ENGL Ironball Special Edition

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Hey everyone,

Got this awesome "little" Ironball SE from ENGL to review... I'm sure you guys have heard of it since a lot of videos have been coming out of it. But yeah, this thing is pretty nuts! I already thought the regular E606 Ironball was great but this special edition adds so many great features like the noise gate, midi control, delay, the IR loader, master volume boost etc. They tried to fit as many features into this amp as possible and I honestly think that they nailed it.

One of the coolest things about the Ironball is that it's so nicely voiced, especially on the lead channel. Crunchy mids and highs as well as very tight lows. You won't need a boost pedal with this amp, even with an 8-string or something like that (as you can hear in the demo). ENGL makes high quality amps across the board and this is no exception!

Here's my review in which I go over the features and of course, demo some tones from clean to 8-string heavy. Check it out:

 
Hi Jon,
Very nice and thorough video!

A few of my nitpicks with the regular Ironball seem to have been tackled with the new one:
-Footswitchable FX-Loop (via Z9 or MIDI switch)
-On/Off status LED next to the Stand-By switch (if you didn't turn on any functions on the old one, only the red EL84 illumination would tell you the unit was on)
-A superficial one, but I always preferred the matte/brushed Engl front and logo style, like my Savage 60 has, to the glossy/polished stuff.
They brought that back with this Ironball SE. (y)

One nitpick they missed; a bright switch (or seperate treble control) for the clean channel. For those more sparkly cleans or jangly crunch tones, I find that paramount to have.

Given that you owned the Ironball (non-SE) as well, how would you describe their difference in tone?
My take is that the original is on the darker side of things when using high gain; I'm typically running Treble and Presence around 2 'o clock or sometimes even higher! Is the SE the same in that regard?
It never gets flubby, that's for sure. I read somewhere that they use some high-pass filtering at the input, that gets rid of most things under 80Hz or 90Hz, which helps in keeping the tone tight.

One thing that I like on the old one -which I still have- is how the Clean Gain can coax a nice Malcolm Young-ish crunch when cranked, and the Lead Boost not only adds gain/saturation, but also some body. Is that the same for the SE?
 
Speeddemon said:
Hi Jon,
Very nice and thorough video!

A few of my nitpicks with the regular Ironball seem to have been tackled with the new one:
-Footswitchable FX-Loop (via Z9 or MIDI switch)
-On/Off status LED next to the Stand-By switch (if you didn't turn on any functions on the old one, only the red EL84 illumination would tell you the unit was on)
-A superficial one, but I always preferred the matte/brushed Engl front and logo style, like my Savage 60 has, to the glossy/polished stuff.
They brought that back with this Ironball SE. (y)

One nitpick they missed; a bright switch (or seperate treble control) for the clean channel. For those more sparkly cleans or jangly crunch tones, I find that paramount to have.

Given that you owned the Ironball (non-SE) as well, how would you describe their difference in tone?
My take is that the original is on the darker side of things when using high gain; I'm typically running Treble and Presence around 2 'o clock or sometimes even higher! Is the SE the same in that regard?
It never gets flubby, that's for sure. I read somewhere that they use some high-pass filtering at the input, that gets rid of most things under 80Hz or 90Hz, which helps in keeping the tone tight.

One thing that I like on the old one -which I still have- is how the Clean Gain can coax a nice Malcolm Young-ish crunch when cranked, and the Lead Boost not only adds gain/saturation, but also some body. Is that the same for the SE?
Click to expand...

Thanks! I sold my old one so I can't compare them directly. I think they sound very similar though, if not exactly the same. The gain boost does affect the voicing with this version. With the old one it only added gain. With the SE it also adds more mids and volume, like a solo boost. I don't think it's a dark amp though... I think this SE version does those vintage crunch tones quite well but I need to try that again.
 
Great video Jon, keep them coming. The Ironball SE really seems like a swiss army knife for people who love keeping the rig as simple as possible. No need for the 4 cable method with this one!
 
So,
yesterday my buddy came over with his new Ironball SE and we could compare it with my older 'regular' Ironball.

Main differences tone-wise:
-Ironball SE is a tad brighter and more open sounding. Both versions are still on the darker side of things, and you have to run the presence and treble around 2 'o clock.
This to me, is a welcome improvement, which makes it possible to do even more convincing in-between tones as well. I was doing Joe Walsh-Life's Been Good tones pretty quickly.

-Gainwise, the lead channel has expanded the range in both directions a bit on the SE, meaning you can get more classic rock/hard rock tones too.
It's like this one goes from 1 to 10, whereas the old one goes from 2 to 9.5/10. When you set the Gain on the Lead Channel to 10 'o clock on both versions, the difference in response is apparent.

-A more notable, IMHO a bit negative difference is the fact how the gain boost functions differ between the regular and the SE on the Lead channel;
Gainboost on the regular adds gain/saturation and a bit low-mids for some slight added body, but basically it's a 'more of the same, plus some punch' switch for the lead channel.
On the SE however, it adds way more gain and saturation, a lot more low-end and low-mids, but loses some highs in the process.
It sounds a bit more congested too, making it more of a 'Lead' switch than a higher gain rhythm tone possibility. It's just too bloated for rhythm playing then. It's quite thick for liquidy leads, but at the cost of some raw/dry aggression.
Note that we were running the Lead channel's Gain knob around noon for this. If you run the gain a lot lower, the congestion/thickness isn't as prominent, if you engage the Gain Boost then.
I wonder if this can be remedied by replacing one of the tubes with a lower gain, brighter one.

