Engl Ironball User Manual

Ironball

Full Tube

Guitar Amplifier

Operator´s Manual

Please, first read this manual carefully!

Welcome to the Ironball guitar amplifier. This compact, fully tube-driven amp delivers
"to die for" tone in a phenomenally portable package! This head, is the perfect sidekick for playing

small gigs, recording in studios, and practicing at lower volumes without sacrificing tone.
In fact, because it is stacked with hip features such as a balanced Line Out with speaker simulation,
a Headphones Output ideally suited for practicing without a speaker and a built-in Power Soak
with four variable power stages, this amp is well suited for a wide range of diverse applications.
It also comes loaded with a bevy of convenient sound-sculpting features designed to make your
musical life easier and more rewarding, including a built-in reverb system, Gain Boost, and Master
Volume Boost. This M.V.B. lets you access two different master volume levels on the fly via footswitch,
for example, one for rhythm and the other for leads.
Two matched EL84 pentode power tubes serve up the amp's sweet fundamental sound,
while the preamp's ECC83 (12AX7) tubes dish out heaps of distinctive tube overdrive and distortion.
The Ironball sports two channels, Clean and Lead; offerering plenty of variety for the tone connoisseur
courtesy of its two channels and the Gain Boost switch.
And, although the four foot-switchable features afford you even greater flexibility to shape sounds
spontaneously, handling these remains an exercise in convenience and simplicity. This ingenious little
amp is sure to delight with its warm, bluesy and very organic tone - simply unbeatable tube sound
quality on a top-notch level! But don't take our word for it...plug in, play, and enjoy!
You'll find guidelines on care and maintenance of tube amps and details for the Power Soak handling
in certain places of this manual. Please read and heed these before operating your amp. You'll also
come across boxes shaded grey throughout the manual.
These are located between the descriptions of the amp's functions and contain handy tips on the
preceding function. All critical information pertaining to the operation of this amp is preceded by
"NOTE" or "CAUTION."
Please pay particular attention to these safety tips. The ENGL team wishes you all the best—may you
and your amp enjoy a "harmonically rich" future together!

Front

Input Presence

1

Lead GainClean Gain

2

Bass Middle Treble

34

56

Lead

Master

Volume

Gain

Boost

7

8

910

Lead

Clean

Stand By Power

11

Ironball

12 13

1 Input: ¼" unbalanced input jack. Plug your guitar in here using a shielded cord.
2 Clean Gain: The Clean Gain control knob determines the preamp's input sensitivity and amplitude

when the Clean Channel is active.
A tip from the designer: Here's how this knob's settings relate to the type of guitar pickup. If you are
using single-coils, the preamp will start breaking up at about 1 o'clock, and at around the 11 or 12
o'clock position with more powerful humbuckers or an active pickup. If you want a pristine clean
sound, back off the Clean Gain knob setting and switch off Gain Boost (10).
The power amp provides a moderate amount of headroom, so be sure to choose a relatively low
Master knob setting (lower than 12 o'clock) if you wish to avoid any kind of break-up.
Even in Clean mode, you can push both the amp's preamp and power amp hard enough to overdrive
the signal. If you want just a touch of preamp overdrive, I recommend the following settings for
single-coil pickups: Set the Gain knob between 2 or 5 o`clock and deactivate Gain Boost. For
humbuckers, set the knob between 11 and 3 to`clock o get moderate overdrive. Then when you
need a grittier tone perfect for playing rock riffs, all you have to do is activate the Gain Boost in
Clean mode.
CAUTION: Extremely high gain and volume levels can produce powerful feedback. Avoid feedback
squeals; they can lead to hearing loss and damage speakers! At higher volumes, back off the Gain
and Treble levels in order to prevent unchecked feedback!

