Engl Ironball E606SE (IRs for straight to FoH)

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andyg_prsandyg_prs Frets: 57
edited January 2020 in Amps
Hi,

Quite a tome here with my questions at the end!

I've just seen this https://www.engl-amps.com/ironball-e606se#content   As the owner of a "normal" Engl Ironball I'm pretty excited.



Funnily enough, I'd heard about the Revv G20 (but single channel and not enough gain on-board), looked up the Suhr PT15-IR - no doubt a great amp, but massively expensive and not convinced it would do the modern high gain well enough....and then googled amps with IRs built in and found out that Engl are about to do it with an Ironball!!

I loved the sound of the Engl Ironball, used to use it with a v30 loaded 2 x 12.  I did use a custom channel switcher (Bright Onion pedals) that allowed me to automatically turn on a CM Plextione on top of the clean channel so that I could have a pristine clean, a lovely plexi channel, and also the full on balls to the wall Engl high gain chug.

I expanded the same switching arrangement to also allow me to use an EQ pedal to make the clean channel a bit more Fender-esque when I needed it.  There is a shared EQ for both channels on the Ironball....it works well, but the compromise for me was having to have quite a "round" clean tone (almost jazz like) to have the high gain channel sound I wanted.

Anyhow, the reason I stopped using the Engl was two fold.  1. I have a buggered back, so carrying the cab and pedalboard etc was a pain. 2. In a twin guitar band I often got lost in the mix.  It was no way the amp, but soundguys that don't know a band just didn't seem to mic or balance both guitarists correctly.

I changed to Kemper and definitely found I could always be heard.  It could partly be that it is easier to control your on stage modeller with a digital device, but it also seems that somehow engineers deal better with the simple XLR feed, and perhaps no sound on stage to deal with.  Also with Kemper it was quite easy to seek out a sound / EQ that had its on space in the mix.

I had some intermittent issues with the Kemper and so am currently using an AX8.

However, I still hanker after true tube tone and feel - and the simplicity of an actual amp.  Not trying to get into the debate of real vs modeller thing.

Anyhow, the new Ironball is designed to let you go straight to FoH, has 3 Engl IRs that can be assigned per channel, along with programmable channels with gate, delay etc straight from the amp.  It seems like the perfect compromise, if it works......a great tube amp, but one that goes straight to FoH.  It also allows you to upload up to 5 custom IRs.

Finally my questions.

  1. Has anyone tried the IR approach (perhaps a valve amp via a Two Notes device or similar straight to FoH?) and compared how the tone compares to that of the same amp through a cab?
  2. How much can you sculpt the tone with IRs?  I'm wondering if I could use an IR for the clean channel that adds some sparkle and scoops some mids so that I don't have to bother with custom switching to factor in an EQ as I did in the past?
  3. Can the IRs go to the extent of changing the gain structure?  So the lead channel of the Engl is great but very modern....could I create an IR that rounds things off and gives me more of a Plexi type effect?  Again this is all with the hope of minimising the gear I need.
Thanks,
Andy
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Comments

  • tekbowtekbow Frets: 1686
    1) infinitely more flexible. With the CAB M you can also blend 2 mics. In desktop software, as many as you want. Plus I get a bunch of cabs and speakers I dont physically own.

    2) the IR's are a preset EQ filter, profiled from a cab, so you dont adjust them as such other than using different positions in relation to the speaker. But you can use a suitable cab (for cleans I use a silverface 212 IR).

    3) not really? I mean they sound as different as 2 speakers do in a given mic position. Again the CAB M has a built in EQ (standard or parametric.)
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  • John_AJohn_A Frets: 3775
    edited January 2020
    Hi there. Used an ironball extensively until very recently.  There’s a lot of ‘stuff’ in the new SE to go wrong imo, there’s also a lot of stuff that may affect the sound of the Ironball.  Plenty of options for an external load box and/or IR loader.  I actually found the speaker compensated out on the standard Ironball to be pretty good.

    The questions.  

    1 yes, it works great
     2 you could,but it sounds funny imo.  I like to stick with one cab for a gig
     3 Not really what they’re designed to do, certainly a g12m will sound less modern than a v30 though

     
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  • Yeah - luckily Thomann have free returns so I can check out the sound. Not too worried about things going wrong. I could be proved wrong!!

    The “all in one” nature of it appeals to me.

    i tried the emulated out through my DXR10 and it sounded terrible to my ears...
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  • tekbowtekbow Frets: 1686
    Yeah, but the all in one nature of it means more to go wrong with a given feature which is probably not easily repairable.

    I would look at adding a reactive load and something like a Cab M to your current setup.


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  • @tekbow - looks like my dream rig....if my back and my bank account could handle it....which they can't :)
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