Engl Special Edition - Founders Edition

[Bad.Seed]

Lives up to the hype? Who's hyping it right now other than YouTube shills? Apologies to our resident shills. I like the videos, but come on, I don't hear anything different in this amp from when I owned one.

So me, Ola and Jon, as we are the only ones who have been allowed to review it up to this point. Ola did not hype it in his video. I didn't hype it in my video. I merely played through it and gave my thoughts, which were that it sounds like the old amp but has been updated. So not really sure what you're on about, my guy.

I get it, this forum hates Youtubers, but at least make an attempt to be accurate with your hate, you're better than that!

 

[RedB4Black]

So me, Ola and Jon, as we are the only ones who have been allowed to review it up to this point. Ola did not hype it in his video. I didn't hype it in my video. I merely played through it and gave my thoughts, which were that it sounds like the old amp but has been updated. So not really sure what you're on about, my guy.

I get it, this forum hates Youtubers, but at least make an attempt to be accurate with your hate, you're better than that!

Jon said the "hype is real!" I was responding to that post....so I guess it's just his hype! I actually haven't watched his video yet. Watched yours and Olas. My comment was that it sounded like the old one...and also that the buttons and shit sounded like they were before (useless) (I said that above). And I don't hate youtubers. I just could do without the full frontal assault from all the youtubers every time a new product drops.

 

[thegame]

Jon said the "hype is real!" I was responding to that post....so I guess it's just his hype! I actually haven't watched his video yet. Watched yours and Olas. My comment was that it sounded like the old one...and also that the buttons and shit sounded like they were before (useless) (I said that above). And I don't hate youtubers. I just could do without the full frontal assault from all the youtubers every time a new product drops.

Whoa there. Don't you know YT gear reviewers have our best interests at heart? Just relax, loosen that tie by grabbing a 'Big KB' tank top and then chill out with a cup of joe in your very own Ola 'chug life' coffee mug! As for Jon, I don't see him panhandling anything except clicks. The only thing I see by looking at him is Fluff's 'before' picture.

 

[rsm]

IDK, the Bogner Ultra Uber is compelling. And I dig and own Engl, but this new Founders Edition doesn't add enough to what I already have.

Now if I didn't have any Engls, different story.

The top amp on my GAS list is the Mesa JP-2C, and the only Mesa I really liked was the TriAxis which I still own. Never was a Mesa player tho.

My fav amps are Marshall, and the Engl Artist Edition because it's in the Marshall sound family IMO

 

[Eazy-ESP]

Whoa there. Don't you know YT gear reviewers have our best interests at heart? Just relax, loosen that tie by grabbing a 'Big KB' tank top and then chill out with a cup of joe in your very own Ola 'chug life' coffee mug! As for Jon, I don't see him panhandling anything except clicks. The only thing I see by looking at him is Fluff's 'before' picture.

At least they get paid for it. You are on here trying to earn laugh emojis for your edgy comments.

As much as the YouTube gear thing annoys me these days, I also sometimes get on there to hear an amp. Something I could never do 15 years ago.

When I was young I had to go to a guitar shop and ask what pedal would give me a big distortion sound. At that stage all I really probably wanted was a metal zone. So what did the guitar guy tell meet buy to plug into my solid state clean only amp... an overdrive pedal. I had no money or any guitar friends, so that's all I had to play for years.

 

[Speeddemon]

I like the videos, but come on, I don't hear anything different in this amp from when I owned one.

My feelings exactly. It doesn't sound that different from the SE EL34 I had...and sold for a reason.
Yes, the Lead I can sound brutal and Lead II sounds massively thick and saturated, but there's not a typical Engl Savage-like sound to be had...
And IMO, if you're doing a flagship model, it should at least include some form of attempt to get a few of your classic staple tones in there.
Mesa included IIC+ modes in the Mark V, right? Marshall has some JCM800 and Plexi tone-attempts in the JVM, right?

