the Mesa Mark V, if you haven't already? You say you need a tonally diverse amp and that's what Petrucci is using these days. You may also want to check out the Peavey JSX. Several members here have a fondness for them, myself included.
i wouldnt buy bmore becUse of.the sam eq.. its a bit dissapointing. If you dong like the powerball (there are many pb haters here. i like it though better than the fb and messa). if you are for creamy leadd and dparkling cleans you should really pay good attention to the mark 5
Yeah, I've definitely heard good things about the Mark V. The thing is, i'm already a pretty big Petrucci fan, i have his pickups in my main guitar (crunchlab/liquifire) and I didn't want to blatantly rip off his tone haha. Not that I could nail it exactly, but I wanted to try and find my own sound a little. While I do like Engls, I don't have the amp yet so I am open to trying different ones out. I'll check out a JVM and Mark V, and i'll see about an Uberschall cuz I do like Bogners, I'm just worried about the cleans and the lack of channels. I don't want to run two different heads. I have zero interest in Rectifiers and 5150/6505s. There are a lot of killer amps out there, my price range is preferrably under $2500, obviusly the lower the better but I'm willing to pony up a few extra hundred for the ultimate amp. It's essential that it has good cleans, a tight crunchy rhythm, and an organic, liquid lead. Thanks guys.
Shinozoku
Senior Memory
I'm gonna be a fanboy and go against your initial reqest, but there's always the Randall RM4 and RT2/50 rack setup, with which you can get modded preamp modules based on your favorite tones from ENGL, Diezel and Bogner while still getting a killer clean! 4 midi switchable channels with individual Gain, B/M/T and volume controls, plus a switchable power section to go between power amp tubes of your choice to help better emulate the power sections of the amps you want.
Check out Jaded Faith modification and Salvation mods for the preamps.
Check out Jaded Faith modification and Salvation mods for the preamps.
CronosBeyond
Member
Have an E646 (Smolski Limited Edition) since few days and I'm absolutely stunned. Never expected that thing sounding so good.
Had an...
... Special Edition and did not like the "soulless" tone
... Fireball and absolutely hated it
... Powerball II and did not like it very much
Still have the Steve Morse Signature which has beautiful cleans and singing leads. But never was 100% satisfied with rhythm, it has some annoying muffle going on in the midrange that I never got rid of.
The Smolski seems to have it all. ENGL-ish cleans, beautiful leads and a crushing tight rhythm tone with a beautiful and pleasing midrange.
Till now the best Engl I've heard. Though I must admit that I never played an Invader + Savage till today.
Had an...
... Special Edition and did not like the "soulless" tone
... Fireball and absolutely hated it
... Powerball II and did not like it very much
Still have the Steve Morse Signature which has beautiful cleans and singing leads. But never was 100% satisfied with rhythm, it has some annoying muffle going on in the midrange that I never got rid of.
The Smolski seems to have it all. ENGL-ish cleans, beautiful leads and a crushing tight rhythm tone with a beautiful and pleasing midrange.
Till now the best Engl I've heard. Though I must admit that I never played an Invader + Savage till today.
That's nice to hear about the Smolski! Congrats on your new purchase. I loved it when i played it...It's a MEAN fucking amp. How do you feel it compares to Invader? I'm worried about Invader not cutting through in a mix (one of the only downsides i keep reading)...
drew_drummer
Dancefap
Personally I quite liked the Screamer when I tried it. I've not tried any of the other ENGL's, but I did buy a vertical 2x12 recently.
I saw a band recently, one guy using the ENGL Raider combo - sound was FAT as fuck.
To be honest dude.. I'd say just decide on how many dedicated EQ sections you want, and buy the ENGL that fits. Adjust your lead tone with some pedals.
I saw a band recently, one guy using the ENGL Raider combo - sound was FAT as fuck.
To be honest dude.. I'd say just decide on how many dedicated EQ sections you want, and buy the ENGL that fits. Adjust your lead tone with some pedals.
CronosBeyond
Member
^
Never played an Invader! Just have the Morse that is based on the Invader. But if the Invader has a similar character of the Morse without those annoying froggy mids... then I think I would keep the Invader AND the Smolski
By the way - someone interested in buying an Engl Steve Morse?
slayercannibalsuffohead
Get a dog up ya!
Invaders ARE NOT crap. I don't know how some of you are dialling them in, but to say it's a shit amp is beyond belief.(Another thread a page over). It's great for Death Metal and is the most versatile amp I have ever owned. Every channel is different, with 3 being my favourite. Very happy with the purchase. As I stated earlier, I put it up against a powerball 2 and there was bugger all difference. The Invader did a great copy of it on channel 3. Does a great beefed up Marshall on the 2nd channel and the cleans are awesome. Would love to play a Savage, but for now, I have the best amp I have ever played through, and I don't require a boost pedal.
Wohma
Hearing sounds and voices
I was surprised by the tonal qualities of VC50 (which is basically the same as VH100R), but even though Opeth used to use them, it was just for clean amplification, all the live tones were from Boss GT-8 for quite some time (at least in Mikael's case). On records it's another story, but he stated in several interviews that he used GT-8 for the live tonez.
And another vote for Blackmore. I used to be a tweaker too ("what a stupid idea to have a shared equalizer!"), but in the end I was even glad because no matter what happened with my settings, I could find my tone in 30 seconds, literally. That's virtually impossible on Rectos and especially on Marks, don't know for sure about 5150s, but it's definitely harder than in Blackmore's case. And the tone is just pure gold.
Torgal
guitar nerd
- Dec 21, 2011
- 67
- 0
- 6
+1 here. Awesome amp! I've played an Invader and the V.S. just kills it.
So V.S. > Savage120 > all
Thanks for the feedback guys. It's funny, the Victor Smolski was the amp I had planned on getting after leaving the showroom. Both for tone and price. Since some time has gone by I started leaning toward the Invader, mostly cuz it had seperate eq for all 4 channels. The seperate eq is nice, but not necessary...as long as the tones on each channel sound good and are usable. I've found that it doesn't take a lot of tweaking in Engls to get a good tone (for me). I can also get the Smolski for I think the cheapest price out of all of them, I believe he quoted me $1800...which is a killer deal. I'm definitely leaning toward this amp right now.
I'm fairly certain Opeth only used Laney amps and cabs live and used a Boss floor pedal to drive them so I wouldn't look into them. I'm also fairly certain they've used mesas mostly in their recordings.
Mutant
I hate that supercow !
Yeah! I stumbled upon this clip the other day, it must be new. Sounds awesome and the lead tone is good too. I'm glad Ola finally got a hold of a VS.
