so recently ive been thinking of selling myy e 530 preamp and ENGL 920 poweramp and buying a powerball

i know a few peolple use them here and love them


however, i have some worries about me+powerball

the first thing that concerns me is that i have never really heard a powerball clip with a smooth liquidy lead type tone for solos they always sounded kind of rough to me , scratchy even at times, can users confirm that the powerball is unable or able to generate smoooth lead tones ALA Necrophagist, cryptopsy,malmsteen, whatever??


the next thing i have concerns about is the riffing tones on this amp,

sometimes i have heard clips of the powerball where it sounds way overly crunchy/trebely/grainy


i hope this would be solved by simply EQing it to my taste more

also i hear it can sometimes have trouble cutting through live? this true?

discuss plz

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for lead tones i really think you need to dick around with the focused mids. the e530 as you know has the contour switch which adds a big midrange hump, the powerball has pretty much the same thing but with more control. what they give you is not only the open/focused mids switch that acts just like the contour switch on the e530, but the open and focused mid settings has their own knobs to control the intensity. giving you two midrange voicings.

the open sounds just that, open and pretty flat, easier to get the notchy sound with somewhat of a scoop(i don't like the term) aggression, good for the thick rythm guitar and brutal shit.

the focused mid has alot more lo mids to the voicing so no matter where the knob is at, it's going to have a very present midrange. but this is good for lead tones, also if you're on the lo lead and you kick back on the gain of the powerball(to about say, 3) with the focused mid setting on, it gives you sort of a tube screamer boosted jcm 800 sound.

in the powerball, i really reccomend tung sol 5881 power tubes. they're a bit pricey, but i'm a big believer. and the preamp, i'm rocking a nos jan 5751(about 20% lower gain than a 12ax7 i think) and then two regular jj ecc83s's, then in the phase inverter a balanced jj ecc81s.

the reason i have the 5751 and the ecc81s in there is to smooth the amp out and bring the gain levels down a bit. you don't really lose any gain, but the gain knob is definately more noticable when you move it. the sound is warmer and less compressed at the lower gain settings, and the cleans also benifit from this.

i get most my tubes from www.dougstubes.com he's got the same selection of jj's that bob at eurotubes has, his prices are just as good. but then he sells tons of other brand tubes for great prices. and since he sells all sorts of tubes, his opinion is obviously less bias'd towards jj's.

i have the e530 preamp too as you know, im prett happy with it. a huge range of great tones from it can be had, and it can be plenty brutal. but the powerball still does high gain better imo. but then again, there are only a half a dozzn amps that i think can even touch the powerball in thatarea, all are more expensive, and a couple are also engls.

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if you're looking for really smooth liquidy tones with some nice tight rhythmn (since you're looking at stuff like necrophagist, cryptopsy, etc...), i'd advise you to get the Blackmore over the Powerball.

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true @ the blackmore, but i dont think id really like its riffing tones as much as id like the powerballs...


thanx for the sweet post XDX, would you be interested in buying my ENGL 920 poweramp for that sweet 530 of yers?

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you have a PM

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now you do too

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Can I have a pm.

no, fuck you.

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here are some examples of powerball clips ive dug up


Powerball tone i want to avoid

Powerball clip i like

Another one i think is good

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Check these out.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=_4bLerJd...ris%20broderick

And listen to chris in this clip.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=G5zV-IlS...ris%20broderick

http://youtube.com/watch?v=xkpZ645z...ris%20broderick

not bad, i reallly dont like his riffing tone though haha


what he gets on leads is awesome though

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