For Engl NOT to have the raw, tight sound they got famous for (mostly by tons of Euro-metal bands) in their flagship model.... missed opportunity.
I get more playing enjoyment out of my Savage 60 -which is A LOT simpler- than I got out of the SE, even when the SE had certain functions that I would love to see on the Savage 60. Haven't played the Savage 60 MKII tho'; it shouldn't have been a full sized head IMO.

And mind you, the Engl Invader 100 -which I still own- ain't perfect either. (Especially CH4 is too bloated/thick/oversatured, and CH2 can be too smooth, but otherwise great). But it sure as hell is a lot more versatile in tones than the SE was and what I'm hearing in the Founders Editions. Mainly because the lo/hi gain switches on the Invader give a really useful step-up in gain. With the SE, the lo-gain mode on Lead I and Lead II made it a bit wimpy and hi-gain mode made it almost too brutal, depending on how the gain knob is set. I hear the same thing in the clips of Ola, Jon and Kyle.

With the Invader, if you set the Gain to say 6 (out of 10), you can switch between a nice rhythm tone and a thicker, gainier lead tone on CH2 and CH3. For Clean channel, with the gain set to 3 (out of 10), you can switch between true clean (0 break-up even with humbucker) and a slightly hairy edge.

With the SE (and apparently the Founders Edt.) you have to run the gain (knob) pretty high in Lo gain mode to get a decent rhythm sound. If you *then* switch to hi gain mode (without changing position of the gain knob) it becomes too much IMO.
And if you create a great tone in hi gain mode (by lowering the gain knob), if you then switch to lo-gain mode, it's kinda lacklustre...

Case in point, Jon's video around 17m10s-17m25s.
He has the gain at 6 with hi-gain mode on, then switches it off... wimpy rhythm tone, at least for metal. Then he cranks the gain (whilst still in low-gain mode), sounds decent/good again and when he engages the Hi Gain mode again, boom, too much gain/oversaturation and compression.

The SE (and the Invader too) miss these medium gain, 'kerrangy' tones, which the Savage 60 can deliver in spades. And I believe the Artist can too.
There's a certain 'je ne sais quoi' in the Crunch channel's tone of the SE and Founders Edt. that makes it sound a tad too thick and compressed. Perfectly useable, mind you (and miles better than R2 on a Mesa Mark IV), but not really a Malcolm Young/Joe Walsh tone to be had. I *can* actually get those out of the Savage 60 (and if memory serves me well, the Blackmore Sig, Sovereign and even the Screamer could do that too...)

 

[Bad.Seed]

IDK, the Bogner Ultra Uber is compelling. And I dig and own Engl, but this new Founders Edition doesn't add enough to what I already have.

Now if I didn't have any Engls, different story.

The top amp on my GAS list is the Mesa JP-2C, and the only Mesa I really liked was the TriAxis which I still own. Never was a Mesa player tho.

My fav amps are Marshall, and the Engl Artist Edition because it's in the Marshall sound family IMO

Engl has been great to work with for me, but that hasn't changed my opinions or recommendations regarding their products. With that said, I still think the Fireball 100 and the Artist are by far their best models IMO as they're both the most traditional in both sound and gain structure when compared to the SE and Savage models. I owned all of the Savage 120 offerings including the SE, and I personally have no desire to own them again.

Regarding the Bogner Uber Ultra, that amp actually IS hyped, but it actually lives up to the hype, IMO. I was not the biggest fan of the older Uber models. The Rev Green suits me more than the blue, but neither are amps I'm choosing over the old classics, my 5150, Dual Rec, or JCM 2000. I've had a lot of people coming to me after trying an Uber and literally saying 'I think it was broke" because it's such an overly hyped amp for the high gain crowd, but it just doesn't sound as aggressive or tight as they're expecting for a modern high gain amp. The Uber Ultra fixes that, BUT - you have to know how to dial amps in by experimenting with all the sounds to get there, as there are a lot of switches and dials that make drastic differences and the sweet spots can be hard to find, depending on what switches are set where.

