Engel Pre-amp

Project overview

Engl is certainly a synonym of an era of German metal tones. Here we bring that to you in a shape of a pedal!

An original design by Bajaman based on the frequency response and phase characteristics of the ENGL 530 preamp high gain channel. Including Tone stack and presence control.

We have included an extra gain mod if you want to take more juice out of this machine!

Introduction

Engl is a German company most famous for their high gain amps that you can definitely hear on many Germans metal bands. They designed the e530 tube preamp as a compact rack suitable for both studio and touring, including many really interesting features, such as a built-in cab simulator, midi controls, and more.

Besides being labeled as ‘modern rock,’ this model’s clearly a preamp designed for metal and for sure can deliver plenty of gain! This unit is designed to make the rhythms pop out with definition – but if you want to get some real squeeze for soloing I recommend sticking a pedal like the Collision drive in front. In fact, that’s what seemed to work best for leads – once the unit’s been set up for rhythm, stomp on the overdrive and let rip.

After testing this pedal for a while we can conclude that even if it could work fine as a preamp on itself it works the best as a standard Engl flavored pedal. Making it much friendly for your pedalboard, allowing you to place it in different places of the chain.

One important note about this circuit is that the Presence knob could get a bit noisy and fizzy outside the enclosure. However, the problem seems to be solved once is boxed.

Controls

• Volume
• Gain
• Bass
• Treble
• Mids
• Presence

For further analysis on this circuit take a look at this thread on Free Stomp Boxes Forum.

For any technical questions regarding this build don’t forget to check out our Facebook Group and our forum at Free Stomp Boxes.

Engel pre-amp – Building Docs

Engel pre-amp – Drilling templates