ENGL quality?

[glpg80]

"Due to ENGL’s distribution changes in the United States, I no longer have the will to continue to provide service & to sell ENGL products"

plus ive heard more than once from engl fireball and SE owners that their customer service is just nothing.

their amps sound great from what i can tell but this really bothers me... their circuits are complicated little fuckers and have parts that are hard to get - so a repair center would be nice. only one close to where i live is 3 states away.

i've heard stories of guys dumping their ENGL's for amplifiers like diezels because of this as well.

why would a distributor "not have the will" if he endorsed and sold with them? what the hell has happened to ENGL in the united states?!

the tone i love and the music i listen to is 80% overseas power metal but this is seriously getting me scared of spending so much cash on an amplifier only to have a 50/50 chance of something fucking up - and no way out. i wouldnt mind this as much if their schematics were 100% correct and free to download but its almost impossible to get anything if you dont live in europe or work for them directly.

i cant afford a more expensive amplifier - ENGL is as good as its going to get bargin hunting for something used. next in line is the sub-par 5150 III in my comparison tone wise and layout - but at least theres a certified fender repair center 40 minutes away if something fucks up on the road


i just feel like i may have to settle for sub-par tone, sub par build quality, or sub par customer service... why the hell cant someone spending $2,000 get none of the above?

 

[mrp5150]

I never had any issues with any of the Engl amps I've owned.

 

[glpg80]

thanks for your reply. i was in the diezel forum and came across major engl bashing due to quality - i've never owned one so i have no clue? just dont want to make an unwise investment.

 

[mrp5150]

Just a guess, but I'd imagine people on the Diezel forum are huge Diezel fanboys and enjoy bashing amps that don't cost $5000 and are of "lesser" quality. I've owned 5 or 6 Engl's (and I've also owned a Diezel just FYI) and the quality was never an issue.

 

[stefvorcide]

Two friends and I own a 530 preamp for over a year and never had problems with it. Two other guys in the band next to us had savages 120, and they didnt had any problem (beside tubes)

but the customer service (with the store) is good here. I don't know if something goes wrong tho. I wouldn't be afraid of these "horror" stories.... ppl have 'em with diezel and I really dont understand

 

[duesentrieb]

The current Engl thread in the Diezel forum is about their email support.

and to quote Peter:
"I think Engl is a great company"

ok?

 

[Digital Jams]

MY only complaint was the price for what you received when you look at their flagship stuff, the SE is expensive and IMO could be put together better. For the record never heard anything bad about the SE or troubles with them though.

Yeah, service is a tough one though for ENGL. How would you get a new board and how long would it take? The smaller amps I would not worry too much though.

 

[glpg80]

Two friends and I own a 530 preamp for over a year and never had problems with it. Two other guys in the band next to us had savages 120, and they didnt had any problem (beside tubes)

but the customer service (with the store) is good here. I don't know if something goes wrong tho. I wouldn't be afraid of these "horror" stories.... ppl have 'em with diezel and I really dont understand

cool thanks for your input. it seems that alot of this is hype or bad luck. they have great tone but i've heard nothing lately of customer support horror, or their quality is sub par. the quality thing bothered me because i always thought engl amps were the epiphony of german design and engineering.

The current Engl thread in the Diezel forum is about their email support.

its a mixmatch of the customer support thread - and i've heard on 1 or 2 accounts actual amplifiers having problems. so i was wanting a general census on 1 topic about both. it seems so far that its a mix of bad luck or lame excuses to spend $5,000 for no reason.

 

[glpg80]

thanks olaf

again i always thought engl was awsome german engineering. i've looked at the schematics of some amplifiers and its mindblowing - true quality. but ive never looked at a board before to see the actual goods so i had to put this out there and get it from real owners.

hey scott - i can agree with you there. just seems like a 1 2 punch IF something went wrong - so i was curious as to how much that actually happens from engl owners. it seemed to be on the DL for some reason and i didnt want to jump into fire.

 

[mrp5150]

and i've heard on 1 or 2 accounts actual amplifiers having problems.

Can you name any company in the world that you've never heard 1 or 2 accounts of their products having problems at one time or another?

 

[MisterBulbous]

I don't gig with my powerball, but I have shipped it across the country a few times for job relocations, and I've never had a problem. I haven't heard of any chronic failures and I would say the build quality is comparable to just about anything else in the price range, if not, better.

 

[sixstrings]

First of all, I don't know anyone whose dropping Engl and going with Diezel. In todays economy, I'm surprised people can still afford to buy Diezels. I personally think they are superior amplifiers, however, they're just too damned expensive when you have Bogner, Mesa Boogie, etc... to choose from, which in my opinion are just as good. Shit, even Elmwood seems to be more affordable than Diezel these days.

Think about it. Bogner Uberschall $2500 vs. Diezel Herbert $4000+, or Mesa Mark V $2000 vs. Diezel Einstein $3700, etc...

