I finally got it today. So tired of not being able to play my Engl Fireball. Didn't even have to pay import duties for it.

It sounds INCREDIBLE, I like the sound more than the Marshall MF400 cab I had. It's all mids, super "present" in a way. Not insane bass like a 4x12 but it has more than enough for me. At very low volumes it sounds fizzy unfortunately, but I hear all Vintage 30 speakers sound fizzy at first until you wear them in a little, then they're more round.

The PDI-09 DI box/cab simulator that I bought with it, I was trying it just now and good fuckin lord I'm floored! I'm running it straight out from the FX loop send, though I plan to use it in between the power amp and cab.

It sounds amazing through the quick recordings I just made with absolutely no post-EQ, with some reverb it would pass as a pro recording for real! I'll re-record some stuff(ie. that decapitated song I did) with it, it truly sounds amazing. I have not heard many at-home recordings here that sounded this good to be honest.

I'm so happy with my gear now, so glad I didn't sell my Engl head. I'm never ever going to have GAS again.

Pic: http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/7503/image12co3.jpg

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All speakers, esp. for guitar, esp. 12", suck when played at low volume. It's also way worse before you burn them in properly and soften it up

That DI box sounds interesting..

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My MF400 sounded way better at late-at-night(below TV) volumes. I have heard the opposite, that v30's lose fizzyness after some wear, and sound less harsh at lower volumes(and high volumes too). Maybe I just need to EQ differently, I'm sure its that. It sounds a little 2-dimensional, I need to EQ it more and try it with my delay.

I sure love the smell of the new cab. My bedroom now smells like a brand new car.

The Palmer is way more than a DI box, it's a cabinet simulator. Whoever says it can't sound like a real miced cab simply has not tried this, it sounds way better than many miced-at-home attempts I've ever heard, and I didn't to any tweaking at all! Just hooked it up to the end of my FX loop and was floored. It has 3 modes, one being "Normal" which sounds very clear and middy, no harshness, a Bright mode which boosts the upper mids and treble a bit too much for me(will help with very dark amps though) and lastly the Mellow mode which truly sounds like a dark brutal sounding 4x12, in fact I actually like this one more than what my Framus cab sounds like! It has a ground lift feature to to avoid ground loop hum.

I'm gonna try it with my MultiFx too, I predict it's going to sound way better than it was sounding direct recently.

By the way Jopop, can I join your "$20000 worth of gear, can't play worth half a shit" club?

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The 20,000$ gear but can't play worth shit club is always open

Didn't i say the same as you? The high mids / treble softens and smooths up a lot and the over all tone loses a lot of the "bee in a box distortion" effect at low volume when you've played them for a while. I just recently swapped out my G12T75's for one Texas Heat and a Swamp Thang, and while they sound pretty amazing at higher volume, they sound like bees and chainsaws at low volume. I haven't played them all that much, they might have 10 hours or so at moderate volume, plus they have a very focused midrange (as opposed to the Celestion's general open-ness) which might give some more effect to the thin sound at lower volume.

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I'm impressed indeed. And no post EQ'ing at all you say? Thank goodness. I feel that the horrors of micing and tweaking the shit out of your EQ settings after you've recorded a couple tracks is a good, quick way to kill your motivation and creativity. That ART tube pre I had was little more than just a D.I. Box with a tube in it - and while perfect for the gear I was using it with at the time (a Line 6 Flextone II head that has its own direct outs) it wouldn't fit into what I visualize my next "post-Line 6" rig to be. That Palmer box sounds like a piece of gear I definetly need to check out if I ever do start getting back into recording again. Here's a pic of it with specs if anyone wants to check it out.
Sure, you won't have G.A.S. again now... give it a couple months!
Congrats on your new cab as well!

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Thanks!

By the way, have you heard the new Suffocation album? Well that's what my tone sounds like with the DI box on the Mellow setting, but even better! I've yet to try it with the poweramp out, I predict it will give even better results.

By the way even if you fellas interested in the Palmer don't have a really good amp don't be turned off from it, I have a feeling it will make any mediocre amp sound amazing recorded direct. Off to try it with my multiFX now...

