Engl Powerball User Manual

Tube

Tube

Amp

Amp

Powerball

Full Tube

Guitar Amplifier

Operator´s Manual

Please, first read this manual carefully!

A four-channel, all-tube powered head, the Powerball offers sound-shaping options unrivalled
by any other amp. Designed to satisfy the exacting demands of discerning players, it delivers all the tonal
hues and colors you need to paint the most vivid musical pictures imaginable. Housed inside this newly
designed enclosure is a powerhouse 100-watt amp boasting 6L6GC tubes. It delivers the sonic goods you
need to dial in everything from contemporary ultra-high gain lead tone to crystal-clear clean and punchy
crunch sounds. An astonishing amount of gain reserves, remarkable tonal versatility, and bone-rattling
bottom end have crowned the

Powerball king of the heap among modern-day guitar amps.

Courtesy of its ability to crank out tight, focused low end, glossy top end and jaw-dropping sound
pressure levels, this amp provides the contemporary guitarist with richly detailed tone and the kind of
cut-thru-the-din assertiveness that sets standards for amps of this class. And in keeping with the ENGL
tradition of engineering excellence, it sports a host of hip features: a second master volume, electronic
power amp monitoring, an adjustable FX loop, and a Depth Punch knob that shapes the power amp's
response by beefing up the low end. But that's not the last word on this ENGL head's innovative
features: You also get two different sound voicings, Open and Focused. We created these voicings to
extend the range of lead sounds you have at your disposal by tweaking mid-range response to suit
different playing styles and applications.
There are few more handy features to rave about: The amp ships with a Z-5 Custom Footswitch Port.
Designed to take the ENGL Z-5 footswitch that lets you control all key sound-shaping functions remotely.
ENGL added another new audiophile wrinkle - an adjustable noise gate for the Lead channel. Old world
craftsmanship and highest quality components are part of what makes ENGL amps so special, and the
Powerball is no exception. On that note, please read and heed the guidelines on handling all-tube amps.
You'll find them on the last page of this manual. The ENGL team is convinced that this amp will delight
and inspire you. The

Powerball will rock your world!

Frontpanel

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1112131415 16

1

Ch I Gain

Tube

Amp

Ch II Gain

Input

Bright Bottom

Lo Lead
Bottom

Bass

Middle

Treble-Clean

Treble-Crunch

Clean Volume Crunch Volume

Bass

Mid-open

Mid-focused

Treble

Lo Lead Vol.

Hi Lead
Bottom

Hi Lead Vol.

V1 V2 V3 V4

Power Tube Monitor

open/

Ch I /II

focused

Presence

Depth Punch

6L6GC

Master B

powered

Master A

Gain
Lo /Hi

Powerball

R

Stand By

Power

17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 25 262728 29 30 31 32

1 Input

¼" unbalanced input. P

lug your guitar cord in here.

2 Ch I Gain

This knob determines input sensitivity of Main Channel I (Clean & Crunch), in other words, the input level
of the preamp in Ch I. In Crunch mode it determines the amount of preamp saturation.

A tip from the designer:

The amount of distortion depends on the type of pickups your guitar is equipped with. Single coil
pickups may overdrive the preamp when the knob is set to about the two o'clock position in Clean
operating mode, pickups with very high output levels (humbuckers or active pickups) will evoke
distortion at even lower settings. If you want squeaky clean tone, simply back off the Gain knob
accordingly.

CAUTION: Extremely high gain and volume levels in Crunch mode can produce strong feedback.
Avoid feedback squeals, they lead to hearing loss and damaged speakers! Reduce the Gain, Treble
and Presence levels at higher volumes in order to avoid uncontrolled feedback!

3 Bright

Alters the EQ by boosting the upper treble range; effectiveness decreases at higher Gain settings;
the Bright feature affects Clean and Crunch.

A tip from the designer:

For a crisp glassy tone, set the Bright switch to the On position.
This setting boosts the treble response of muddy pickups.

