Fine! I'll spill the beans... Gentlemen, behold! The secret I've been keeping.

Karl Hungus

Ok, I'll fess up! Just so nobody else is going to ask "Why you selling the Engl?" ad nauseum... I've gotten quite a few questions in PM about this, and a couple of peeps assumed I've gone and bought an Orange, considering I've been recommending them to a couple of people lately.

Well folks, Karl hasn't gone Orange, but the trusty Engl Fireball has been replaced.

Gentlemen...


BEHOLD!!!! My crappy camera skills...






Or, if you'd prefer a non-crappy picture, here's what I've aquired:



It's the 100 watt Engl Invader.

4 channels, 8 different preamp voicings, 2 effects loops, 3-band EQ with gain and volume on all channels, 2 master volumes, noise gate, and it's all midi controllable.

Yes folks, that's the terrible secret I've been keeping from you for so long... Well, a couple of weeks. So far, the amp is incredible. The amount of tones that are possible to get out of this baby is unreal, and all the various switchable functions means you can get a vasty variety of sounds you can switch between. Fantastic leads, and amazing low-gain crunch kinda sounds, it's all possible! The clips that are on the net just don't give you an idea about the sheer versatility of this baby.

One thing I have to really shout about is the cleans on this amp. Now, Engl were no slouch in this department before, and the clean channel on the Fireball I thought beat other high gain amps by miles, but the Invader is a whole other story. The cleans on this amp are possibly the best I've ever heard in my life, there's such a chime to it, it's just bright, shimmering, almost piezo-like quality to it. Given a choice of amp solely for cleans, it would certainly be this one, it's remarkable!

The whole character of the gain is really gorgeous, depending on the channel, it's much looser than any other Engl I've played, nowhere near as compressed sounding as the Powerball for example. A nice crunch on channel 2 can sound very clean or full on rock depending on how you pick it, the dynamic response is something you have to experience. There's loads of mids on tap as well, so you can go from a more scooped rythm sound to absolutely singing mid heavy leads.

One of the most fantastic things about this amp is the fact that all it's functions are controlled by Midi, and as it so happens my trusty Pod XT Live doubles as a Midi controller! Channel switching is handled from the Pod, so just about everything I need, from effects, switching volumes, is all handy accessed from the Pod XT Live!

Freakin' sweet as hell, I tell you!

The_g-man

I'm surprised more people didn't see this coming the amount of times you've had pics of this one up whenever amps are mentioned.;)

I'm sure if I had one of these I'd be shaking with excitement too, fair play KH, it's sweet.

Dord

:eek:

Let me rephrase that...



:eek: :eek:



Lovely schtuff! Any sound clips of 'er?

Karl Hungus

Joe Robot wrote: »

Any sound clips of 'er?

No, but you can check this guy out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-d42XeRAPs

Quattroste

Very Nice Karl. You neighbours must Funkin hate you!

Karl Hungus

Thanks man!

Rustar

Uber! Now we know why you won't be buying any guitars for a while...

Gaspode

Oooh so many purty lights!! And you can see how excited you are with it by the shake in your hands when taking the photies. And here was me thinking your missus had finally put the foot down.

Karl Hungus

Rustar wrote: »

Uber! Now we know why you won't be buying any guitars for a while...

Well, not really. I guess that once I got the Petrucci I became content, and I've been trying to sell of the excess, the guitars I don't really play any more, and just hold onto the main few players. You dig?

Rustar

Me digz. I almost regret buying the banjo, because I've had it for 2 years and done nothing with it. Someday, though!

Voodu Child

Beast of an amp

Karl Hungus

Rustar wrote: »

Me digz. I almost regret buying the banjo, because I've had it for 2 years and done nothing with it. Someday, though!

Hmm, can't say I've really regretted buying anything, but I've just gravitated towards playing the 7 strings mostly.

DeadSkin

Congrats dude. Did ya get a chance to test drive it before you bought it or was it the purty lights??:p

Karl Hungus

Nope, didn't get a chance to test drive it, but for some reason I kinda suspected what it would sound like, it's much brighter than any other Engl I've played because of the EL34, but what came as a suprise was that the prescense was nowhere near as harsh sounding as the Fireball's. All over, just a much more well rounded amp.

But yes, purty lights make me done drools.

Kenny_D

Enjoy it Karl. Before I even clicked on the link I knew it was the Invader (I'm sure a few other regulars here knew it too). Was only a matter of time. lol

Karl Hungus

Yeah, a few peeps did know alright.

Still can't get over how amazing this amp is, and the midi functionality is astounding.

Mr. CooL ICE

Pretty damn cool. All you have to do now is learn how to play guitar!

sei046

Karl man i would love to hear your playing! Because you buy some serious gear! i have no idea how you fund it ya mad hooer!

Karl Hungus

LordChessington wrote: »

Pretty damn cool. All you have to do now is learn how to play guitar!

There's always one! :rolleyes:

Cheeky fecker.

sei046 wrote: »

Karl man i would love to hear your playing! Because you buy some serious gear! i have no idea how you fund it ya mad hooer!

