i was thinkin of getting a engl powerball but some guy started talk to me about he has a engl pre-amp and runs it through a power amp and gets a great sound.
i dont know much about pre-amps and power-amps so could someone enlighten me.like what differance would it make?i know its cheaper but what else?
i'm lookin for a real iced earth sound,how would picken either one effect me?

well a head is a pre and power amp in one.

the preamp is what makes the sound, distortion etc comes from the preamp.

the poweramp add the watts and volume to the amp.

so a 50 watt head is pretty much the same as a preamp and a 50 watt poweramp.

i would get a head over a pre/poweramp combi though.
a head has all the tubes etc matched, and some preamps wont sound very good on some poweramps, also u need more cables etc for a pre/poweramp combination, and a flightcase ofcuz.
this is all my experience with heads and pre/poweramps, i use to have a pre/poweramp combi, but i like the head i have now better (wich is a engl btw)

for the iced earth sound, cant help u there

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according to what Ive heard , Iced Earth only remaining original member ,Uses Marshalls soldano and Gibsons, He is the one that gives Iced Earth their distinctive tone ,
Ripper is very good Iced Earth ruled with Barlow

For preamps look at:

ADA MP1
Engl 530
Bogner Fish
Mesa Triaxis
Mesa Quad
Marshall JMP1
Soldano X99
Engl 570

Those are pretty much the best preamps around. the ADA would be the cheapest one, and it delivers good 80s metal tones from what I've heard, which is along the lines of Iced Earth.

Schaffer uses a custom built amp, but Marshalls and Engl Powerball when he's playing live I believe.

You cant beat a Gibson through a Marshall...

oh yes you can my friend

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If you are willing to rack out cash for those overpriced brands, I will let you think that.

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back to the point ladz, can ya tell me bout the amps?????????

id say get a head.
saves u lots of cables.

i recently bought a savage 60 watts, its awesome, lots of balls, verry loud, its just a older model, so i guess a powerball would be just as if not more brutal.

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bump, come on lads i need more help.i havn't decided yet

Well, the powerball is a fucking brutal amp that can give a variety of sounds.
The pre-amp is fucking brutal and give you a bigger fariety, but you must combine it with a nice power amp. And tube power-amps are usualy not very cheap, or easy to come by (at least where I live)

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I own a preamp/poweramp-combination. A Digitech 2101 runs in an ENGL 930/120. Sounds as brutal and powerful as my bands other guitarists ENGL Savage but leaves me the option to get another preamp and experiment with the sounds.

what would be the best combie of pre-amo and power-amp be to get me something similar to the powerball but even better for my choppy schaffer style palm-muting.
something similar to a larry amp, jon shaffers cutom amp!

If you like the ENGL sound you should get an ENGL poweramp. These have (IMHO) quite a huge impact on the sound.

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which ever one you like best!

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exactly, the best advice wouldbe, get out and try stuff.

but i still say get a head, say a new powerball would cost u 1500euros (where i live) and ur done, if u get a pre/poweramp, ur spending more than that for sure, if u want some volume (and buy new ofcuz)

i think engl 2x60 poweramps are new bout 900 / 1000, then for the preamp, id egt a e570 over the 530, (if u get the e530 id be around 1400 total, but it wont be a powerball i guess) but with the e570 that leads u to spending a total of say 2400euros and for that money u could buy a engl se head, wich wil have more watts, and less cables.

right im just saying sumtin that i think would be more likely to get.

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i supose thanx man!

(most stereotypical amp/guitar setup ever)

damn engl amps cost so much

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yeah theyre pricey, im prettu glad i got my savage 60 voor 800euros, ist still a lot of money, but i so fucking happy with it

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meh, about average these days...

compared to the prices of mesa and marshall... they're right there. unless you're in europe, then marshall is generally a bit cheaper and mesa is alot more expensive.

but fuck marshall's price boost. the jmp-1 went from $1,000 to $1,400 overnight. fuck that.

you can now buy a soldano avenger for less than a jcm 800 REISSUE.


and then you have your bogner, deizel, CAA/CAE, ect... where everything runs well over $2,000

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yea, all these euro amps like bogner and engl (and some others i cant think of) are really hard for me to find a test subject locally. Ill just sit here and play through my Ran w/ JB pup - BBE - Randall and stfu. untill i get a couple more grand

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I'm actually content with my ENGL 530 to Marshall MG cab (!!!!!!) setup right now.

I might drop some cash into an avatar cab, and a power amp. After that I really dont need much else tonewise.

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