Powerball II review

[UberMetalDood]

First my disclaimer. The sound sample you are about to listen to is very rough. All I did was record the first few minutes after powering on my new Powerball II. I went through a small variety of sounds. I am not trying to show off technique or even trying to sound good. It is simply the first ten minutes or so of powering on my amp.

I tried to make my review as professional as I could even though I am far from professional. I think you will find it well organized for your reading pleasure. Please enjoy.

Part 1: Rhythm channel 1/2 gain

Part 2: Crunch channel + Maxon OD820

Part 3: Crunch channel light gain

Part 4: Clean channel

Guitars: Carvin cs4 + Dimarzio Paf36 bridge + neck

I think reviews are more much more helpful with an accompanying sound sample so without further ado.

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=9239048


Price Paid: $2000

Unpacking
The box arrived in perfect condition via FedEx. Packaging was first class. A neat little niche molded in the center of the symmetric foam inserts held the power cord and two boxed preamp tubes wrapped with bubble wrap. So far everything is perfect.

The amp
The head is a modest size. It is not as big as it looked in the pictures and only about 40 lbs. Its built solid as a rock. The new black face and wire mesh in the front looks brutal with the quad 6L6's glowing red behind it. The layout is simple. No need to read the manual to start using it so I didnt read the manual until after writing this review.

The Channels
Settings: 1/2 gain, 1/2 EQ, MV 1/3, CV 2/3

Clean: I expected an immaculate clean channel but even with PAF pickups I was getting a fair amount of hair with the gain set 1/2. Roll off the volume knob 2 ticks and it cleaned up. The clean channel reminds me of a loud Fender. Turned the gain down to 1/3 and it was fairly clean with max volume. I switched to a Jackson with a Super Distortion bridge to see if it would push the clean channel but it stayed pretty clean.

I dont know if they designed the amp with high output pickups in mind but one peculiar thing is that using a high output pickup does not seem to push the amp any harder than low output pickups. I like this feature because no gain adjustment is necessary when using hotter pickups.

Crunch: This channel can do so much it is ridiculous. I can tell you right now the Powerball II is a cross between a Soldano SLO and a Fryette Ultra Lead. It actually sounds like that and plays sensitive like an SLO and ultra tight like a VHT. You have to keep your technique in check for sure. At this point the best way to describe the Powerball 2 is like an Solano SLO an Fryette having offspring.

I liken the crunch channel to an SLO. It is bright and has a fair amount of gain available. My sound clip has a couple of segments where I used a light OD on crunch channel with 1/2 gain. I struggled at first then realized the EQ is very sensitive. A little tweak here or there makes a big difference.

Clean and Crunch are on channel 1. Every control is accessible from the front except the noisegate. Channel 1 has 2 treble controls. In addition there is a bright and bottom boost switch.

Rhythm: Not as bright as crunch and a lot of gain available. Enough gain for rhythms and lead playing. Rhythm and Lead are on channel 2. Channel 2 has 2 mid controls. In addition there is a mid boost. This channel is warm, bright, crunchy, tight, saturated. A really good variety possible here.

Lead: I dont know what to do with this channel yet. It is almost over the top because the rhythm channel has enough gain. I will have to tell you more about it later. It is voiced a little different and I think the main difference between it and the rhythm channel is the rhythm channel has more emphasis in the lower mids and the lead channel has more emphasis in the upper mids. It is hard to tell at this point having had the head for only a few hours.

The Controls:
2 Channels and 4 modes.

Channel 1: Clean + Crunch
Channel 2: Rhythm + Lead

Channel 1 EQ: Bass, Middle, Treble 1, Treble 2
Channel 2 EQ: Bass, Middle 1, Middle 2, Treble

Channel 1 Vol: Clean gain, crunch gain, channel vol, master vol
Channel 2 Vol: Rhythm gain, lead gain, channel vol, master vol

Various boosts include bright, mid, and deep

Additional controls: Presence, Depth/Punch

Noisegate
I grabbed my Jackson again, switched to the lead channel, and turned the gain all up. The amp was quiet. The noisegate seemed to have no effect. I used my coil taps and it got noisy. Still the noisegate was useless even maxed out. There is possibly something wrong with it. At this point I dont even know why they would put it because it stays fairly quiet.

 

[UberMetalDood]

Re: Powerball II review

Here I have taken note of some additional information.

It is fairly complicated because there are 4 EQ controls per channel and a variety of boosts and presence/depth controls.

It has a nifty row of lights which tell you if one of your power tubes is failing. I think the amp was designed to continue working even if one goes out but I am not certain if that is so.

The back panel is very simple. It has separate plugs for 4, 8, and 16 ohm cabs. It has an effects loop and a dial to control wet/dry signal.

Did I mention it looks freaking cool? It does.

Take a Soldano SLO and mate it with a VHT Sig X and you have an Engl Powerball II. It is an unforgiving son of a *****.

The controls are usable across the entire sweep. It is not like a Mesa Boogie where you wonder why the bass goes to 10 and you can only use 2-3 at the most.

The bass is not overwhelming. It is easy to reduce. Unlike a Diezel Einstein which has so much low end you can hardly dial it out.

