Engl Fireball 25 or EVH Stealth 50w?

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orthöhead

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I’m split between an Engl Fireball 25w KT-77 and EVH stealth 50w. I have a Mesa mark V 90w and a Marshall Silver jubilee 20w. I want a new amp that can cover the ground between these two. I’ve been eyeballing the Engl FB 25 for a while which seems to be the best option for me, but I also hear EVH stealth 50 may be a good option. I play classic rock, hard rock and metal. Not fan of mid scooped sound, I like mids. Has anyone owned and has experience with both FB 25 and stealth 50?
I’ve also heard some worrying stuff about issues and inferior build quality with EVH amps. Any inputs are appreciated, thanks!
 
Calling @napalmdeath don't you have a Fireball 25?
 
Having owned both at the same time, along with a 100 watt stealth and regular 50 watt EVH, I would pass on the 50s. It has a much messier sound vs the 50 watt 6l6 version, and the 50 6l6 sounds more like the 100 watt heads than the 50s does. So if you are considering an EVH 50, I'd look at the 6l6 version. As far as comparing it to the FB25, they're pretty different amps with different tones that are in the same playing field, if that makes sense. They share some similarities, but ultimately, the Engl has that Engl tone and the EVH has the 5150 tone. They're both great amps, similar features, similar price, similar reliability. Just depends if you want Engl tone or 5150 tone.
 
rbasaria said:
Having owned both at the same time, along with a 100 watt stealth and regular 50 watt EVH, I would pass on the 50s. It has a much messier sound vs the 50 watt 6l6 version, and the 50 6l6 sounds more like the 100 watt heads than the 50s does. So if you are considering an EVH 50, I'd look at the 6l6 version. As far as comparing it to the FB25, they're pretty different amps with different tones that are in the same playing field, if that makes sense. They share some similarities, but ultimately, the Engl has that Engl tone and the EVH has the 5150 tone. They're both great amps, similar features, similar price, similar reliability. Just depends if you want Engl tone or 5150 tone.
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Thanks for the feedback! I like the tightness of Engl, and despite being a 2-channel amp it can do low gain stuff pretty good too?
 
orthöhead said:
Thanks for the feedback! I like the tightness of Engl, and despite being a 2-channel amp it can do low gain stuff pretty good too?
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The Engl is tight indeed, and can do lower gain. I've owned all the EVH's, and the Stealth 50 blue channel was the best of the bunch. But, the red channel on all of them is an over-gained hot mess. Like Raf said, they both have "their" tone, it's a matter of which you prefer. I personally prefer the Engl. Aggressive, and more dynamics. The EVH's are sterile to me. Sure, they're aggressive too, but I get better and more harmonically rich lead tones out of the Engl, so it checks more boxes.
 
napalmdeath said:
The Engl is tight indeed, and can do lower gain. I've owned all the EVH's, and the Stealth 50 blue channel was the best of the bunch. But, the red channel on all of them is an over-gained hot mess. Like Raf said, they both have "their" tone, it's a matter of which you prefer. I personally prefer the Engl. Aggressive, and more dynamics. The EVH's are sterile to me. Sure, they're aggressive too, but I get better and more harmonically rich lead tones out of the Engl, so it checks more boxes.
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Sorry to derail but I have a question about taming the red channel on the 5153 50W Stealth. Would a different preamp tube help? I agree on the blue channel but the red channel on the 5153 50W Stealth gets insane once you go over 4 (10'oclock).
 
MetalThrasher said:
Sorry to derail but I have a question about taming the red channel on the 5153 50W Stealth. Would a different preamp tube help? I agree on the blue channel but the red channel on the 5153 50W Stealth gets insane once you go over 4 (10'oclock).
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Some lower gain tubes in V2, V3, & V4. All 3 of those spots effect channel 3.
 
napalmdeath said:
The Engl is tight indeed, and can do lower gain. I've owned all the EVH's, and the Stealth 50 blue channel was the best of the bunch. But, the red channel on all of them is an over-gained hot mess. Like Raf said, they both have "their" tone, it's a matter of which you prefer. I personally prefer the Engl. Aggressive, and more dynamics. The EVH's are sterile to me. Sure, they're aggressive too, but I get better and more harmonically rich lead tones out of the Engl, so it checks more boxes.
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That confirms pretty much my impression of these two after doing some research. I think I’m going ahead and order the FB25 KT-77.