Furthermore, I hear Diezel has made some distribution changes too. Hopefully that will improve their service. Unfortunately, with all the dealers dropping Diezel amps because of their ridiculous dealer requirements, plus the hughe price hikes, I doubt Engl should worry about losing any market share to Diezel.

As far as Engl quality, I've never seen any issues with their amps. I've seen a screamer get knocked off stage, beat up, and beer spilt on it, etc... and the damned thing worked without a hitch.

One thing I can tell you though is that if it's true that Engl is not supporting customers, then there's no faster guarantee that you will either go out of business or lose everyone but domestic customers.

 

[killertone]

thanks for your reply. i was in the diezel forum and came across major engl bashing due to quality - i've never owned one so i have no clue? just dont want to make an unwise investment.

Dude, lots of Diezel owners bash ENGLs and always have in my experience. Take that shit with a grain of salt.

I have owned many ENGLs (Invader, Fireball 100, Powerball) and currently own a Blackmore. I have owned it for about three years and gigged/toured with it heavily. I have never had one single problem with it and it has taken its fair share of abuse. It even fell off one of my 412's at a gig one night during load-out and landed directly on concrete. It worked perfectly the next day and continues to kick ass. I have never heard any horror stories about ENGLs breaking down which makes all the claims of quality issues even more hilarious. Are they the best made amps in the world? No. But mine has been 100% reliable.

 

[Digital Jams]

thanks for your reply. i was in the diezel forum and came across major engl bashing due to quality - i've never owned one so i have no clue? just dont want to make an unwise investment.

Dude, lots of Diezel owners bash ENGLs and always have in my experience. Take that shit with a grain of salt.

I have owned many ENGLs (Invader, Fireball 100, Powerball) and currently own a Blackmore. I have owned it for about three years and gigged/toured with it heavily. I have never had one single problem with it and it has taken its fair share of abuse. It even fell off one of my 412's at a gig one night during load-out and landed directly on concrete. It worked perfectly the next day and continues to kick ass. I have never heard any horror stories about ENGLs breaking down which makes all the claims of quality issues even more hilarious. Are they the best made amps in the world? No. But mine has been 100% reliable.

When we all hung out at HCAF we would have HUGE flamewars regarding Diezel vs ENGL, knock down drag out your momma is a whore flamefests

Your knobs fall off the JVM yet?

 

[Riddick]

If your worried about it purchase it from Musicians Friend and buy their buyer protection plan which give you a replacement warranty protection.

 

[killertone]

thanks for your reply. i was in the diezel forum and came across major engl bashing due to quality - i've never owned one so i have no clue? just dont want to make an unwise investment.

Dude, lots of Diezel owners bash ENGLs and always have in my experience. Take that shit with a grain of salt.

I have owned many ENGLs (Invader, Fireball 100, Powerball) and currently own a Blackmore. I have owned it for about three years and gigged/toured with it heavily. I have never had one single problem with it and it has taken its fair share of abuse. It even fell off one of my 412's at a gig one night during load-out and landed directly on concrete. It worked perfectly the next day and continues to kick ass. I have never heard any horror stories about ENGLs breaking down which makes all the claims of quality issues even more hilarious. Are they the best made amps in the world? No. But mine has been 100% reliable.

When we all hung out at HCAF we would have HUGE flamewars regarding Diezel vs ENGL, knock down drag out your momma is a whore flamefests

Your knobs fall off the JVM yet?

Exactly.

I remember those threads... Those were full of so much bullshit it wasn't even funny.

 

[glpg80]

yeah it seems everything will be fine.

granted i ran across it by accident - im not putting anything against diezel but it seems like a bunch of BS being said just for an excuse to drop that much cash in the first place.

from everyone here, it doesnt seem like but 1 person i know well here on the forum has had a problem before. just bad luck i guess.

and yes i'd FULLY expect a diezel versus engl bash to turn into flame wars over at hc. theres other forums here where cork sniffing and pre-teen adrinaline runs as quick from their brains to the keyboard as water runs from a waterfall. but i wont mention them

thanks for your input guys. it seems like if i have a problem i might be up the creek getting help from ENGL directly, but i might deal through dealer here in the states and be perfectly ok with their support.

 

[Digital Jams]

Nothing to do with cork sniffing imo, it is just brand loyalty Any two amps that are simular are going to bring heated discussions.

 

[headlessdeadguy]

My Fireball may have been one that you heard about the issues I had. Keep in mind that it was a floor model so who knows what the hell it had gone through. The tech said they are a bitch to get out of the headshell but seemed to be built ok.
I spoke to Josh Sage who is a distributor and Josh said if I could get the original sales reciept (which I couldn't) to get ahold of the folks at velvet distributing and they would take care of it. I did not ever recieve a reply from ENGL.
That being said, the amp is fixed, I have it back and it KICKS ASS!!!

 

[glpg80]

Nothing to do with cork sniffing imo, it is just brand loyalty Any two amps that are simular are going to bring heated discussions.

always wondered why there wasnt a fortin and an ENGL section here on RT. again i appreciate all the comments from actual ENGL owners here on the board to sort this out.