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Hello. Been coming here for years for tips on all musical and now I have a bit of a noob question. I have an engl fireball and a framus 2x12 cab being delivered on Monday. This is my first real amp and I am a little freaked about screwing something up. I noticed that you (Soeru) have the same/similar set up to what I'll have. Am I safe to connect the Framus cab to Jack 24 on the engl. Again, sorry for the noobness.
Cheers.

Congratulations. Haha I was scared with it too at first.

Uhh Jack 24? I don't know what you're talking about.

The Framus cab is 8 Ohms mono, so you need to connect it to the Fireball's 1x8 Ohm speaker jack, the one to the far left.

Ohhhh ok I just looked at the Fireball manual now I know what you mean. Jack 24 is the 3rd one from left to right right? Well NO don't use that one, those last 2 to the far right are ONLY for using one 16 Ohm cab OR two 8 Ohm cabs.

Since you're using only 1 8 ohm cab you need to use the far left one(Jack 22)

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Cheers for the quick reply. Glad I asked now. Can't wait to get it all set up on Monday night. Neighbours are gonna be pi**ed!!

Welcome. Heh I can assure you they will, crank that shit up loud to get those vintage 30's worn in.

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Thanks for the welcome. Another question if you don't mind. Most of the time it will be cranked but I will probably have times when playing quiet. What are they like quiet? Is it best not to bother. Just thinking of times when stuck at home bored and wanting to jam but not being able to go loud..... or too loud anyway.

Oh the Fireball sounds great at low volumes man, just boost up the treble and presence a little more when doing so.

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Pretty cool, I'm picking up a Fireball this sunday too..

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Fireball's all round then!! I tried mine in the shop earlier this week (took me ages to find a shop holding one) with a framus dragon 4x12 and I think I came a little when I heard the tone. Sheer bruality.... it was at quite a high volume though.

One thing I've discovered with it is that it only sounds 100% awesome when it has been heat up for about 1 minute. The manual says 20 seconds is ok but I've discovered that 1 minute or even more of warming up makes it sound worlds better and also even minor static noise disappears when it is fully warmed up. And I'm not talking about cranking the amp loud, the diff in sound is noticeable at low volumes. Perhaps the preamp tubes sound better when heated up too?

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This is very common with JJ powertubes.. not so much the amp i think.

They make static noise and sound not-so-good unless you warm them up real good and play them for a minute or so, then the static noise dissapears and the sound thickens up a bit and seems "deeper".. at least all the JJ powertubes I've had were like that.

Do you use JJ's?

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I don't have JJ powertubes in it.

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git mor spkrs

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2 make more than enough noise for me.

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Yeah this amp is pretty cool. Very wet/saturated distortion.. i need to tweak it a little bit but basically it does an impressive sound almost no matter what you dial the EQ's to and it sounds amazing at low volume.. esp. compared to the 5150 i had earlier. Sounds amazing at any volume really but it doesn't sound too good when it starts breaking up IMO..

Incredibly fast attack and tight bottom end.. insane i tell you.. so fun to play.

My current settings are Gain/B/M/T/Presence 4/6/4/4/5 and it sounds pretty cool. Maybe need to turn the gain down a few notches.. I'm lacking some clarity. Changing pickups too this week though, I'm just worried that changing the Duncan i have in there to a Dimarzio D-Activator will mask too much of my playing mistakes.. The Fireball is sort of forgiving (not too much but a little) and the D-Activators are very forgiving..

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Glad your liking it. Mine came today and damn!!!!! What a tone. I agree, pretty much set the eq anywhere and its awsome. I am getting interference (when distorted) but only when i put a pedal in front of the amp. I set it up as guitar>wha>MXR noise gate>amp. Should the noise gate be in the effects loop to cancel out the interference? I've not tried it because I don't have enought leads. Other than that though, I'm liking it.

Let it warm up for a while like a minute and a half, that helps with the radio interferences. The stock pre tubes became a bit noisy with mine after a couple of months.

If you're getting static noise that's your cables' fault, always use good cables.

Yeah try the noisegate in the fx loop.

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found a spare lead and tried it. No noise at all just pure tone and silence. I had a little shitty 10 watt marshall prior to this using a digitech metal pedal for dist. Now I understand all the hype about ENGL.

