well, I didn't find any clips for this rig but figured this was the way to go all Engl so I got the e850 and two 2x12 pro cabs to go with my e530.
no clips, but this rig is powerful, rich and just amazing IMO. just don't stand directly in front. I still have all the controls at noon on the preamp, need to check my presence and depth settings on the power amp. I can get clean, od/edge of breakup, crunch, then as much distortion/gain saturation as I care to add. very versatile rig IMO. I don't play metal anymore, no numetal, no drop tunings, but this rig does everything I wanted. I have a bunch of effects too (pedal and rack) but this rig sounds so good as-is I have no interest in using any effects.
I've had the poweramp up to noon volumewise, though I don't think that got the power tubes going...there is so much headroom in this power amp it is not a rig if you want power amp gain IMO, unless you play extremely loud. While I often push the power amp volume to noon, I play with the power amp volumes at 9 o'clock most of the time, and get all the gain from the preamp. I think a good tube or ss power amp not pushed into od, dist or clipping would sound good with the e530 but the e850 just adds more fullness/richness/dimension compared to running the e530 direct to FRFR (only other way I tried it). worth the price? not sure, but everytime I use it I forget the cost. very happy with it.
let me know if you have specific questions I may be able to answer? while my fav tones are still Rics into Vox, and I still dig my other preamps, for anything/everything else Engl is it for me. no tube amp GAS at all. now I just need to try to ignore any posts on Diezel.