It was pretty cool really so we compared the Marshall SLX, the ENGL Powerball, The Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier and the Randall RM 100...
The axe wielder and I pretty much agreed on everything:
Firstly a few statements so you know the context:
I feel that most people when they hear new amps compare to Marshall...maybe not studio pros but the general musician population....
For a great Marshall tone, which I feel is the best, you need....Jimi, Slash, Zack or an un-named talent like we have all met, and that person has to be one with the amp....meaning put the fukken time in...
The tests we did were all looking for a Death Metal sound and my bro from London is flying in today and we will test Blues and Rock tonight...
I can only afford one of the amps I already own the SLX
Let me say right off the ENGL was the winner.
The ability of the studio owner (me) to dial in any required sound for a novice player became immediately obvious....
The natural distortion on this amp fukken kills!
The sound could be a little darker for DM but that may be a matter of spending more time with it....
The Mesa Boogie is a fukken Monster! HUGE BALLS! It's also twice the price of the ENGL here in the fatherland...it also sounds like a fukken Marshall, I mean to say you need a real guitarist with an interest in sound to make it kill, and you can do that with a Marshall anyway....for like half the money....
The Randall is very interesting, if you don't know already they have these removable modules for the RM4 and the RM100 that supposedly emulate many classic standards....
OK I am a dumbass and a drummer on top of that but I can hear the solid state output amp on the final stage of all the modules and I FUKKEN HATE IT!!!! But, I think that this system is a very good studio tool and final determinations should be made over more than just two nights....if you pick up the RM4 for five bills and some change I guess you can't go wrong....
So again this is from a studio perpspective and not a guitar player's....the ENGL beats the Mesa in ease of use and beats the Randall because the ENGL sounds fukken fantastic....
Hope this helps....
Would appreciate any tips....
Guitars used for testing included ESP, Gibson, and Fender....
Love Yas...
TIK