powerball mod

[aviel]

hey
i know some of you hate this amp..
but
anyone ever tried to mod it? or heard a moded one? i read in other forums about some mods, one of them is just changing 2 tubes to change the gain staging, they say it gives a much more organic, focused sound.

anyone here tried it?

 

[Benqbasic]

Here is two mods you can do.
LINK

Then

LINK

That will give you a mean tone for 2012.

 

[TheWinterSnow]

Here is two mods you can do.
LINK

Then

LINK

That will give you a mean tone for 2012.

Dude, you linked the Ebay main page and an auction on a 5150 II, the fuck?

If you are hinting for the OP to sell his powerball and buy a 5150 II then you FAIL!

 

[Benqbasic]

lol I was just joking man.
I have nothing against the powerball, I'd love to own an engl.

 

[Lasse Lammert]

Dude, you linked the Ebay main page and an auction on a 5150 II, the fuck?

If you are hinting for the OP to sell his powerball and buy a 5150 II then you FAIL!

I thought it was funny
I can't really help the OP though, sorry

 

[~BURNY~]

I got one at home for a couple of weeks. I didn't hate it. It's just not very remarkable. A bit bland and flat. The owner decided he wants to sell it after having tried my peavey.
Honestly, I wouldn't try to mod it, these amps still have a decent resale value. Just buy something that suits you better.

 

[amarshism]

I thought it was funny. It was the first thing that came to mind when I read the thread title.

 

[aviel]

Well dont get me wrong. I love the amp and i dig the engl sound. its just that i would be happier to make it a little more organic.. somewhere between the blackmore and the powerball.

 

[Benqbasic]

hey
i know some of you hate this amp..
but
anyone ever tried to mod it? or heard a moded one? i read in other forums about some mods, one of them is just changing 2 tubes to change the gain staging, they say it gives a much more organic, focused sound.

anyone here tried it?

Back to your original question.
While i haven't heard the mod your talking about done on an engl. I have tried a similar thing with a recto.

The tube you'll be wanting is the 12AT7. (or something similar with less gain than a 12AX7)
Changing the phase inverter tube and one of the gain stages will mean you have to drive the amp harder to make it break up.
(The phase inverter tube has to be balanced btw)

How this will affect the overall sound on your powerball, I'm not sure.
But it's a cheap to do so go for it and post us some clips.

 

[Benqbasic]

Seems Engl kindly provides schematics of their amps.
http://www.englpowerball.com/manual.htm

V8 is the Phase Inverter tube.
V5,6 are the gain stages.

Replacing V5 will change the amp gain structure the most as this is the first gain stage the guitar signal hits.
But I'd think the results would be less drastic/more pleasant with an 12AT7 in the V6 and V8.

 

[aviel]

is any of this requires more then just taking the tube and replacing it? like biasing or something? because io have really no clue in this, i changes tubes before, but never messed up with other stuff.

 

[aviel]

anyway here there are tones of possibilities, i was really wondering, how to choose

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/gear-equipment/154355-engl-powerball-tubing-mods-thread-3.html