# ENGL MOD!!!! (powerball content)



## adadglgmut (Jul 15, 2009)

after months of sub par tone searching on his powerball, my friend took it in to an amp tech to have it modded for EL-34s... i think he went JJ's....
Anyways, IT SOUNDS SOOOOOOOOO MUCH BEEETTER!

Especially on the lo gain channel. Its kind of got a high gain crunchy sound that I can only describe as soldano-y. Steroid-pumped marshally. Really very different than the way it sounded before. Waaaay more organic.

Clean tone was nice too, definitely chimier than with the 6l6s, but cool nonetheless.

im an invader guy, and this is the first time that the powerball totally blew me away!


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## Dylan7620 (Jul 15, 2009)

sometimes a set of fresh tubes can make a night or day difference in an amp, and boy is it nice when it does. it's an engl so i'm sure it sounded awesome before, but it's just a matter of being able to unlock _your_ tone out of it. cheers!


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## The Echthros (Jul 15, 2009)

Clips or it didn't happen...


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## adadglgmut (Jul 15, 2009)

lol its an engl that DIDNT sound so good before!
ill try to get clips by the weekend. i think ill be in the studio.... tomorrow?

anyways, if anyone is bored with their powerball, do this mod!


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## velocity (Jul 15, 2009)

any details on the mod itself?


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## petereanima (Jul 16, 2009)

afaik, its only a bias-mod, as the Powerball is fixed bias and set for 6L6s with a grade of <insert correct value here>.


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## agoz20 (Jul 16, 2009)

petereanima said:


> afaik, its only a bias-mod, as the Powerball is fixed bias and set for 6L6s with a grade of <insert correct value here>.



prolly supper fucking cold


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## sith (Jul 21, 2009)

I'm gonna bump this 


I hope we're can get a little more "in depth" description of a sound change, maybe even clips


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## FireaL (Jul 22, 2009)

vids and clipz please.


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## Arsis (Jul 23, 2009)

A Powerball with more midz hopefully?


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## Marlon (Jul 23, 2009)

Now you need to change the LEDs to blue. 

EL34's FTW!!!!


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## CrushingAnvil (Jul 23, 2009)

lol I like the whole "This powerball isn't awesome enough for me" ideology...


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## sith (Jul 23, 2009)

well I fail to see what's wrong with people being curious about modding powerball... I'm own powerball and I like the way it sounds , but there are two things I would change: 
1. dynamics 
2. more mids (for cutting through in band situation)

I'm searching for quite some time for people who have modded their powerball and here is the first guy who made that kind of mod... to bad he's not willing to discus it.

It's not that powerball is not good enough for me, it is, but hardly 
when I take care of those two things it'll be awsome

please, don't take this as a personal attack or something


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## kayman121 (Jul 23, 2009)

petereanima said:


> afaik, its only a bias-mod, as the Powerball is fixed bias and set for 6L6s with a grade of <insert correct value here>.



no, you have to change the screen resistors from 470k to 1k.


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## sith (Aug 10, 2009)

bump.

anyone else who have modded powerball and wants to share experiances?


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## sith (Sep 18, 2009)

just another bump , anyone else who has done this mod and is willing to answer some questions?
I've checked almost all internets and found nothing else anywhere about this


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## TMM (Sep 18, 2009)

Dylan7620 said:


> it's an engl so i'm sure it sounded awesome before...



They're certainly capable of sounding bad.

That said, glad to hear that this worked out for your friend! I'd be curious to hear a PB with EL34s.


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## Gotty (Sep 21, 2009)

I would also be very keen to know more about this mod.

i own a powerball and a dual rec but i would love to pull a more cutting mid range sound from the ball. I love its chunk but it could have more cut like the mesa.


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## JJ Rodriguez (Sep 21, 2009)

I know the original post is kind of old, but why would you spend more money on a head you didn't like in the first place? It's a $2k head, if you don't like the tone, I think it would be best to sell it off, and buy something with a tone you did dig, and mod it to make you like it even more.

