# Savage vs. Invader vs. Powerball vs. Fireball



## the red rocket (Sep 18, 2011)

Which is the best for metal?

Which is the most diverse?

Which has the best value (quality vs. price)?

Which is the best overall?


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## TemjinStrife (Sep 19, 2011)

Sorry to be unhelpful, but play them and decide. They're all very expensive high-gain heads with different sound and feature sets, and I didn't really "connect" with any of them. The Savage was the one I liked the best, but there are many other amps in that price range I'd rather have.


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## Philligan (Sep 19, 2011)

Lot of really subjective questions man  I'll answer what I know I can for sure.

Invader's the most diverse. Seconded by the Powerball. The Savage and Fireball both have shared EQs, so getting say a dreamy clean tone and djenty high gain tone could be an issue.

IMHO, I think the Fireball's the best bang for your buck for metal, because I've heard it sound awesome, and it's the cheapest. I'm sure many would beg to differ, though. I heard a comparison between the Fireball and Powerball and I liked the Fireball a bit more, although they sounded really close. And, it's worth mentioning, I'm talking about the Fireball 100. They say the Fireball 60 can't really hold up in a band setting cause it's so scooped. I don't know how true that is, but I've heard it, and it's definitely on the scooped side.


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## Stealthdjentstic (Sep 19, 2011)

Invader is my favorite out of those, although I have not tried the Savage. Not sure why one wouldn't go for the Invader if they had the money vs the other two.


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## evilsaint (Sep 19, 2011)

Which is the best for metal?* It depends on your taste, but it's Savage to me.*

Which is the most diverse? *Invader*

Which has the best value (quality vs. price)? *Fireball*

Which is the best overall? *It depends on your taste, but it's Invader to me for its versatility and MIDI capability*


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## Floppystrings (Sep 19, 2011)

Which is the best for metal? *(all of them, for me, Powerball)*

Which is the most diverse? *(Probably the Invader)*

Which has the best value (quality vs. price)? *(Fireball for sure)*

Which is the best overall? *(Powerball for me, others might say Invader)*

After owning a Powerball v1 I might just get a Fireball instead, less money and very similar high gain sound. Some people even say the Fireball sounds better. I never liked the Savage because the highs seem smoother and the gain seems less aggressive. The Invader has a gain sound even more unique and I wasn't into it. When I think ENGL I think of the Powerball doing a really saturated Mesa Mark IIC+ rhythm sound, with more low end. The lead sound is not like the Mark IIC+ though, because it sounds thinner. Anyway, I suggest listening to as many clips as you can, eventually the differences will become clear to you.


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## vanhendrix (Sep 19, 2011)

I own a poweball that I love to death, but I'm really working hard to squeeze every last bit of versatility out of it. I recently spent a whole afternoon with an invader 150, and it was probably the best amp I've ever played in my life.

If you just want a good metal and a good clean sound, the powerball is absolutely the best bang for your buck. If you want both of those, as well as bluesy/crunchy breakup goodness and the freedom of having 4 totally independent eqs.....invader all the way.


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## yingmin (Sep 19, 2011)

Philligan said:


> The Savage and Fireball both have shared EQs, so getting say a dreamy clean tone and djenty high gain tone could be an issue.


The Savage has two EQ sections, one for clean/crunch 1 and another for crunch 2/lead. You may be thinking of the Blackmore, which is like a slimmed-down Savage, with one master EQ section.

To the OP, out of your questions, the only one that has a real answer is diversity, and that's pretty clearly the Invader. All of these amps are good for metal, they're all the same "quality" (unless by that you meant feature set, in which case the answer isn't much more clear), and there is no "best". What sound do you want? Which amp gets you closest to that sound? Play the Blackmore and Fireball and see which one you like better. If you can deal with shared EQ and fewer features, then you're done. If not, you can step up to the big brother model of whichever you preferred (Blackmore to Savage, or Fireball to Powerball). In the interest of full disclosure, the Engl I've heard the most first-hand is the Blackmore, and I've only played on Engls myself a couple times, so I can't compare the Invader tonally to the others, but it quite clearly has the most STUFF. Just ask yourself if you'd really need all that, and if you get a chance to play on one, if the tone is worth the premium for the STUFF.


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## petereanima (Sep 19, 2011)

The real question is, when you obviously havent played any of those - why so set on Engl? Maybe none of them will fit your style.

But anyway, for me, the Savage wins over every other Engl.


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## noob_pwn (Sep 19, 2011)

the savage is the only ENGL that I really dig, different strokes, try all of them


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## LMak (Sep 19, 2011)

You can pick V1 Powerballs really cheap now (I got mine for £700) and they are really really reliable, well built, versatile amps. I've been abe to get really tight Djent tones, amazing Petrucci sounds, and beautiful clean tones out of the amp.

Not to mention the amount of times I've accidentally hit the wall socket and switched off the amp without putting it on stand by first and it hasn't blown a tube yet. I love my Powerball.


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## Dvaienat (Sep 19, 2011)

Out of those, the Savage by far for a metal tone. I find the Powerball/Fireball to be too scooped and harsh. I'd pick the Invader for versatility.