The treble is the trickiest part to tame. I cant tell you all about it yet except that it seems best left 1 click below 1/2 and presence the same. Depth punch seems to be perfect about 1/4 without adding too much except on channel 1 where it seems to like about 1/3.

 

[ken361]

Re: Powerball II review

sounds good, i tried the Invader saturday it was awsome loved the heavy gain channel. I played through a Marshall cab with greenbacks and had a lot of bottom end and the pinch harmonics were insane! power ball II close to the same gain and bottom end? price a little less?

 

[Kosh Naranek]

Re: Powerball II review

I listened to the sound clip. Love the AC/DC and Scorps riffs! I like the attack that the amp has. I noticed the breakup on the clean channel when you dug in.
What I found interesting is the section with the Crunch channel on light gain. I guess I typically expect a channel like that to have a more open, dynamic character. One that lets you transition between clean and overdriven by adjusting your pick attack or guitar volume. Even with "light" gain, it still sounded pretty overdriven. And it sounded quite compressed, at least in the clip. I think that's great for harder rock where you might not need it to clean up if you pick lighter, and you want it to sustain more. I've found that a more dynamic character usually comes at the expense of less sustain and less harmonics. A hard rock player might want a little less gain, but still want a lot of sustain and harmonics. It sounds like this amp would be great for that.

 

[misterwhizzy]

Re: Powerball II review

I love reviews like this. I think you did a great job explaining what you like and don't like, and I'd be interested to hear what kind of tones you end up really liking. I get the feeling you haven't gotten the chance to really explore the way the amp reacts, and I'd like to hear what your two-month opinion is. Congratulations on the new amp!

 

[UberMetalDood]

Re: Powerball II review

sounds good, i tried the Invader saturday it was awsome loved the heavy gain channel. I played through a Marshall cab with greenbacks and had a lot of bottom end and the pinch harmonics were insane! power ball II close to the same gain and bottom end? price a little less?

No the Invader is better. I really wanted an Invader but I could not come up with the money. Every time I got close something happened and I had to pay for one bill or another. I liked the Powerball and Savage but in the end I wanted a Powerball. The Powerball is more like the Savage than the Invader. Its about $900 less than an Invader.

I love reviews like this. I think you did a great job explaining what you like and don't like, and I'd be interested to hear what kind of tones you end up really liking. I get the feeling you haven't gotten the chance to really explore the way the amp reacts, and I'd like to hear what your two-month opinion is. Congratulations on the new amp!

Like I said I am not very good at this sort of thing but I tried my best to do a good initial review. Now that I have read the manual and had another go at the Powerball I am liking it even more. I can see they put a lot of consideration in the design and sound.

I listened to the sound clip. Love the AC/DC and Scorps riffs! I like the attack that the amp has. I noticed the breakup on the clean channel when you dug in.
What I found interesting is the section with the Crunch channel on light gain. I guess I typically expect a channel like that to have a more open, dynamic character. One that lets you transition between clean and overdriven by adjusting your pick attack or guitar volume. Even with "light" gain, it still sounded pretty overdriven. And it sounded quite compressed, at least in the clip. I think that's great for harder rock where you might not need it to clean up if you pick lighter, and you want it to sustain more. I've found that a more dynamic character usually comes at the expense of less sustain and less harmonics. A hard rock player might want a little less gain, but still want a lot of sustain and harmonics. It sounds like this amp would be great for that.

It was probably my bad playing. It seems very dynamic to me since there is a significant difference between soft and hard picking. I dont hear what it is you are hearing because I do not have the experience you have. I have been playing less than 3 years. A better player than myself will probably coax a lot more out of it than I can. I agree the Powerball is geared towards rock and metal styles.

 

[JeffB]

Re: Powerball II review

TIGHT amp.

I like the general tone of it. I'd def agree with the Soldano/VHT vibe-kinda dark, dry and compressed mids. I've always been interested in the Engls since I first heard the Blackmore head.

Does it run off of 5881s/6l6s?

 

[UberMetalDood]

Re: Powerball II review

TIGHT amp.

I like the general tone of it. I'd def agree with the Soldano/VHT vibe-kinda dark, dry and compressed mids. I've always been interested in the Engls since I first heard the Blackmore head.

Does it run off of 5881s/6l6s?

6L6. Engl probably has it optimally designed and with premium tubes but I want to know if it would benefit a little from KT66's.

 

[crguti]

Re: Powerball II review

cool review. many thanks.
I've been following this amp since it was released. I've got a Engl Thunder 50 E322, but I would like to upgrade it to a big Engl for sure.

 

[UberMetalDood]

Re: Powerball II review

cool review. many thanks.
I've been following this amp since it was released. I've got a Engl Thunder 50 E322, but I would like to upgrade it to a big Engl for sure.

I love the Thunder reverb. I myself want to now get a Screamer 50 head. I am trying to sell my Egnater to buy one. My Renegade is more versatile but I think from now on I want to stay with Mesa Boogie and Engl. I dont want to have 6 completely different amplifiers. For that kind of thing I will get an Axe FX.