Hey Mike, Digitech 2101

[Darkreign1776]

Hey bro firstly you guys killed it in salt lake last night! your guitar tone was incredible i want an axe fx and engl poweramp now! I was the guy named Matt that chatted with ya briefly, (thanks for the setlist to btw). Anyhow my buddy kris was telling me he thought your old rig had a digitech 2101 pre that you used to use. I was wondering if that was true, how familiar you are with the pre and if you did have it do you remember any settings or do you have any patches for it? Any ways again you guys killed it and the turn out was terrible i really wish i could have done more to help you guys out and throw more than 16 bucks your guys way. Anyhow have a fun time the rest of the tour dude! ttyl

[M.Gilbert]

Originally Posted by Darkreign1776

Hey bro firstly you guys killed it in salt lake last night! your guitar tone was incredible i want an axe fx and engl poweramp now! I was the guy named Matt that chatted with ya briefly, (thanks for the setlist to btw). Anyhow my buddy kris was telling me he thought your old rig had a digitech 2101 pre that you used to use. I was wondering if that was true, how familiar you are with the pre and if you did have it do you remember any settings or do you have any patches for it? Any ways again you guys killed it and the turn out was terrible i really wish i could have done more to help you guys out and throw more than 16 bucks your guys way. Anyhow have a fun time the rest of the tour dude! ttyl

Thanks dude! It was great to meet you too. I used a gsp2101 for many years. Probably from around 1994 through early 2001. On our puddle of gore ep/demo (the last 5 songs from the Forced to bleed EP) I used the 2101 with a Mesa 2:90 power amp. The preset I used for the first few years of having the 2101 was the death metal preset (#66). The mids were completely scooped on that preset when stock, and I believe all I did was just raise the them slightly. It was still scooped too much though, and at that point I hadn't yet made the realization that scooping the mids like that took away all of your volume and tone in a band situation.

Probably around '98 or '99 I switched to the "metal tremolo" preset which I believe was preset #35. I think all I did was turn off the tremolo effect or whatever effect it had turned on when stock, and still had the eq with the mids scooped a little bit. Though they weren't scooped nearly as much as the death metal preset.

Right around 2001 when we recorded the first 3 songs for the Forced to Bleed EP I switched to using Murray's Digitech RP21 (which I think was just a floor mounted version of the 2112. I don't remember why I made the switch, but I think it was because I was able to get a better tone using more mids to cut through when compared to the 2101. But knowing what I know now about tone, I'm sure the 2101 is capable of some really good tones that can cut through the mix. I just haven't messed with one since around 2003 when I switched to Engl preamps.

[Darkreign1776]

What do you like better about the engl poweramps over the mesa's?

[M.Gilbert]

Originally Posted by Darkreign1776

What do you like better about the engl poweramps over the mesa's?

Honestly the Mesa 2:90 is a great power amp. I've also owned and loved the VHT 2/90/2 and 2/50/2. They all have great qualities, and would most likely be happy with any of them. The Engl 850/100 is overall the best that I've tried or owned so far though.

Though the difference might not be significant in tone when compared to the Mesa 2:90 and they are probably very close in output wattage as well as they both use 8 x 6L6's. The design and layout of the Engl is IMO much better for keeping the power tubes cool, and protected from physical damage.

The Mesa 2:90 does have the ability to switch the modern mode on/off as well as the switchable deep mode. It would be nice if the Engl had a switchable modern/vintage mode. But what it has that the Mesa doesn't have is switchable A/B settings for both volumes, presence and depth controls. Which is actually useful.

Tonally, I think the Engl is the best sounding 6L6 tube power amp I've tried. But I can't really give a precise descriptive comparison from memory when comparing to power amps I haven't used in years. I.E., "the Engl has tighter bass with crisper high end, etc". I can't really comment on that without comparing the power amps side by side.

The bottom line for me is the Engl 850/100 does everything I need. It's the best sounding 6L6 power amp I've tried. It essentially has the same power as 2 x 100 watt tube guitar heads. Which allows me to use just the one power amp for 2 guitarists. The build quality is excellent. The tubes are well laid out, cooled and protected. And having the second set of switchable volume, presence and depth knobs is very cool and useful. It is quite expensive though. $800 more than a Mesa 2:90 new.