 

[RedB4Black]

Regarding the Bogner Uber Ultra, that amp actually IS hyped, but it actually lives up to the hype, IMO.

That I’ll agree with. I have the el34 version and it’s sick. Actually running gold lion KT88s and gold lion preamp tubes in it now. It’s brutal and clear. Actually was very similar to my Wizard Hell Razor. The Hell Razor is less compressed and has bigger punch, but for half the $ the Uber can’t be beat.

I do find a lot if the switches on the Ultra useless to me. I keep it on hair mode. I set it once and haven’t touched it since. The density knob is weird too. Need to be pretty far clockwise before I like it.

 

[the4thlast1]

Yup, yup. Don’t sleep on the Ultra. That’s the amp to get IMO. Really liking mine. With that said, The original SE does have a wow factor to it. Crazy amount of lowend and gain. But ultimately in a band setting or recording you would end up dialing that all back and be left with an average compressed tone. The original version also seemed to vary a good deal from amp to amp. I owned two and tried another one at a dealer. Engl prob were tweaking the amp over the years considering they sold it for so long. I’m assuming this one is where they ended up.

I like the comment someone made above , it would have been cool to have one of the channels redesigned to be open and raw similar to the first version Savage. The Savage mkII does not sound like the original to me going off the clips. I don’t get that amp, it sounds like they pushed it in the direction of the SE making it compressed and dark. I would agree with Kyle that the Artist and the FB100 are their best new designs. I had both and thought the same.

 

[Bad.Seed]

That I’ll agree with. I have the el34 version and it’s sick. Actually running gold lion KT88s and gold lion preamp tubes in it now. It’s brutal and clear. Actually was very similar to my Wizard Hell Razor. The Hell Razor is less compressed and has bigger punch, but for half the $ the Uber can’t be beat.

I do find a lot if the switches on the Ultra useless to me. I keep it on hair mode. I set it once and haven’t touched it since. The density knob is weird too. Need to be pretty far clockwise before I like it.

Same, I'm not sure what's up with some of the Bogner voicings to be honest. I felt like I heard a lot of the Helios Eclipse voicing modes in the UU which I also found useless. Very open mids to the point of sounding obnoxious. Not sure who those sounds are for.

 

[thegame]

You are on here trying to earn laugh emojis for your edgy comments.

I categorically deny this. I spew my patented word vomit as effortlessly as Regan did in the Exorcist. Speaking of which, go see Exorcist: true believer, playing in all fine theaters now. I can shill with the best of them too.

 

[boltzthrower]

I categorically deny this. I spew my patented word vomit as effortlessly as Regan did in the Exorcist. Speaking of which, go see Exorcist: true believer, playing in all fine theaters now. I can shill with the best of them too.

Loves me a good horror movie but boy do I have to suspend my disbelief when the answer to ward off “evil” is embracing a misogynistic pro-slavery child rape cult.

But back on track here, SE > Savage. I agree that some amps cut better than others despite EQ settings, but the SE cut as good as anything back when I had one. Either y’all dialed it in like a metal zone pedal through your mom’s stereo or your idea of good tone is like the Parents’ voices on the old Peanuts cartoons. Accept your true inner musician and just bring an actual fucking horn to the show and call it a day.

 

[TheGreatGreen]

Same, I'm not sure what's up with some of the Bogner voicings to be honest. I felt like I heard a lot of the Helios Eclipse voicing modes in the UU which I also found useless. Very open mids to the point of sounding obnoxious. Not sure who those sounds are for.

Yep. I find that if you adjust the Presence switch, you really need to re-adjust the tonestack, particularly the Mid knob, along with it. Each position is drastically different enough that if you have a sound you like and then only change to a new setting on the Presence switch, you're going to get an annoying / notchy tone.

