EMG 81's have a rather mid-voicing
so does the engl powerball.
putting those together, maybe with another mid-type booster such as a tubescreamer, just makes that there simply is to much mid...
RESULT : crap
A lot of players think that they can dial in a PB like a rectifier, and that doesn't work at all. The amp is, as stated above, rather mid-voiced, so you have to exploit that, therefor, you can NOT scoop them away.