Engl Powerball Mk II head
August 2010 Guitarist 107
£1,599
Guitar amps
E
ngl may not be as well
known in the UK as it
deserves, but across the
Channel and in the USA the
brand is widely recognised for
producing some of the best
guitar amps your euro or dollar
can buy, particularly if you’re
into rock or metal.
Engl can boast some serious
endorsees too, such as Deep
Purple alumnus Ritchie
Blackmore and Blue Oyster
Cult axeman Buck Dharma,
while other Engl players who
aren’t so close to receiving their
free bus pass include Steve
Morse, Chris Impelliteri, Marty
Friedman, Vinnie Moore and
Cradle Of Filth’s Paul Allender.
With such a heavyweight
user list you’d expect Engl amps
to be something special, and all
of the products we’ve seen have
demonstrated designer Horst
Langer’s talent for packing in
tons of features without
sacrificing tone, as well as an
almost obsessively high
standard of build quality. This
month we’re looking at the
Mark II version of an amp that
really impressed us when we
looked at it the first time
around: the Powerball head.
Built to typically high
standards, the Powerball is a
full-sized head that will look
impressive on top of any 4 x 12
cabinet; although for the full
effect you’d want to use one of
Engl’s own enclosures. The
overall aesthetic is simple and
not as overtly stylised as some
of the USA competition
perhaps, with the trademark
large chrome Engl logo
dominating the front mesh
panel. Less impressive are the
‘parts bin’ chrome corner
protectors and small push-
button switches on the front
control panel, which look a
little fragile. Four red LEDs
behind the output valves do
nothing else than provide a
ruby glow to the Powerball’s
interior, something you’ll
either think is cool or naff. Still,
if that’s really all we can find to
grumble about…
The tough ply sleeve
surrounds a steel chassis that’s
crammed with electronics,
most of it mounted on a large
and very high quality printed
circuit board. We’ve got no
misgivings here at all: the
Powerball’s ’board layout and
construction is on a par with
the best in the world and should
easily handle endless
professional use.
The Mk I Powerball was
essentially a two-channel
design – each channel has two
voices with a degree of
independent EQ. On the Mark
II there are now four separate
gain controls, so it effectively
provides four channels without
the control overload many four-
channel designs are
encumbered with. The top row
of knobs take care of the
Powerball’s clean and crunch
sounds, with separate controls
for gain, volume and treble, plus
shared bass and mid-range,
while the lower row govern the
Engl’s two lead sounds. These
used to be called ‘open’ and
‘focused’ on the Mark I amp,
but are simply called Leads 3
and 4 on the new version. Again
there are separate gain and
volume controls with a shared
EQ. There’s also a mid boost
function that operates on both
lead channels and has its own
mid-range control, with bright
and bottom mini switches for
the clean and crunch channels
and separate bottom switches
for the lead channels. The
Powerball’s mains department
includes controls for presence
and depth punch, with two
switchable master volumes.
The rear panel features a
comprehensive selection of
speaker jacks, a pair of send/
returns for the amp’s parallel
effects loop with a simple
The evolution of power… Engl’s Powerball returns,
updated, uprated and ready to rock by Nick Guppy
The rivals
Rivera’s K-Tre 120-watt
head (£2,124) has the tone a
lot of metal players want right
now. Awesome low-end
punch and killer distortion,
combined with bulletproof
build quality. Mesa’s 100-
watt Dual Rectifier (£2,329)
is the updated version of the
original rock and metal head
that defined that scooped
thrash sound – still the gold
standard for many. Orange’s
Rockerverb 100 head
(£1,449), also in its Mk II
version, has a great collection
of tones and includes reverb;
needs an Orange cab though
Engl Powerball
Mk II head
£1,599
Controls remain intuitive, despite the amp’s versatility
GIT331.rev_engl 107 6/18/10 4:03:11 PM