tell me how you really feel (about ENGL)

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PaintChipsAreVegan

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I think it's kind of funny that *this* forum in particular, is known for having a reputation of having some quite opinionated views on ENGL. Personally, I am of the opinion that, like pretty much most manufacturers, some of them suck to my ears, and some of them are amazing.

Those of you that have a strong opinion one way or another, why?

Personally, I had a Fb100, FB60, invader mk1, blackmore, savage 120 mk1, pb1 in the past. I have an SE FE670 now. Of the ones I owned, I particularly disliked FB60 and PB1. They sounded like tinny, cold, buzzsaw shit, and had this nasty upper mid range snarl, but not in a good way, with anemic low mids, for an overall thin sound.

On the flip side, something like the SE FE to me is another beast. Thick and saturated how I like it. Quite compressed as well (like many dont like it).

A few criticisms I more than sympathize with:

1) Live sound. I'd argue some exaggerate the...poor ability of these to cut in a mix, sometimes. However, I'd argue that while these naturally scooped amps do have that tendency, they absolutely can be dialed in correctly to sound crushing in any live mix. I don't think it's as easy to make that happen as say, a 5150, SLO, or JCM, but I guess i just dont get the "this thing cant cut no matter what" claim

2) Natural voicing - scooped, compressed, somewhat sterile. Personally, these characteristics are what makes them appealing in application, but outside that application (high gain modern metal), to me, ENGL loses any appeal very fast compared to better options. That said, many prefer the opposite of "scooped, compressed, and sterile," so I understand

3) Service - this is mostly a thing particularly outside europe. getting these things serviced by an authorized tech statestide is simply a god damn bitch.

I think in general, the company as a whole gets a disproportionate amount of shit for sound qualities unique to just a few in their lineup, but that's completely subjective.
 
Tone Monster said:
Trash builds. I don’t care what it sounds like when it’s a ticking time bomb.
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This one, i definitely understand, but with a bit of a caveat.

There is no doubt that relative to other amps in any given range, especially at savage 120 pricepoint and above, ENGL's build quality simply doesn't hang with the likes of bogner, soldano, diezel, etc.

They're also needlessly complicated layouts on the boards which makes servicing them an issue.

That said, I'm not sure what about a well-fabricated, properly etched and soldered PCB is inherently bad. PCB electronics do well in much more rigorous applications than guitar amplification. Issues tend to arise due to uninherent factors, like shitty solder joints and shitty components.
 
PaintChipsAreVegan said:
That said, I'm not sure what about a well-fabricated, properly etched and soldered PCB is inherently bad. PCB electronics do well in much more rigorous applications than guitar amplification. Issues tend to arise due to uninherent factors, like shitty solder joints and shitty components.
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Look at the thickness/quality of engl PCBs compared to say, soldano or fryette PCBs, and then look at the prices, and you will have your answer to why they have this reputation.

On top of the janky/hard to service aspects.

ENGLs sound great. I've owned a bunch of them. The fireball 100, artist, and a handful of others IMO are great sounding amps with their own unique "thing."

but tube amps are temperamental, and there is no way in hell I would own an Engl and use it to gig regularly, or put it through the extensive/heavy use I put on my amps generally.

They're impossible to fix, ENGLs customer service is suspect, and their PCBs are laughably cheap for how much their amps cost.

I can definitely see how for a home player, or a light gigger, these problems wouldn't seem so glaring - they DO sound good - but for me, the benefits dont outweigh either the risks or the opportunity costs.
 
DanTravis62 said:
Look at the thickness/quality of engl PCBs compared to say, soldano or fryette PCBs, and then look at the prices, and you will have your answer to why they have this reputation.

On top of the janky/hard to service aspects.

ENGLs sound great. I've owned a bunch of them. The fireball 100, artist, and a handful of others IMO are great sounding amps with their own unique "thing."

but tube amps are temperamental, and there is no way in hell I would own an Engl and use it to gig regularly, or put it through the extensive/heavy use I put on my amps generally.

They're impossible to fix, ENGLs customer service is suspect, and their PCBs are laughably cheap for how much their amps cost.

I can definitely see how for a home player, or a light gigger, these problems wouldn't seem so glaring - they DO sound good - but for me, the benefits dont outweigh either the risks or the opportunity costs.
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As someone who only plays and records at home, and does not gig at all, you raise a valid perspective

I’d never depend on an ENGL as my only amp, if reliability was a factor on shit like gigging regularly. Or frankly, anything more abusive than sitting on a shelf in an air conditioned space, as my SE FE is destined to do.


Their choice of poor component quality really is unfortunate. If my SE shits the bed, I’m honestly gonna consider it totaled. I’ll send it off to wherever warranty tells me to, but I will assume the thing is done. If they get it fixed, I’ll consider it a miracle.

