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Thursday, November 19, 2009

ENGL - Ritchie Blackmore signature amp head

This is my first ENGL amp - Ritchie Blackmore signature amp head.
ENGL is Germany-based amplification company. Due to the over-priced Mesa/Boogie amps in Europe,
the ENGL amplification is famous and popular among Europe countries.


The Randall "Lynch Box" (George Lynch signature amp head) is on the top.


Four channels - Clean, Crunch, Lead, Heavy Lead. (Sharing with same 3-band EQ)
Bright switch on Clean channel, contour switch (footswitchable) on Lead Channel


Ritchie Blackmore signature is printed on the front panel.
Master A and Master B volume is footswitchable (for solot boost).


No Noise-Gate and P.T.M (PowerTubes Monitoring) system


Super bright L.E.D. The earlier model such as ENGL Savage 120 has bulbs in stead of L.E.D


Footswitch jacks.


Internal circuit
The factory bias setting is around 34.1 mA (cold setting) and plate voltage is 470VDC
Retube and rebias either with Svetlana 6L6GC or JJ 6L6GC, the sound is much better.


There used to be three versions of ENGL Ritchi Blackmore (E650) signature amp head
1) Current version which comes with ENGL 5881 powertubes,
2) SlowHand Motion (Discontinued) which comes with 6L6GC powertubes,
3) FastHand Motion Limited Edition (Copper front panel) with EL34 powertubes.
The limited edition models come with COA.

I bought the ENGL E650 is not because of Mr.Ritchie Blackmore actually.
Some people say the ENGL E650 is a simplified ENGL Savage 120.
I think the E650 is much more like a ENGL Fireball with higher mid frequency.
To me, the gain level of E650 is comparable as ENGL Fireball.
But the ENGL PowerBall (E645) is still the king of them.

Compared with VHT/Fryette Pittbull CL and Peavey 5150,
E650 lead channel has much more gain than them, but the Pittbull has much more dynamics.
Some people say the ENGL E650 is a "better" version of 5150 amp head.

The video clip of my ENGL Ritchie Blackmore signature amp head.
Retube with Tung-Sol 12AX7 preamps tubes and Svetlanan 6L6GC

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