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Everlone « The Fireball has too much fire. »
Published on 07/05/11 at 09:27The Engl Fireball 60 is a 60 watt all tube amp powered with a pair of 6L6’s. It is a two channel amp (dirty and clean) with a shared EQ (bass, middle, treble, and presence), and “bright” and “depth” buttons. There are two master volumes, so one may be used as a volume boost for solos.
UTILIZATION
It is extremely easy to get a good sound out of the Fireball. Set the controls at noon and tweek the knobs from there. The manual is clear, but not totally necessary as this is a pretty self explanatory amp.
SOUNDS
I used the Engl Fireball with a Gibson Les Paul Custom, and a pedal board consisting of a Boss TU-2, a Line 6 MM4, and a Boss NS-2. I play all varieties of “rock,” but the distortion channel on the Fireball is voiced more for “metal.” The tone is very aggressive and I could not find a way to dial it out or minimize it in any way. The clean channel is VERY clean, but sounded a bit dull and lifeless. It was a passable clean when I put chorus or other effects on, but it still lacked a certain bouncy quality that nice clean tones produce. The Bright button helped a little, but not enough to salvage the tone.
OVERALL OPINION
My favorite thing about the Engl Fireball is the simplicity of the amp and the quality of the tone. Unfortunately that tone does not work with the style of music I play. I would love to have the Fireball as a second or third back-up amp, but not for my primary tone. I was attracted to the Fireball because it is one of the lower priced Engls. It was an excellent value for the price, but knowing what I know now I probably would have picked something voiced more for rock ‘n’ roll.
UTILIZATION
It is extremely easy to get a good sound out of the Fireball. Set the controls at noon and tweek the knobs from there. The manual is clear, but not totally necessary as this is a pretty self explanatory amp.
SOUNDS
I used the Engl Fireball with a Gibson Les Paul Custom, and a pedal board consisting of a Boss TU-2, a Line 6 MM4, and a Boss NS-2. I play all varieties of “rock,” but the distortion channel on the Fireball is voiced more for “metal.” The tone is very aggressive and I could not find a way to dial it out or minimize it in any way. The clean channel is VERY clean, but sounded a bit dull and lifeless. It was a passable clean when I put chorus or other effects on, but it still lacked a certain bouncy quality that nice clean tones produce. The Bright button helped a little, but not enough to salvage the tone.
OVERALL OPINION
My favorite thing about the Engl Fireball is the simplicity of the amp and the quality of the tone. Unfortunately that tone does not work with the style of music I play. I would love to have the Fireball as a second or third back-up amp, but not for my primary tone. I was attracted to the Fireball because it is one of the lower priced Engls. It was an excellent value for the price, but knowing what I know now I probably would have picked something voiced more for rock ‘n’ roll.