Doesn't really apply to the people asking about the mod after though, these guys seem to dig it.


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## sith (Sep 22, 2009)

Well, it's not that I dislike the tone of amp,.. it's just a different kind of GAS if you know what I mean
I really don't have a lot of money and in my country no store holds amps like mesa, bogner, fryette... so I'm pretty lucky as it is )
Everything I need is to make this amp more present in the mix, so I intend to reduce gain with different preamp tubes ( I never use gain past 9
o clock anyway) which should also make it sound less compressed (so I was told),.... When I heard about el34's making powerball sound more organic I naturally become interested and now there is nobody to be found with clips or even to just elaborate a little 

well, I might do this mod nevertheless, but it might take a while (not enough money even for this) and I don't have recording equipement, so I'll not be able to provide you with any clips


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## JJ Rodriguez (Sep 22, 2009)

sith said:


> Well, it's not that I dislike the tone of amp,.. it's just a different kind of GAS if you know what I mean



Like I said, I was talking more about the OP. He said he never liked the tone.


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## Metalus (Sep 22, 2009)

Im curious about this as well. i used to own a powerball and i was never happy with it. i would love to hear it with EL34s. Im afraid the result might throw me into a furious rage for trading it


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## petereanima (Sep 22, 2009)

Metalus said:


> i would love to hear it with EL34s. Im afraid the result might throw me into a furious rage for trading it



seeing what you are currently playing, i highly doubt that.


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## guitarno (Oct 1, 2009)

Hi folks,
by the way: 
I've heard about a very simple and cheap possibility to get the PB much more dynamic and less compressed:
Some people change the V2 and the V4 preamp-tube from 12AX7 (ecc83) to 12AT7 (ecc81).
Because the 12AT's have less gain then the 12AX7 the powertubes won't be kicked as hard when used as phasedriver-tube (V4).
The gain of ch3+4 is build in the first circuit of V2. So when you change it to 12AT7 there'll be slightly less gain (the PB has too much anyway, above 12 o clock settings are not useable to me) and less kicking the following electronics. It's also imaginable to use here a 12AY7 (fewer gain).

I also heard about using 'ecc832 /12dw7' as V1 and V2.
Those tubes are one half an ecc83 and the other half an ecc82. However the gainreduction in ch3+4 is more drastic. Supposedly tone will change to classic-rock.

I just ordered some 12at7's for a test (as phasedriver (V4) a well balanced tube), and will give a review when I checked them out.

Till then,

guitarno


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## Metalus (Oct 1, 2009)

petereanima said:


> seeing what you are currently playing, i highly doubt that.



Yeah thats true. I feel like i didnt realy give the amp a chance though. Which is why hearing it sound awesome would probably piss me off lol


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## sith (Oct 2, 2009)

guitarno said:


> Hi folks,
> by the way:
> I've heard about a very simple and cheap possibility to get the PB much more dynamic and less compressed:
> Some people change the V2 and the V4 preamp-tube from 12AX7 (ecc83) to 12AT7 (ecc81).
> ...




Great!
I'm looking forward for your review


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## guitarno (Oct 21, 2009)

Hello,

how promised here is the review of the powerball with 12at7 tubes:

I replaced the V4, 12AX7 (phasedriver) with a well balanced, selected TAD 12at7 and the V2 (gain and EQ) with a JJ 12at7.
The tonal change is amazing!!
There is A LOT more clarity and vitality in sound! The strong compression is nearly complete gone with simultaneously the same amount of gain as before (you have to rise the preamp-gain a little higher).
In clean-mode of channel1 almost no change is hearable, crunch-mode now is a 'true' crunch, and not 'gentle heavy' as before. It sounds much more vintage than before.
The difference between the two gain-modes of channel2 (often described with channel 3 and 4) now is bigger: low-gain mode (ch3) is much more classic-rock style than before, with more mid-punch and clarity. High gain mode (ch4) is fat and modern like before, but also with more clarity and much more tonal definition! In both modes in high-gain settings the high-freqency 'hiss' isn't anymore existent. Very congenial!
The eq of ch2 now is working a little bit different: higher treble settings now are possible without becoming harsh an shrill and the mid-control now seems to boost slightly higher mids than before.
But what is necessary to mention: even though all the changes the basic sound-character of the powerball is fully retained! It is a powerball like before with more cultured behavior. Now he is nearer to classic rock without leaving his modern-heavy attitude.
I play different guitars with different pickup combinations, moderate paf's, vintage singelcoils, Duncan Jeff-Beck and distortion models and the active, highgain Blackouts. And they all fit even more to the powerball now. Actually I would say the powerball is more versatile now. And when I change guitar I can leave all settings the same and it sounds good everytime!

Last but not least a very important thing for this forum (don't let us forget: this is a SEVENSTRING -FORUM):
My Schecter Diamond 7 with it's Duncan-Blackouts in my opinion was to heavy for that Amp before. The sound was too compressed and undifferentiated. It wasn't possible to decrease gain enough for more clarity.
Now the sound is GREAT! Every string can be heared at deep chords. And now there is VERY MUCH MORE low-frequency 'stomach-bump' at palm-mutes, not muddy and very precise.

This mod is also very cheap: I used a 'TAD 12AT7 / ECC81-Y Premium Selected (balanced)' for V4 (phasedriver)
and a balanced '12AT7 / ECC81 JJ Red Label (former TESLA)' for V2.
I paid under 30 EU incl. shipping.

In the future I'll try other tubes of differnt brands for tonal fine-tuning.
I'll let you know my experiences.

Greets, guitarno


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## LordOVchaoS (Oct 21, 2009)

I did something really similar to guitarno but I used 5751 tubes which are even lower gain, more dynamic, and clearer. My Powerball kicked ass! Never modded it for EL34's though it wouldn't be very hard to do once you get to the parts. Engl mounts their circuit boards upside down with plastic PCB standoffs making it a bitch to work on them!!! I used a set of Tung Sol 5881's and it was a night/day difference from the tubes that were in it.


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## guitarno (Oct 21, 2009)

Where did you install the 5751? In V2 AND V4 or only in one?
And: what exact difference you found out when you tried the 5881's??

Regards, guitarno


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## sith (Oct 22, 2009)

Thanx guitarno for this review, I'll also try this mod as soon as possible...

one question, Is that tube in phase inverter slot anything special? can I use ordinari 12at7 JJ in the same place?


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## LordOVchaoS (Oct 22, 2009)

guitarno said:


> Where did you install the 5751? In V2 AND V4 or only in one?
> And: what exact difference you found out when you tried the 5881's??
> 
> Regards, guitarno



I had the 5751 in V2, Tung Sol in V1, and a balanced 12ax7LPS in V4. Don't remember what I used in V3 but it also doesn't matter much. The 5881's added mids, depth, and just made the amp sound bigger. This setup killed all the "compressed" and "solid state sounding" stereotypes!!! Cut through like a chainsaw and was very responsive!


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## guitarno (Oct 22, 2009)

sith said:


> one question, Is that tube in phase inverter slot anything special? can I use ordinari 12at7 JJ in the same place?



It is very necessary to use a well balanced tube. That means, that both circuits must have nearly the same electrical properties. Thats because one circuit processes the upper (positiv) half of the signal wave and the other the lower (negativ) half. When both circuits work too different you'll get unharmonic distortion.

I used this:
TAD 12AT7 / ECC81-Y Premium Selected (symmetrisch/balanced) TAD TubeAmpDoctor

For preamp, V1 or V2, it isn't that necessary. Here only sound decides.

Good luck,

guitarno


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## sith (Oct 26, 2009)

thanx for explaining...

Does anyone know a good place to order tubes in evrope?


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## Sepultorture (Oct 26, 2009)

Tube Amp Doctor Verstärker Röhren Spezialist - Tubes and Amp Kits

i believe they are European

they carry other brands and you can order them online


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## guitarno (Oct 26, 2009)

'Tube Amp Doctor' is a german company 

Greetings, guitarno


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## Sepultorture (Oct 26, 2009)

guitarno said:


> 'Tube Amp Doctor' is a german company
> 
> Greetings, guitarno



and in Europe


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## sith (Oct 27, 2009)

thanx guys .

Again I successfully made fool of myself


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## freakerman21 (Apr 7, 2010)

I know this is a quite a bit old post but I am modding my powerball as soon as possible. I have a question which is very important for me. 
I think the best sound of the amp, talking about dist sound, is the cruch channel with gain at maximun level.Definition, growl, botton, etc.
Would this mod convert channel 3 in something similar?? Maybe with a little more gain (than crunch channel) but with the same kind of tone??? 

Thanks to all


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## JJ Rodriguez (Apr 7, 2010)

If you feel the need to dime the gain on a Powerball, I have a sneaking suspicion that either your amp or your tubes are completely fucked. I can't even imagine how unusable the amp would be with that much gain


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## freakerman21 (Apr 7, 2010)

Sorry but I think you did't get it.
I use channel 3 as my main distorted rhythm sound with gain at...9 o'clock which is pretty low gain level but in the Powerball more than enough for my taste. What I say is that to reach the same amount of distortion, in channel 2, which is supposed to be the crunch channel (some kinda mashall) I dial the gain to the maximun, and it sounds better to me than channel 3. So... please if you read the entire post, you will see what I'm talking about. 
I want to know if doing the preamp tubes mod (changing v2 and v4 for 12at7's) I will reduce the compression and gain in channel 3 so I could get the clarity and tone of the actual channel 2. 
I'm not talking about increase dist, but decrease it.

Also I want to make a statement. Let's say that Powerball has 4 channels.
channel 1=clean
channel 2=crunch
channel 3=low lead
channel 4=hi lead
So we could speak the same language


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## JJ Rodriguez (Apr 7, 2010)

I use the crunch channel on my VHT with the gain on half, and I'm sure the Powerball has a shit ton more gain than my GP3  I could be wrong though.


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## freakerman21 (Apr 7, 2010)

Probably in channels 3 and 4. Also channel 2 has to much gain for a crunch...and that is what I want in channel 3. An also make channel 2.. a real crunch and no a "gentle heavy" how it was defined somewhere up the post.
Of course it depends on tha kind of music and instrument you play. I play some kind of "Korn like music". I use a 7620 with blaze custom but using 250k pots to reduce a little gain and treble.. and I got it.

www.myspace.com/freakwencymusica


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## sith (Apr 7, 2010)

JJ Rodriguez said:


> I use the crunch channel on my VHT with the gain on half, and I'm sure the Powerball has a shit ton more gain than my GP3  I could be wrong though.



not on the crunch channel..
I had similar problems.. I prefered crunch channel to lead channel (sound&feelwise), but it's a little short when it comes to amounts of gain, especially if you want usable clean channel at the same time ( gain knob is shared between clean&crunch).

I did some tube swaping... I bought 2x12AT7 and 2x12AU7 tubes and one balanced 12au7 for phase inventer...
results were pretty meh
Gain levels dropped significantly (a good thing IMO) so I hat to turn gain to 1-2 o clock (I was playing on 9 'o before),... Also there was a little of dynamics to be had this way (also a good thing IMO).
Tone also changed a little, but for the worse  , change was not drastic, but I hated the thin tone I ended with...This mod also did't do much in a "cutting through mix" department 

After several months of frustrations I selled the motherfucker and bought myself mesa mark IV..
never been happier...
I'm sorry I didn't sell powerball sooner, It's a cool amp If you are bedroom player,... good luck in a band situation
(p.s. I know how to eq)

The bottom line is,.. If you are not happy with this amp, no mod is going to make you love it. Maybe if you try with other brands of tubes ( i did with JJ's ) you might acomplish something or maybe try boosting crunch channel which I didn't do.

I'm not trying to bash this amp, but I had really love-hate relationship with it.
Tried in shop (WOW), read harmony-central reviews (WOW), bought it and enjoyed it at home,... at first band practise I couldn't be heard in the mix (not enough mids and volume for that matter) and than frustrations went on and on,....
Yeah I fell for the hype .

Sorry for lack of details, english is giving me hard time


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## JJ Rodriguez (Apr 7, 2010)

Ah, didn't know it was shared EQ/gain with the clean channel. That makes a lot more sense now


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## freakerman21 (Apr 7, 2010)

Yeah. But I have read before some well results about the change in v2 and v4 (guitarno and LordovChaos). Actually I don't have that problem in the cut through the mix issue. It's just that I would like to improve channel 3 in some way (less gain, less compresion) and I take channel 2 as a model.


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## sith (Apr 7, 2010)

Try it for yourself then, I heard some people were happy with results, I wasn't . I hope it works for you, at least it doesen't cost a lot to try it out.

In conclusion: gain reduction and some dynamics are achiveable


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## freakerman21 (Apr 7, 2010)

Thanks Sith, I think that is the improvement I want. Only I just wanted to know if channel 3 becomes closer, in some way, to channel 2.


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## sith (Apr 7, 2010)

IMO no. That was what I was hoping for too. but still, don't take my word and try it yourself, maybe you will love what I hated


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## Llabrewop (Jun 8, 2010)

guitarno said:


> Hello,
> 
> how promised here is the review of the powerball with 12at7 tubes:
> 
> ...


 
I think this sounds like what I want to try on my Pball

Can someone confirm that the V1 and V3 remain the same? or will these need to be 12AT7's also I am new to all this tube switching shit.

Cheers.


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## shogunate (Jun 8, 2010)

12at7s in the phase driver is always an improvement to my ears  

I want to know more about this mod, and a PB with EL34s. Never knew it was a fixed bias amp, that sucks double for people wanting a more natural tone out of it  Lets find the OP and get him back here with details


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## AzzMan (Jun 9, 2010)

I don't know about all of this not cutting through business. My only experience in person with the Powerball was The Word Alive, whose guitarist ran a Les Paul Studio through a Powerball, and I don't really think it had any mods (I asked him about it vaguely). That thing cut through the mix like sound was butter. Other guitarist was using a 6505+ I believe.


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## vanhendrix (Mar 19, 2011)

guitarno said:


> Hi folks,
> by the way:
> I've heard about a very simple and cheap possibility to get the PB much more dynamic and less compressed:
> Some people change the V2 and the V4 preamp-tube from 12AX7 (ecc83) to 12AT7 (ecc81).
> ...



Necrobump.

Can someone please tell me which preamp tubes are being discussed here? V1-V4 are the power tubes. V5-V8 are the preamp tubes. I'd link the PB manual, but that'd be a huge pain in the ass on my ipad right now.


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## TimSE (Mar 19, 2011)

being a Powerball user myself, this is relevant to my interests


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## Pedrojoca (Mar 19, 2011)

i also need some help here. i intend to put the tubes guitarno talked about.

So basically i intend to leave the preamp tubes like this:

V1- JJ ECC83S/12AX7 V2- JJ 12AT7/ECC81 V3- JJ ECC83S/12AX7 V4- JJ 12AT7/ECC81

Is this what i'm supposed to do to put it like he talked about?

I'm planning on ordering from eurotubes, from this list: https://ssl.eurotubes.com/cart/index.php?page=view_submenu&category_id=2


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## vanhendrix (Mar 19, 2011)

I posted a snapshot of the PB2 tube layout from the manual in my other thread. Maybe it'll help:

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/gear-equipment/151203-options-changing-powerball-sound.html

Edit:

And can we please organize what we're talking about here, it's just confusing us more.

V1, V2, V3, V4 are the 6L6 power tubes

V5, V6, V7, V8 are the 12AX7 preamp tubes


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## vanhendrix (Mar 19, 2011)

here's our answer boys, direct from the engl forum:

V5 - first(input) tube (gain stage 1 and 2) 
V6 - second tube (gain stage 3 and 4)
V7 - FX loop send and return driver
V8 - PI power tube driver

Selected - selected for low noise
FQ(V1) selected (input tube) - selected for low noise and microphonics

Most of the ENGL amps use 4 gain stages for full gain which means they need 2 tubes (because every tube has 2 amplification "circuits" built in). V1(V5 in the PowerBall) is the input tube, it´s the tube you connect your guitar - it´s always used and the most important tube regarding the amount of gain the PB can have at the end of gain stage 4.

Cheers,
Robin

--------------

So therefore, to revoice my channel 3 and 4, I'm going to replace V6. And i might just try V5, to mess around with the clean and crunch sounds.


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## Pedrojoca (Mar 19, 2011)

oh!!! btw... i have an ENGL PB II will changing the V6 and V8 tubes have the same effect as on the PBI or does it have any difference when it comes to gain amount?


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## vanhendrix (Mar 19, 2011)

Pedrojoca said:


> oh!!! btw... i have an ENGL PB II will changing the V6 and V8 tubes have the same effect as on the PBI or does it have any difference when it comes to gain amount?



I'd wager that they're the same. That screenshot i posted is the PB2 manual and the tubes seem to be arranged the same way.

So V5 and V6 control the channels, I'm gonna leave the other ones alone for sure.


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## Ryan-ZenGtr- (Mar 19, 2011)

A while ago on this thread, someone mentioned using EL-34 power tubes with the Engl. I loved what EL-34's did for my Dual Rectifier... I'm CERTAIN it would make a significant difference to the PowerBall.

I'd reccomend Harma Cryo Valves.

I sold my Engl, which I bought for recording an album I was making, having traded a Mesa Stiletto (POS for my uses, thought it was going to be a JCM 800...  ) The Engl was great, but with EL-34's.... that would really be something special!

I sold mine with no regrets as the sound hurt my teeth, it was wild and noisy and the faux 4 channel setup was not to my liking. Also preferred the "classic" sound of the Dual Rec. Also, amp is weighs a lot to carry.

It is something I would definitely try if I got another PowerBall (use EL-34's), which may happen as it's a great high gain amp. All my Line 6 tones use the PowerBall preset, since I got the real head 3 or 4 years ago.


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## vanhendrix (Mar 19, 2011)

Ryan-ZenGtr- said:


> A while ago on this thread, someone mentioned using EL-34 power tubes with the Engl. I loved what EL-34's did for my Dual Rectifier... I'm CERTAIN it would make a significant difference to the PowerBall.
> 
> I'd reccomend Harma Cryo Valves.
> 
> ...



That's a hefty mod for a fixed-bias amp. The tech would have to change some nonsense that I don't understand. But that will be my next mod if this preamp plan doesn't work. Watch this thread!

I'm doing this new thing where i try to mod my gear to do what I want, instead of just abandoning it and getting new stuff. Weird eh?


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## vanhendrix (Mar 20, 2011)

More info from engl:


You could buy a 12au7 and a 12at7 to experiment with voicing/compression/gain.
The greatest effect is always by changing the V5 in the PB (input tube).
The 12au7 would have the fatter sound and less gain.


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## vanhendrix (Apr 3, 2011)

Bumpville population: this thread

I'm doing my mods to my powerball and I will write this post as they come in. Knowing my own biases are probably pretty important for anyone reading this who wants to use my experience: I hate djent, I despise emgs, and I feel that compression is the enemy of accurate guitar playing. I'm trying to make my amp open and responsive, so as to reproduce _exactly_ what I play, and not process it in any way. I want to play light, it should sound light. I want to dig in, it should respond accordingly...not gloss over everything.

For anyone who still cares, here are my results with the preamp tubes:

V5 / V6 / V7 / V8 (for reference)
---------------------

At7 / Au7 / Ax7 / Ax7

DRAMATICALLY reduced the gain. 4th channel all the way up is now a rocking crunch channel, but the metalz are gone. There's also a large drop in volume on the first two channels

At7 / Ax7 / Ax7 / Ax7

Not a terrible difference from the stock sound. Perhaps a hair less gain. The clean channel seems to break up sooner

Ax7 / Au7 / Ax7 / Ax7

The cleans and crunch are back up to their normal volume. The two high gain channels are WAY more open and less processed sounding. Gotta have the gain on 11 on the 4th channel to squeeze the metal out, but it can be done. Ch3 sounds amazingly rock and/or roll. Sounds sexy. Already better than stock.

Ax7 / At7 / Ax7 / Ax7

Pretty much the same as before, but with more useable gain. Opens up the amp considerably from stock. The stock ch 4 is gone entirely, moving the original 3 into the 4th spot. The current ch 3 exists in that wonderful gain stage between lacklustre crunch and uber super brootz. This amp now goes from clean to brutal, and most importantly, _does everything in between._


I'm so pleased with this mod that it almost warrants a NAD.


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## zukobro (Apr 3, 2011)

Wow, now I'm thinking about some possible mods for my Savage...How long has your friend had the amp?


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## vanhendrix (Apr 3, 2011)

zukobro said:


> Wow, now I'm thinking about some possible mods for my Savage...How long has your friend had the amp?



This was all my amp...I've had it for 2 years but grown out of my super duper metal phase. It did exactly what I wanted when I bought it, but tastes change. I would HIGHLY recommend this mod for how cheap and easy it is.


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## Pedrojoca (Apr 4, 2011)

man, i'm so confused now 

vanhendrix, you seemed to have the best results with:

V5- Ax7 V6-At7 V7-Ax7 V8-Ax7

and guitarno with:

V5- Ax7 V6-At7 V7-Ax7 V8-At7

Since you both describe the final sound kind of identically, i'm unsure which one to pick. Any help?


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## vanhendrix (Apr 4, 2011)

Pedrojoca said:


> man, i'm so confused now
> 
> vanhendrix, you seemed to have the best results with:
> 
> ...




Well V6 ONLY controls the second gain stage of the amp (ch 3 and 4). That was the only issue I was having with the sound, and I quite enjoyed how the amp functioned apart from that. So basically everything apart from those two channels still runs completely stock.

Just buy a couple AT7s (they're like 12 bucks) and try a single one in V6 to see if it's what you're looking for. If not, try one in V5 and V8 to see how they affect the overall tone of the amp. I had a really good idea of what I was looking for before I started modding, and I knew right away when I put the AT7 in the V6 that I had found the right combination.


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## Pedrojoca (Apr 5, 2011)

will do, thanks a lot


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## vanhendrix (Apr 5, 2011)

Pedrojoca said:


> will do, thanks a lot



No problem. Post back with your results...I'm curious


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## TimSE (Apr 5, 2011)

vanhendrix said:


> Bumpville population: this thread
> 
> Ax7 / At7 / Ax7 / Ax7
> 
> Pretty much the same as before, but with more useable gain. Opens up the amp considerably from stock. The stock ch 4 is gone entirely, moving the original 3 into the 4th spot. The current ch 3 exists in that wonderful gain stage between lacklustre crunch and uber super brootz. This amp now goes from clean to brutal, and most importantly, does everything in between.



From what i can tell, this is the best option. The others seemed to only offer less gain variations and if you wanted less gain, an Engl prob isnt what you want. Il be check this mod out at some point me thinks for sure.


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## vanhendrix (Apr 6, 2011)

TimSE said:


> From what i can tell, this is the best option. The others seemed to only offer less gain variations and if you wanted less gain, an Engl prob isnt what you want. Il be check this mod out at some point me thinks for sure.




While I did want less gain overall on the 4th channel, I was mainly after making the amp more versatile. I was very pleased with my clean (ch1) and metal (ch3) sounds, but I wasn't happy with it otherwise. The 3rd channel with the gain on 7-8 was about as much gain as I would ever need, so I had an entire extra, useless channel.

Now I feel that it is a proper 4 channel amp because I can use that step up in gain to go from a rock sound (new ch3) to a metal sound (new ch4).

Edit:

And yeah, that's the best combination by a long shot, I found


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## Pedrojoca (Apr 6, 2011)

TimSE said:


> From what i can tell, this is the best option. The others seemed to only offer less gain variations and if you wanted less gain, an Engl prob isnt what you want. Il be check this mod out at some point me thinks for sure.



hmmm, I don't think the others give you less gain because you think there is too much. The objective was to make you push the gain knob further, it gives you the same amount of gain, with less fizz.
Anyway, i'm going to order 3x12ax7 (JJ ECC83S) and 2x12at7 (JJ and 1 TAD balanced for V8 [phase driver])


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## vanhendrix (Apr 6, 2011)

Pedrojoca said:


> hmmm, I don't think the others give you less gain because you think there is too much. The objective was to make you push the gain knob further, it gives you the same amount of gain, with less fizz.
> Anyway, i'm going to order 3x12ax7 (JJ ECC83S) and 2x12at7 (JJ and 1 TAD balanced for V8 [phase driver])



Guys! They ALL end up with less overall gain. The only way I could see this being a problem is if you already run ch4 with the gain on 11. Which is pure _nonsense_.


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## Pedrojoca (Apr 14, 2011)

hey there ppl!

I ordered 3x JJ ECC83S (1 balanced), 1xTAD 12at7 (balanced) and 1xJJ 12at7

I am about to test several combinations:

V1- Tad 12at7 V2 and V3- JJ ECC803S V4- JJ ECC83S 
V1- JJ 12at7 V2 and V3- JJ ECC803S V4- TAD 12at7 
V1- JJ 12at7 V2- TAD 12at7 V3- JJ ECC803S V4- JJ ECC83S 
V1- Tad 12at7 V2- JJ 12at7 V3- JJ ECC803S V4- JJ ECC83S

i'll give some feedback later... clips might appear in some days.


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## BabUShka (Apr 14, 2011)

kayman121 said:


> no, you have to change the screen resistors from 470k to 1k.



That is biasing.. 
The bias is there to regulate the tubes operating mode using a resistor. 
Many amps has the possibility to adjust the bias by putting a potensiometer instead.. A potensiometer is a resistor which you can regulate.


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## Pedrojoca (Apr 14, 2011)

hey ppl, i created a post with a lot of useful info about this, be sure to check it:

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/gear-equipment/154355-engl-powerball-tubing-mods-thread.html


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## elkulon (Jan 22, 2015)

Violent bump...

After seeking for info, for soooooooo much time, I decided to make a radical request...:
Can anybody share some photoshots of both sides of PCB????

The thing is, I live in Argentina, which is by far a third world country. It's virtually impossible to get an Engl PBall (and any Engl, Mesa, Soldano, or any of those brands, the only "gettable" are Fender, Marshall, and Orange, in part, and most of it are SS), and more sadly, for me is reaaaaaaally impossible to aford one of those, because of importation issues to the country (the most expensive buy allowed by goverment is $28, not enough...); so, my plan B is to build one of them. 
From there there are other technical issues; as you may know, Engl released wrong schemes by purpose, to avoid mass cloning. Only 2nd channel (Hi and Lo) is been traced by some guy, Mzaar (from Russia, I'd believe), but that's it. No 1st channel, no PI, no PA, no FX loop, no switching system, not even PSU. So, I'm [email protected] lost.

That's why I have the request; to make a decent aproach to the correct scheme and to be capable of cloning the full thing (or most of it), by tracing from real images of an actual amp.

Could it be possible???


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