# Engl Powerball vs Fireball



## sevenstringgod (Nov 24, 2009)

Hey guys, here's the deal, I play stuff from dream theater, liquid tension experiment and steve vai, joe satriani etc. to protest the hero, soilwork and melodic death metal and metalcore. Which would be more suited for my needs? I heard the fireball is a one trick pony. Thanks.


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## MF_Kitten (Nov 24, 2009)

the fireball is a raw monster that does "badass". it does other stuff as well, if you know how to coax it, but it's mostly "badass". you can get loooots of different types of "badass", but it's usually just that.

the powerball is more refined and polished, and less raw. it's more flexible, as it has more channels with different voicings, as well as many other interesting features. some say it's sterile and compressed, some say it's perfect for metal, some say it's an all-rounder. depends on how you treat it, i guess.

for the all-out metal, i would just get the fireball. it's easy and stripped down, and has a very raw and vicious sound.

if i wanted to do all the stuff you listed there, then i'd get the powerball. it does tons of different things within the metal/heavy rock spectrum of music.

so if you have the cash, then definitely get the powerball. if you can save up even more though, i hear the savage 100 is amazing, and a huge step up from the powerball. i haven't played this one though, so i can't speak for it myself.


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## sevenstringgod (Nov 25, 2009)

Thanks man, I'll probably go with the powerball, the savage 100 is really out of my possibilities. And I'm waiting for someone to sell his powerball while I save what I need to upgrade from de fb to the pb.


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## petereanima (Nov 25, 2009)

why do you limit yourself down to these 2, altough you obviously have nevery played one of them?

no offend, i'm just curious.


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## zimbloth (Nov 25, 2009)

I don't think the Powerball OR Fireball is ideal for the kind of tones you're going for personally. The Invader or Savage might be, but I'd maybe look at something else. I could see you liking anything from a Framus to a Peavey to a Fryette.

I find the Powerball to be insanely compressed, bright, and processed sounding. To be frank, I _hated _mine. I liked the Fireball a lot more.


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## Brord (Nov 25, 2009)

I have to agree with Petereanima en Zimbloth, I think there are heads out there that are better tailored to your needs. I'd also check out some peavey's, vht's, mesa's, .... 

Because when I think about swedish style melodic death metal or about any kind of "core" a 5150 is the very first thing I think about, it does that sound VERY well. It also has a very nice lead sound (after all it is designed as a lead amp if I'm not mistaken), especially after a bias mod (which really is VERY easy) that will also make the clean channel a lot better.

When I had my powerball I had the very same experience as Zimbloth had, I was always fighting to get the tone I wanted and never really got there. It always sounded thin, overcompressed, to bright, didn't cut that well and funny enough I didn't think it was all that tight, certainly when I had to turn the amp up high (the powerball isn't that loud actually) it sounded pretty sloppy.
But on the other hand, for some the powerball delivers exactly what they're after. I would certainly give other amps a chance to and make a good comparison.


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## loktide (Nov 25, 2009)

out of the two, i prefer the fireball.

great rhythm tone, but kind of lacking for leads.

i'd recommend you looking at a 5150/6505 over any ENGL (except maybe the invader) though.


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## tuttermuts (Nov 25, 2009)

I owned a V1 powerball for quite a while, and if you plan on playing clean at some points, I'd suggest against it. The distortions work for some, but to me weren't all that, not that organic sounding.


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## Sang-Drax (Nov 25, 2009)

And then there's the new FB 100...


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## Speedy (Nov 25, 2009)

The F-ball and P-ball will prolly nail Death Metal tones great, but that is just about it. Don't nuy eather of those if you wan't to play Dream Theater.

You live in the states, so Mesas are cheap there. Buy a used Dual Rectifier, and an OD pedal. With that you should nail metalcore, deathmetal and prog like DT just fine! At least, better than with eather of these ENGL's.


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## sevenstringgod (Nov 25, 2009)

Thanks for the advice guys. What other amps on kind of the same budget would you reccomend for my needs? I really dig the vht deliverance but the thing is I read somewhere that it doesn't sound good at low volume.



petereanima said:


> why do you limit yourself down to these 2, altough you obviously have nevery played one of them?
> 
> no offend, i'm just curious.



None taken man, and I wasn't limiting to those 2, I was just leaning towards those because they sound good at low volumes, and that's my main concern. 
Cheers.


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