ENGL cleans?
ENGL cleans?
I second that. Blackmore all the way. The Powerball was more "scoopy" sounding to me no matter where your mids are at. The Blackmore nails the mid range like my 5150II but better. Plus, the Blackmore will ALWAYS cut through the mix. It's real "present" I guess I would say. My bud does the mid scoop thing with his and it still dominates. Destroys his other guitarists Powerball. Dont get me wrong though, the Powerball is still a killer amp. I just prefered the voicing of the Blackmore.
unless you can afford a Savage, in that case............................your gonna be one lucky SOB.
In my personal experience, the cleans on the Powerball are very crystal clear and sparkly, not really a Jazz clean, if you get what I'm saying.
As far as the high gain goes, very fizzy. I didn't notice this at first, but when a friend of mine brought his VHT Ultra Lead round for a jam, it made my PB sound like fizz and nothing else, which was disappointing, though, each to their own. The distortion is just quite transistory sounding, not very warm, and the amount of gain on tap is beyond insane, you'd be covering up your playing if you had it above 12'o'clock. Also 100 watts is just insane, useless unless you're planning on playing an arena anytime soon.
Unfortunately I sold mine, coz it wasn't getting the use it deserved. I'm now settled with a Dr. Z MAZ 18watt amp for cleans and amp scouting for the ideal gainy amp.
I'd say check out the Fireball and the Blackmore, as they seem to have some very good responses as well. Around the 50watt mark seems to be the ideal power.
-Chris
I find the cleans on the Powerball to be pretty good, but nothing special. They're kinda bright and sparkly (which is great for some uses) whereas I prefer my cleans to be warmer/rounder/fuller sounding. When I compared my Powerball's cleans side by side with those of the Framus Dragon and H&K TriAmp it showed me just how much better they could be.
I'll tell you what does kick ass about the Powerball though... channel 2 (crunch) with the gain up and an MXR GT-OD in front. WAY more natural mids and cut and just chunkier in general. I pretty much never use channel 3 & 4 anymore.
I find the cleans on the Powerball to be pretty good, but nothing special. They're kinda bright and sparkly (which is great for some uses) whereas I prefer my cleans to be warmer/rounder/fuller sounding. When I compared my Powerball's cleans side by side with those of the Framus Dragon and H&K TriAmp it showed me just how much better they could be.
I'll tell you what does kick ass about the Powerball though... channel 2 (crunch) with the gain up and an MXR GT-OD in front. WAY more natural mids and cut and just chunkier in general. I pretty much never use channel 3 & 4 anymore.
maybe I shoulda tried that. I really like the mid range to be dominate in my tone. Not Slayer mid range but...............well you probably get the idea. For some dumbass reason I never thought about boosting that channel. Now I dont have the PB. I did kinda just want to get my tone from the amp though. Thats why I dont use a boost with my 5150II. Just bought a combo of really Bright high gain pre-amp tubes and some warmer "less gain" pre's to keep it tight. Than some killer power tubes of course.
I really like the Fireball or Blackmore though. Everytime I plug into a blackmore it gives me wood. Kinda awkward:lol
Cool, guys, thanks alot for all the input! So the FB, Blackmore, PB and Savage all have different voicing? Well, obviously, but how much do they differ? I doubt I'll be able to play them all.
The main differences between the FB and PB, then? 2 vs 4 channels, are there any more major differences? How do they sound compared to one another?
Again, thanks dudes. I have major ENGL gas and potential money to spend on one.
Cool. Which did you prefer, Sean? SE, I suppose, but by how much, and why?
Thanks dudes.
Hard to say. The SE has everyyyyyyything, and the PB is a little stripped down. Which I like IMO the SE was too much. Too many knobs, too many buttons just too much LOL I kinda liked the PB better as it was quick to dial in a tone, and you are ready to rock. :)
Cheers Matt. What didn't you like about the Powerball?
Despite being cheaper, would you actually call the Blackmore a better amp?