Savage vs Powerball

The Unavoidable

The Unavoidable

jättebög
May 27, 2008
2,026
0
36
Umeå, Sweden
Hi guys, I'm getting a new amp in a month or so and it's gonna be Engl. I really dig almost everything about them and everyone I have played has been awesome.

So, as the title suggest I am torn between a PB or a Savage. The obviuous choice for me would be the powerball, since I until just recently never heard of the savage before. But, I have heard such cool things about it that I wanted to hear from some people about how they match up against each other.

I probably won't have the chance to play them both side by side, so I'll give me all the info and experiance you have.

The kind of stuff I will be using it for is kinda hard to explain. There is alot of Nevermore kind of stuff going on, but also some lowtuned single string riff things,
kinda like Meshuggah. I also heard Darkane is using Savages, and I'm really digging their tone.

SHOOT
 
I don't think anyone here will recommend the Powerball over the Savage; general consensus is that the Powerball is too processed/fizzy/muddy/hi-fi/well, crappy sounding, whereas the Savage is tight and "djenty" (for prime Savage tones, see the aforementioned Darkane, Blind Guardian's "A Twist in the Myth," and Dimmu Borgir's "In Sorte Diaboli," which is actually an SE slaved through the Savage power amp, but still definitely has the sound). What cab are you gonna be running it through dude?
 
Savage by far. The only problem is that it's almost twice as expensive as a used Powerball :erk: The problem with Powerball is a very annoying fizz that is always present in the sound, and the sound is a little bit too compressed sounding and lifeless when recorded. For live use, the Powerball is a very good amp though.
 
Torniojaws said:
Savage by far. The only problem is that it's almost twice as expensive as a used Powerball :erk: The problem with Powerball is a very annoying fizz that is always present in the sound, and the sound is a little bit too compressed sounding and lifeless when recorded. For live use, the Powerball is a very good amp though.
Click to expand...

And this coming from a Powerball owner!
 
I will admit that the Invader is bad ass. However, for recording applications, the Savage is tried and true and definitely more practical.
 
I'll be running it through an Engl cab, which one I haven't decided. Most likely a E412SG or something similar. I'm not made of money unfortunately!

And I would love to get an Invader, but I really don't have the money. I don't really have the cash for a Savage either, but if it is as good as they (you) say then I might buckle up and pay the price.
 
I have a Savage 120 at my place right now, and too be honest I still don't think I'm getting the best out of it. I think ENGL's in general are quite fizzy amps. Right now its sounding pretty crunchy to me, and I'm looking for something a bit smoother. Having said that there are so many knobs and switches on this thing that its probably a case of me not using it enough.

That said it sounds pretty fucking excellent in the room, and I'd recommend the Savage over powerball any day of the week.
 
Coming from a former PowerBall owner: don't buy a PowerBall.

While I like the amp, and sometimes wish I still had it, it's not a great all-around amp, nor is it a joy to record. I use to think the FireBall and PowerBall were essentially the same amp, just one had more wattage and channels. Wrong. After recording a FireBall a few times I started to notice the fizz and lifelessness that my PowerBall had. If anything, get a FireBall over the PowerBall dude, no joke. From everything I've heard and experienced myself, the Invader is insane, the Savage is an amazing jack-of-all-trades, and the FireBall is just a good, tight metal amp. The SE is suppose to be the most ridiculous Engl ever, but it's also expensive as shit, haha.

~006
 
I went down and got a price estimate on a savage + standard cab, and woohoo is it gonna cost me!

But I'm thinking it's worth it, it's just money right? Plus a Powerball is expensive as shit too, and I definently don't want to pay that much for something I wouldn't be 100% happy with. However, the store I'm going to is getting a standard cab and Powerball in tommorrow, so I'm gonna go and play and see for myself how I like it. Although since I have gotten so much response in favor of the Savage, it's definently leaning towards that.
 
You really oughta consider getting the PRO cab because of it's better construction (all birch plywood, whereas the standard is only birch on the baffle and MDF everywhere else). Where are you located dude? Cuz in the US Engl cabs are ridiculously expensive compared with a Mesa, Randall, etc. of the same quality.
 
Metaltastic said:
You really oughta consider getting the PRO cab because of it's better construction (all birch plywood, whereas the standard is only birch on the baffle and MDF everywhere else). Where are you located dude? Cuz in the US Engl cabs are ridiculously expensive compared with a Mesa, Randall, etc. of the same quality.
Click to expand...

I'm in Schweden. :p Yeah, well the cab is the kind of thing I could make do with awhile, and get a better one in a year or so. And yeah, everything Engl is insanely expensive in Sweden, but they recently sliced their prices a bit in europe which is great. Like a powerball used to cost almost 19.000 kr here, now it's like 16.500
 
The Savage is definitely the better of the two.

I personally don't see the Invader love. I've tried a 150Watt Invader twice now with different guitars and it's sucked arse... and I mean BLOWING CHUNKS kind of arse sucking. I'd imagine that the lower wattage version would need to have a whole circuitry redesign to even start sounding decent, let alone good. It's sludgy, undefined, dull... hell the treble knob sounds like it has the shelf set to start at like 2.5k or something, so when you turn it up, you get all this other shit in the tone boosted along with it. I don't know whether I was dialing the amp severely wrong, but I simply couldn't get anything resembling good tone out of it.
 
Moonlapse said:
The Savage is definitely the better of the two.

I personally don't see the Invader love. I've tried a 150Watt Invader twice now with different guitars and it's sucked arse... and I mean BLOWING CHUNKS kind of arse sucking. I'd imagine that the lower wattage version would need to have a whole circuitry redesign to even start sounding decent, let alone good. It's sludgy, undefined, dull... hell the treble knob sounds like it has the shelf set to start at like 2.5k or something, so when you turn it up, you get all this other shit in the tone boosted along with it. I don't know whether I was dialing the amp severely wrong, but I simply couldn't get anything resembling good tone out of it.
Click to expand...


I tried the 150 through an Uberkab with my ESP M1 and no boost over the weekend. Audiophile was there and can attest to all this... that amp was fucking tits. Super tight but still had a great 'squish' to it like a 5150. Inredibly articulate, warm and vibey as hell, with a great top end that was both smooth and had grind at the same time. Something must have been knackered with the one you tried!
 
The Invader 100w is a fucking Beast. I haven't had the pleasure of the 150w yet. I know there are some design differences between the 2 though, which is odd. Something about the MIDI control or usage. Can't remember. My buddy has an endorsement and he was telling me how he wants the 150w because it's more flexible or something.
 
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