For the price tag, that’s a bit of an embarrassingly stupid bet to place, alas, I have no shame
 
headlessdeadguy said:
Had an FB60. Pure garbage. Easily the worst “ good” amp I have ever had the displeasure of owning. That being said, I just ordered an FB100 5 minutes ago. lol.
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I hated the FB60 I had. Thin, tinny, harsh shit

Loved the FB100 though. Bigger, clearer low end, thicker low mids. The amp sounded more full and less recessed without sounding dark, or wonky in the mids. Almost seemed like the correct version of what they were going for.
 
Tone Monster said:
I had an SE EL34 several years ago. Bought it new and basically never even moved it. You better believe it fried itself. Nightmare. Ended up selling it broken “as is” for pennies on the dollar. Never again.
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lol I was recently thinking about that. How the risk isn’t necessarily avoided entirely by having it basically just sit as a studio amp.

Could be any number of failures waiting to happen that don’t require mechanical impact. At that point, it’s just a matter of time until it’s simply long enough till it fails in whatever way it’s waiting too.

Hopefully that won’t be the case, but I’m going to try to enjoy the thing as much as I can until then lol
 
DanTravis62 said:
I've played a 100 - it sounds way better than the 60 IMO

Way thicker and more midrange, and just all around a better amp
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I liked the saturation and sizzle of the 60 until I tried it with the band. It got buried by the bass. Hell it would’ve gotten buried by a Tambourine. lol. I wouldn’t buy another if it was $200
 
The other guitar player in my band has had a PB2 since like 2009 or something that he bought used. He plays in 2 bands, gigs at least twice a month, and practices 3x a week with it. Never had a single issue. He also has a FB25 that he bought off of me that has been great. I just got a FB100 about a week ago (not the one in my pic, a new one haha...had one previously, too) and it sounds great. I fully intend to gig with it and play band practices with it. I am not worried about it. They sound great.
 
Tone Monster said:
I had an SE EL34 several years ago. Bought it new and basically never even moved it. You better believe it fried itself. Nightmare. Ended up selling it broken “as is” for pennies on the dollar. Never again.
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Dude, I would've lost my shit if that happened to me. Can't believe you weren't able to get a refund or replacement. Care to elaborate why? If not, no biggie. I understand it could be a very sour story to relive and tell. I had the same SE as well and never had a problem thank god and flipped mine fairly quick after my co-guitarist buried it with his JCM800/TS9. Unacceptable for the price the SE goes for.

This topic has been beaten to death so I'll withdraw from the shit slinging but I actually like the way a few of their amps sound. FWIW, I think they are some of the best sounding modern amps to use for recording purposes.

I'm still very curious on the Artist and Inferno if anybody wants to chime in about them. Would they beat out a JCM2000 DSL100?
 
PurityS.L.G said:
Dude, I would've lost my shit if that happened to me. Can't believe you weren't able to get a refund or replacement. Care to elaborate why? If not, no biggie. I understand it could be a very sour story to relive and tell. I had the same SE as well and never had a problem thank god and flipped mine fairly quick after my co-guitarist buried it with his JCM800/TS9. Unacceptable for the price the SE goes for.

This topic has been beaten to death so I'll withdraw from the shit slinging but I actually like the way a few of their amps sound. FWIW, I think they are some of the best sounding modern amps to use for recording purposes.

I'm still very curious on the Artist and Inferno if anybody wants to chime in about them. Would they beat out a JCM2000 DSL100?
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It’s a little fuzzy at this point (2008). I didn’t really love the amp to begin with, then it blew up (out of warranty of course). There was only one or two people that would work on them in the USA and it was gonna be $1k minimum depending on what all was wrong once they opened her up. I was like, hell no! I think I got $1500 for it as is. I wasn’t about to drop another grand minimum into that pile of shit.
 
I hate them, i owned a dozen engls and bought 9 of them brand new, i had issues with 4 of them including a new invader 150 that broke within the first hour and wasnt tube or fuse related, i had a brand new engl se el34 that broke 13 months later and the warranty was only 12 months and it was a pain in the ass to get it fixed and engl customer support and the usa distribution sucked really bad and wouldnt help me out, i took it to a authorized repair center and a month later it broke again and it was back in the shop getting pairs and it wasnt tube or fuse issues, i also had another engl se 6L6 that the led lights blew out, plus a new powerball that had issues which did get replaced under the warranty. I was a huge supporter for about 12 years but i got tired of my amps breaking down and my dealer told engl i sold around 30 amps for them thru my recommendations and the pricks at engl still wouldnt help me out with the SE, brand new amp at 4k a month past the warranty and they refused to do anything about it, i can understand it i guess but for a valued customer who sold alot of amps for them over the years plus owned a dozen engl amps personally i thought they coulda helped me a little under the circumstances but maybe im crazy to expect something like that, they sent me a tshirt and ink pen to try and smooth me over and alot of double talk, and at that point i said im finished, i couldnt do it anymore, i sold all my engl stuff and never looked back. Haha the used engls i owned had no issues.
 
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