Developed by Brainworx the ENGL Savage 120 is a beast of an amp. It's a recording studio classic, which can be heard on countless albums. Most famous for its metal tones, it also shines on a lot of other genres.
I kind of agree that some of the buttons and text is hard to read even though the amps look stunning. I also find Amp Room a bit clunky to use and generally prefer their standalone stuff where possible. Its just not as slick as it could be - lots of things take several clicks to do, information isnt always visible, its all a bit hodge podge (some elements could do with some kind of background as they just look like buttons dropped onto the screen). I also find it laggy, sometimes the graphics will take a few seconds to update (which is annoying when I'm trying to remove redundant processing blocks). Its got a lot of the issue's I don't like about Amplitube's UI (too bloated, too many clicks to do things, laggy/sluggish performance). Compared to Amplitube, I think they generally have more and better information on the screen at any one point but they could do with adding type to search and more ways to group to find what you need, rather than scrolling through a list that is very jumpy. It feels buggier than any other Softube plugin I use too, moving the mic feels jumpy, sometimes the value displays don't show any information.
It sounds great to me, behaves like I'd imagine/sounds like an ENGL. Not sure I'd buy, but its more because I find all ENGL amps to be so similar to each other and I can probably get close enough to the tones I like with what I already own. I think this would be great for someone who LOVES the Savage Mark II and wants all the channels and modes etc.
Guessings its 3V=0dBFS for input levels. Its a gainy and diverse amp with a lot of modes and features, so I think accurate input levels would matter a lot for this one.
I find it very difficult to get a usable sound from the Savage plugin, but I really like the Fireball model of the Metal Suite. However, there are two things that prevent me from using it more often: First, the file size (the Amp Room plugin weighs in at a whopping 744 MB and Cubase projects with multiple instances of it take forever to load), second, I'm annoyed by a bug that causes the settings to constantly change drastically without my intervention. It happens to me all the time that after reopening the plugin, all the knobs are suddenly in completely crazy positions.
I find it very difficult to get a usable sound from the Savage plugin, but I really like the Fireball model of the Metal Suite. However, there are two things that prevent me from using it more often: First, the file size (the Amp Room plugin weighs in at a whopping 744 MB and Cubase projects with multiple instances of it take forever to load), second, I'm annoyed by a bug that causes the settings to constantly change drastically without my intervention. It happens to me all the time that after reopening the plugin, all the knobs are suddenly in completely crazy positions.
Yeah, that's a little bit strange. And it does have a depth control, although the original amp does not.
However, I think the model sounds really good.
I kind of agree that some of the buttons and text is hard to read even though the amps look stunning. I also find Amp Room a bit clunky to use and generally prefer their standalone stuff where possible. Its just not as slick as it could be - lots of things take several clicks to do, information isnt always visible, its all a bit hodge podge (some elements could do with some kind of background as they just look like buttons dropped onto the screen). I also find it laggy, sometimes the graphics will take a few seconds to update (which is annoying when I'm trying to remove redundant processing blocks). Its got a lot of the issue's I don't like about Amplitube's UI (too bloated, too many clicks to do things, laggy/sluggish performance). Compared to Amplitube, I think they generally have more and better information on the screen at any one point but they could do with adding type to search and more ways to group to find what you need, rather than scrolling through a list that is very jumpy. It feels buggier than any other Softube plugin I use too, moving the mic feels jumpy, sometimes the value displays don't show any information.
It sounds great to me, behaves like I'd imagine/sounds like an ENGL. Not sure I'd buy, but its more because I find all ENGL amps to be so similar to each other and I can probably get close enough to the tones I like with what I already own. I think this would be great for someone who LOVES the Savage Mark II and wants all the channels and modes etc.
Guessings its 3V=0dBFS for input levels. It’s a gainy and diverse amp with a lot of modes and features, so I think accurate input levels would matter a lot for this one.
I played a Savage with a band for one night and, man, sounded so good and big and powerful.
it's hard to believe you can get that feeling from a plug-in through some studio monitors or "FRFR" cab.
Was intimidating at first (like any complex amp at first) and definitely not what I'd choose as a back line amp, but having owned a Powerball 2 I found my self quite at home.
I have some experience with the engl retro too and while I agree that there's a certain Engl sound I find that, at least Savage, Powerball 2 and Retro are quite different.
This video is a pretty good example of the amp, you can get an idea of what to expect from all the knobs and switches.
Its one of those amps that a proper input level is essential, there's just so many ways to dial the amp in with the controls that are there that you don't need to unintentionally skew it with weird levels. Kind of strange behaving amp in that some of the controls can make things sound suddenly bad. Some of them you can readjust everything and get a cool new tone, others I can't really see as much use for.
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