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Hatsubai « Crazy aggressive »
Published on 04/04/11 at 19:25The ENGL Savage SE is one of the flagship models that they offer. It's a four channel amp that comes in both EL34 and 6L6 varieties, depending on what flavor you're going for. It has a ridiculous amount of features that almost makes your head spin. I won't go through all of them, but the ones that stand out are multiple voicing switches per channel, fully MIDI enabled, multiple effects loops and a noise gate. It also has all the standard features you'd expect from an amplifier at this level.
UTILIZATION
ENGL did a great job at fitting nearly everything you can think of in this amplifier. Seriously, if you can imagine it, chances are it's in this thing. Being fully MIDI enabled and having multiple effects loops put it in a category where not many amps can keep up. The manual does a really good job at explaining everything, too. However, the biggest disappointment is probably that Clean 1 and 2, as well as Lead 1 and 2, have some shared controls. Bass and middle are both shared in their respective channels. I really wished they could have added the extra knobs to make this thing a bit more versatile. Instead, you have to rely on the voicing switches and independent treble, gain and presence controls to shape the channels to how you'd like them to sound.
SOUNDS
This thing sounds like most ENGLs out there. It's extremely versatile with a pretty good clean, good crunch, amazing rhythm sound and ridiculous lead sound. The amp can do most any style you can think of, but I think these excel best when doing metal. There's no need to boost these amps at all; they tend to just get noisy when you do. The EL34 gives it that more Marshall-esque vibe where as the 6L6 version gives it that more round-ish, big low end sound. I think the 6L6 version is a little better, but both are great.
OVERALL OPINION
Overall, it's a great amplifier. Whether you get the EL34 or 6L6 version, you should be very happy with your purchase. There are two things, however, that bug me about this amp -- the lack of fully independent EQs and the reliability. Sometimes things like LEDs will go out or they'll start to act a bit odd. With all the technology cramped inside, it's not really a surprise. I've never personally had problems, but I've heard some people have issues getting ENGL to help them out, so just keep that in mind. Regardless, the amplifier sounds amazing.
UTILIZATION
ENGL did a great job at fitting nearly everything you can think of in this amplifier. Seriously, if you can imagine it, chances are it's in this thing. Being fully MIDI enabled and having multiple effects loops put it in a category where not many amps can keep up. The manual does a really good job at explaining everything, too. However, the biggest disappointment is probably that Clean 1 and 2, as well as Lead 1 and 2, have some shared controls. Bass and middle are both shared in their respective channels. I really wished they could have added the extra knobs to make this thing a bit more versatile. Instead, you have to rely on the voicing switches and independent treble, gain and presence controls to shape the channels to how you'd like them to sound.
SOUNDS
This thing sounds like most ENGLs out there. It's extremely versatile with a pretty good clean, good crunch, amazing rhythm sound and ridiculous lead sound. The amp can do most any style you can think of, but I think these excel best when doing metal. There's no need to boost these amps at all; they tend to just get noisy when you do. The EL34 gives it that more Marshall-esque vibe where as the 6L6 version gives it that more round-ish, big low end sound. I think the 6L6 version is a little better, but both are great.
OVERALL OPINION
Overall, it's a great amplifier. Whether you get the EL34 or 6L6 version, you should be very happy with your purchase. There are two things, however, that bug me about this amp -- the lack of fully independent EQs and the reliability. Sometimes things like LEDs will go out or they'll start to act a bit odd. With all the technology cramped inside, it's not really a surprise. I've never personally had problems, but I've heard some people have issues getting ENGL to help them out, so just keep that in mind. Regardless, the amplifier sounds amazing.