-Opinions will differ on whether this is a negative or positive, but the Presence knob has become a 'Lead Presence' and no longer works on the Clean channel, like the regular Ironball has.

With regards to the extra fx; noise gate is very workable, Reverb is nice (but that was the case for the regular Ironball too) and the Delay is a mix of 'digital' and 'analog' sounding, where the 1st repeat is quite bright/clear, but the subsequent repeats become darker and responding more like you'd expect from an analog delay.
MVB (Master Volume Boost) is a good interval as well, at least on bedroom volume levels.
As the SE offers a MIDI connection WITH switchable phantom power, you can easily connect an Engl footswitch like the Z9 or Z15 without the need of external adapters and then you have a lot of switching options.
Things like the MVB, Noise Gate, Reverb, Delay are all footswitchable.

If the Gain Boost was less beefy/congested and the Clean Channel had a bright switch, it would be soooooo good and almost without peers...
 
Speeddemon said:
So,
yesterday my buddy came over with his new Ironball SE and we could compare it with my older 'regular' Ironball.

Main differences tone-wise:
-Ironball SE is a tad brighter and more open sounding. Both versions are still on the darker side of things, and you have to run the presence and treble around 2 'o clock.
This to me, is a welcome improvement, which makes it possible to do even more convincing in-between tones as well. I was doing Joe Walsh-Life's Been Good tones pretty quickly.

-Gainwise, the lead channel has expanded the range in both directions a bit on the SE, meaning you can get more classic rock/hard rock tones too.
It's like this one goes from 1 to 10, whereas the old one goes from 2 to 9.5/10. When you set the Gain on the Lead Channel to 10 'o clock on both versions, the difference in response is apparent.

-A more notable, IMHO a bit negative difference is the fact how the gain boost functions differ between the regular and the SE on the Lead channel;
Gainboost on the regular adds gain/saturation and a bit low-mids for some slight added body, but basically it's a 'more of the same, plus some punch' switch for the lead channel.
On the SE however, it adds way more gain and saturation, a lot more low-end and low-mids, but loses some highs in the process.
It sounds a bit more congested too, making it more of a 'Lead' switch than a higher gain rhythm tone possibility. It's just too bloated for rhythm playing then. It's quite thick for liquidy leads, but at the cost of some raw/dry aggression.
Note that we were running the Lead channel's Gain knob around noon for this. If you run the gain a lot lower, the congestion/thickness isn't as prominent, if you engage the Gain Boost then.
I wonder if this can be remedied by replacing one of the tubes with a lower gain, brighter one.

-Opinions will differ on whether this is a negative or positive, but the Presence knob has become a 'Lead Presence' and no longer works on the Clean channel, like the regular Ironball has.

With regards to the extra fx; noise gate is very workable, Reverb is nice (but that was the case for the regular Ironball too) and the Delay is a mix of 'digital' and 'analog' sounding, where the 1st repeat is quite bright/clear, but the subsequent repeats become darker and responding more like you'd expect from an analog delay.
MVB (Master Volume Boost) is a good interval as well, at least on bedroom volume levels.
As the SE offers a MIDI connection WITH switchable phantom power, you can easily connect an Engl footswitch like the Z9 or Z15 without the need of external adapters and then you have a lot of switching options.
Things like the MVB, Noise Gate, Reverb, Delay are all footswitchable.

If the Gain Boost was less beefy/congested and the Clean Channel had a bright switch, it would be soooooo good and almost without peers...
Click to expand...

Good review!
 
Thanks for the write up, good info. The online reviews were pretty good as well. Seems like they hit the mark on this one.
 
Here's what still puzzles me.
What if I don't use this amplifier with
those IR'S or that other crap.
What does it sound like plugged into
an actual guitar cabinet with common speakers
with that amplifier?
Something 'hues' me that it doesn't sound as perfect as that in real life conditions.
2 EL 84's pushed into saturation with ample volume for a power trio?
That brittle Engl top end..
Is that why y'all use those Internal Revenue's?
If you wanna tear me to shards..f**k bite in
until your teeth shatter..
Dime that thing, stand up and get up under it.
LET'S HEAR IT!
 
Dino 939 said:
Here's what still puzzles me.
What if I don't use this amplifier with
those IR'S or that other crap.
What does it sound like plugged into
an actual guitar cabinet with common speakers
with that amplifier?
Something 'hues' me that it doesn't sound as perfect as that in real life conditions.
2 EL 84's pushed into saturation with ample volume for a power trio?
That brittle Engl top end..
Is that why y'all use those Internal Revenue's?
If you wanna tear me to shards..f**k bite in
until your teeth shatter..
Dime that thing, stand up and get up under it.
LET'S HEAR IT!
Click to expand...
Ill let ya know next week. Just bought one for all the reasons stated above; but will be taking it to practice, and trying it through a mesa cab, and a pair of evh 2x12’s. Ill call it as i see it. I already have three 100w+ heads and a loud drummer. I, like most,(probably), bought it to record and do clips with. IF(big if) it hangs at practice, then fucking bonus!
 
Hi, I know this thread is super old but I loved the review and I have ordered an Ironball SE. Does anyone have any recommended custom IRs for it?
 
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