Opinion on trading Engl for Mesa Mark IV

[shadowcat]

Wow. Never knew so much love existed for Engl on this site. I'm certainly not unhappy with the Engl, in fact I love the brutal simplicity of the amp. However, the overall space requirements are killing me.

Anyone ever mounted a 4x12 to the ceiling pointing downward?

LOL, I'd be afraid to stand underneath it...

I'm a Fireball owner too, love the tone and simplicity. If you like that certain tone, I'd say stick to it. If you want variety, look elsewhere.

[siggy14]

I Kinda second this motion, get rid of the original stiletto you have and get one of the newer versions, that will give you half your tone. Then for the high gain stuff keep the ENGL or get the Mark IV head and a 2x12.

Now as for ENGL vs Mark IV, personaly i think the switch would not be the best for certain reasons. Mostly based on what you have said here, first the Mark IV needs to be cranked to sound great, and tweated liked crazy, if you are playing at home i dont believe you will be able to do that.

Also you will never get the chug out of a combo unless you put it through another closed back cab. My suggest, if you are gonna go the Mark IV route, get a head, get a 2x12 cab and a hot plate and a tube screamer and you will be in heaven! Then get a second version of the stiletto as well.

I have never played an ENGL, but i have had the model on the vetta i owned and I was not impressed. Only other bad thing I heard about ENGL is they are built like crap with cheap insides.

From what I'm hearing, at this point, I'd lean more toward a M/B Ace than a M/B MarkIV. The Ace is supposed to be one killer amp!

[Robotechnology]

If you're goint to go with a Mark IV... I'd recommend you go with a head and use a 2X12 cab. Much prefer that setup over the Mark IV Combo. The Stilleto Ace and Rect-o-verb combos are really the only Mesa's I like in combo form for some reason or another.

[Deneb]

I think moving to a Mesa is always a great move.

[Thrust]

Argh......still can't make up my mind. However, I think the above advice about picking up a 2x12 cab instead of a combo would be a wise move. I may wait till after the holidays or near tax time and try to pick something up/move some stuff. This will give me more time to decide what I want without making rash decisions.

[SpiralArchitect]

Well I'm gunna chime in here

I've owned the Mk IV short head and a 1x12 combo, and I currently own an Engl Powerball and an Engl E570+VHT rack setup and for versatility of tones and for just sheer use of volume I'd go with the Engl stuff, my gear sounds good in a bedroom practice situation but when cranked with my band it sounds massive and totally eclipses the other guitarists mode 4, but you have to understand in my experience for thrash and other types of metal the mk IV needed alot of volume to get any sort of tightness out of it, it has that mesa boogie sponge that is great for leads but unless you have a rack full of outboard gear to get it to tighten up for rhythm then I'd stick with what you got.
Just retube the fireball with some tung sol 5881's and some 12ax7's and you'll be laughing, otherwise if space is an issue, PLEASE TRY out the mesa before you trade your engl gear for mesa, if I were you I'd stick with what ya got, but I'm not you so!

that's just my .02

Chris