3 Lead Gain: Gain control for the Lead Channel. This Control knob determines input sensitivity when
the Lead is active. Use it to dial in the desired amount of preamp saturation level.
A tip from the designer: Sometimes a touch of dirt is all you need for snarling rock riffs and gritty
rhythm work. If that sounds sweet to you, deactivate the Gain Boost (10) and turn the Lead Gain
knob to the left of the 12 o'clock position. Somewhere between 8 and 11 o'clock will work nicely,
depending on the output of your guitar's pickups. Then if you want a rich lead tone with plenty of
sustain that's perfect for soloing, all you have to do is activate the Gain Boost. Of course, the power
amp contributes a great deal to overall sustain, so I recommend turning the Lead Gain knob past
the 12 o'clock position only when you're playing at low master volume levels. The idea is to turn
the Gain knob up for added sustain at low volume and back down again at higher volume levels
to avoid unwanted feedback between the pickups and speaker. The noise level also increases
markedly at settings beyond 12 o'clock.
CAUTION: Extremely high gain and volume levels in Lead mode can produce powerful feedback.
Avoid feedback squeals; they can lead to hearing loss and damage speakers! At higher volumes,
back off the Gain and Treble levels in order to prevent unchecked feedback!

4 Bass: Bottom end voicing control of the preamps´s passive EQ.
5 Middle: Mid-range voicing control of the preamps´s passive EQ.
6 Treble: Upper range voicing control of the preamps´s passive EQ.
7 Presence: Power amp Presence knob. This knob determines the power amp's high frequency

response and affects both channels.
Tipps from the designer: To help you get acquainted with the amp's fundamental sounds,
I recommend that you set all tone controls to the center or 12 o'clock position.
Two channels with different gain structures (Clean and Lead) share the same voicing section here.
This is why the passive three-band tone controls and Presence knob have been tuned to deliver
optimum results even with settings remaining unchanged when switching channels.
Note the range of these passive controls is narrower than that of comparable active EQ systems.
8 Lead Volume: Volume control for the Lead channel (pre-FX loop, influences the Send level).
The red LED above the channel switching selector (11) indicates Lead operating mode.
Use this knob to dial in the desired balance of levels between the Lead and Clean channels.
9 Master: This master volume knob controls the power amp's output (it is located post FX Loop).
M.V.B. (Master Volume Boost): This feature increases the master volume level, giving you instant
access to two different volume levels for different musical situations, for instance, one for rhythm
parts and the other for lead lines.
You can control this feature via a footswitch connected to port 16.
10 Gain Boost: Use this switch to increase the Clean and Lead channels' amplitude. The red LED
above the switch lights up to indicate Gain Boost is engaged. You can also control Gain Boost
remotely via a footswitch connected to port 17.
A tip from the designer: Engaging Gain Boost in the Clean channel slightly increases the gain level
and subtly changes the frequency response. This brings out the middle frequencies and conjures
a more assertive tone for throaty riffs and gritty lead lines.
Activating Gain Boost in the Lead channel kicks up the gain level considerably, saturating the
preamp to give you more sustain for playing leads.
11 Lead/Clean: Channel selector switch for Clean and Lead modes, red LED indicate Lead mode;
This function can also be activated via the respective footswitch connected to jack 17.
Once a footpedal is connected, the channel selector switch is deactivated.
12 Stand By: Power amp standby switch: Use this switch to silence ("down" position) the amp when
you take a break. The amp's tubes stay warm, which means that it is ready to roll immediately
when you switch it back to full power. The standby switch is also well-suited for muting the amp
for brief breaks, for instance when you're switching guitars.
A tip from the designer: I suggest you get into the habit of using standby during short breaks.
In this mode, current is not piped through the power tubes, so they don't get as hot (due to the
lack of anode dissipation) and are spared considerable wear. The amp is ready to run when you
flip the Standby switch because the tubes are already warm and don't require time to heat up.
For breaks of 30 minutes and longer, I recommend that you switch the amp off in order
to conserve energy.

13 Power: AC power on/off.

Please note: ensure that the Stand By switch (12) is set to Stand By ("down" position) before you
switch the amp on. Let the tubes heat up for about 30 seconds before you activate the power amp.
This procedure spares the tubes.
CAUTION: After an extended period of operation and higher ambient temperatures the amps's
chassis can become very hot, therefore avoid touching the rear panel surface and the upper surface
of the metal housing!