Also, don't overlook Channel 1 for high gain. It can get harsh and ice-picky really easily, but if you keep the Presence high and Treble low, like "under 10:00" low, you can get some huge smooth but clear tones that are just different enough from Channel 1 to be worth doing.

 

[mooncobra]

Ola used to have good videos before he ad nauseum added fart noises and other childish trash. Fuck you very much, schill

Such a bozo

 

[Eazy-ESP]

Engl has been great to work with for me, but that hasn't changed my opinions or recommendations regarding their products. With that said, I still think the Fireball 100 and the Artist are by far their best models IMO as they're both the most traditional in both sound and gain structure when compared to the SE and Savage models. I owned all of the Savage 120 offerings including the SE, and I personally have no desire to own them again.

Regarding the Bogner Uber Ultra, that amp actually IS hyped, but it actually lives up to the hype, IMO. I was not the biggest fan of the older Uber models. The Rev Green suits me more than the blue, but neither are amps I'm choosing over the old classics, my 5150, Dual Rec, or JCM 2000. I've had a lot of people coming to me after trying an Uber and literally saying 'I think it was broke" because it's such an overly hyped amp for the high gain crowd, but it just doesn't sound as aggressive or tight as they're expecting for a modern high gain amp. The Uber Ultra fixes that, BUT - you have to know how to dial amps in by experimenting with all the sounds to get there, as there are a lot of switches and dials that make drastic differences and the sweet spots can be hard to find, depending on what switches are set where.

Choosing it over your old classics 5150, Dual Rec, JCM 2000? Dude, I watched your video showing over 100 amps .

 

[mooncobra]

Special Ed for short. Every amp guaranteed to be delivered in a short yellow bus.

The bus is included so you get to ride around in the, “special,” bus.

 

[Speeddemon]

Either y’all dialed it in like a metal zone pedal through your mom’s stereo or your idea of good tone is like the Parents’ voices on the old Peanuts cartoons. Accept your true inner musician and just bring an actual fucking horn to the show and call it a day.

Ok, i'll bite. Couldn't help but laugh at such a feeble attempt to sound cool when you don't know what everyone's experience with (these) amps is.

Here's mine, (if you wonder why the sound changes early on, that's my phone's camera adjusting for the volume).
https://streamable.com/689w9x


now show me yours.

FWIW, I never once said that the SE doesn't cut through or anything. It *can* sound fuckin' brutal and as someone who's owned and played many Engls, you gotta know how the channel volumes interact with the master volume. Low channel volume + high master volume = distortion pedal sound, opposed to 'tube amp' sound. This holds true for the Savage, the SE, the Invader... That's why it still baffles me that Ola runs his Savage 60 this way (Lead volume around 8 or 9 'o clock with the Master at 2 'o clock... I have it the other way around and it sounds waaaaay better that way.)

 

[Bad.Seed]

Choosing it over your old classics 5150, Dual Rec, JCM 2000? Dude, I watched your video showing over 100 amps .

Not sure what you're getting at?

Those are the amps I gravitate towards for most situations, whether I have 10 amps or 1,000

 

[glpg80]

Not sure what you're getting at?

Those are the amps I gravitate towards for most situations, whether I have 10 amps or 1,000

I have to agree with Kyle here. If you can’t get it done with any of those three (plus the plethora of pedals that exist today) it can’t be done on guitar.

Back on topic I never once said the amp doesn’t sound great recorded. I just wish their customer service to the no name people was as polished as it is to the named people getting sent amps for review. In this day and age the repair/support part matters ESPECIALLY in a world quickly being dominated by modelers and capturing. You’d think tube companies would be bending over backwards to support their products and customers as much as possible.

 

[Eazy-ESP]

Not sure what you're getting at?

Those are the amps I gravitate towards for most situations, whether I have 10 amps or 1,000

It was just a light joke mate. Not malicious at all. It just seemed funny to me that we amp guys are the way we are. You have 3 favourite amps. The search should be over. But we keep buying more.