Engl e530, Gmajor 2

[Bodycage]

Yay, more chugging power chord riffs. Just what the world needs. GOML.

[Xyrium]

Hey, nice setup and playing. Where exactly are you getting the distortion from? Are you running the Mesa 20/20 clean and pumping the gain on the Engl?

[Prayfordarkness]

@Xyrium Yes, all the distortion is coming from the Engl.

[Strattmann999]

How do you find the clean headroom on the mesa 20/20? Enough clean volume to keep up with a drummer?

[Prayfordarkness]

@Strattmann999 The 20/20 has huge headroom! I play in a band with a hard-hitting drummer, and I'm only at about 11 o'clock on the Mesa's volume. Plenty of power there. A surprising amount, actually...

[JMurphyProductions]

Hi there can someone explain to me something,

I already have an orange 2x12 cab,

To run this preamp with it what would i need?

A power amp?

So with power amps are they all the same or do more expensive ones sound better?

If so can someone suggest one to me?

Also can you get foot switches for this amp?

Thanks In Advance,

Murph.

[matabaldia]

@JMurphyProductions Well yes, you need a power amp, usually the better ones are expensive, but if you like just to play in you home, a good brand can be, carver, they make very good power amps and they are not expensive, I use to play in my home with a disto preamp, a marshall cab, and an Alesis power map, I know alesis is studio monitor amps, well, as crazy as this sound, it gives me an amazing sound, Cristal clear tones, and a very heavy disto, and by the way, that amp was really cheap.

[JMurphyProductions]

@matabaldia Cheers man, im in a band that gigs 8 or 9 times a month so im looking for a really good one, can anyone suggest one?

[matabaldia]

@JMurphyProductions Hi Murph, yes the first thing you need to check is the specs of your cab, if you buy a very powerful amp you can blow yous speakers, then you need to check which kind of music are you going to play, so, this will be important on the kind of amp, solid state? or tubes? I can recommend some brands I already use, Marshall EL34 50w could do and extremely great job for you, like I said before, Carver brand its a good one too, some peavey tube power amps can give you great tone too

[dimmub69]

bro this is exactly the kind of rig ive been fantasizing about, just what i need. straight up power conditioner, pre amo, power amp and FX.

How much was the power amp??

Also, hows the whole setup holding up?? Chunky and heavy enough for metal shows??

Also does the midi controller for the gmajor 2 help switch around channels on your engl?? and does it creat a popping noise?

Also hows the feedback on that thing??

[filipopolis1976]

Arbeit Macht Fleisch! Love this song... Excellent sound!

[VietHetzer]

those riffs sound so chunky man, and then the soloing tone is dynamic enough to fit your style, i'm impressed. Do you know if you can get a proper tone from the 530 by routing it directly into your sound card and into a software cab impluse?

[Prayfordarkness]

@VietHetzer

Thanks man.

Yeah, the Engl e530 works well with impulses. Actually, one of my other uploaded videos, the Desert Island one, was recorded direct. I used Recabinet for the impulse on that one.

Also, the e530 has its own frequency-compensated line out which sims the Engl 4x12 cabinet. That sounds really good as well...

[DreamEclipse]

@Prayfordarkness Dude, could you do a demo of the ENGL directly into your soundcard interface doing some leads/riffs with no effects (other than verb) or post processing? Just impulses and the pre. That would be really appreciated!

I had a look at your Desert Island vid, too much delay and stuff going to on to say anything about the tone.

[tehsimo]

@Prayfordarkness i have the e530, and didn't even remember i had that freq compensated out, i guess that's what happens when you stick it in a rack :( you never look at the back

[tomrogermarkas]

Hi. Is the Roland FC-300 midi foot controller working well with the TC Electronics G-Major 2? Is it good quality?

[Prayfordarkness]

@tomrogermarkas

The FC-300 works awesome with the GM2! I'm very happy with this setup. I looked at the Behringer 1010 foot controller too, but the Roland is a far better quality. Very heavy, solid unit. I'd recommend it!

[666quebec666]

@tomrogermarkas hi! i use a FC-300 to control my gmaj2 AND my amp since there are 2 amp control buttons. The problem i have is a latency when changing patches. Ex: passing (quickly) from a clean tone with modded delay to a heavy crunch tone with a noise gate + EQ, you can clearly hear the gate + eq coming after the channel switching... which sucks.. ill have to figure out something to get rid of that problem. bring back the footswitch ? i dunno...

[Prayfordarkness]

@666quebec666 I don't know man, I noticed a slight switching delay too, but only on some patches. I'm using an Axe-FX now, and all the switching is instant, so it's not the footswitch... It's got to be something with the Gmaj2, but I don't know the problem though. Sorry!

