so i just randomly had the urge to purchase an engl e530 preamp because the price was right. go derek!

korg tuner, monster power conditioner, isp decimator pro rack G, engl e530 preamp, rack shelf with an engl z-11 on it, and an art sla-1 poweramp.

the art is pretty good for a s.s. poweramp, it's 100w per side or 260w mono, so it's got plenty of headroom for a s.s. poweramp, and it's very transparent since it's for studio use. it's just something i had lying around so it's just temporary until i belly up for either some 2 space engl poweramp or a vht 2/90/2. and at that point the rack shelf and z-11 wont be there, i'll probably just velcro the z-11 somewhere in the back of the rack or place it in my pedalboard.

so far i've played the e530 with headphones, through the art, and into the powerball's fx loop return.

aside from the nasally sound you get from playing guitar from hifi headphones, it sounded pretty good that way.

the art sounds good and clear even at really high volumes, it lets you hear the preamp... which is really nice. but it makes it feel a little sterile.

into the powerball's fx return is my favorite... it really makes me want to buy a tube poweramp NOW.

i still want to jam the headphone out into a cab, but i dont have a stereo speaker cable and i dont want to damage the amp. maybe one day.

for the cost of these preamps im amazed (usually under $500 NEW and shipped)... hearing this one, i'm suprised they dont sell for at least double what they do. i'm not the one to buy new amps, but at the price i paid, i don't feel like a sucker.

great cleans, reminds me of my old h&k triamp, having two cleans, one slightly broken and the other crystal clear. as good if not better than the powerball in this area.

the lead channel(s) ROCK, the lo lead channel really sounds like a different channel, something the powerball misses(the lo and hi lead are almost the same sound). great for the medium gain rocker realm that i've been into lately. and the hi lead, brutal, i have the gain around 6-7 and im in death metal territory.

overall in comparison to the powerball, it's not quite as tight or brutal(but what amp is? ), but it's definately a tight and brutal little beast. and once i get a good tube poweramp for it, it may get used more often simply for the flexiblity since it has the edge there.

i also bought transient's parker nitefly and i'm digging it alot aswell. to me it feels like a mix of my parker fly deluxe and my american deluxe fender strat.

derek also hooked me up with a sporty engl t-shirt(a medium! he knew my size! ) and an isp decimator pedal(pretty damn good, no pro rack G, but pretty damn good). so tits to him!

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u can never have enough gear ey

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Awesome shit man! Ive been thinkin about assembling a rack just for the sheer flexibility but I dont know yet. BTW, since you have a few Parkers you would be the right guy to ask, do the stainless steel frets bother you? In my experience stainless steel frets add a lot of brightness.

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yep, the engl 530 rules


it can definatly get pretty brutal

i was thinking of trading my rack setup for a powerball but i think id rather eventually save up and get an E 570 preamp to go with my engl 920 poweramp

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nothing about either of these guitars really bother me. sometimes elements that add brightness are added to dark guitars to balance things out. parkers are excellently built guitars, the man knows how to build them.

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The VHT 2/90 kicked more ass than the ENGL poweramp IMO with the e530.Also kicked more ass than the Mesa 2/90.

yeah sucks i cant afford one, and probly wont be able to untill the mojo is vintage...i wanna feel the lightness and that weird composite fretboard

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aw there she is

in good hands!

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haha i just got a job so i think i should have enough money to buy an ENGL SE 570 Preamp at the end of the summer

so fuck ya'll


also, if yer interested in selling that ISP Pedal i might be interested at some point

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Maybe, I like it and I've been using it a lot... But I'm not sure I like it any more than my ns-2, so I may end up selling it.

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Ordering a ENGL SE head with EL34's tommorrow, i think ill be calling derekB

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fuck yea, i was wondering when you were gonna get an e530, tell me if you find any good tone settings and complimentations, im still fuckin around with mine.

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I've just bought a Parker P-42, a far cry from a nitefly or deluxe but it's well built for the money ($399 US)

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ah, the 530. i remember that guy

loved the shit out of it.

but i love my 5150 more >_>


great pre for the price. did a lot of gigs with it. gets brutal, but kinda quiet (in terms of volume...then again that may have been my shitty peavey poweramp that always crapped out on me)

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only reason why you bought a 5150 iscuz yer poweramp wasnt sweet enough

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Mine's loud as hell through the art sla-1 or my powerball's fx return.

I had a peavey classic 50/50 way back when I had my jmp1, and while it sounded good. It didn't seem to get as loud as most 100w heads. A retube helped alot, but it seemed to be lacking slightly still.

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ive only been running it through one HALF of my 100 watt engl poweramp (so only running 50 watts)

and its WAAAAY loud, its gonna be scary when i get a stereo cab and run all 100 watts

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