Sold a guitar that was worth a chunk of change. Just came to terms with the fact that I love it, but I do not play it anymore, and I’m not likely to.
Used some of the proceeds to put together the partscaster I started a thread about in the Strat forum, and used some more of the proceeds for this little guy!
Engl Gigmaster 15 head. I already had the Egnater 112 cab.
The long and short- I’ve been wanting to try one of these for a while. I liked all the demos that weren’t totally gained to the max, and they seem to be a quality product, but I have never been able to find one to try in person. This one showed up used at my local GC, so I thought I’d try it to at least get an idea of the voicing and feel.
I thought for sure I’d need the the 30 watt version for gigging, I’ve never met a fifteen watt amp I considered giggable. Ok, my AC15 was, indoors only, if all I wanted was dirt. But I like clean tones and pedals most of the time.
This little guy surprised me. It has ample clean headroom for a 15 watt EL84 amp. It won’t push hard enough to work outdoors, or in a good sized room without a mic, but for mic’d gigs and small room stuff I think it’ll work alright. It’s much louder than I thought it would be. That’s using singles. The headroom seems to drop quite a bit with ‘buckers.
Controls are extremely useable. Lots of range on the EQ knobs. Separate gain and master for clean tones gets anything from squeaky clean at lower volumes, to some nice edge of breakup and jangle, to full on crunch-land. Lead channel takes over where the clean leaves off. It’s capable of WAY more gain than I would ever use, but it doesn’t get un-musical. I thought I would really dig the mid-boost switch, but so far I don’t. I think whatever frequency it’s set at is disagreeing with my ears. No biggie though, it’s got plenty of mids on its own, and with so much range in the EQ controls, it’s not really needed.
Built in 15, 5, 1 watt attenuator. Balanced out. FX loop so I can add in a little reverb from my HOF mini. Light and compact. Seems very well built. I like that it has that famous Engl gain. I don’t have any other amp with a high gain option should I ever want one. I also like that it’s not the typical Engl gain monster, in that it also sports exceptional clean and low-gain/edge of breakup sounds.
I didn’t think I’d buy it, because as I said, I was convinced that if I liked it I’d be on the hunt for a 30. But I think this will be a great amp for small gigs, and my Deluxe covers the larger ones. If I really need firepower, I can always bring them both and still have plenty of room in the car. Bonus- I still have a chunk of money from the guitar sale in the bank cause this little dude was not expensive.
Used some of the proceeds to put together the partscaster I started a thread about in the Strat forum, and used some more of the proceeds for this little guy!
Engl Gigmaster 15 head. I already had the Egnater 112 cab.
The long and short- I’ve been wanting to try one of these for a while. I liked all the demos that weren’t totally gained to the max, and they seem to be a quality product, but I have never been able to find one to try in person. This one showed up used at my local GC, so I thought I’d try it to at least get an idea of the voicing and feel.
I thought for sure I’d need the the 30 watt version for gigging, I’ve never met a fifteen watt amp I considered giggable. Ok, my AC15 was, indoors only, if all I wanted was dirt. But I like clean tones and pedals most of the time.
This little guy surprised me. It has ample clean headroom for a 15 watt EL84 amp. It won’t push hard enough to work outdoors, or in a good sized room without a mic, but for mic’d gigs and small room stuff I think it’ll work alright. It’s much louder than I thought it would be. That’s using singles. The headroom seems to drop quite a bit with ‘buckers.
Controls are extremely useable. Lots of range on the EQ knobs. Separate gain and master for clean tones gets anything from squeaky clean at lower volumes, to some nice edge of breakup and jangle, to full on crunch-land. Lead channel takes over where the clean leaves off. It’s capable of WAY more gain than I would ever use, but it doesn’t get un-musical. I thought I would really dig the mid-boost switch, but so far I don’t. I think whatever frequency it’s set at is disagreeing with my ears. No biggie though, it’s got plenty of mids on its own, and with so much range in the EQ controls, it’s not really needed.
Built in 15, 5, 1 watt attenuator. Balanced out. FX loop so I can add in a little reverb from my HOF mini. Light and compact. Seems very well built. I like that it has that famous Engl gain. I don’t have any other amp with a high gain option should I ever want one. I also like that it’s not the typical Engl gain monster, in that it also sports exceptional clean and low-gain/edge of breakup sounds.
I didn’t think I’d buy it, because as I said, I was convinced that if I liked it I’d be on the hunt for a 30. But I think this will be a great amp for small gigs, and my Deluxe covers the larger ones. If I really need firepower, I can always bring them both and still have plenty of room in the car. Bonus- I still have a chunk of money from the guitar sale in the bank cause this little dude was not expensive.
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