[Achu5150]

No seas tan cabeza!

Aflojá un poco la disto, y hacé lucirla G-Mayor 2... porque la verdad... para tocar así... NI necesitás esa G-Mayor 2!!

Aun así, no suena "wou".. más allá de tener GRAN calidad de sonido(mesa boogie, tc-electronic, ENGL, BC-Rich, etc!

Estoy seguro que si afinás un poco el oido, va a poder sacar una GRAN sonido de todo ese armamento!

Saludos!

Ac]-[uS ^^

[Prayfordarkness]

Gracias por sus amables palabras de mi amigo. Lo siento, no entiendo lo que esto significa, que se Cabeza. Mi español es muy débil!

Este video fue tomado muy poco tiempo después me compré este equipo, mi sonido es diferente, y ahora mejor. He puesto una nueva pickup en la guitarra, y de cambiar mi configuración. Voy a publicar pronto un nuevo video ...

Tener cuidado

[sevensoles]

can you change the engl's channel with that foot controller? Thats pretty much the setup I wanna get but I really wanna use all that the engl can give me.

[Prayfordarkness]

Yes, the FC-300 has 2 relay jacks that can be used for changing channels on an amp. If you have a G-Major though, It's easier to use that to switch amp channels. The G-Majors have a 1/4" stereo relay jack on the back. The ENGL has a stereo jack for changing between channels 1 & 2, and for switching between low, and high-gain. The GM2 allows me to switch to any of the four combinations. There is another jack on the ENGL for turning Contour or bypass on & off, but I don't use those functions.

[padawan007]

tc doesent sucking the tone thats the point in it

[musicman700]

isn't g major 2 sucking the tone? I wanna buy it but now I'm reading a lot of people complaining about that as to the g major 1 (the previous version) btw have you tried the rocktron FXs and compare it with the g major? thx ;)

[Prayfordarkness]

Personally, I find the GMajor2 to be very transparent. I'm happy with it, no tone issues at all for me... I haven't used the GMajor or the Rocktron you mentioned, my previous effects unit was a Line 6 PodXTPro, which actually did color the sound a bit...

[PhotonVision]

@musicman700 GM1 is indeed kinda sucky, but I don't notice any toneloss with the GM2. FX are very nice, more tweakability than version 1 (but I would probably not have upgraded for the fx, I did it mainly for the tonesuck).

[Prayfordarkness]

Interesting... I don't actually use any pedals as toggles, but I was thinking about setting up the whammy that way... I'll have to try it out and let you know!

[Prayfordarkness]

Thanks. That is the Engl, the GM2 doesn't have any distortion effects at all.

Btw, I've seen your Romain Goulon vids, awesome stuff!

[thepalemonarch]

Your tone is very very carcass man

[Prayfordarkness]

Thanks! :)

[javiceres]

It looks that you have a GT-10 box. Please how does the whammy and harmonizer of the G-M2 compare to the Boss? I had to sell my GT and I'm planing on replacing it in a couple of months...

[Prayfordarkness]

Good eye! The GT-10 actually belongs to the other guitar player in my band, so I don't know it as well as my GM2, but just from hearing him play, I think that the GMajor2 has a slightly faster/smoother response with the harmonizer than the BOSS, and sounds a little less synthetic with both whammy and harmonizer. Not much though! Strictly for dollar value, I'd say the GT-10 is a better deal. The GM2 is a step up in effects quality, but you also have to buy a floor controller to use it properly...

[javiceres]

Thanks a lot for the info!!

Just one more thing please, the whammy on the GM2 is polyphonic? or al least does it works with power chords or with twoo strings? I'm unable to find this info anywere on the net...

Thanks again!!!!

[FabienClevy]

Cool vidz!

When you buy your G-MAJOR 2, they are a floor control with?

Or it's necessary to buy?

Cause on stage it's not very cool for use...

[Prayfordarkness]

Thanks.

The GMajor 2 does not come with any floor controller, and yes, you will need something if you plan on playing live. I use a Roland FC-300 with it.

[stonesour92]

How loud are that 20 watts?

Because of Cleanheadroom.

How long is that little Poweramp Clean.

[Prayfordarkness]

It's a surprisingly loud amp, no problem to play in a band with, or live in small to medium sized venues. There's not a whole lot of clean headroom with the 20/20 though, it starts to get a bit of dirt even at volume 2 if you play hard. That's already pretty loud though. I don't like "pristine" clean sounds anyway, so this amp is great for me!

[stantonshred]

cool stuff, wat power amp are ya using?

[Prayfordarkness]

Thx. It's a Mesa 20/20.

