ENGL quality?

[killertone]

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.

Yeah, man...you'll dig the amp and it hold up just fine. No need to worry.

 

[Greazygeo]

ENGL's build quailty is similar to Peavey and Laney. Which is fine IMO. I sold them for awhile, didnt have any problems with any units I sold. Some of their stuff is pretty complicated. Ultimately, I didnt feel they were worth the price of admission. The Blackmore was the one I liked best.

Diezel build quality looks better. To me they don't sound much alike. I'd still like to try a VH4 someday.

 

[bunghole]

I didnt feel they were worth the price of admission.

I don't think any amp is worth a 4000 dollar admission price. that's me though

 

[jonny toetags]

I've owned a few in the past...and while they never broke down or caused me any problems, the inside looks like a computer. That always made me very weary.

 

[killertone]

I didnt feel they were worth the price of admission.

I don't think any amp is worth a 4000 dollar admission price. that's me though

And me too. I flat out don't get it.

 

[Shiny_Surface]

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?

There were some epic threads from back then.

I've heard Engl called the "Peavey of Europe" on HCAF.

 

[duesentrieb]

I've heard Engl called the "Peavey of Europe" on HCAF.

Thats a good way to describe it IMO.
And as PoE they are doing a good job.

 

[jkdsteve]

Only problems I remember recently were posted by zao...you might wanna ask him about what went down with his ENGLs....seem to recall he felt strongly enough about it to say he was never buying another :-/

 

[Inearthed]

Only problems I remember recently were posted by zao...you might wanna ask him about what went down with his ENGLs....seem to recall he felt strongly enough about it to say he was never buying another :-/

I happened to be at Harmony Central a week or so ago and saw a thread about ENGL customer service and saw what Zao posted...

In the USA we only get 1yr warranty. It sucks the way they handle things, this is the reason I stopped playing their amps. I used to love engl amps but after owning 3 that broke down and never left my home I got tired of the way the handle their customers. My engl se was 2yrs old and broke and couldn't even get engl to answer a email, I ended up having to pay for the repairs myself. They wouldn't do anything to help me with their 4k shit built amp.

It's a shame they have shitty build quality when we have to pay expensive amp prices. I know of a few others that aren't happy with the repair support, I'm not the only one that complained. Everybody around here knows how much I used to love engl, people told me for years they don't have good support and I didn't listen, for me to love a brand for 5 yrs and then grow to hate them should say something. A couple of my dealers couldn't even get them to warranty my amp even though I bought 10 engls over the years.

Lots of guys around here haven't had any issues and I'm sure they are really happy and might never have any probs. 3 out of 10 of my amps did and I decided to move on.

 

[glpg80]

Only problems I remember recently were posted by zao...you might wanna ask him about what went down with his ENGLs....seem to recall he felt strongly enough about it to say he was never buying another :-/

thats who i was talking about... i've already spoken to Tom in PM's about it - hence why i started this topic.

i know the fireball instance as well so that makes 2 people i trust very well.

 

[Inearthed]

For personal experience, the Powerball I had (version 1) had zero problems. Blackmore haven't had any issues with either, just need to replace the tubes in it.

 

[Les Zombie]

I posted my problems with engl, I played their amps for over 5 yrs and I had 3 breakdown on me. It bothered me that I only got a 1yr warranty and at the time it wasn't on their site and I couldn't find it anywhere in my manual. The led driver went out and it was a pain inthe ass to figure out and get fixed. I also had a invader 150 breakdown 45 min after owning it and it wasn't a tube issue. I also had a tube socket problem with a powerball.

When you consider a invader is 3k and a se is 4k you would expect decent service.
The boards inside the amp are flimsy and I wasn't impressed with the build quality at all, my peavey is built better. I had the se repaired and had to pay for it, the amp was less than 2yrs old and never left my house. Once it was repaired I played it for a month to be sure I was in 100% working order and I also disclosed in my spam thread the amp had been repaired.

There's been other guys having engl issues and threads about not getting much help from engl, one guy on the deth boards had to ship his se to Florida a few times and I think he got fed up an sold it. Another guy bought a new morse model and it broke a few weeks after owning it. There's alot of issues and guys don't wanna talk about them because they don't wanna affect the selling of their amps.

Every company has probs and I realize that but most will stand behind their products for over a year. I had 2 dealers explain to engl how big of a customer and fan I was and could engl help me out and they said no.
I helped sell about 10 amps an I bought 9 or 10 more for myself.
I loved engl and it was hard for me to say these things.

 

[Les Zombie]

I'm not a troll and I don't like to start trouble. I also like to look at the bright side and I always give a honest opinion.

I'm happy that most people are loving their amps and that's why I didn't wanna say anything bad, there's plenty of cool people I know that love engl products and have played them for years with no issues.

I didn't have the same luck as others and bought some bad amps, I emailed 5xs to engl and horst an never got a responce, I had a dealer call velvet distribution and try to help me and velvet couldn't help me either. If 1yr is their policy that is fine but they should have disclosed it where I could see it and really 1yr is bullshit for a 4k amp, there's plenty of other brands that offer better service and better quality components for the same price or less, remember the se isn't a easy amp to work on, most techs won't touch it. It also can be expensive to ship back and forth and repairs can be expensive.
None of my issues were easy tube related problems, they were much deeper than that.

