Inder_Cine_Mann
New member
My guess is because they don't have Mesa anymore. Anyone else notice that?
Im pretty excited cuz ive never played one and now I can!
Im pretty excited cuz ive never played one and now I can!
The GC near me just got ENGL
- Thread starter Inder_Cine_Mann
- Start date
Rockstar216
New member
Re: The GC near me just got ENGL
Well their is a Mark IV still at the GC near me. Think it's a used one though IDK. I would like to see them carry Blackstar specifically the Series One stuff.
Well their is a Mark IV still at the GC near me. Think it's a used one though IDK. I would like to see them carry Blackstar specifically the Series One stuff.
thespricket
New member
Re: The GC near me just got ENGL
It's hard for GC to carry high end amps because they get used and abused quite often while they're on the floor. And with most of those boutique amps they cannot be sold under a certain price. We call it a hard minimum. So when someone comes in to buy a Mesa and the grill cloth has a rip they can't even get a scratch and dent discount. So it can become problematic.
Guitar->pedals->amp
It's hard for GC to carry high end amps because they get used and abused quite often while they're on the floor. And with most of those boutique amps they cannot be sold under a certain price. We call it a hard minimum. So when someone comes in to buy a Mesa and the grill cloth has a rip they can't even get a scratch and dent discount. So it can become problematic.
Guitar->pedals->amp
Re: The GC near me just got ENGL
That's messed up...for all the hating GC gets, it's probably a case of "MESA got too full of itself to do business with"
That's messed up...for all the hating GC gets, it's probably a case of "MESA got too full of itself to do business with"
UberMetalDood
New member
Re: The GC near me just got ENGL
Engl offers are real nice variety of amps and, in my opinion, is a perfect replacement for Mesa Boogie. However, Mesa Boogie is an all-American brand with service all over the country and a five year warranty. You can spend $3800 on an Engl SE and you get a 1 year warranty that I believe you have to service through the U.S. distributor. The Engl warranty is probably the only thing that hold me back from keeping them. It's a warm, fuzzy feeling to have a lifetime warranty from Bogner or at least a 5 year (transferable) warranty from Boogie.
Other than the warranty and stuff, Engl has it all. They offer some of THE absolute best high gain tones and all of their amps have EXCELLENT clean channels. Even the Powerball and Fireball have good clean channels. They're not sparkly, vintage cleans, but they are really good and fitting for the kind of amps they are. The Savage is a brutal sounding amp yet has an amazing clean channel. The Steve Morse, Invader, and SE have some of the most incredible clean channels I have ever heard from a EL34 amps.
Engl doesn't supply foot switches, but they're programmable and you can get a 1 or 2 button switch for simple channel switching, or a 10 button for midi capability, and that's all cool. With some of the new direct recording and wattage options like the Gigmaster and Ironball offer, Engl has become super competitive.
Their amps that have reverb all have GREAT sounding, useable, real reverb. Having a great reverb built-in is always a plus because it means less effects in your chain. Moreover, I have never heard or had a single complaint about their FX loops. They're some of the best in the business.
Another great thing about Engl amps is how compatible and friendly they are with a variety of pedals, tubes and speakers. I have swapped several speakers with Engl amps and they work great because they're fairly predictable. If you know the characteristics of a speaker and match that with the characteristics of the amp, then you pretty much have the idea of what that speaker will sound like with the amp. I have a Bogner Goldfinger which doesn't always react predictably with speakers, so it's more of a guessing game.
Tube swapping is VERY subtle, but Engl amps are very tube friendly. If I put some Sovteks in my Marshall, for example, it becomes a bit harsh. I can put those same Sovteks in my Engl and it doesn't sound harsh, just kind of picks up a bit of the Sovtek flavor. I don't know if that's a good thing to the tube experts, but for me it works both ways. I like some amps that respond differently to tubes because it's more tweaking you can do. However, for consistency I suppose, having an amp that sounds pretty much the same no matter what brand you use is an advantage. For example, a gigging guitarist who has to buy some tubes on the spot and they're different from the ones he was using. He's going to go on stage without worrying about his amp sounding all that different. I'm not a gigging musician, so this is all just conjecture.
