ENGL Fireball, any comments on it?

[KLNowak]

I have yet to try an ENGL amp, I hear they are the shit though. You might wanna check out Laney. I have a GH50L (The 50 watt version of the amp Paul Gilbert has used for years, the GH100L). It sounds great, the only thing is it is a one channel amp so without an Overdrive pedal (not distortion, specifically overdrive with a tube amp) you will not be able to play anything clean. The amps distortion is more than enough for any style if you can live without the cleans, but if you do run an Overdrive you can still get a sweet clean sound and a sweet distorted sound. Toni Iommi also uses these, but his signature amps are just modded GH100L. Of course there are some cosmetic changes as well. You can pick up a GH100L or a GH50L (which is more than enough to start gigging) for a very small price. I got mine at a local pawn shop for $450 for the head and a 4X12 cabinet. Best advice, try the Fireball and a bunch of other amps because you will never know what you like better unless you compare it to others.

[VitaminG]

how are those Laney shares going?

[RacerX]

K LANEY Nowak

[shadowcat]

[Fragle]

the laney is pretty cool for a low budget all tube amp, i used to own one a few years ago. quite noisy and a one trick pony, but great for that gilbert-ish lead tone and 80s metal in general. very bright, with a good bit of high mids, kinda in the vein of dokken/lynch actually.
however, given the going rate for used 5150's over there, i'd rather see you with a 5150 than a laney. should only be a few bucks more, but definitely more versatile.

[KLNowak]

K LANEY Nowak

I see you are from Orange County too.

how are those Laney shares going?

Shit man I wish I had Laney shares.

the laney is pretty cool for a low budget all tube amp, i used to own one a few years ago. quite noisy and a one trick pony, but great for that gilbert-ish lead tone and 80s metal in general. very bright, with a good bit of high mids, kinda in the vein of dokken/lynch actually.
however, given the going rate for used 5150's over there, i'd rather see you with a 5150 than a laney. should only be a few bucks more, but definitely more versatile.

Can't argue that. The only real draw back to the Laney is that it is a one trick pony.

[Fragle]

yup. i mean, the 5150 ain't exactly versatile, but it can surely cover a lot of sonic ground as far as metal is concerned. the laney is more geared towards 80s rock and metal, but it can also do modern metal (not as well well as te 5150, tho)

[Thor Von Clemson]

Someone mentioned the EQ section on the Fireball is shared between the lead and clean channels.. It does not appear that way on their website so could someone shed some light on this?

Also, does having a shared EQ section present a large problem?

[Bob From Accounting]

"It sounds like Iced Earth, but that's all it does. It's a one trick pony, but very good at that one trick though!"
as far as the fireball goes i don't know for sure, but the blackmore i used to own NAILED the alive in athens tone to a T. it was dead on really.
unfortunately, it only did so at low volumes. at my usual gigging volumes, the sound just got really thin and bright no matter how i dialed it in. it's a shame, really, i sure wanted to like this amp, as it was *the* perfect bedroom tone.

I think the Blackmore has less gain and that is why that sound dissapears when you raise the volume. It doesn't have the power to push out those levels of gain at higher volumes. I think the Fireball can, but i shouldn't say for sure as it was a long time since i played one

[Fragle]

but then again, you don't need as much gain at high volumes. in fact, jon's live sound is quite low gain....and i remember reading that alive in athens was reamped in the studio, so go figure

[Bob From Accounting]

Yes, but low gain on the monster-amps IE uses is like hi gain on every other amp

[Thrust]

The Fireball is an AWESOME head. I sold my 5150 to get the Fireball and couldn't be happier. That being said, the Fireball is a one trick pony. You can't cop 80's metal tones (although it does sound DAMN good playing Sabbath, etc.) but it can nail all the new high-gain metal tones in mass. For 80's tones I'll stick w/ my Stiletto.

[Thor Von Clemson]

thrust.... can you comment on the "shared eq"? should I even be concerned about that or should I just buy the friggin amp?

[Thrust]

thrust.... can you comment on the "shared eq"? should I even be concerned about that or should I just buy the friggin amp?

The shared EQ is nice IMO. You can set one channel for lead and one for rhythm. In addition, since there is "so much" gain from the amp you can simply roll back the volume knob on the guitar and clean up your sound a lot. The amp has two independent master volumes which also allow you to switch between distortion and clean as well without losing a lot of volume.

Just buy it ;-)

[Thor Von Clemson]

what if I want to use rhythm and clean with no lead (I never play solos anyways) I am concerned that the settings on one channel would affect the other one too much..

You know, the cleans on my POD XTL work just fine for me.... wonder if I could somehow figure that into the equation.

Also, what are some good US dealers of ENGL stuff?