software

Hello everybody!!

I have a dilemma about which way to go for my distortion/pream needs and i would like some suggestions if possible!

I have a peavey classic 30, in which i have changed the speaker with a celestion classic lead 80, and a Fender fat strat mexico with a seymour duncan jb and quarter pound pickups. I mainly play classic rock about 70's 80's but also some clean stuff now and then. The problems are two, first that due to the fact that peavey has a common eq for both clean and lead channels, when i make a good lead sound, my clean sound is ruined, and in addition the gain channel of the peavey tend to have an american flavour in overdrive which means that is a little bit too round, but i would like to have a more british kind of overdrive, with the known bite and growl, something like the hot roded marshalls of 80s, think along the lines of AC/DC and Scorpions.

To achive such a goal, apart from buying a marshall which at the time is imposible cost wise, i have thought the following two solutions. First to buy a Tonebone hot british distortion (which costs about 250 euros here in greece) or secondly to buy an Engl e530 rack preamp to use it in the return of the peavey (costing about 520 euros).

I have heard/tested the tonebone today, and i found it to be very good for the purpose, with quot;ampquot; like distortion, many sound formulation abilities, and to be responsive to the picking attack, but the limited testing time in the store, somehow makes me scared that after a while and having it played thouroughly i may find not up to the task, just like as it has happend with a dime distortion from MXR which collects dust at the time.

On the other hand, the Engl are known for their quality and provides several more options with 4 channels (including clean sound) , recording and playing through headphone anilities etc. But there is a problem, i have not managed to listen to it, due to the fact that its official dealer in greece did not have any in stock, so i can only order it. I listened to 2 samples from rock solid amps website but they were more bluesy sound than the one i want. Does the engl preamp has that 80s marshall sound? Are there any good sound clips that i can listen to? In addition, how good works such a preamp in the send and return of a combo? the channel volume (which will be regulated from the preamp) is easy to manage, like a combo, or things will be to loud? I do not play live, i am more of a bedroom player, so too loud is no an option (at least if i still want my neighbors to talk to me )

Which solution is better for my case? does the engl preamp deserve the extra money? has the sound that i am looking for? has better cleans from peavey? the gain is it amp like? or is it better to turn to the tonebone?

Thanks in advance!!
Stelios.

I can't answer your questions, but I used to have an E530, and it's definitely more than bluesy. Yes, it has a great crunch channel, but it's only one of the four. It has tons of gain in the 4th channel! As I remember, the E530 has a rather focused overdrive with lots of presence.

BTW, you could also consider the V-Stack Classic for a quot;Marshall-in-a-boxquot; pedal. It's voiced after a cranked Plexi with a treble booster in front of it, it doesn't have tons of gain, though.

Thank you for answering!!

Yeah i know that the engl can do more than blues, it just happended to find some blues clips from it. The focused overdrive with presense means that it does not have that certain marshall sound that i looking for? Am i corrected to assume that?

I have heard about the v-stack and read some good reviews from its users but the problem is that here in Greece to find a v-stack would be a pretty difficult task, unlike the tonebone with which i was pretty lucky to spot one or two and from what i hear, tonebone and v-stack are pretty similar in sound (with the tube advantage of tonebone) so if i choose to go towards such solution, i think i will be covered with the tonebone.

Thank you again for your answers.


Originally Posted by DragonetiThe focused overdrive with presense means that it does not have that certain marshall sound that i looking for? Am i corrected to assume that?

Sorry for the late answer, I've just come back from holiday.

Unfortunately I'm not very good at memorizing tones, and it's been long since I sold my Engl. As far as I remember it didn't remind me of a typical Marshall sound, although I used it with a Marshall power amp. The midrange crunch was different and it had lots of high-mid presence and cut, but unfortunately I can't remember any more specific details about the sound.

Since the Tonebone is advertised as something that nails the tone you're after, plus it's within your easy reach as well, I think the choice should be obvious.