[flytogothenburg]

Definite carcass tone dude, sounds awesome.

[Prayfordarkness]

Thanks man.

[DJspin88988]

btw thanx

[DJspin88988]

what's these songs on 2:25 and 3:23

[Prayfordarkness]

Starting at 2:24 to the end of the video is riffs from a song called "Arbeit Macht Fleisch" by Carcass, from the album Heartwork.

You can hear it here:

/watch?v=HftuhwoxoVo

Cheers

[alfalfasprout69]

finally a real demo..

thanx man

[nightmagicband]

bit of a racket

[Jakubris]

what brand of rack do you use? very nice looking, much nicer than my warwick!

[Prayfordarkness]

It's an SKB rack.

[Jakubris]

thought so. they are really nice!

[Xevidan]

That right there is pretty much my dream rig.

Im selling off most of my gear to slim it down to a rack like yours, a cab and a midi controlboard.

What pickup did you have in the ax?

And the E530 doesnt need a boost, does it?

Thanks, and rock on! \m/

[Prayfordarkness]

Thanks.

I have a Duncan JB-7 in that guitar.

With the e530, I don't think that you need to boost it, and I play mainly death/black metal. When I FIRST got it though, I thought it didn't have as much gain as I wanted. After a while, I realized that it has plenty of gain, but it's a clearer gain than I was used to, if that makes any sense. It's hard to explain, but it's not noisy gain, it's a clear, usable gain. I also put Tung-Sol tubes into it, which are great tubes for high-gain amps!

[pilotoatomico]

wait, I just realized that my pod doesnt have a thru switch. BUT the g-major does I think. So I have to plug the g-major first than the pod right?

[Prayfordarkness]

You could try that, but you shouldn't have to. Your Pod should have an option in the Midi Settings menu under Midi Output. You can set it to "Out" or "Thru". You still use the midi out jack. At least, that's how it works on my pod xtpro... Which pod do you have?

[pilotoatomico]

I have an older version of a pod.

I have the rack PODpro

[Prayfordarkness]

Ok, I'm not sure if the PODpro has midi-thru capabilities. Yeah, you might have to put the G-major first.

[pilotoatomico]

hey man

So whenever im switching presets from my Roland FC-300 the POD rack preamp does switch to the channels I tell it to go. BUT the G-Major WONT switch to any other presets! So I am basically stuck with only one preset out of the whole g-major thing. Now, when I switch channels MANUALLY from the POD rack preamp, the presets on the G-Major, WILL switch. It just doesnt work with the FC-300. Any help?

[Prayfordarkness]

@pilotoatomico, It sounds like your midi signal from the FC-300 is not going through the POD. How are you set up? Midi out of the FC-300, into/thru the POD, then into G-Major? Make sure your POD is in midi thru mode. That way, your G-major will respond to midi from the FC-300, instead of a midi message from the POD.

Hope that helps you out! If not, shoot me a message and we'll try something else.

[pilotoatomico]

aha! This sunday in band practice im gonna try that. I havent used the thru jack. Only Ins and Outs. Thank you my friend!

[EndlessNightmare666]

hey, what does the "Alesis Powertrip 8" do in your rack?

[Prayfordarkness]

It's a power conditioner. You plug it into the wall, and it filters out noise and interference in the electricity. There are 8 plug-ins in the back to plug all the rest of the gear into. The number displayed on the front is just showing the incoming voltage.

[FabianDammers]

If you use it in the loop, parallel or seriell loop?

Nice vid by the way!

[Prayfordarkness]

It's not in the effects loop. TC recommends in the manual to place the Gmajor directly between the preamp and power-amp for best results. I did try it briefly in the loop though (serial), and didn't notice any difference in sound quality...

Thanks!

[Jakubris]

Good demo! I have a question: When you insert stompboxes into the effects loop of the Engl (mono instrument out, MONO return from the last stompbox), how do you deal with the STEREO effects return on the Engl? Thanks in advance.

[Prayfordarkness]

Thanks! If you place a mono insert into the loop, you can use either the left or right return, as long as you use the corresponding speaker output to the amp. IE, Effects Send to stompbox, stompbox to Left Return, LEFT Line Output to power-amp. You could use the right return, and you would have to use the RIGHT Line Out to the amp. Easy!

[Jakubris]

Thank you for your answer! But it still doesnt solve my problem - if I want to have a pedalboard in the loop but still use both channels of the amp, what now?

And one more thing if you wouldn´t mind. With the G-Major, can you adjust the volume of different presets (that means have a preset for live solo boost)? Thanks!

