Engl Powerball II 100W Tube Guitar Amp Head 

Comments about Engl Powerball II 100W Tube Guitar Amp Head:

I decided to purchase the Engl Powerball 2 after shopping around a good bit. It came down to a shoot out at my local guitar shop between this head and a Mesa Road King 2. What I found was that the cleans were pretty similar, with the mesa having a little more shimmer, but the crunch and distortion tones on this blew the mesa away!

I fully expected the shared EQ to become a major problem, and may be for tone purists, but its grown on me. It is especially nice on the 3rd/4th channel since i can have the same exact tone for my high gain and lead gain sounds, while only increasing the gain on channel 4 for my leads.

The only thing I wish this amp had was stereo ins and outs for my stereo effects, but otherwise this thing has been a tank on the road and sounds incredible.

Comments about Engl Powerball II 100W Tube Guitar Amp Head:

I have read almost every review on this- many negative. At first this amp makes you tilt your head but once you get it dialed you see the light! All I can think of is people snub this amp because it isn't cheap like their 5150 or 6505 etc.and ENGL are sour grapes. People say their rectos or 5150 are better but let me tell you having owed several of both ( as well as MANY other top amp brands) this thing destroys those amps hands down if for nothing else easy no comprimise level/gain settings,boost and huge variety of sounds AVAILABLE with only a footswitch. The lead channels are easy to play and just beg to bloom into warm sustain with super clarity. The cleans are way better than I thought they would be. This is the best amp overall I have ever played Sounds good low too doesn't need to be loud, but when it is, it gets amazing. You just can't stop playing it because all the channels give you so much on each one. Dual masters sell me also as well as 4 seperate channels for the aloof soundman/stage boost.

Comments about Engl Powerball II 100W Tube Guitar Amp Head:

This the BEST amp I have ever owned.The tone is worth every penny you pay.Getting this amp has been the best thing I have ever done for my sound.It can do it all.

Comments about Engl Powerball II 100W Tube Guitar Amp Head:

with a little tweaking, this amp sounds great. the built in noise reduction handles the hiss and hum beautifully even with heavy distortion. the only thing i wish it had was reverb
a little pricey for the one channel i use but i have this amp for a specific purpose. if i was using it for top 40 stuff where i needed all of those channels then the rpice is good for a 4 channel amp. again, reverb would be nice.

Comments about Engl Powerball II 100W Tube Guitar Amp Head:

I have owned most world-class amplifiers and this one is working the best for me! it has a very raw metal tone to it but with just a slight amount of fx it sweetens up. I added a lexicon reverb and that's pretty much all I needed to make it work with all the songs that we write. what I like the best about it that I can hear every note that I play it does not get mudded up or lost in a hairy distortion! I keep again around 12 o'clock and it needs no more and for the solos I will throw in a tube screamer in front of it just because I like the fx that it gives.this is not your average buzz box it is truly a tone machine I love that it has a definite growl to it that is unmistakable to any other amplifier! My other guitar player uses a hughes & kettner Tri amp. Now he wants one of these. the cool thing about it is if you don't like it you have 45 days to return it but once you work with it for a couple of days you won't want to get rid of it!! I'll look forward to playing it every day! And I have not felt this good or had the desire to play this much in 20 years!
It's plain and simple this amp will work well for anybody's liking and almost every type of music. but mainly hard rock and metal
Best amp I have ever owned the sound is what I was looking for.
It's worth the money you get what you pay for

Comments about Engl Powerball II 100W Tube Guitar Amp Head:

I have had several Marshall amps (I hope a representative from Marshall reads this) and have been dissappointed by the quality of the product and the attitude of the employees. I have a Peavy 6505+ I really enjoy, but my main amp, the go to amp my recording amp is the Engl Powerball II
German design, production and attention to details, what can I say, unlike Marshall, Engl amps work out of the box and continue to perform.
Last amp...only amp you will need

Comments about Engl Powerball II 100W Tube Guitar Amp Head:

Currently, I own an ENGL "BLACKMORE 100w", ENGL "FIREBALL 60w", ENGL "520" PREAMP, ENGL "820" (2x35w POWERAMP) and now the ENGL POWERBALL II. They all have that ENGL signature tone yet they remain very different from each other.

I've read all kind of reviews and seen most youtube clips regarding the FIREBALL vs POWERBALL..and how the FIREBALL is much better...... TRUST BE TOLD, right out of the box it would appear that way, but only do to the simplicity of the FIREBALL. It has that ONE go to tone AMAZING as that may be, it limits your usage of the amp....but the POWERBALL II can be tweaked til' you're blue in the face, which I see as an upside...

Sure you may need to spend hours comparing tones like I did with my amp collection to the new POWERBALL II to see just how versality it could be at emulating sounds....but after this little excercise I was completely satisfied with my results....Although, the emulation test was not an exact match, the POWERBALL II was able to get the essence of the other amps tone..and in some cases made me tweak some of the GO TO setting to match what I captured in the POWERBALL II....

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for those who expect a ton of variety from there amps.....You want Authenic Metal, Hard Rock, Country & Jazz tone out of your amp....The POWERBALL II would be a great place to start looking.
Other than lack of onboard MIDI capability, this amp is built with most everything you'd expect in a pro-level tube amplifier of this price range. The addition of separate gain controls on this VERSION II of the POWERBALL is main reason I finally made a purchase. Although it requires an additional switcher & footcontoller.....Most every tweakable feature of this amp is switchable..Lastly the FX LOOP can be used in series or parallel manner. THE TONES IN THIS AMP ARE IN ABUNDANCES & THE CLEAN CHANNEL IS ABSOLUTELY SUPERB!!!!
I've been using ENGL products live since 92' and NEVER have I had an issue with their gear....ROCK SOLID!!!! This amp is built like a tank.
I've come to understand you get what you pay for in life but especially in the music gear industry...Not to say others haven't made great product at a lesser price, just that you can't put a price tag an product that give you AMAZING TONE & RELIABILITY for years!!!

Comments about Engl Powerball II 100W Tube Guitar Amp Head:

I love this amp! For me it's a tie between this and the InVader! I'd have either one, but for the money this is going to be my next amp. I play in an aggressive prog band, similar to TOOL, but I also play blues, rock, and metal, and this amp pulls it all off!

Comments about Engl Powerball II 100W Tube Guitar Amp Head:

Worth every penny. Had a Mesa (love/hate relationship) and was convinced I could get great tones out of it. After months of tweaking and twisting I just couldn't find the sound I was looking for. I stumbled upon a website talking about Engl's so I proceeded to youtube. Every Engl I listened to sounded great (fearedse - google it now). Well, I finally pulled the trigger. My face is still melted. Can't believe the tone this thing can create. Anywhere from sparkling clean to full face metal distortion.

Comments about Engl Powerball II 100W Tube Guitar Amp Head:

Every time I turn this thing on I am amazed at how thick the distortion sounds. The cleans are also very warm and can be muddied up very easily. The versatility of this amp is phenomenal. Features: There is a built in gate on the back of the amp that is okay at best. If you like the Veil of Maya or Born of Osiris chopped distortion sound this will be fun for you to mess with. You can also run a 1/4" out to turn it on and off. I run a gmajor2 through the effects loop and this thing sings! I highly recommend it. My other guitarist has an orange rockerverb 100 (which I also love) and the Engl beats the piss out of it. Just sayin...Also if you are trying to decide between a couple different models of ENGL amps please go online and listen to the amps themselves. The invader 150 sounds wonderful but it is a much tighter distortion where the powerball II is a fatter distortion. You could save some coin.