4 Bottom

Alters the EQ by boosting the low end range; the Bottom feature affects Main Channel I Clean & Crunch.

A tip from the designer:

If you want to ladle an extra helping of bottom-end oomph on crunch sounds, I recommend that you
activate the Lo End Punch button. At very high Gain knob settings (> 3 o'clock) and with high output
pickups, your best bet is to deactivate this button for a more focused, crisper tone.

5 Bass

Bottom end voicing control of the preamps´s passive EQ for Main Channel I, Clean und Crunch.

6 Middle

Mid-range voicing control of the preamps´s passive EQ for Main Channel I, Clean und Crunch.

7 Treble-Clean

Upper range voicing control of the preamps´s passive EQ for Main Channel I, Clean mode.

8 Treble-Crunch

Upper range voicing control of the preamps´s passive EQ for Main Channel I, Crunch mode.

TIP´s 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. For higher Gain Crunch sounds, your best bet is to turn the
respective Treble knob well down to prevent the pickups and speakers from interacting at hi levels and
generating feedback (the recommended setting is somewhere in the 9 to 1 o'clock range).
The Clean and Crunch channels are equipped with dedicated Treble knobs. This means that you can
tweak the top end of each of the two channels separately to suit your taste and the given sonic
scenario. You will find that grittier tones generally sound better with a touch less treble because preamp
saturation makes higher frequencies figure more prominently in the signal.

9 Clean Volume

Volume control for the Clean channel (pre-FX loop, influences the Send level). The green LED beside this
control indicates Clean operating mode.

10 Crunch Volume

Volume control for the Crunch channel (pre-FX loop, influences the Send level). The yellow LED beside
this control indicates Crunch operating mode.

11 POWER TUBE MONITOR V1

This LED lights up when the current sent through the V1 power amp tube was too high and the power
tube monitor system has switched that tube off.

12 POWER TUBE MONITOR V2

This LED lights up when the current sent through the V2 power amp tube was too high and the power
tube monitor system has switched that tube off.

13 POWER TUBE MONITOR V3

This LED lights up when the current sent through the V3 power amp tube was too high and the power
tube monitor system has switched that tube off.

14 POWER TUBE MONITOR V4

This LED lights up when the current sent through the V4 power amp tube was too high and the power
tube monitor system has switched that tube off.

A few words on the POWER TUBE MONITOR system:

The electronic power amp monitoring system constantly gauges the current sent to the two power amp
tubes. If it rises to too high a level, the system shuts down the given tube.
This can occur when the amp is operated incorrectly (for example, if the impedance is wrong due to an
incorrect speaker load), at extreme power spikes, or when a tube is defective.
Reset this electronic monitoring system by switching the standby switch off and on again. When you
press the standby switch to turn the amp on again, the system again measures the current sent to the
tube. If it is still too high, the power amp must be checked by a service technician, and the tube may
have to be replaced if it is defective.

15 Presence

This control shapes the hi frequency response in the power amp stage and affects all channels.

16. Depth Punch

This control shapes the lo frequency response in the power amp stage and affects all channels.

17 Ch II Gain

This knob determines input sensitivity of Main Channel II (Lo & Hi Lead) and
it determines the amount of preamp saturation in both Lead channels.

CAUTION: Extremely high gain and volume levels in Lead mode can produce strong feedback. Avoid
feedback squeals, they lead to hearing loss and damaged speakers! Reduce the Gain, Treble and
Presence levels at higher volumes in order to avoid uncontrolled feedback!

18 Lo Lead Bottom

Alters the EQ by boosting the low end range; this Bottom feature affects the Lo Lead mode.

19 Hi Lead Bottom

Alters the EQ by boosting the low end range; this Bottom feature affects the Hi Lead mode.

A tip from the designer:

If you really want to beef up the low end of your lead tone to dial in the type of sound often employed
in contemporary styles, press the Bottom button. Note that you can activate this feature separately for
each of the two Lead channels.

20 Bass

Bottom end voicing control of the preamps´s passive EQ for Main Channel II, Lo and Hi Lead.