 

[AmpliFIRE]

For personal experience, the Powerball I had (version 1) had zero problems. Blackmore haven't had any issues with either, just need to replace the tubes in it.

+1

I owned both and zero problems with either amp

 

[glpg80]

thats a pretty bad horror story.. and to say peavey's are built better isnt saying much. not dissing peavey at all but i had to reflow all of the channel switching points to get it working 100% flawlessly. but out of 5 years i havent had any problems.

im almost finished with my computer engineering degree. i study and troubleshoot boards and technology like our amplifiers every night. but i will not argue the fact that engl's are long complicated circuits. they are using LFT technology for switching relays which is state of the art stuff going on. no more physical relays - the downside is having the expensive test equipment to troubleshoot it if you need to go probing.

thanks for posting here the truth to it all. i think every amplifier will eventually have at least 1 problem and thats due to their design and mean of use, as well as their complicated circuit designs.

what kinda gets me here is the fact you even tried to go through a dealer and it didnt work. the fact you have so much business with them is even more disturbing. but you cant deny theres alot of people here that havent had any problems.

to me - i think its a balance of chance. but the fact that the company is so dirty to US guys and peter diezel claims so highly about them over there in europe makes things reaallly shaky here. IF and IF something went wrong i would be screwed. i know that much from reading what i read so far...

i might go to some other boards and get more opinions. you are right in the fact that its alot of money to invest to get such actions returned to you in support/help. peavey's customer support has always been top knotch and i have always been able to speak to a tech if i needed to.

 

[Les Zombie]

For me to say peavey is better built is just my opinion, im not a amp repair guy and builder, im just saying what i thought, im sure plenty will chime in and say i dont know what im talking about and that engl is a better built amp and im not gonna argue that since im not expert. I have owned 4 peaveys and no probs yet.

I personally feel diezel,mesa,soldano,vht and bogner are better quality of amps, im sure plenty will disagree with me on this. I owned all those brands and never had issues.

If you really want a engl then buy one and try it, theres plenty of positive things said about them in this thread, im the only one that really had any issues, i just got tired of dealing with these issues and stopped playing them, i almost look stupid posting in this thread because nobody else is having any issues and everybody is praising these amps.
Theres plenty of threads if you search, im not sure theres very many around here but check out hcaf,megadeth forums, esp, dean and some other boards. i have seen people with other issues too, im not the only person that had probs except for maybe around here

I dont even think they ever updated the manual or their site on how long the warranty is for usa customers, when mine broke i couldnt find that info and it wasnt utill the dealer called that he even knew. 1yr is just insulting when so many things can go wrong, they know whats up or else they would give you 5 yrs of service on a amp, they dont wanna have to deal with unhappy customers and its easy to say 1yr and good bye.
theres alot of people that dont know they only have 1yr service if it breaks, they really need to make it easier on the customer and on their site and in their manual if they havent already, back when i had issues it wasnt posted.

 

[chobley]

i almost look stupid posting in this thread because nobody else is having any issues and everybody is praising these amps.

No way man..Its good to hear the positive and negatives about products , especially very expensive ones .

 

[axeman81]

I felt compelled to reply here since I owned a Blackmore before getting my Herbert.

I owned the Blackmore for 2 years before selling it to my bandmate, never had a single issue with it, and it sounds awesome to this day. So I cannot complain about the build quality. Did I take it out of the shell to inspect the PCB's? No, why would I?
I never understood why ENGL has such a bad reputation. However, I have heard complaints that their customer service is very sluggish, and that is of course a different matter than the build quality.
People are usually quick to jump the gun on the manufacturer when things go wrong, while these things often are related to tube problems and other issues not in the responsibility of the manufacturer. Think of the amount of people buying amps with shady history. Second, third, fourth hand. How many didn't power up/down properly? Powered up with no load on the OT? Transported the head while it was still hot, bumping it into the boot of their car etc. etc.

The Diezel is expensive yes, but has a unique sound, build quality, and exceptional feature list. If you feel it is not worth it then that is fine! Just don't tell me you don't think it's 'worth' $5000 to try it out, because of course we all have to try out expensive amps before we buy them...it's something you buy and cherish for years, not something to use for a while then to flip, like say a banged up modded JCM800 or what have you. If you don't like the sound, then there are many other great tube amps on the market for you to try out!

I wouldn't hesitate one second to buy another ENGL amp. They have a very nice range of amps, and in the price range they are the best you get IMHO.

- Rune

 

[tnourse]

I've had a Powerball v2 and I currently own a Blackmore. Never had any issues. A friend of mine at work has owned a Fireball, Invader 150 and a Savage 120. He's never had any issues either.

I like Engl amps a lot! Would love to try a Fireball 100!

I'm sure all amp manufacturers have a bad amp once in a while.

 

[Mailman1971]

I owned the Invader 150 last year for about 6 months. Played the crap out of it. Never a problem.
sold it......shipped it across the USA. new owner.....loves it, no problems.
I bought the New Fireball 100 and it Delivers! Will it break down? Maybe? Will any amp break down? Who knows?
Lemons are lemons and they are all out there. Hit and miss. As long as the MISS is greater then the HIT!