Wierd, this thing makes a lot of sound even in standby mode.. :-/

I'm afraid this thing really eats tubes. Looking from the schematic it looks like the power tubes always see high voltage, and the standby switch just cuts off the ground connection to the cathode, meaning leakage current will always pass.. I don't know too much about vaccum tubes but my guess is that this amp eats tubes a little faster than say a Peavey or a Marshall.

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Thats interesting seeing your settings as I have the same setup as Soeru, Fireball/Framus. The only thing I'm struggling with is maintaining clarity on faster palm muted riffs. Currently my settings are Gain:4 Bass:5 Mid:6 Treble:7 Presence:6 Master:1 Depth and Bright engaged lol. I'd like to see peoples opinions on pickups as I think the EMG's don't match as well as they could. The amp loses some of its thump with the gain any lower. Best sounding amp I've ever heard at low volumes,

EDIT: I might try boosting it with the BM, problem is it seems to loosen it up rather than tighten it! I'll report back later.

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I tried boosting it, it turns the Fireball to a Mudball. Not cool. Clarity on palm muted riffs? What do you mean? Like, when you play chugg-chugg-note and you can't hear the note clearly, it gets buried in?

BTW i don't like the depth/bright buttons too much, IMO they just scoop the mids out a little.. :-/ So i leave them depressed. I don't like the tone if i turn both presence and treble over 5 either, and around 5-7 seems to be a good value for the bass knob, then just adjust the mids to taste. Try depressing the depth / bright buttons and reduce the treble / presence and mids just a tiny bit dude. I'm afraid running that much treble may make string noise and sloppy technique way too audible

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Hey guys, the Dimarzio D Activator (bridge) is an awesome pickup. Gave the fireball a little more "growl" instead of all "snarl" and opened it up some. I have not been able to throughly test it but I'll update as it progresses.

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Sounds good, I might consider picking it up for my bridge pos in my bcr and moving the PAF Pro I have in it to the neck instead of an Evo. How is the EQ curve on the D Activator? Dark/bright?

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Very balanced.

Basically it allows you to use the EQ on the amp to dial in a convincing sound, doesn't matter if it's dark or bright the Fireball will do it. EQ specs is B/M/T 6/6/6.5.

Listed as around 480 output? Dunno but it's pretty high output and it has very good attack and sustain.

Also i can dime the gain and play any major / minor chord and still pick out every string clearly, so it's a very clear sounding pickup. Probably the least muddiest pickup I've ever heard. Very impressive considering the insane amount of saturation this amp has And, if you roll back the volume it does a pretty good lower output pickup simulation, crisp and responsive.

Harmonics are very cool too, not quite like an EMG but pretty close.

Overall a smooth-ish sounding pickup with an aggressive edge that's not harsh at all, very warm and balanced sound with good harmonics and very good clarity

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......... get mor spkrs....


only 40 posts until I have almost nothing to live for.... lol

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I'm considering upgrading to a 4x12", mostly because then i wouldn't have to bend so far down to adjust settings when I'm sitting.

Anyway what speakers seem to go best with this amp? V30's? I've never liked the V30's with any amp they made it too honky. Then again they might work with this and there's a solid number of V30 equipped cabs on the market so trying them out won't be too hard.

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best thing you can do is a stack containing a 4x12 and a 2x12(or smaller)
the 4's are great for distorted crunchy sounds, while the 2's are young to make your cleans soar.

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And spread your sound differently. Since 2x12's sound less deep and more open it creates a bigger effect, there's someone up on youtube with a Fireball setup and an engl 2x12 and 4x12, he didn't play it though, just described it.

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Cool. I need to fix the Fireball though, but I'll try out some V30 cabs, maybe they're magic with this amp. Would you guys recommend the 4x12" on top of the 2x12" or vice versa? I'm kinda low on space.

Edit: Just realized how fucking stupid i am, I'll try different things on top/bottom for myself and see how it goes.

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Ideally you want the 4x12 on the bottom for the low end to get into the floor, and the 2x12 on top for more sound-spreading. Also a hell of a lot easier to stack...

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Cool. Only thing I'd be able to try is a marshall though with V30's in.

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