Engl Construction Quality Inconsistent Among Various Models?

[Deleted member 13074]

Not to revive an old thread, but from what I've heard in clips (as I haven't got to play anything high end) it seems like Engls are by far the most crushing in a polished/processed way I've heard, like the Recto sound as opposed to the more organic Wizard/modded Marshall sound.

Now I wonder, does the shabby build quality actually contribute to this sound? Like maybe getting such an "extreme" sound is only possible with a possibly volatile wiring etc? Or if they were actually built to the quality/consistency people expect in $2000+ amps would they not only be THE extreme amps but also be approaching costs that would make Wizards and such cheap?

That's flawed logic. If poor components gave the brootz, it would be inconsistent from amp to amp and reliability would be poor.
Engls sound great because the circuit is well designed, surely?

I don't believe it has been proven the build quality is shabby - nothing wrong with the wiring or components, including transformers. There seems to be no HT fuse, so a design flaw may be the issue.
It is a PCB build, and the tubes are PCB mounted, so it is not in the 'boutique' category with larger components on a turret board. Many an expensive amp had large PCB sections.
Tubes in separate ceramic sockets and an HT fuse would be a welcome change and give the amp a much longer working life. However, it would push the price up further, so they'd sell less of 'em.

Engls are much lower priced in Europe, so comparing to the US-built amps is apples to strudel. Just as US built amps cost far more over there.

 

[RedB4Black]

At the time, I always liked the ENGLs I owned, but these days I’m not into the dark, compressed, fizzy, processed, almost solid state tones that most of the models I’ve owned/played have. I did sell my SE because of reading about all the issues people had with them and they couldn’t find anyone who would work on it to fix. If your considering an ENGL in the US, you’re better off with a Peavey.

 

[MetalHeadMike]

I've owned a few Engls and have been inside looking around a bit, and they're definitely not to the same level as say a Bogner, or Mesa, Wizard. But man they sound good if you like ultra tight and polished tone. I grew a bit tired of them (for now )

 

[jco5055]

I've owned a few Engls and have been inside looking around a bit, and they're definitely not to the same level as say a Bogner, or Mesa, Wizard. But man they sound good if you like ultra tight and polished tone. I grew a bit tired of them (for now )

Yeah idk I know you really can't judge an amp without hearing it in person, but I feel like Engls have THE polished/tight tone from what I've heard. But then again I'm part of the group that feels like all the Wizard clips I've heard aren't anything special, not to say I'm not dying to try one out haha.

 

[Deleted member 13074]

The lack of HT fuse protection on the Engls has been mentioned
Looking at the Inferno model, that appears to have been addressed, and then some, with individual fuses
for all 4 power tubes - V5,6,7 & 8
here we see 2 of them, the others are off screen to the left

 

[Les Zombie]

I was a huge engl supporter for almost a decade, i owened alot of their amps and really liked them but i had got tired of them breaking down on me, my amps never even left my house. My invader 150 blew up the first week i had it and was sent back to the dealer, i had a engl se 6l6 that after a couple yrs the leds blew out, i had a engl se el34 that blew up a little over a year after i got it and engl wouldnt fix it under their warranty and wasnt much help to be honest and i had to contact velvet distribution who was their usa distributer at the time and that was a joke, the amp was 13 or 14 months old and they said they wouldnt warranty it and then seen i was pissed because its a expesive amp, so they sent me some stickers and a few ink pens and a tshirt and basicly asked me not to make a big deal about it.
I got the amp fixed and then 2 months later it blew up again and i got it repaired once more and sold it.

After that i was done with engl, i also had a powerball 2 that had some issues, none of my probs was tubes that needed replaced or fuses. Most of the engl amps ive owned was bought new. So out of 10 engl amps, i had issues with 4 of them and gave up on the brand.


I owned
Engl se el34
Engl se 6L6
Steve morse
Invader 100
Invader 150
Powerball, i owned 2 of them
Powerball 2
Savage 120
Blackmore

 

[nightlight]

I was curious (since I've always wanted an Artist and used to own a 1st gen Powerball) so I found some pics inside an Artist for those who are also curious.

The bias pot is a tiny hole through the PCB. If you look to the left of the blue ring around the ribbon cable you'll see the tiny white bias pot in the center of three solder pads in a triangle shape.

Damn! That iron is tiny! (as mentioned in this thread). I don't remember the trannies in my Powerball. But I tend to go for big, heavy iron because it seems that most of the amps with my favorite tones in them all had big trannies.

Uh hhhhhh... he said "big trannies" (in Butthead voice).

Interesting thread. I just bought an Engl and I really liked the tone of it.

Where exactly is this picture of the transformers from? Is that only on the Artist edition?

Here's the one on the Savage, definitely big iron. The one on the other side is also huge. I compared it to the one in my VH4 and they both look huge.




PS: Are those the plastic mounts everyone was talking about?

 

[konfucio]

Poor quality, im agree, very poor stuff