User Manual

The Making of... a Few Closing Words from the Amp Designer

At ENGL, we have always pursued the goal of delivering the

greatest possible range of sounds and the highest quality tube tone

with missionary zeal. The ENGL MIDI Preamp 580 is the latest

product born of this philosophy. This project posed a very special

challenge to me, ENGL's resident amp designer. The idea was to

take all of the sounds I had implemented in earlier ENGL amps and

converge them in a single device. What's more, we sought to chart

entirely new sonic frontiers with this preamp. To make an already

daunting task even more challenging, we decided that all

sound-shaping features would be programmable. A tall order

indeed, but I had an ace in the hole—ENGL was the first to present

the special technology that powers programmable tube amps. An

astonished music world applauded ENGL's efforts way back in the

early '80s, so we had a great deal of experience to draw on.

When we brainstormed this preamp, we agreed that the focus had

to be on tone, tone, and more tone. With that in mind, I decided

the amp would have to do entirely without semiconductors in the

preamp stage, because this is the heart and soul of the preamp, the

section so critical to its tone. That sent us straight back to the

drawing board and the lab. Achieving all of these goals involved a

tremendous amount of research, and it demanded highest

performance from the computer system and software.

In a joint effort with a software specialist, we put in many, many

hours of hard work to make our ambitions reality.

The result literally speaks for itself. As the first benchtest ratings will

attest, this preamp hits the mark—it is a tone-generating monster.

And it looks the part too, so all the time, trouble and top-notch

materials we invested in its visuals paid off as well.

An amp this sophisticated requires some explanation. To make sure

you understand it and all its workings, I put a great deal of effort

into describing it down to the last detail in this manual.

Here's hoping you and your new ENGL MIDI Preamp 580 enjoy a

harmonious future,

Horst Langer,

ENGL amp designer

and the entire ENGL team

I would like to take this opportunity to extend my heartfelt

gratitude to everyone involved in this project—despite the many

challenges, it was a rewarding experience because you made it so.