Hallo vrienden....

Bijgaand een testje dat ik vandaag heb gedaan tussen een E530 en een E570. Ook nieuw was een 840/50 EL84 poweramp.

Het is in het engels....komt ook op HRI.
Aanvullingen zijn altijd welkom.
Als gitaren heb ik een Vigier en een Parker gebruikt. Beide met een Tonezone in de brug. De Parker met name voor de cleane geluiden met de piezo.

Groet,
Vinni


========================================
The Battle of the Angels......
(comparing the E530 and the E570)

Hi guys,

It’s always hard to judge new equipment in stores. Testing in an unfamiliar environment where you have to use a guitar out of the racks will never copy a livestage or rehearsalroom.
How many of you went home with a new piece of equipment which ranks very high on the “Wow, gotta have it”-ladder and then discover that it don’t work with the rest of your gear.

Not anymore for Vinni!
Here at my home I’ve got an ENGL 530 preamp, the E570 and an 840/50 poweramp running EL34 tubes. My dealer gave them to me for testing a few days at home. (thank you Westerhaven Muziek, Groningen)
Apart from the new stuff I’ve got my own stuff running as well, ENGL 4X12 V30 slanted cab, ENGL Ritchie Blackmore 100Watts all tube head. Also onboard are a G-major, Axxess Electronics GRX-4 with Xotic RC Booster. In front of any preamp I use a Peterson Strobostomp and a Teese RMC Wizzard wah. Controlling is done using a VoodooLab Ground Control. All leads are high quality Klotz or Planet Waves.


My goal
I don’t like the harsh sound of my Ritchie Blackmore. I like to have more options and run my rig in stereo. Also the RB is way too loud and it only sounds good if you turn the volume up to insane levels. It’s also very heavy……but is looks good! Although the clean and leadchannels are actually very good (apart from the brittle sound) the crunchchannel really sucks. That’s the reason I use this channel with the RC Booster.

Construction
From the outside both the 530 and the 570 are built very well. I think the 530 is slightly better build. The frontplate is all metal. The little plastic grey pushbuttons on the 530 are better quality. Also the silver rotarypots on the 570 look a little toy-ish and are hardly visible on
dark stages. The midiconnectors have a bayonetlock…..nice touch…..

The 840/50 is a no-frills tubepoweramp running EL34’s with just the functions I need. The only think that annoyed me in the beginning was the ventilator. I wasn’t just to that.
(the RB don’t have a ventilator) It’s only 2HE…..

Comparing the features…..
The 570 has more features…..no doubt about that. One of the most important tonefeatures is the classic/modern switch. Also programming the E570 is a brease….setup your sound with all the switches….push “WRITE” for three seconds and you’re done. When you want to program another sound select another midiprogram with your midicontroller.
The 530 hasn’t all the soundoptions. But the E530 has a lo-mid and hi-mid EQ on the leadchannel!!!! And those frequencies are so important sculpting your sound.
Surf to www.engl-amps.com for a overview of all the features.

Comparing the sounds……
Overall I liked the 530 more. It has more character. The leadchannel is much more to my taste. Using the better EQ on the leadchannel I could get MY sound! The character of the leadchannels on the 570 is more processed, not organic. On the other hand, the crunchchannel on the 570 is better. On the 530 the crunchchannel has a nasty oempf. And remember…..there’s only one gainpot for both the clean and crunchchannel on the 530.
If you’re looking for a modern higain rock/metalsound then leadchannel two on the 570 have to be your choice of arms. If you want the best organic rocksound for 70’and 80’s hardrock you have to go with the E530.
The cleanchannels on both units is very good. The 570 is more natural sounding but the 530 sounds more organic. The bright- and very bright switches on the E570 do their job very well!
When comparing preamps you have to take the poweramp into the equasion. I’ve read reviews that the E570 benefits most from a 6L6 poweramp.

The verdict
Above all…..the 840/50 is a keeper! I think its only competitor must be the VHT 2/50/2.
I liked the EL84-sound more than my 6L6 tubes in the Ritchie Blackmore head.

It’s all a matter of personal taste….
With the E570 you’ve all the soundoptions you can imagine. Just plug in a midicable and you can select 128 sounds (programs) Forget about the noisegate…..it’s a joke! Buy a dedicated unit like the ISP Decimator. The noisegate on my G-major is better. Switching with midi revealed another little problem….it plops, plops, plops….very audible.

The E530 has far less options but to my ears sounds better than the far more expensive E570.
The big winner must be the EQ on the leadchannel.

What I’m gonna do…..
Buy two E530’s (they are really cheap secondhand)….set them up as follow:
Unit 1 : Clean channel + Rockgain channel, Unit 2 : Crunch channel + Higain channel and use a GRX-4 to route the guitarsignal to one of the units. The returnsignals from the E530’s come back to (another) GRX-4 for routing to the G-major (in series). I’ll use the two volumes on the 840/50 to switch to solovolume. The E530 has far less electronics inside than the E570. I think the E530 is more reliable therefore. And if one unit goes down I still have the other 530. Think of that when you step into the shop and compare the pricetags.
Oh yeah……and I can run the two E530 with different tubes!..hmmm…

Vinni

P.s.
This is MY review…..it’s MY truth…..
You’re invited to tell yours….