[Prayfordarkness]

Ohhh... I'm afraid in that case, you might have to do a tap dance on your pedals... ;)

Unless you get an advanced midi switching system like Voodoo Labs GCX Guitar Audio Switcher, or a Rocktron Patchmate, I don't know how you could "easily" incorporate a pedalboard into that kind of rig. Sorry!

On a brighter note, the Gmajor 2 (not sure about Gmajor) does have a preset boost. You can boost up to 3dB on any patch, which is actually a decent amount. (3dB is about a 25% perceived volume increase.)

[1dascaldas]

I need some help here Prayfordarkness, can i connect the speaker out of engl e530 to GM and then the GM output to a mixing console just as you put the GM between preamp and power amp. I would be able to get into live mix the engl sound with effects of GM through my pa system is this possible? Does the engl e530 has a speaker emulation for direct recording?

[Prayfordarkness]

The Engl does have a speaker sim output... Yeah, you could definitely do that, you might have to put the Gmajor into the Engl's effects loop though, I'm wondering if the frequency-compensated line out would color the Gmajor too much? I don't know, it might be fine, but for sure if you put the GM through the loop, and run the freq-comp output to a mixer, you should have good results, I think. That way, you could still use the regular speaker-out to run a cabinet on stage simultaneously, as well!

[Scornedbydeth]

Hey i am rele interested in getting one of these, now since this is drivin' by tubes..will you eventually have to replace the tubes? if so where could u get them? i never owned a tube amp or anything. i'm trying to get informed as much as i can. Thanks.

[Prayfordarkness]

Yeah, tubes will eventually wear out. Kinda like spark-plugs in a car, they get less and less efficient the more they are used. Generally, replacing them once a year is more than enough, in most cases. The Engl e530 has two 12AX7 tubes, and they usually go for about 20 or 25 bucks each. You can find amplifier tubes at most any guitar store. Hope that helps a bit.

[Scornedbydeth]

yes thank you!

[zebric]

are you happy with the g-major 2? does it worth the money?

[Prayfordarkness]

Yeah man, I'm really happy with it. High quality effects, several routing options, delay and reverb spillover, good pitch-shifting, and relay switching. It has everything I was looking for.

[pilotoatomico]

man im having real problems with my midi shit lol. I dont know how to connect the stuff!!! how do you connect the g-major to a preamp?

[Prayfordarkness]

If you're connecting to a preamp/poweramp rack setup, you should place the G-Major between the preamp and poweramp. So, speaker-out of the preamp, to GM input, GM output to poweramp input. With a head, you should use the effects loop.

[pilotoatomico]

Im using the g-major in the effects unit, its not that bad

[adil2552]

Awesome! I'm definitely buying the G-Major 2 and the Roland FC-300. I love the fact that I can create presets that include channel switching etc.

[obsidiantwilightband]

Even though we switched to the Mesa Mark series now, we recorded our EP with an Engl e530/G-Major/Carvin T-100 rack setup. It was really brutal. Great tones! Can't go wrong with that!

[Mario666Heartless]

Very nice playing man, whats the efect that you are using at 2:10m whamy pitch or octaver? could you please post its settings i have a G Major with an ENGL Powerball and love the sound.

[Prayfordarkness]

Thanks dude! It's the GM2's whammy effect, set to one octave up. I just have the Pitch effect saved to my lead patch, and assigned to one of the expression pedals on my Roland FC-300. Nothing fancy. I love the Engl sound too, but I haven't been able to play with my Engl for several weeks, now. The power transformer shorted out and I'm waiting for a replacement. :(

On the bright side, Engl and Velvet Distribution have both been very helpful, and quick to reply to me.

[pilotoatomico]

does the FC-300 work well switching patches from the preamp and g major at the same time?

[Prayfordarkness]

It works beautifully! The Gmajor actually has a programmable relay switch, but the Roland has two of them. So, lots of options! The FC-300 is an awesome midi board, I looked at the Behringer FCB1010, but the Roland seems far superior in terms of build quality, and ease of use.

[pilotoatomico]

hey man, I bought the FC 300 but I will have to pick it up tomorrow at the music store since my debit card was denied lol. And I also got the g-major(the first one) and im gonna see how everything turns out!

[Prayfordarkness]

good choice dude. you'll love it!

[snorft]

Nice!!!! Great tone, I think I'll change my X3 Live for a GM2. Do you think that the GM2 is going to make my tone more transparent? Check out my vid... Thanks for your vid.

[Prayfordarkness]

Thanks man. I switched to the GM2 from a POD XTPro and while I didn't really notice any tone coloration at the time, I find the GM2 to be VERY transparent, more so than the L6. I find the quality of the effects to be slightly higher in the Gmajor as well (with verb & delay spillover, and whammy/pitch effects). I don't have any experience with the X3 though, I don't know if it's a better unit than the XTPro or not.