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## motomoto (Sep 19, 2011)

the fireball is true value for money.

i prefer the invader overall


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## TemjinStrife (Sep 19, 2011)

LMak said:


> You can pick V1 Powerballs really cheap now (I got mine for £700) and they are really really reliable, well built, versatile amps. I've been abe to get really tight Djent tones, amazing Petrucci sounds, and beautiful clean tones out of the amp.
> 
> Not to mention the amount of times I've accidentally hit the wall socket and switched off the amp without putting it on stand by first and it hasn't blown a tube yet. I love my Powerball.



Reliable ENGLs? They're sadly not well-known for build quality relative to other brands in the price range.

Also, I can't stand the V1 Powerball. Fizzy, digital, and compressed-sounding. No warmth or tubiness whatever.

Finally, you won't blow tubes by turning an amp off without putting it on standby first. All standby does is turn on the tube heaters to warm them up; there's really no point in turning it on standby before turning it off. Turning it on standby before playing is a pretty good idea though.


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## KAMI (Sep 19, 2011)

*Which is the best for metal?*

Savage... meatier and tighter than the the rest

*Which is the most diverse?*

invader... more channels and more controls and more sounds

*Which has the best value (quality vs. price)?*

I know it's not on the list but, I would say the engl Blackmore. The Blackmore sounds much better to me than the fireball and the powerball, much meatier and tighter. It is both cheaper and better sounding than the fireball (if you mean the fireball 100). In some ways the Blackmore sounds similar to a savage, but the savage is just better! 

*Which is the best overall?*

definitely the savage! 


all of these amps are good amps but, if you are prepared to spend the money for an engl savage get it! the savage is the best engl amp in my opinion...


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## ampoverload (Sep 20, 2011)

Savages make me cream. I'm gassing for one so bad.


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## KAMI (Sep 21, 2011)

seriously though, get the savage... I played on all of the amps you have listed extensively and landed on the savage... unfortunately I hadn't the money for the 120 so I searched and found a 60... and so far there are no regrets, it sounds killer and it's really good for enhancing that djent (if your into that stuff) There were a lot of different amps I could have bought with the same money but, after playing the savage I was hooked I just couldn't escape it's immense tone!!!


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## murakami (Sep 21, 2011)

i don't have a fireball and i wont get one.

ok, this is my input.

engl invader: i bought this expecting the king of amps. i was fucking GROSSLY misinformed. this amp, though used for metal by a lot of people,
is not that super-uber metal amp everyone says it is. it's VERY versatile and has a lot of voicings, but because of that, i don't think you can get the metal tone you want, if thats what you're looking for. it has a lot of
low end and is more loose than tight i felt. not very high on the high i felt.
the amp has a good amount of gain(plus a high gain button), but i really felt it didn't beat the savage in anything other than having 4 eq channels.

engl savage: first engl i got and was fucking amazed by it's power. it's a little one sided i felt but it has amazing cleans and the level of gain you can get is just right. you wont need a boost, but you'll need a noisegate thats for sure. this is a really tight low end amp. just boosting with power.
very crispy.

engl powerball II: this amp took me a while to like... it actually took me about 2 months i felt and i almost gave up on it. my thoughts now; i am glad i didn't sell it because it's my favorite amp rightnow .so MUCH FUCKING GAIN YOU WONT BELIEVE IT! just really powerful, in your face power. dont worry about it not cutting through the mix. the powerball II has upped the mids compared to the powerball I. some people say it sounds way too compressed, digital etc... i like it to be honest. this sounds awesome at high volumes compared to the other engls i felt.

lastly, go try them out. videos dont help shit because we dont know what mic their using or what speakers their using. most of the time you can assume it's v30, but who knows?

if you can, go try it. unfortunately, i did not have that luxury.


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## DVRP (Sep 21, 2011)

Savage, or Invader. I've only played a Savage before and it was pretty neat. Dem Cleans.


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## wlfers (Sep 21, 2011)

murakami said:


> stuff




nice set of heads there. and good info


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## daemon barbeque (Sep 22, 2011)

petereanima said:


> The real question is, when you obviously havent played any of those - why so set on Engl? Maybe none of them will fit your style.
> 
> But anyway, for me, the Savage wins over every other Engl.





Savage is has a very nice liquid tone, very powerfull push and nice saturation.
That's the only Engl that fits my needs.

The Invader is more diverse and has a more deep and punchy sound, but it lacks the nice saturation of Savage.

BTW, we are talking about the Savage 120, not the new 60

Fireball is an awesome amp, but it definetly is a studio amp. 

The Powerball has an edge that I don't get along well with.


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## WarriorOfMetal (Sep 22, 2011)

daemon barbeque said:


> BTW, we are talking about the Savage 120, not the new 60



The Savage 60 is an older, discontinued model.

Here's another vote for the Savage 120, btw.


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## Baco (Sep 23, 2011)

Let's throw in the Victor Smolski head too, while we're at it... 

I like the Savage 120 a lot because it has a "growl" the Invader doesn't have, it can sound far more brutal than the Invader can imho. And the Smolski head has that too, a damn fine amp, I like it quite a bit more then the Powerball II which can sound sterile sometimes, the Smolski and the Savage 120 have that raw edge that I like. The Fireball 100 is a very cool amp too, nice clean and very brutal lead channel, but it lacks versatility. It does have a switchable mid boost which can be used for lead licks which does the trick nicely. I'd invite you to try 'em all (I have all these in my shop), but you're a bit far away


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