Engl Fireball 100 is easily their best amp - Change My Mind

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bad.Seed
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I'm wondering if people hearing them get overtaken by other amps is due to that signature ENGL compression. They most certainly have a good amount of mids. Maybe that compression makes the sound too polite where they're drowned out buy more raw sounding amps.
 
VESmedic said:
Dimmu borgir was another one, and arguably has more resources than any of those bands. Both guitarists were completely fucking unreal buried, everytime I’ve seen them.

Cannibal ain’t using Engl, I can assure you of that. Neither is Karl sanders. Nor is deicide.
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CC were using recitifiers when I saw them at Hell in the Harbor.
 
VESmedic said:
The triple x is plenty loud in loose mode. Do you remember trying it in that mode? It’s much, much louder than medium and tight mode, and the only way to use it in my opinion.
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Yep. I only ever used it on that mode.

I'm not really saying it wasn't loud enough. I think I might have not worded it right. I'm just saying the master volume taper made it seem as if it wasn't as loud as a 5150 when set to the same position because the amp's design is different. But once you got the master going, it had no trouble hanging with a 5150 or anything else for that matter.

Not sure if ENGLs are meant to be kinda like that as well?
 
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At the Gates and The Haunted were using them at some point. In Flames too? At least Jesper, I think.
 
A great video, as always!!

Not sure which Engl is the best, but I liked the FB100 i played. Always dug the Blackmore as well.
 
Rex Rocker said:
At the Gates and The Haunted were using them at some point. In Flames too? At least Jesper, I think.
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In flames used them in the studio over the years like just about every band that came to nordstroms studios, yes. Never saw them with them live though. At the gates I saw them using the savage at wacken ( maybe?) when they made their big comeback around 2008 or whatever. But, engls are often used as backline amps in Germany like Marshalls are for us in the US, so who knows what they actually would’ve used. Maybe the same amps who knows.
 
mcstinger said:
I believe the schematic is of Powerball I. First stages of the circuit are (almost?) identical. Most of Engls share very similar topology.
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The file says E645 which is indeed the Powerball II. Even with different schematic component labels I came to the same conclusion. The power section looks different but I haven't had time to suss out whether that's due to a different layout or a substantial topology difference. If there isn't one then I'm inclined to believe that the Powerball II can ape the Fireball with some knob-turning to compensate for component tolerance variation.
 
Bad.Seed said:
Dropped a demo video for the Engl Fireball 100 today as part of my Engl Month content. The Fireball 100 was the amp that turned me on to Engl in the first place, and honestly, I think I started with the best.

After trying some of the other amps in the Engl lineup, I've found they all have a really interesting saturation to them, almost "ratty" in nature, as well as a lot of compression. They're wet sounding amps, generally modern in voicing, and most are loaded with features

I think this one appeals to me so much because it's very stripped back in features, and seems to be the least compressed and most raw, especially in the mids where it matters from a mix standpoint. This amp also has A LOT more low end than most of the other Engls I've tried, save for the SE E670, but the lows on that amp aren't really usable as they're switchable as opposed to on a dial on the power amp and when the switches are on, the low end is just super boomy.

Anyways, curious of other's opinions on both the Fireball 100 and the other Engl amps they may have tried.

Video is below:
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Played a Carstens Grace yet?
 
I really like the Engl sound that a lot of the metal bands or artists are using today. I really like the Artist 50 or Retro 50 amp heads. I like the tone that some of the people demoed in their YouTube videos.
 
alexjplant said:
The file says E645 which is indeed the Powerball II. Even with different schematic component labels I came to the same conclusion. The power section looks different but I haven't had time to suss out whether that's due to a different layout or a substantial topology difference. If there isn't one then I'm inclined to believe that the Powerball II can ape the Fireball with some knob-turning to compensate for component tolerance variation.
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OK, I don't want to argue, you seem to know the thing.

I must admit, that I was confused by the file, which says E645-1, which is indeed Powerball 1. Also there is Dsub9 connector in the functions switching section, which is easily visible on the back panel of the Powerball 1. And, on the back panel of the Powerball 2 there are confusing letters saying E645-2. Those Germans...
 
VESmedic said:
In flames used them in the studio over the years like just about every band that came to nordstroms studios, yes. Never saw them with them live though. At the gates I saw them using the savage at wacken ( maybe?) when they made their big comeback around 2008 or whatever. But, engls are often used as backline amps in Germany like Marshalls are for us in the US, so who knows what they actually would’ve used. Maybe the same amps who knows.
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Nah, I'm pretty sure ATG were using ENGLs at some point. I remember seeing a pic of Anders in the studio with an ENGL. Could've been with The Haunted, but either way, I'm pretty sure he liked them and used them. Live? No idea. But he did for something.

And Jesper is using the Savage (?) in the live session for The Halo Effect along with the other guy's 5150III. So I'm guessing they at least hang with those which are stupid loud.

 
mcstinger said:
OK, I don't want to argue, you seem to know the thing.

I must admit, that I was confused by the file, which says E645-1, which is indeed Powerball 1. Also there is Dsub9 connector in the functions switching section, which is easily visible on the back panel of the Powerball 1. And, on the back panel of the Powerball 2 there are confusing letters saying E645-2. Those Germans...
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Ah, I was looking at the filename which has an unqualified "E645" which if you Google will show a Powerball II in the results, but Engl's site and Sweetwater both draw a distinction via the -2 or /II suffix - my bad. When I searched for the unqualified model name I thought/assumed that because the Powerball II showed up that the original model would have a different model number.
 
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As a side note, does anyone dial in their amp to “destroy” the other guitarist’s amp live? Seems like a really weird concept to me, I’d always assume you’d be polite and set levels to ensure that the band sounds good in a mix :cheers2:

I think Sanders is an endorsee and his rig breakdown on Equipboard says he uses a Powerball. Cannibal Corpse I think used Engls on some album.
 
nightlight said:
Cannibal Corpse I think used Engls on some album.
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It was Kill, but their tone has been Rectifiers for long enough.

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nightlight said:
As a side note, does anyone dial in their amp to “destroy” the other guitarist’s amp live? Seems like a really weird concept to me, I’d always assume you’d be polite and set levels to ensure that the band sounds good in a mix :cheers2:
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That would be the ideal situation, but there are a lot of "musicians" out there that don't know how to find their space in the mix. I've played with too many guitarists that set their their tone with no consideration to how the rest of the band sounds or where they are in the mix then crank it to drown everyone else out.
 
MadAsAHatter said:
That would be the ideal situation, but there are a lot of "musicians" out there that don't know how to find their space in the mix. I've played with too many guitarists that set their their tone with no consideration to how the rest of the band sounds or where they are in the mix then crank it to drown everyone else out.
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That's kind of part of my issue with the whole "you need mids to cut through" attitude. I mean, yeah. But the snare, vocals, and other things occupy that space as well. IMO, a recipee for disaster much as scooping out the mids too much is.
 
I picked up a Powerball II a few months back, choosing it over a FB100. They have a similar thing going. I really dig the Fireball, but the versatility of the Powerball won out.
 
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