NAD: Engl Artist Edition

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mcstinger

mcstinger

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Never played it before. Found second hand one nearby, so I pulled the trigger. Seems to be easy to dial in and sounds good. Any other owners here?

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Most "Marshally" sounding of all Engls. I really liked mine, did a swap plus cash with a guy for a Mezzabarba Trinity and IMO only, the Artist ate the Trinity's lunch for high gain sounds. The Trinity was a work of art build wise, great clean tones but I just did not bond that that amp at all. The Artist was really easy to dial in great gain tones, I just juiced the front a tad. Wish I had kept that amp.
 
MadAsAHatter said:
Nice score. I love my ENGLs. I see a Savage sitting under the AE. How do they compare?
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A bit longer story about my Engls, it is in context with the new Artist. Highly subjective of course.

The Savage SE is my favorite. I've had a bunch of amps before, but this one stays. I also have a bit of an emotional attachment to it because I bought it from a guy who had tears in his eyes when I took it away ;). I had to promise him that I would never sell it.

I also had a Savage 120 first series, but already a improved one with a larger transformer. I sold that too, because I was able to dial-in the same sound on the SE.

Morse Signature, sold. Fantastic amplifier, very variable, with a great base sound. But it lacked the ferocity that the Savage SE has.

Friedman Inferno, sold. I regret this sale, I should have kept it. Probably the most interesting and best voiced ENGL I've ever played. It just lacked a little more aggressiveness to make me prefer it over the Savage SE. I sold it in a weak moment.

Artist. I only bought it out of curiosity, since the guy was selling it for 500 Euros, Z-9 footswitch inclusive. Today I spent a hour to compare it with the Savage SE. Talking about SE channels 3 and 4.

The first impression was that they clearly share the preamp circuit topology. I felt the difference in the sound was not that significant. Artist had more bass, I had to match SE by turning Depth Boost on. Artist a bit more lower mids, more organic sounding, more musical and maybe I would say more rockier. Savage drier and a bit more ferocious. But the differences not that dramatic.

Then I got an idea and started pushing the Artist into a slight power tube distortion. And things started to happen. Chunky fucking mean yet organic wall of sound. I tried that with the Savage but didn't get the same ferocity and feeling. I guess it's the difference between the 6L6 and the EL34 power tubes, I can't explain it myself in any other way. Personally, I have always preferred the EL34, and it seems to be confirmed in this case as well. They sound crunchier to me, and with the Artist, this was reflected in the resulting aggressiveness. It is also interesting that Artis is slightly louder.

I also tested some crunch sounds, something in the style of AC/DC and also great. It was just a first meeting today, but it turned out very well for Artist. It seems to be a fantastic amp. Maybe it will stay with me for a while :)
 
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Congrats! I’ve not tried a Savage SE, but have played pretty much all their other models and my 3 favorites were the Artist, Inferno and SE EL34. I agree with your assessments. I remember also liking a lot the first channel on the higher gain mode, gain maxed and boosted with a pedal. The Artist had a great upper mid grind. More Marshall-y like others say. I only sold it because of the Cameron modded Marshall’s I had at the time
 
mcstinger said:
Never played it before. Found second hand one nearby, so I pulled the trigger. Seems to be easy to dial in and sounds good. Any other owners here?

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I've had a couple. KILLER amps! Tubes make a difference, as does bias.

I loved mine with KT77's. Also, a Tungsol in V1. Really gives it a nice grit, and the KT77's are more aggressive.
 
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napalmdeath said:
I've had a couple. KILLER amps! Tubes make a difference, as does bias.

I loved mine with KT77's. Also, a Tungsol in V1. Really gives it a nice grit, and the KT77's are more aggressive.
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Today I have checked bias. It was set too high, 110% power dissipation of tubes. Must be some lunatic tech doing the job. I set it around 70%. It plays like crazy. Fantastic amp.
 
The only ENGL amps I like are all falling in the Savage/Blackmore/E530 category and the Artist is basically a slightly more refined Blackmore and one of the best ENGL amps, imo.
 