The best Engl heads are bulky, but they offer some pretty powerful amps in smaller enclosures like the Screamer, Ironball, Gigmaster, Raider, Thunder, etc..., so they have something for everyone. I think that all of the features, high gain sounds, clean tones, reverb, etc... put together makes them a fantastic replacement for Mesa Boogie. I'd like to see Engl offer more in terms of warranty, however, because their amps aren't cheap. They are certainly built with quality that is among the best of the best, but a good warranty gives you an amp you can stick with as long as you want like Bogner and Splawn.
I think it's great that Guitar Center is diversifying their stock and deviating from the same tired crap they always carry (the crap on the shelves that never works like Bugeras and Peavey Valve Kings). I'd like to see GC start carrying more Blackstar Series One stuff though. Their selection of HT series stuff is fair (mostly HT1 through HT20, don't really carry the 50w & 100w heads), but I have only seen used Series One stuff and it never lasts long once people get a taste of them.
Engl offers are real nice variety of amps and, in my opinion, is a perfect replacement for Mesa Boogie. However, Mesa Boogie is an all-American brand with service all over the country and a five year warranty. You can spend $3800 on an Engl SE and you get a 1 year warranty that I believe you have to service through the U.S. distributor. The Engl warranty is probably the only thing that hold me back from keeping them. It's a warm, fuzzy feeling to have a lifetime warranty from Bogner or at least a 5 year (transferable) warranty from Boogie.
Other than the warranty and stuff, Engl has it all. They offer some of THE absolute best high gain tones and all of their amps have EXCELLENT clean channels. Even the Powerball and Fireball have good clean channels. They're not sparkly, vintage cleans, but they are really good and fitting for the kind of amps they are. The Savage is a brutal sounding amp yet has an amazing clean channel. The Steve Morse, Invader, and SE have some of the most incredible clean channels I have ever heard from a EL34 amps.
Engl doesn't supply foot switches, but they're programmable and you can get a 1 or 2 button switch for simple channel switching, or a 10 button for midi capability, and that's all cool. With some of the new direct recording and wattage options like the Gigmaster and Ironball offer, Engl has become super competitive.
Their amps that have reverb all have GREAT sounding, useable, real reverb. Having a great reverb built-in is always a plus because it means less effects in your chain. Moreover, I have never heard or had a single complaint about their FX loops. They're some of the best in the business.
Another great thing about Engl amps is how compatible and friendly they are with a variety of pedals, tubes and speakers. I have swapped several speakers with Engl amps and they work great because they're fairly predictable. If you know the characteristics of a speaker and match that with the characteristics of the amp, then you pretty much have the idea of what that speaker will sound like with the amp. I have a Bogner Goldfinger which doesn't always react predictably with speakers, so it's more of a guessing game.
Tube swapping is VERY subtle, but Engl amps are very tube friendly. If I put some Sovteks in my Marshall, for example, it becomes a bit harsh. I can put those same Sovteks in my Engl and it doesn't sound harsh, just kind of picks up a bit of the Sovtek flavor. I don't know if that's a good thing to the tube experts, but for me it works both ways. I like some amps that respond differently to tubes because it's more tweaking you can do. However, for consistency I suppose, having an amp that sounds pretty much the same no matter what brand you use is an advantage. For example, a gigging guitarist who has to buy some tubes on the spot and they're different from the ones he was using. He's going to go on stage without worrying about his amp sounding all that different. I'm not a gigging musician, so this is all just conjecture.
The best Engl heads are bulky, but they offer some pretty powerful amps in smaller enclosures like the Screamer, Ironball, Gigmaster, Raider, Thunder, etc..., so they have something for everyone. I think that all of the features, high gain sounds, clean tones, reverb, etc... put together makes them a fantastic replacement for Mesa Boogie. I'd like to see Engl offer more in terms of warranty, however, because their amps aren't cheap. They are certainly built with quality that is among the best of the best, but a good warranty gives you an amp you can stick with as long as you want like Bogner and Splawn.
