Engl amps

Im not sure if engl is to big in the u.s.a atm but basicaly they are europes version of krank. I tryed one of the engl powerballs out and it blow me away. i only had the gain at 12 oclcock and it was much more heavyer then my current randall. Has anyone else tryed this amps yet?

Probably not a good comparison as Krank is not really looked upon very favorably in the US.

kranks are doing really well actually in the states! I've yet to hear a bad review about one of them yet...however theyre made for one thing and one thing only and thats heavy heavy distortion

-dave

engls are awesome btw...on a different plane of existence then kranks at any rate

I've read a couple of reviews about 2 Krankenstein heads overheating and burning up and I see mixed reviews on the head. Some say the distortion is over the top and I've seen others that say it is not what they expected. I would love to play one though to check it out. I'm sure in the beginning they had issues like any new product would as far as the overheating goes. Probably fixed by now. I hear nothing but good things about the Powerballs.

I played through a krankenstein and i hated it. It was really fizzley. However the chadwick and the revolution i think its called sound most excellent.

I didnt get the krankenstien up to levels really on second thought, but the preamp sounded just super thin.

Krank's stuff just doesn't compare to equally priced products...they're selling well but we all know why.

Engl amplifiers are considered high-end/boutique amps in the U.S.

There aren?t too many Engl distributors here in the U.S.

And, I too have heard nothing but good things about Engl?

Krank, on the other hand, I?m not interested.

kranks are over priced because theyre handing them out like candy to bands who tour and moron kids want to buy em. They're not a value at any rate, however some of them do sound pretty good.

Engls are boutique in the states its true; theres a guy in sofla who sells em and they sound awesome, but i dont think theyre worth the money personally

xspiderfingersx said:

Engls are boutique in the states its true; theres a guy in sofla who sells em and they sound awesome, but i dont think theyre worth the money personally

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Well, that's thing. Some of these amps aren't necessarily worth the money they are charging; some are. It gets down to what you think is of quality (pleasing to your ear), supply and demand, and what you're willing to pay.

The best advice ive ever heard on gear is that, nothing is worth what these companies ask, and that good tone really comes from your fingers. I was preparing to get a bogner at one point before this dude turned me onto the MTS series, and these things sound just as good as that bogner for a grand less and with twice the flexibility.

xspiderfingersx said:

The best advice ive ever heard on gear is that, nothing is worth what these companies ask, and that good tone really comes from your fingers. I was preparing to get a bogner at one point before this dude turned me onto the MTS series, and these things sound just as good as that bogner for a grand less and with twice the flexibility.

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Agreed except for the "tone really comes from your fingers" advice.

If tone really came from one's fingers, why do luthiers use specific types of woods? Because there is such a thing as tonewoods, and they use these specific woods to attain a tonal quality the artist/player expects. This obviously applies to both electric and acoustic instruments, but it is definitely the case for acoustic instruments.

In the end, there are many, many elements that go into making what folks generically call "tone." The type of wood used on the guitar, the guitar?s construction, the type of pickups, the type of amplifier and the kind of tubes and design that is used, and finally how the player employs specific techniques or effects to get that "tone". Saying ?tone is in your fingers? is an over-simplification that completely ignores a large list of factors that can affect ANYONE?S tone.

Ultimately, we all have to be happy with what we hear when we play, and our ears and our wallets will tell us where that happy medium resides?

a good musician will shine through on any gear and thats the bottom line. Good gear will always help bring out good playing, but in the end someone can head out buy a 5000 dollar les paul and still be a **** player, or someone can play on a mexican strat that he found at a pawn shop and sound amazing.

xspiderfingersx said:

a good musician will shine through on any gear and thats the bottom line. Good gear will always help bring out good playing, but in the end someone can head out buy a 5000 dollar les paul and still be a s*&t player, or someone can play on a mexican strat that he found at a pawn shop and sound amazing.

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A good musician is someone who has better and more refined technique, and has way more playing experience. That's the bottom line.

A crappy Kay guitar, for example, is still going to sound like a crappy Kay guitar no matter who is playing it.

I've owned a Powerball and a e530 Preamp.

Engls are beyond any shadow of a doubt and AWESOME amp!

One of the few great amps that have incredible cleans AND high gains as well (+ everything in between).

I'm still wondering why I sold my Powerball...
hmm.

If you read the forums on Harmony-Central, you don't hear much good about the Krank stuff.

A crappy Kay guitar, for example, is still going to sound like a crappy Kay guitar no matter who is playing it

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with in reason of course my friend. My favorite example would be thus:

Johnny Winter(one of the best slide guitar players ever to exist) played a fender mustang for a number of years because that was all he could afford; When was the last time you associated ballsy slide playing with a mustang...or anything attractive sounding from a mustang for that matter(may a train hit anyone who dares mention nirvana in rebuttle to this!)

Good gear cannot disguise a bad player was my whole point and vice versa. You have to hold with in relativity to things being PLAYABLE though.

More or less if youre on a gear forum, youve got GAS in one way or another and you love gear. Im very guilty of loving gear.

But there is not a single person here who can truly justify the money they put into rigs for the amount of work their bands get or playing they get to do. We're all for the most part intense hobbyists haha.

-dave