One more thing, KT-77 has same bias as EL-34 right? In case one might want to swap once in a while?
 
orthöhead said:
That confirms pretty much my impression of these two after doing some research. I think I’m going ahead and order the FB25 KT-77.

One more thing, KT-77 has same bias as EL-34 right? In case one might want to swap once in a while?
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Yes. In fact, I put E34L's in mine just for fun, and they sound even puncher. I like it.
 
MetalThrasher said:
What should I get? I'm going to try it.
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First try one or two 5751's in V3 and V4. Or go bold, and try one (!) 12AU7 in V3. Be warned; the 12AU7 will majorly change the tone and lower the gain on the red channel and you'll have a hard time to still get the chugga-chugga tonez from it, but it will do Gary Moore type of leads in a heartbeat; at least that was my experience with a NOS RCA 12AU7 from the 60's or 70's...
 
Everyone likes different shit. It's so hard to say...you should buy this or this. Guitar players are so finicky that I can't even predict what my closest friends would and wouldn't like haha. Personally, I prefer the EVH stuff over Engl. Doesn't mean I don't like the Engl. Nothing wrong with it, and it sounds great. But I've been playing 5150s for so long, now, that it's hard for me to identify with other amps. I like that the red channel has an absurd amount of gain. I like that they can sound a little bit messy. But there's also a limit to that, that I think the 50s exceeds, but the EVH 100S red channel is basically the perfect tone to my ears.
 
I had a Fireball back in the day and was a great amp. I have a 5150-III 6l6 50 Stealth now and love it. As mentioned, I focus on thr blue channel for my tone. The red kicks ass but I keep the gain at under noon for that one.

I just got a Marshall Silver Jubillee Studio head and loving it. It covers more hard rock and higher mids than my EVH which is metal and lower mids. The ENGL stuff is more in that metal vein obviously but can do other stuff.

I love so many different amps and each is useful for something different.
 
romanianreaper said:
I had a Fireball back in the day and was a great amp. I have a 5150-III 6l6 50 Stealth now and love it. As mentioned, I focus on thr blue channel for my tone. The red kicks ass but I keep the gain at under noon for that one.

I just got a Marshall Silver Jubillee Studio head and loving it. It covers more hard rock and higher mids than my EVH which is metal and lower mids. The ENGL stuff is more in that metal vein obviously but can do other stuff.

I love so many different amps and each is useful for something different.
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The Stealth 50 is the best of the EVH 50 watters for sure. The blue channel is excellent and the red, even with its absurd level of gain, is voiced much better than the other 50 watt variants.
 
napalmdeath said:
The Stealth 50 is the best of the EVH 50 watters for sure. The blue channel is excellent and the red, even with its absurd level of gain, is voiced much better than the other 50 watt variants.
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I just ordered two 5751's. Curious to see how it works for the red channel. The blue channel is money, but the red channel needs to be tamed because as soon as you get the gain up to 10 o'clock, after that it basically becomes unusable.
 
MetalThrasher said:
I just ordered two 5751's. Curious to see how it works for the red channel. The blue channel is money, but the red channel needs to be tamed because as soon as you get the gain up to 10 o'clock, after that it basically becomes unusable.
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Good; the 2 5751's will basically shift the gain range downwards. So, if stock it goes from 1 to 10, where the insanity starts at '4', with the 2 5751's it'll go more like from '-1' to 8, where the insanity stars maybe at 4.5 or 5... You still probably won't turn it past 2 o' clock, but at least you gained some 70's hard rock levels of gain between 1 and 3 (out of 10).
 
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