I think it's great that Guitar Center is diversifying their stock and deviating from the same tired crap they always carry (the crap on the shelves that never works like Bugeras and Peavey Valve Kings). I'd like to see GC start carrying more Blackstar Series One stuff though. Their selection of HT series stuff is fair (mostly HT1 through HT20, don't really carry the 50w & 100w heads), but I have only seen used Series One stuff and it never lasts long once people get a taste of them.
UberMetalDood
New member
Re: The GC near me just got ENGL
Germany as always. I hope they don't go the way of Marshall and everyone else because all they will end up doing is creating a premium from their domestic line and making their foreign crap most accessible.
Germany as always. I hope they don't go the way of Marshall and everyone else because all they will end up doing is creating a premium from their domestic line and making their foreign crap most accessible.
Mad-Max
New member
Re: The GC near me just got ENGL
This is SO cool, because I've never gotten a chance to play on an Engl. No music store in my state, including GC has had an Engl. I've been wanting to try them so desperately but have never gotten the chance, but now since Guitar Center is now distributing them, hopefully I can in the very near future.
As far as the Mesa Boogie thing goes, it's extremely unfortunate. I'm a huge fan of Mesa Boogie, and I own a Mark V, which happens to be in my top 5 favorite amps ever. With that being said, I was lucky enough to pick one up new at GC before the soiled contract that took place shortly afterwards.
I can certainly understand where they are coming from though, because Mesa's sometimes take a little while to tweak, but once you have it set right, it's pretty much tone heaven from then on, and can create a tone that's tough to beat. Unfortunately, we have inexperienced players who come up to play their amps, and consider them to be junk because they can't get a good tone out of it, when it reality, probably some of their favorite records have probably been recorded with the very amp that's sitting in front of them. Another issue is impatience, due to the time it takes to tweak. Fortunately enough for me, it didn't take long for me to find 'my' tone with the Mark V, so I guess it was luck of the draw.
I hope one of these days, the two companies will reconcile and get something going again, but I highly doubt it. In the mean time, I'm gonna be playing some Engl amps when I see them in my local GC, which is definitely fine with me because I want to take them out on a test drive! :smokin:
This is SO cool, because I've never gotten a chance to play on an Engl. No music store in my state, including GC has had an Engl. I've been wanting to try them so desperately but have never gotten the chance, but now since Guitar Center is now distributing them, hopefully I can in the very near future.
As far as the Mesa Boogie thing goes, it's extremely unfortunate. I'm a huge fan of Mesa Boogie, and I own a Mark V, which happens to be in my top 5 favorite amps ever. With that being said, I was lucky enough to pick one up new at GC before the soiled contract that took place shortly afterwards.
I can certainly understand where they are coming from though, because Mesa's sometimes take a little while to tweak, but once you have it set right, it's pretty much tone heaven from then on, and can create a tone that's tough to beat. Unfortunately, we have inexperienced players who come up to play their amps, and consider them to be junk because they can't get a good tone out of it, when it reality, probably some of their favorite records have probably been recorded with the very amp that's sitting in front of them. Another issue is impatience, due to the time it takes to tweak. Fortunately enough for me, it didn't take long for me to find 'my' tone with the Mark V, so I guess it was luck of the draw.
I hope one of these days, the two companies will reconcile and get something going again, but I highly doubt it. In the mean time, I'm gonna be playing some Engl amps when I see them in my local GC, which is definitely fine with me because I want to take them out on a test drive! :smokin:
JeffB
Let it B
Re: The GC near me just got ENGL
I would love to own a Retro50.
That said, my local GC is a mini store. The most recent amps they have in stock are a tweaker 40, mustang v2s and a orange micro terror. The only Marshalls they carry are MG series. Its 99% low end ss and modelling amps
i have no hope of ever seeing a Engl in there.
I would love to own a Retro50.
That said, my local GC is a mini store. The most recent amps they have in stock are a tweaker 40, mustang v2s and a orange micro terror. The only Marshalls they carry are MG series. Its 99% low end ss and modelling amps
i have no hope of ever seeing a Engl in there.
SongsForTheDeaf
New member
Re: The GC near me just got ENGL
was not a fan of their powerball but the v30 cab was rockin!
was not a fan of their powerball but the v30 cab was rockin!
