Anyone had or has ENGL POWERBALL type I ?

Roadrunner

Roadrunner

Power User
I have an offer for a very good deal on a used half stack ENGL Powerball I.
It was 15 or more years since the last time I had a real amp @ home, I've been in the rack pieces (power amps, preamps etc.) for many years and I'm thinking to get myself a real amp for home use, just for the "different flavor" vs. the AxeII setup.
So, anyone have any experience with that beast?
Further, who can tell about the sound and the difference between the MK1 and MK2?

Thanks.
 
I still have an ENGL Powerball (MK1), which also is the only tube amp I've ever owned. Question is: What type of music are you playing? I'm asking because in my opinion, the ENGL Powerball isn't a versatile amp. It does high gain metal very well and its clean sound is nice too, but anything else ... that's just my opinion.
 
That’s what I was afraid of….
I like metal….metal is g o o d…but the overall direction is modern both clean and dirty but with "something" in between.
I got also a very good deal for another 1/2 stack, Fireball 60w (+matching 4x12 of course), this one is also in very god shape and the price is low but again, I'm afraid it will be too focused on crashing distortion with no versatility.
 
Don't you have a possibility to try those amps before buying? Because if I understand correctly, you want "a real amp for home use, just for the "different flavor" vs. the AxeII setup", and while I'm not saying the Powerball was a bad amp, but it (in my opinion) isn't the second coming of a tube amplifier.
 
Out of the dozens of tube heads I've had over the years, the only ones that I somewhat regret parting with were the Engl Powerball I (haven't tried the II), the Bogner Ecstasy Classic and the Mesa Road King.
The Powerball was the one that I miss the most. It was one of the very few amps that had an AMAZING clean tone AND high gain and did both exceptionally well.
If I can ever work a trade for another, I would in a heartbeat.

I recorded an EP with the Powerball - here's one of the tracks from it (I used a Genz Benz G-Flex 2x12 cab)
https://soundcloud.com/jimosity/american-hardcore-swinging-3?in=jimosity/sets/american-hardcore
 
Gave it a lot of thoughts, the starting point was to look for a good and small tube head to run with my cabs (2 NeoLight212) and use @ home only or small jams.
Although the price of these 2 beasts is not so high, I will not go there again.
I've had big amps all my life as guitar player and decided I have to give a small one a try, a small tube amp which I will be able to cook well done.
So, it looks like we have a winner which is the Gigmaster 15 Head E315, it is a 15w head with a built in power soak of 15, 5, 1 and off.

The big ones are tempting but….I have to try something else this time.
Thanks for the info guys.
 
Went today to check the Gigmaster 15w and 30w……what a disappoint…. :cry
The clean are ok in a way but the distortion on both suffer from the same problem, it's too muddy, the dirty channel sounds stuffed, not clear enough.
Anyway I'm on my way to check the mini Recto this weekend….maybe….
 
I used to own a Powerball Mk I. For full-on polished modern super high gain tones in the room, the amp sounded fantastic. The amp was built from the ground up to do that kind of sound... and absolutely nothing else. It is as much of a one-trick-pony as a 5150.

However despite sounding and feeling great in the room, I never could get it to record very well though. It always sounded way too processed and sterile.
 
GreatGreen said:
I used to own a Powerball Mk I. For full-on polished modern super high gain tones in the room, the amp sounded fantastic. The amp was built from the ground up to do that kind of sound... and absolutely nothing else. It is as much of a one-trick-pony as a 5150.

However despite sounding and feeling great in the room, I never could get it to record very well though. It always sounded way too processed and sterile.
Click to expand...

Same experience here, although I found the 5150 to be infinitely more useful for recording than the powerball.
 
tommyco10 said:
Same experience here, although I found the 5150 to be infinitely more useful for recording than the powerball.
Click to expand...

Me too. I've never been a huge fan of standing next to a 5150 and playing in front of it, but microphones tend to love those amps for some reason. Exact opposite experience with a Powerball.
 
t is as much of a one-trick-pony as a 5150.
Click to expand...

I was afraid of that and luckily didn’t "fall" for it and buy it, despite of the very good price.
I also went to check the mini Recto and Carvin V3M.
The mini Recto suffers from the same problem the little ENGL and Orange have, a fizzy sound when driven heavily…could not make it sound fat and crushing
I guess it’s the tubes (EL84), never was a big fan of 84's.
Surprisingly the lil Carvin V3M sounded better but again it's not exactly what I was looking for, however it offers a lot of functionality, actually more than all the others mentioned and it's cheaper.
Then I've tried the Mesa Express 5:25, it sounds similar in a way to the Mark5 and offers similar control and yea, it sounded nice but it's out of the budget.

After checking many amps during last week, I've came back home, went to my studio, fired up my Axe/Matrix setup and…..dam it sounds MUCH better than everything I've tried.
But I do want a REAL amp in the room, just for the extra flavor, it's been so many years since the last time……
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom