New Amp: ENGL Special Edition E670

This top of the line ENGL Amp has always eluded me, but when I found this one online at Guitar Center I pulled the trigger. Sadly, the order was cancelled - I called the store, and apparently someone else had bought it first. Damn.

Lucky for me, it popped up, returned, at another GC several states away from its origin in Texas. I’m not sure why it was returned, but I ordered it again and it arrived a few days later in very good condition.

I’m still trying to wrap my head around why this was returned - it was expensive, but quite a deal compared to other E670’s on the market, and far cheaper than the new E670FE Founder’s Edition amps (effectively, a reissue of this amp with a few circuit tweaks).

Speaking of the newer E670FE, and maybe this is confirmation bias, but I’m glad I have this earlier amp - it’s a little bit more feature heavy. The new FE version does not have the high/low power mode (disables two power tubes, knocking the amp down to 50w), the cable tester on the rear panel, or the switchable output section. This original E670 can actually be connected to two different speaker cabinets, with different impedences, and you can set which channels, or which patches, use speaker output A or B. This means if you want to run your cleans through a cabinet with Jensens, and your drive channels through a cabinet with Celestions, you can do that! Super cool feature, but maybe underutilized or underappreciated in the real world.

There are other differences between the FE and SE, but they are harder to quantify - supposedly it has been revoiced, and the clean/crunch channels on the FE have a mid shift and bright switch, while the SE has a bright and ultra bright switch. However, based on my knowledge of other ENGL stuff, I think it’s more likely these switches do the same things on both amps and have simply be renamed - perhaps the exact value of the resistor or capacitor it puts into the circuit has changed, but it’s still going to be effectively the same function.

Ok, features aside, I am absolutely thrilled with how this amp sounds. All of the channels are absolutely superb - I can see how someone could get this amp and replace an entire collection of other amps - I very rarely feel that way about channel switchers, and looking at my collection of course in most cases I’d rather have multiple single channel amps than one channel switcher - so that’s especially high praise coming from me. Both of the lead channels are nearly the same, in a good way, with Lead II having a hair more gain, but a separate treble control which is very useful. The clean/crunch channels share the same layout, with shared bass and mid controls but separate treble controls. Even the “bypass” channel, which is just a raw tube drive with no shaping designed more as a straight through power amp channel, sounds great - and can be enabled with or without the EQ. It’s hard not to talk about the features at the same time - all four of these channels have a high and low gain mode and multiple switches that can color the tone - and even better, all of these switches can be controlled via saving the setting on the footswitch or midi controller. It really feels like you could do anything you desire with a nice 10 button midi switch and this amp, from all ranges of gain, voicing, power amp settings (there are 2 presence controls and 2 master volumes to switch between as well, plus depth and low punch, and more).

Some might think well, this amp isn’t for me - too much tweaking, and that’s fine - especially in contrast to the 3rd Power HLH100 I picked up last month, two amps with completely opposite design philosophies. However, I have to say, I spent about 2 hours dialing in this amp and saving 10 really great sounds to the Z9 footswitch, and I don’t think I’ll ever touch another control on the amp again besides the power and standby switches. Yes there’s tons of tweakability, but if you find some great tones you can just save them - probably an exciting new concept when this amp was introduced in 2008 but these days we’re a bit spoiled by digital modeling which accomplishes a similar goal… but this amp keeps the real tubes cooking. Definitely a winner in my book, I’ll have to compare it to my favorite ENGL (the Savage 120 MK1).

New Amp: VHT Pittbull 50CL with Graphic EQ

This is actually my second Pittbull 50CL from nearly the same time frame - this is a 2005 model, and I already had a 2003. However my 2003 has a spring reverb tank, and no graphic EQ - the classic early Pittbull CL voicing, a bit dark, but just a killer sound. Easily one of my all time favorite amps. So when the opportunity to buy what is essentially the same amp, but trading the spring reverb for a built-in 6-band graphic EQ, I jumped on it.

I’ve already done some extensive A/B testing between the two, and they definitely have the same core tone and feel. However I do feel the GEQ model has a bit less gain, and a little more brightness as well. The EQ is exactly as I’d expect - it can take the dryer, tighter feel of the amp from reserved to extremely aggressive and it works fantastically. I do occasionally miss the spring reverb, but I’m also perfectly happy to use a reverb pedal in the effects loop.

The interesting thing about the non-EQ Pittbull is that the feel of the amp is a little bit sloshier, a little more saturated. I love the way lead lines and gainy palm mutes jump out of that amp, and the “voicing” switch adds a little more highs and lows to fill out the spectrum more without sounding too aggressive - something about it still really speaks to me. The EQ model needs the gain up a little higher to achieve the same effect, although I suppose the tubes are a factor here too, but the ability to customize the tone with the EQ adds far more versatility than the on/off voicing switch. The EQ is also footswitchable, and there's not a huge volume difference on or off which is perfect the way I use it. It’d be impossible to pick a favorite between the two, that’s for sure.

New Amp: 3rd Power HLH100

I’ve heard great things about the Third Power Amplification line, and had eyes for a “Kitchen Sink” for a while - but it’s a bit out of my usual spending range. The Citizen Gain seems to be highly regarded as well, maybe I’ll find one of those someday - but today, I’ve added a very early 3rd Power amp to my collection: the HLH100.

The HLH100 is a hand wired, point to point on turret board, British style amp, complete with a full set of Mercury Magnetics transformers and choke and the top of the line components. The front panel has a little bit of a Silver Jubilee appearance - an LED light over a lead master, another volume, and a preamp gain control. However, it’s not like a Jubilee at all - either in tone or function. Instead, you have a single channel - no rhythm or clean modes, and the two volumes are simply different levels so you can footswitch to a louder or quieter sound for leads or rhythm - gain remains the same as you set on the preamp gain control.

It’s pretty light on features, but definitely not on sound - the single channel design has tons of touch sensitivity at lower gain settings, and it can be dialed from near clean to fully saturated distortion with ease. A player who isn’t much of a tweaker would love this amp - dial in a great tone, set and forget.

Of course, there is one switch on the amp to add some versatility, the “Smooth” or “Bold” switch near the guitar input jack. The smooth mode is modeled after the 60s Marshall Plexi sound, and I actually prefer this voicing even with the gain turned up well past what a Plexi can do. The bold setting is a bit more direct feeling, dryer, punchier, but a little less fluid feeling to me. The amp also has a series preamp out and in jack - effectively an effects loop.

According to the previous owner, this particular amp was used on tours with Katy Perry, Janelle Monáe, and even played live on the 2011 Grammy Awards with Bruno Mars. Back then, it was paired with its trademark triangular guitar cabinets - you can actually spot it in the background of this video clip, stage right:

This model evolved later into the RPO100 Head, which has the same basic look but with a few additional features such as dual mids voicing switches and a “push” control which affects the low end in the power amp.