Now I hate looking like an idiot with 5 stars for everything because thats usually the first indication that people don't know what they are talking about. However, this preamp covers ALOT with very high quality sounds. Anywhere from light crunch to high gain it does a great job of. It really shines for shred/solo rock. It takes some time to fiddle with it, but it's a truly pro tone. The light crunch to medium crunch is fine as well, you just have to mess with the eq and switches like contour and bright to get it right for you.

The one thing that isn't worth a 5 star rating are the cleans. The cleans can be considered quite good, but they are very sterile and not warm to my ears. Very Clear and spanky if thats what you like but you can't get a lot of warm bubbly chime like a carvin or mesa could for example.

Also to note it can get into heavy modern rock but I wouldn't consider it heavy enough for some styles of modern metal. You will need a boost pedal.

Basically this is the best sounding preamp you can get for variations of rock/some metal for 600 new I've seen on the market right now. Throw in some JJ's or Tungsols in the 2 preamp slots and you are good to go.

The ENGL 530 provides all tube tones from glassy sparkly clean to it is so distorted is that still a guitar or some sort of synth being played.

You really get 4 channels with the ENGL 530. Clean Gain Lo/High(1&2) & Lead Gain Lo/High(3&4) plus buttons for BRIGHT (treble boost of > 2kHz) and CONTOR (mid boost 300-500 Hz & 1-2kHz). Each channel has its own gain knob with the Clean channel providing clean to heavy blues distortion and the lead channel providing from where the clean channel leaves off ending at nobody uses that much gain. Each channel has its own volume, so you can have as much gain as you want at practice level volumes. This preamp negates the need for a distortion pedal. The ENGL 530 also provides BASS/MID/TREBLE equalization on the Clean and replaces MID with LO MID and HI MID equalization in the Lead Channel.

I connect the ENGL 530 to a BOSS GT-PRO via FX Loop 1 and then the GT-PRO connects into a Randall RT2-50/50 Power amp. These 3 pieces provide ANY amp sound you can imagine. The ENGL 530 enhances all the amp modeling in the GT PRO by providing a real tube preamp stage or I can skip the GT-PRO amp modeling and just dial in the amp sound I want using the ENGL 530. The Randall RT-2 50/50’s ability to switch power tubes from 6L6’s to EL34’s provides the ability to sound like a Fender or Vox or Marshall or Mesa or Bogner or Peavey or anything else.

I would recommend this product. As for durability, we’ll have to wait and see, but I honestly expect no troubles… no buyers remorse here, nothing but pure tube tone. Get one for your rack today, you won’t be the least bit disappointed.

This will not be a very thorough review, but I wanted to point out some things I found out after purchasing it that I didn't see in other reviews (as well as affirm some things I did read in other reviews):

First off, I will say that the build quality is terrific and every control and knob on the unit does exactly what it says it does. In this department, it fits the ENGL reputation to a T.

The clean channel is amazing and sounds excellent. I first tried it out with the EQ knobs all at 12 and it was fantastic. It has a good range of control for each knob (bass, mid, and treble) and it's not any work at all to get a good crunch sound out of it with the high gain turned on on this channel.

Now the stuff I didn't know about- The lead channel: I've heard and played other ENGL amps and loved the high gain/distortion channels for their articulation through the distortion and overall tone. Although this preamp delivers on the articulation side, it is voiced much different. When it says lead on this one, it means it - there is not very much low-end voicing. It does pronounce the low end more at higher volumes, but if you want to play at a lower volume it's just not there. It is very mid-range focused and sounds great for rock, but if you want that thundering CHUG CHUG from palm muting you won't be able to get the full effect with this preamp. The types of music I play require a good bit of low end, and I wasn't able to get nearly enough of it, even with the bass knob all the way up. I was surprised by this because none of the other ENGLs I've played have been this way.

Also the headphone jack (which I know most people won't use) was one of the features I was looking forward to using on this due to not being able to practice at a normal volume a lot of the time (apartment living is great, isn't it?). With every ENGL I have encountered every aspect of the amp has been second-to-none on the quality, but the headphone jack had a constant hiss/hum to it that I was not expecting. There is a switch on the back that sets up the output for either headphones or guitar cab, but no matter which position you have it in, it sill hums.

Overall I would recommend this preamp, as it has good tone, an excellent clean channel, and is a great value for the price. But I would let them know about these things prior to purchasing and I would recommend playing through it first to make sure it will work for what you want to do with it.

I own a very complex and expensive rig and, for the price, a better preamp there is not. I own 4 Mesa Triaxis preamps (two for live and two for backup), Marshall JMP-1 (Don't know why they stopped making those), 2 Mesa 2:Ninety and Mesa 20/20 poweramps. This Engl fits right in with the sounds I'm looking for.

I'm very happy to own this preamp. I used to play a Peavey 6505+ and while it was hard to let it go ( I loved the sound) decided to go rack. I was looking for a High gain preamp that also had a good clean channel and a Solo boost (Things the 6505+ lacked.

The Engl E530 has all the features I want and none that I don't. 2 channels (Clean and Lead) with Hi and Lo gain modes on both. I really like the graphic EQ controls better than the digital found in other preamps; very responsive to touch. The Overdrive channel has a low mid and hi mid control so you can really tweak it and find you own sound.

The clean is nice and glassy. It will give you a jazzy sound or a brighter sound with the Bright switch enabled. The Hi gain mode will give you more of a bluesy overdriven type of sound. The Lead channel is what makes this thing killer. TONS of freaking gain, usable gain! I run my gain at 4-5 Max and it's plenty for the heaviest applications. The treble is pretty harsh and you will need to keep it lower than usual but it's no big deal. The Lo gain mode will give you a nice crunch for softer rock styles. The Contour switch will be a volume/mid boost for face melting solos.

Over all, I find this preamp to be a great buy and a great product for what it is. Trust me, when you read Modern Rock in the front panel, they really mean it!! So you are warned in advance. If you play Blues/Country/Jazz/Classic Rock this is not for you; there are other products out there that will suit you style much better. I play Prog/Power Metal (Think Symphony X, Dream Theater, Blind Guardian) and I love this little thing. For the price, I think is the best preamp in the market. I has a Marshall JMP-1 and it was great but just not the sound I was looking for. I also bought the Engl Z-11 Midi Switcher to access all the feautures from my Midi Mate and I'm loving it! :D