Preamps - setup

[mudkipforceg]

i was looking for amp heads and what not to purchase, but i found that the sound i liked the most came from the ENGL e530, but i don't really know where a preamp "fits" in the amp set up


is it just like preamp + cabinet = i'm good to go?

[S-H]

If you are going down the rackmount route then you need to buy a seperate power-amp.

You can for example, pair the E530 with the E850 power amp. Then you've got a setup.

However, most people would want a rack noise gate, so something like the ISP Decimator Pro Rack G after the power amp would make you good to go.

Pre Amp -> Power Amp -> Noise Gate -> Cabinet.

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I've heard that the E530 sounds similar to the Ritchie Blackmore sig. Maybe try that out before you invest in any rack gear cos it's a hell of a lot easier to deal with heads.

[Blue]

Well in fact the E530 has a built in solid state power amp at 1.5 watts (I believe) it's actually a power amp for headphones so you'll need a cable that is stereo in one end and goes to mono to the cabinet. Then you can actually play it without a power amps, however it won't give you much power so it will probably only work for practicing.

Aug 9, 2011 8:01:46 GMT -6 S-H said:

If you are going down the rackmount route then you need to buy a seperate power-amp.

You can for example, pair the E530 with the E850 power amp. Then you've got a setup.

However, most people would want a rack noise gate, so something like the ISP Decimator Pro Rack G after the power amp would make you good to go.

Pre Amp -> Power Amp -> Noise Gate -> Cabinet.

----

I've heard that the E530 sounds similar to the Ritchie Blackmore sig. Maybe try that out before you invest in any rack gear cos it's a hell of a lot easier to deal with heads.

Soomething like this is recommended, ENGL are really noisy amps.

The E530 preamp is closest to the Savage.

[S-H]

I read somewhere (can't remember which forum) that the internal power amp was only good for low volume practing (and possibly recording) and pretty useless at every other application (live playing in a decent sized room for example).

I assumed mudkipforceg wants a "live" set up since he's going for rack gear. If it's only for practicing and very small gigs then there are cheaper/easier/better options than rack gear imho.

I was confused to what the E530 sounded most like (mainly cos I haven't played it myself) but Savage, Blackmore & Screamer all cropped up in my search, the Blackmore being the most listed.

I have, however, also read that Mesa Rectos are tight amps so the E530 will probably sound like a Fender Twin. Lol

[Blue]

It does work for practicing as I said and for recording also.

It's most technically and tonally similar to the Savage. It might be very similar to the Blackmore sig also, it's still ENGL.


Here's a pretty good recording of it:

[S-H]

Are you an Engl guy then Emil?

You seem to know a lot about them.

[Blue]

Aug 14, 2011 5:00:48 GMT -6 S-H said:

Are you an Engl guy then Emil?

You seem to know a lot about them.

Nope I'm not to keen on the ENGL sound in general. I like the Invader though. I don't really like the muddyness of them, they are great for low tunings and single or two note playing but way too muddy for bigger chords. However they have released a new Fireball and Powerball which I haven't tried so they might improved on that. But the old Fireball and Powerball should be renamed "mudball" I think. The Savage is by far the best ENGL for metal to my liking. Excluding the new ones then since I haven't tried them. They work good for Death Metal and Black Metal where you don't play so much big chords usually. For other stuff than that I think they're quite horrible to be honest. They aren't built properly either, which is a shame since they are really expensive. I heard ENGL was better before, they were actually the first high gain amp builder to incorporate a fully midi-switchable amp I believe. It's a matter of taste of course, "metalheads" would probably not like the older ENGL amps as much, before they were much more "vintage" and "smooth" and not as compressed and "modern" in the sound. Then they started to go metal all the way, they still have the classic-series though, which I really would like to try and they seem to release more amps that are just not metal only, like the Invader and Steve Morse model.

I don't know a lot about them, I just read on various forums, technical forums as well as musician-forums. So I base that on on what I've read, I haven't opened them up myself and I haven't done a A/B-test.

I would probably like ENGL more if I only played death metal or black metal. But I don't ;D