# Surprised this wasn't brought up. Engl E1060 Rackhead bass amp



## HeHasTheJazzHands (May 15, 2013)




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## cGoEcYk (May 15, 2013)

I couldnt really tell from the vid, but is that a bass cab? Sounds cool enough (though his riffs are pretty lame, fartin around with his thumb), lots of knobs and such. I wouldnt take it over any kind of Mesa bass amp though.


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## JoshBassistCT (May 15, 2013)

Not really impressed. I agree a Mesa takes the cake any day.


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## jeleopard (May 15, 2013)

I thought it kinda sounded like poop...

Like... not not good, just fullon bad...


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## iron blast (May 16, 2013)

agreed not impressed


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## MassNecrophagia (May 17, 2013)

As much as I want a Powerball, Engl will never touch my bass rig


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## Radau (May 18, 2013)

I think I'll stick with my EBS


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## TemjinStrife (May 18, 2013)

Youtube is NOT the place to get an idea of how anything bass-related sounds


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## elhantiri (Dec 6, 2014)

No doubt this Engl rack is amazing! I remember when i used to bash on Fortin and Aguilar amps without thinking that i should never judge an amp upon a shitty youtube video )) And we all know how awesome Engls, Fortin Natas and Aguilar DB751 are


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## yingmin (Dec 6, 2014)

Really interested in the concept, and looking at the manual, there are a lot of things I feel like they got right. However, there are also some odd choices in my mind, like how the channels have different controls. Additional EQ and compression only on the solid-state channel, and overdrive only on the tube channel? I like the idea of assignable effects loop, but since this is intended to allow two basses to play through it simultaneously, why not have two independent effects loops? Or at the least, a mono send with stereo returns? Why do you have to use an external Y-cable to utilize the internal crossover?

Also, the writeups on their site aren't always this bad, are they?



> The Rackhead 1060 is a full versatile bass amplifier to be used on tour or in a studio. It includes two independent bass amplifiers in one rack for flexibility. A tube preamplifier and a solid-state preamplifier are combined with two class D power amplifiers. Using one bass guitar with two fully different sounds. The two channels can be swapped by pressing only one switch so that there is no need for an external A/B switch or re-plugging to have full access to both sounds. These two channels can also be used from two bass players to play together over only one amp. Additionally, both power amplifiers of the Rackhead 1060 can be combined and fed into one or more cabinets to fill the need for higher sound levels on stage without losing the features of the two independent channels in the preamp stage.


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## HaMMerHeD (Dec 6, 2014)

I don't really see the purpose of allowing 2 bassists to use the same amp. Is there a glut of bass players or something?


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## yingmin (Dec 7, 2014)

HaMMerHeD said:


> I don't really see the purpose of allowing 2 bassists to use the same amp. Is there a glut of bass players or something?



Eh, there are plenty of bass seminars and clinics and whatnot, where, for example, Steve Bailey and Victor Wooten are playing at the same time. That's an extremely narrow market, though, and I'm sure guys like that already have their own rig that they would rather use instead of sharing an amp that potentially neither of them likes.

A better application for this technology would be for something like a Chapman Stick player, where the two sets of strings are routed to different amps. Eden makes a head like this, the WT1205, which they explicit market for this purpose, and which, to be honest, is probably a much better implementation of the concept.


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## narad (Dec 7, 2014)

Man, I really want to like this thing, but there's still just no information or proper review out there. Anyone want to buy one... for science?


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## TheEmptyCell (Dec 7, 2014)

HaMMerHeD said:


> I don't really see the purpose of allowing 2 bassists to use the same amp. Is there a glut of bass players or something?



I'm pretty sure it's just marketing BS for those that are two stupid to figure out that, if they wanted to, they could run 2 basses into the amp without it being explicitly stated somewhere.


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## HaMMerHeD (Dec 7, 2014)

TheEmptyCell said:


> I'm pretty sure it's just marketing BS for those that are two stupid to figure out that, if they wanted to, they could run 2 basses into the amp without it being explicitly stated somewhere.



Obviously such a feature's primary use is going to be one dude having two basses plugged in at once, so he can switch without replugging. I'm just baffled as to why a company that seems like it should really know better would use wording like that. What a ridiculously useless way to advertise an otherwise useful feature.

And...the utterly lame and uninspired bass lines that dude played in that demo shows loud and clear, to me, that engl doesn't give a .... about bass players and doesn't even understand the instrument.


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## narad (Dec 31, 2016)

narad said:


> Man, I really want to like this thing, but there's still just no information or proper review out there. Anyone want to buy one... for science?



Ha, so actually I wound up being "the guy" -- I've had one for a few months now. It's a pretty cool unit! My previous bass setup was a mid-range ampeg, and this just blows it out of the water in terms of how much tone-shaping you can do. Maybe to the point where it's a bit overkill -- now they're splitting it up and releasing the tube and solidstate sections as separate rack products, as I guess most people who play either modern or classic stuff would be happy with just a single unit that suits that genre. But personally I like having an all-in-one solution for whatever, and I like playing 70s funk basslines a lot (more than modern metal bass stuff that I might record more for doing guitar covers). The only thing I can think of that's comparable is like the EBS Fafner?

At any rate, Engl really shot themselves in the foot here because it sounds way better in person than in these NAMM show demos. I'm sure they'll release some 1020/1030 demos for the separate bass heads soon, and those would probably be the best place to go to hear what this sounds like. Or maybe I'll do some demos when my Padalka bass finishes up ;-) 

Here's another bad demo of the 2 separate units and the 1060 dual rackhead:

[YOUTUBEVID]u7Kr7scYYpg[/YOUTUBEVID]

And if anyone has a Glockenklang cab for sale in europe, hit me up!

(And just a heads-up in case anyone gets serious about buying one: they don't look as advertised. There's no big ENGL logo in the middle of the unit. It looks like the attached photos here:
https://www.bax-shop.co.uk/b-stock-...1060-bass-rackhead-1000w-basversterker-top-v3 )


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