Cheers!

[MatiazPdl]

Dude! Tank you very much for your help, the entire rack world is new to me. I've got experience only with pedals and floor effects uinits.

The reason I'm worried is because I want to start building a rack gear and I don't no much about it.

Tank you very much once again!

(I apolagise for my english, that's because I'm portyguese.

Muito Obrigado!

[Prayfordarkness]

Nao faz mal, miu amigo! So falo um poco de Portuguese! Muito poco! ;)

[bradpittsego]

i ave this same exact setup, except im using a peavey SS poweramp at the moment, but soon im getting a tube poweramp

[YutuberM]

Great sound! I would like to ask, is that original mesa 20/20 or moded width a "DEEP MOD". Many people say that mesa 20/20 without Deep mod is useless.

[Prayfordarkness]

Mine does have the Deep Mod, but the Mesa 20/20 is still a great power-amp in its original configuration, too. If you look at the bottom of the rack on the right side of the video, you can see the edge of a newer, black-face 20/20 that the other guitarist in my band uses. His is not modded, and still sounds great. You will just have to cut your mids, and boost the bass a bit more than you might normally.

[tehsimo]

I have the engl 840/50 poweramp but i want a single rack unit like your mesa. Any ideas if those 2 poweramps are similar?

[Prayfordarkness]

I'm sorry, I don't know how they compare. I do know that the Mesa has HUGE volume for a 20-watt amp. It will easily keep up with any 50 and even some 100-watt amps I've played with.

I'm planning on getting an Engl 840/50 someday though, just to have an all-Engl rig... ;)

[MatiazPdl]

hi there! I want to buy an engl preamp like yours and connect simultaneously with a g-major but I have some questions:

how did you connect both? how can I interact the E530 with a midi footswitch? for example: button 1 is the clean, button 2 is the lead but button 3 does not use the E530, and all of 3 use the g-major constantly.

I'm new at the rack world :/

would you help me?

tanks!

[ken1davies2]

ENGL Z-11 Adds midi functions, Or Axxess Electronics makes a Midi Relay switcher similar to the Z-11, but considerably cheaper.

[EchelonIV]

Nice tone! Question: is there any way to get this power amp to work as mono? I've been planning on getting this power amp and I wouldn't really need the stereo feature (nor I wouldn't want to switch my 8 ohm mono cab with celestion V30's to a stereo cab...)

What cab is this in this video?

[Prayfordarkness]

Thanks!

The Mesa 20/20 will run mono or stereo, no problem. Each channel has a single input, and three outputs - one 8ohm, or two 4ohm. It's a great power-amp, and very loud!

I'm running mono, just using one channel of the Mesa. Here I'm playing through a Marshall MG412 cabinet, which has Celestions, but I don't know which ones exactly. My usual cab is the one sitting next to the MG cab, which is a Marshall 1960 Lead A.

[GaetanPro]

Great sound!!! and Good video quality!

2 questions:

1- Have you connected G-major into engl e530 fx Loop or cascade beetween pre and poweramp?

2- Are you also using contour switch on rhythmics?

[Prayfordarkness]

GaetanPro, thanks!

Your questions...

1. In this video, I had the Gmajor in between the Engl and the Mesa (pre & power). I currently have the Gmajor in the Engl's effects loop, although honestly, I haven't really noticed any change in the sound.

2. Contour is turned off in this video. I don't use the contour at all for rhythm sounds, but it makes a nice lead-boost.

[RobinStrower]

I like your video, ENGL e530 all the way, I can´t live without it.

5 *

Robin :o)

[glaurung26]

great video, It's good to see more videos of people with the ENGL preamp. It's suprisingly good for how cheap it is.

[Prayfordarkness]

Thanks! I've only had the G-major 2 for a week now, so I'm not finished setting my sounds up yet, but I'm liking it so far!

And dimmub69, yeah, I'm very happy with this setup! And I actually do have a BBE Sonic Stomp in the loop, but it was turned off in this video. I'm still tweaking my sounds!

[ReficulSammy]

you should have turned it on.

nice vid btw. ;)

[tcelectronic]

Thanks for posting this! Sounds phat :). How long have you had your G-major 2? Do you have any gigs coming up?

Hope to hear more of your work in the future!

Best wishes,

Joey @ TC

[dimmub69]

wow nice,thats exactly the rack setup i wanted. powere conditioner, gmajor2, engl preamp, power amp, all its missing is a BBE sonic maximizer and a wireless system and your set for anyplace anytime brutality!!