Ironball Special Edition 20W Tube Head Review

I love this thing!!!

I'm sure I'm not alone in this. We often don't have the funds to get our dream amp or gear… I'm the guy who chose the better guitar over the better amp. This time out I made a vow to myself, I'm getting what I want. I was in search of a Swiss Army knife of an amp… something that could do literally everything I need it to do all in one, cleans, crunch, and high gain metal tones,… read more has the core effects I need, and sounds amazing! I'm not a gear hound, I don't like tons of peripheral support gear. I wanted an amp that doesn't need a drive pedal in front of it, has the ability to record directly to my computer, can direct out, and a laundry list of things this amp has all in one. I don't have to buy a noise gate, drive pedal, delay pedal, reverb pedal, mics, etc… And this amp sounds amazing, as you would expect from ENGL. I've played them in stores so I'm fully aware of what they do. So this time I went for exactly what I wanted. No skimping, not talking myself out of it, and trust me … I'm so glad I did! This amp is the a Swiss Army knife! Now I can do just about anything I want musically without the need for tons of other gear.

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Loaded with features.

The Engl Ironball SE was a great find. It sounds great when used as a a two channel amp and you need high gain and a glassy clean. The added reverb, delay, noise gate, pre and post gain boost mean you may be able to play without any added pedal. The IR out sounds absolutely phenomenal. I would recommend the Z9 foot controller to get the most out of it. Some really nice tones… read more and very versatile.

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Honestly can't complain!

...And then some. That's a very Minnesotan way to say, "I absolutely fr*cking love it!" I'm sure my cabinet helps immensely (home-built open-back 2x12 with a pair of Eminence DV-77 Divinity speakers), but even the best cabinet is only as good as the amp plugged into it. The tone is everything I've wanted from a tube amp since I first plugged into my friend's Fender "Evil Twin"… read more sixteen years ago: warm, full, and rich, without losing low-end articulation. The cleans are clear and, with bright enough pickups, have a really satisfying chime to them. If you crank the gain all the way up, it gets nice and warm without losing that chime. Playing fast rhythm on full-gain clean settings through a single-coil neck pickup reminds me a bit of Gamma Ray's early 90s albums, like Heading for Tomorrow, Sigh No More, and Insanity and Genius, without feeling stuck in another artist's tone. The leads are cutting and present without being grating (unless you really want them to, in which case you can crank the gain, presence, mids, and highs all the way to None More Right), and I can blast out precise, hundred-hand slap rhythms and hear a gratifying response from the speakers. And that's with an open-back cab, once again. All this fantastic tone actually makes me feel more confident in my ability to play well; the amp assists my playing, rather than acting as an obstacle to it. I am really excited to take this onstage with me when this COVID stuff quiets down some. Even so, the power soak feature does, indeed give me some stage-quality sound without the stage-quality volume levels (and believe me, if you don't know already: 20 watts can go a LONG way with a tube amp. You don't need any more if you're not playing stadiums with minimal FOH). I was a little concerned that 5 watts or 1 watt would be a little underpowered for my cabinet, but when it's driving the tubes, it's driving the tubes, and it sounds great. I don't need to kill my neighbors' eardrums (or my own) to hear those tubes saturated. You don't need a boutique guitar for this amp to sound good, either. I mean, yes, lousy pickups are lousy pickups, but I enjoy playing through it with the beginner guitar I've held on to for the last 20 years as much as I enjoy playing through it with my Ltd Deluxe H-1007FR, equipped with EMGs (and soon to be equipped with a Seymour Duncan Sentient/Nazgul set!). The Special Edition features, namely the digital FX bank and impulse response selections, are definitely worth the extra cash. The reverb and delay sound great, and you can adjust them to taste. I wish their knobs were on the front of the amp, but it is a lunchbox form factor, after all. The noise gate works just like it should, and I expect that'll come in clutch when playing live. I do prefer to leave it off when recording, though, because without attack/decay/sustain controls, that perfect guitar solo take that you finish with a long, drawn-out note will be ruined. But I'm sure adding envelope controls to the noise gate would also bump the price way up and, once again, take up too much space on this little amp. Speaking of recording, though, the IR selections and the balanced output are a Godsend. I live in a condo and have a small child. While the Mrs. is gracious enough to watch our little girl while I'm working on music, most of my work happens at night or in the wee hours of the morning. In short: the time in which I can set up mics in my acoustically less-than-ideal space and record the old-fashioned way is much too short. Thanks to this feature, I can turn the power amp off and use the Ironball as a DI box with a tube pre, and the IR keeps the signal from sounding like diarrhea--far from it, in fact. The only other time I've been this satisfied with any sort of digital amp modeling was when I was recording with Brainworx's Engl E646 plugin. Now I have an actual Engl amp that models a few Engl cabinets when I need to, and it sounds great. I'd love it if the IR bank had a few mic position options, too, but once again, it's a lunchbox amp. Space is limited, and there are already quite a few knobs, switches, and output jacks on the back and front. Engl's customer service is great, too. When the much-anticipated amp arrived at my doorstep, the bank of switches on the front of the amp that operate the FX did not work. Engl were willing to let me open up the amp and see if it was something simple enough that I could fix it at home without voiding the warranty, and when I saw that it was not, they paid for expedited shipping to have it brought back out to Bavaria, where they repaired it and had it back on my doorstep before eight days had passed. It was frustrating that I had to wait for it as long as I did, first for it to come in stock at Sweetwater and ship to me, and then for it to go to Germany and back, but Engl stood by their product and made it right. It was totally worth the wait. The Engl Ironball SE is a feature-rich amp that can produce a great range of sounds, and while I'd be even happier with some mic placement modeling in the IR section and envelope controls for the noise gate, I'm not complaining in the least. It's the best amp I've ever played through, and well worth the price I paid for it.

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Very nice

I bought this amp for crystal cleans to knock the slobber out of a bull moose gain…. It delivers. I have the 2x12 engl v30 cab with it. Compact, power, noise gate is so nice, the lead channel sings, its not muddy or noisy but has some beef to it. The eq is very responsive and you can get a very wide range of sounds out of this amp. Clean channel also goes to break up for those… read more 80s rock or nirvana type sounds. Lead rhythm is hard rock to metal. I dont run any pedals, dont think i need any either after playing this thing for a week. The pic below is my rammstein setup, just dial the bass to 12 and it goes to a godsmack setting (awake). Im very happy with this amp and combo. Solid grills, solid built, dont drop any of this stuff on your foot. Still waiting on my z9 pedal, may update this later once i get around to saving settings etc. If you want a mesa rectifier sound, but with all the features and none of the drawbacks, this may be your ticket. Thats what I was looking for and took a chance on this at the recommendation of my sales rep Cameryn, he was right.

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Amazing

Absolutely loving the tones out of this amp. Also, it has a great sounding DI, especially paired with ownhammer IRs. Noise gate, reverb, and delay onboard is a nice touch, and work quite well. Clean channel can do it all from warm, round, spanky. The dirty channel has that legendary ENGL sound. I was never an EL84 guy, but this amp does it right.

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