Any Experience with Bogner Uberschall or Engl Powerball II

[Sukkoi19]

I am looking for a new high gain head and these two have really caught my interest. Problem is I can't decide and there isn't a single one of these amps anywhere near me to try out so I am stuck relying on Youtube for experience.

I play Metal covers most often in the genre of old school Metallica, Pantera, Iron Maiden, Dio, MegaDeth and then some original stuff that is kind of a mix of the previous and who knows my own screwed up style. I like tight high gain and generally play small to medium sized gigs. I use Jackson guitars, mostly DK-1 with EMGs and SL-1 with SD Custom. I generally play in Eb or if the song calls for it Drop D. I am not a big detuner unless I am playing with a guitar player who insists on it. Oh and I play lead.

We do however play Classic rock in the mix which biases me toward the Engl as I have heard it is more versatile, then again I do have my Classic 50 and Hughes and Kettner Tube 100 for that. I play through my two Hughes and Kettner 4X12s loaded with WGS ET65s and V30 in an X pattern.

Any help or insight would be appreciated. I am not too concerned about budget as long as it stays under $3000. I have tried the JVM 410 and did not like it as heads up in fact I really am not a Marshall fan and I just can't get past the look of the Orange amps (shallow and stupid I know). Thanks for any help.

[roodyrocker]

I have no experience with the Engls but I do own a Bogner Uberschall and can help you with that First, the youtube clips of the Uberschall sound mostly like utter crap. Don't go by those. Bogner has great audio clips of the Uber on their website so check there. Second, the distortion channel on the Uber is fantastic! The gain is useable even if you turn it up all the way. My band does 80's hard rock covers and for that I have the gain up to about the 1:00 o'clock position. The clean channel is difficult to match to the distortion channel volume wise. Its not a bad sounding clean channel but there are better amps for that than the Uber. The distortion channel however is tough to beat, I pretty much use my Uber as a single channel amp The Uber is within the budget you listed even if you buy it new. If you buy it used you should be able to save yourself about $1K.

[P I K A]

Ive owned both and now own the nitro by Splawn. The powerball is good if you only play at home without a band. The bogner is good but I prefer the Nitro it cuts very good and has a lot of tones in it. Heres a clip of it and check youtube for more. Theres all kinds of clips from clean to low gain to high gain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFEd342t5Ig&feature=related

[Venomboy]

The Bogner is nice but I don't feel it's super versatile. I feel it's really good at 1 good ultra sick sound. The clean channel volume never quite matches the dirty channel. There's a newer one with 2 dirty channels that I have yet to try. It's a tank and mean and nasty.

I played the PB II at NAMM. Didn't try all the settings but there's a lot to play with. I really liked it.

I have a Framus Cobra that I love. Nice cleans, the crunch channel is always super clear, not matter how much gain you dial in. The lead channel is a bit more saturated.

[Grim]

Go for an ENGL Invader 100. The Uberschall is phenomenal too.

And yes, I hvae both a Powerball II and an Invader 100.

[Sukkoi19]

Ive owned both and now own the nitro by Splawn. The powerball is good if you only play at home without a band. The bogner is good but I prefer the Nitro it cuts very good and has a lot of tones in it. Heres a clip of it and check youtube for more. Theres all kinds of clips from clean to low gain to high gain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFEd3...eature=related

My that did sound nice. I see Matts Music is a dealer, may have to add that one to the list.

[Sukkoi19]

I have no experience with the Engls but I do own a Bogner Uberschall and can help you with that First, the youtube clips of the Uberschall sound mostly like utter crap. Don't go by those. Bogner has great audio clips of the Uber on their website so check there. Second, the distortion channel on the Uber is fantastic! The gain is useable even if you turn it up all the way. My band does 80's hard rock covers and for that I have the gain up to about the 1:00 o'clock position. The clean channel is difficult to match to the distortion channel volume wise. Its not a bad sounding clean channel but there are better amps for that than the Uber. The distortion channel however is tough to beat, I pretty much use my Uber as a single channel amp The Uber is within the budget you listed even if you buy it new. If you buy it used you should be able to save yourself about $1K.

That is the impression I got of the Bogner. Insane gain channel useable but requiring more thought clean channel. I don't think very well on the fly.

[roodyrocker]

That is the impression I got of the Bogner. Insane gain channel useable but requiring more thought clean channel. I don't think very well on the fly.

There's really not much to think about on that clean channel. To use it live in combination with the distortion channel you pretty much have to crank it as loud as you can short of it distorting The other option is using the clean channel with distorion pedals infront of it for yet a totally different high gain sound than the second channel. Its one of those amps that while a bit more limited in options than others out there, has a high gain channel that it does so well you just have to have it in your amp arsenal I bought mine new in 2006. I tried it out at a music store and as soon as that first chord was struck and I heard it I had to have that amp! Just killer!
Oh, the other thing about the Uber is the construction of the PCB board. If you ever have a chance to see the amp internally you'll see the PCB board looks to be about twice as thick as other amps. The quality of a Bogner is just top notch!

[Sukkoi19]

Honestly the Bogner has me gravitating toward it just for it name. Haha. I think I have found a Powerball II locally however for sale cheap. Checking it out tomorrow. Thanks for all the help and replies if I do end up snagging it.

[emperor_black]

A clean boost in front of the bogner will help. The clean channel is very good...given the fact that its a super-high gain monster. For clean sounds, you might have to do some tap-dance. First switch to clean, then hit the clean boost. Or if you can find a very clean boost pedal, you can have it on all the time and reduce the preamp volume on the dirty channel.

However, the Bogner "to my ears" is a very dark sounding amp. its great low-end generator along with another bright/middy amp like the rectifier or 5150.

[Grim]

You could even check out a Fireball 100... Same sort of dark tone as the uber, two channel. Downside is shared EQ, but it'll cost you a fraction of the price of the uber.

[Sukkoi19]

Well I ended up snagging the local Powerball II. Very nice amp lots of gain but really versatile. I couldn't pass up the $1000 he wanted for it. Was dead mint. I asked him about a 100 times if he was sure he wanted to sell that low. Said he was desperate. Still feel like a sleaze though.

[Grim]

Well I ended up snagging the local Powerball II. Very nice amp lots of gain but really versatile. I couldn't pass up the $1000 he wanted for it. Was dead mint. I asked him about a 100 times if he was sure he wanted to sell that low. Said he was desperate. Still feel like a sleaze though.

it IS an awesome amp! I recommend a 10-band if you're going to use it in a band situation though, I run a Danelectro Fish and Chips (7-band) EQ into mine ( I got the EQ for $30 and it works well. Build is cheap plastic so I wouldn't gig with it but it stays on the floor and works [lol])

You're probably going to go ENGL shopping again, and I cannot recommend the Invader 100 enough. It's a hell of an amp.

[Venomboy]

Wow. $1000 for a Powerball, even the first Powerball is a steal!!!

[mjtripper]

$1k for a Powerball 2? HOLY CRAP! I played one of those a month or two ago and it was a VERY nice amp. Good score. I agree with the others here, the Uber is a great amp but for me the cleans are totally unusable. Bear in mind I play clean a lot, easily half the time. The amp that does it for me is the k-tre. I never got a chance to try out a powerball before I got the rivera but I think I still like the k-tre better for my style. The powerball is a really close second though. Another one I didn't see mentioned here are the Diamond amps. I played one late last year and the thing was easily on par with engl, bogner, rivera, etc. I had never heard of them before but man did that sound good. The clean channel could get crazy bright.