Ah, I'd been seriously trimming down the collection, so it wasn't hard to fund.

sei046

love to hear how she sounds man. I have been accumalating so much gear its not funny between the studio and guitar equipment so going to start lawying off a bit too. Acquiring a few marshalls over next while and putting together some nice bits. If your ever laying off stuff make sure i know as i just cannot help but buy things

Karl Hungus

sei046 wrote: »

love to hear how she sounds man. I have been accumalating so much gear its not funny between the studio and guitar equipment so going to start lawying off a bit too. Acquiring a few marshalls over next while and putting together some nice bits. If your ever laying off stuff make sure i know as i just cannot help but buy things

If you ever get a chance, try one out. Don't know if they'd get one in Instrumental, but it's worth a look.

I know the feeling about getting lots of gear, it can be unhealthy.

Pyr0

Sound tracks are seriously overdue by this point Karl, i'm starting to think you're all talk

Ancient1

Congrats, KH, that's a firebreathing monster of an amp!

Now you just need a proper Strat and you're laughing.

Karl Hungus

Ancient1 wrote: »

Congrats, KH, that's a firebreathing monster of an amp!

Now you just need a proper Strat and you're laughing.

Hah! Yeah, I would be laughing if I got a Strat, that's for sure.

Voodu Child

Karl Hungus wrote: »

Hah! Yeah, I would be laughing if I got a Strat, that's for sure.

Patricide

Karl i must say, congrats. jeese i was wondering if your engl was FOOOKED or somthing for you to sell it but no, now i know its fine and ready for the buying haha!!

Karl Hungus

Patricide wrote: »

Karl i must say, congrats. jeese i was wondering if your engl was FOOOKED or somthing for you to sell it but no, now i know its fine and ready for the buying haha!!

Ah jesus, I wouldn't sell something off that's broken under the pretence of it working fine, that would be really ****ty. Selling the Fireball because I have no need for it any more, and it would go very far towards paying off the Invader.

Ancient1

Karl Hungus wrote: »

Hah! Yeah, I would be laughing if I got a Strat, that's for sure.

Infidel!

Karl Hungus

Ancient1 wrote: »

Infidel!

I prefer the term blasphemer.

Froot

**********Genuine question alert*********

Is it an amp with extra shiny bits?

Karl Hungus

Froot wrote: »

**********Genuine question alert*********

Is it an amp with extra shiny bits?

Well, it's got shiny metal surfaces, and it's full of LED's, so yeah, it's pretty god damn shiny.

Quattroste

and each shiny bit and each LED adds so much to the overall tone! like the way go faster stripes do actually make your car go faster.

Patricide

Quattroste wrote: »

and each shiny bit and each LED adds so much to the overall tone! like the way go faster stripes do actually make your car go faster.

haha brilliant........an so so true :P

Karl Hungus

Quattroste wrote: »

and each shiny bit and each LED adds so much to the overall tone! like the way go faster stripes do actually make your car go faster.

Pfft, don't be talking rubbish! The shiny bits and LEDs just make it look cool, it's all the knobs and tubes that make it sound great!

Pyr0

I'm sure Steve Vai can make any type and quaility of amp/guitar sound good ! Or any decent musician at that !

Karl Hungus

Pyr0 wrote: »

I'm sure Steve Vai can make any type and quaility of amp/guitar sound good ! Or any decent musician at that !

Dude, I'm a huge believer in the notion of the tone being in the fingers, but if you think Steve Vai is going to make a Marshall MG sound good, then you're smoking something very, very potent indeed.

sei046

Im a firm believer that the majority of tone is in the fingers. I didnt think there was any doubt about that. I think a good musician can make any guitar or amp sound good. not AS good, but good.

Karl Hungus

Actually, I'm wondering why Pryo even brought that up... Am I supposed to be playing a piece of **** guitar and amp? Is there something wrong with good gear? I'd say it's a hint of jealousy.

Sei, I'll agree that a good musician is going to sound way better than an average one, reguardless of the gear, but there's nobody on this planet who makes an MG sound "good".

Voodu Child

The whole 'tone is in the fingers' thing confuses exactly what is meant by the word 'tone'.

It's probably worth taking it to a new thread instead of invading Hungus's, but if an amp is tinny, fizzy distortion, doesnt have a big thick bottom end..etc. - well, the best player in the world can't 'magically' change these things just by the way he plays.

Of course a good player sounds better than a bad player through the same amp, but like Karl says, a Marshall MG always sounds like a Marshall MG.

sei046

No tone is tone, The way a player manipulates the string is the majority of tone. eric johnson, David Gilmour, John Petrucci. They dont just play the right note, they get it to do what they want. Too many people spend too much time buying gear and not enough practicing(including me). A boogie rack with 800 processors is not going to improve your sound unless your able to use it

Voodu Child

sei046 wrote: »

No tone is tone, The way a player manipulates the string is the majority of tone. eric johnson, David Gilmour, John Petrucci. They dont just play the right note, they get it to do what they want. Too many people spend too much time buying gear and not enough practicing(including me). A boogie rack with 800 processors is not going to improve your sound unless your able to use it

No, im afraid you're misunderstanding the definition of tone.

Your confusing literal 'tone' with playing dynamics and technique. I'll take it to a new thread

Karl Hungus

The only way this "Tone is in the fingers" talk relates to my thread, is in the way that it's a thinly vieled stab at me, a way of saying "Who cares about your new amp? You probably suck anyway!"

So quit it kids.

sei046

lol karl you big baby. (although i prob agree your right!) i dont think thats what he meant

Karl Hungus

sei046 wrote: »

lol karl you big baby. (although i prob agree your right!) i dont think thats what he meant

Like I said, it's probably just a bit of jealousy. Who can blame him?