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Have one - love it.
I'm an old ENGL guy - had several digitals, a couple of straight 100's, an OG Savage... still have this and my Ironball. May pick up the Fireball 25.
Enjoy - it's a great, versatile amp
 
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Wayniac3 said:
Have one - love it.
I'm an old ENGL guy - had several digitals, a couple of straight 100's, an OG Savage... still have this and my Ironball. May pick up the Fireball 25.
Enjoy - it's a great, versatile amp
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The Fireball 25 is a killer little amp! I had one, along with the 100, Retro Tube, and a couple Artists. Artist is definitely my favorite, but I preferred the 100 watt.
 
mcstinger said:
A bit longer story about my Engls, it is in context with the new Artist. Highly subjective of course.

The Savage SE is my favorite. I've had a bunch of amps before, but this one stays. I also have a bit of an emotional attachment to it because I bought it from a guy who had tears in his eyes when I took it away ;). I had to promise him that I would never sell it.

I also had a Savage 120 first series, but already a improved one with a larger transformer. I sold that too, because I was able to dial-in the same sound on the SE.

Morse Signature, sold. Fantastic amplifier, very variable, with a great base sound. But it lacked the ferocity that the Savage SE has.

Friedman Inferno, sold. I regret this sale, I should have kept it. Probably the most interesting and best voiced ENGL I've ever played. It just lacked a little more aggressiveness to make me prefer it over the Savage SE. I sold it in a weak moment.

Artist. I only bought it out of curiosity, since the guy was selling it for 500 Euros, Z-9 footswitch inclusive. Today I spent a hour to compare it with the Savage SE. Talking about SE channels 3 and 4.

The first impression was that they clearly share the preamp circuit topology. I felt the difference in the sound was not that significant. Artist had more bass, I had to match SE by turning Depth Boost on. Artist a bit more lower mids, more organic sounding, more musical and maybe I would say more rockier. Savage drier and a bit more ferocious. But the differences not that dramatic.

Then I got an idea and started pushing the Artist into a slight power tube distortion. And things started to happen. Chunky fucking mean yet organic wall of sound. I tried that with the Savage but didn't get the same ferocity and feeling. I guess it's the difference between the 6L6 and the EL34 power tubes, I can't explain it myself in any other way. Personally, I have always preferred the EL34, and it seems to be confirmed in this case as well. They sound crunchier to me, and with the Artist, this was reflected in the resulting aggressiveness. It is also interesting that Artis is slightly louder.

I also tested some crunch sounds, something in the style of AC/DC and also great. It was just a first meeting today, but it turned out very well for Artist. It seems to be a fantastic amp. Maybe it will stay with me for a while :)
Click to expand...

Artist Edition and Savage SE both sound killer the way you describe them. One day I may end up getting one of those, but for now I'm happy with my Morse and Inferno.

I agree with your assessment of the Morse & Inferno.
The Morse is super versatile and can get aggressive, but you're not going to get modern metal tones from it. I can some really good thrash sounds out of mine though.
Before I got my Inferno I was deciding between that and a Savage SE. I thought the Inferno had a bit more complex tone to it than the SE and was a bit smother. The Inferno can get fairly aggressive too, but not quite like the SE. It was a hard decision, but I ultimately went with the Inferno because its tone was slightly more interesting and the Savage SE was more amp than I needed.
 
glpg80 said:
Hell yeah!! Any clips?!
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Unfortunately not yet. Complete lack of time. I was happy to be able to finish servicing it today in the evening. I have found one bad contact on one connector and cleaned it completely. Looks like new now :). I will try to reamp few tracks during next week. I hate recording now, living in a temporary apartment and have bad conditions here. Hum from 230V and interference from LAN over powerline :bash:.
 
MadAsAHatter said:
Artist Edition and Savage SE both sound killer the way you describe them. One day I may end up getting one of those, but for now I'm happy with my Morse and Inferno.

I agree with your assessment of the Morse & Inferno.
The Morse is super versatile and can get aggressive, but you're not going to get modern metal tones from it. I can some really good thrash sounds out of mine though.
Before I got my Inferno I was deciding between that and a Savage SE. I thought the Inferno had a bit more complex tone to it than the SE and was a bit smother. The Inferno can get fairly aggressive too, but not quite like the SE. It was a hard decision, but I ultimately went with the Inferno because its tone was slightly more interesting and the Savage SE was more amp than I needed.
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Yes, it's like you described it. I miss Inferno. It has that purr and smoothness of Morse and a bit more aggressiveness. Great amp.
 
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