ENGL amplifiers have a long legacy of well-loved, precise-sounding, high-gain amplifiers. So, when they set out to make the most flexible amp for metal and hard rock, they had to beat their already incredible lineup. They achieved it in the 4-channel Powerball. While displaying all the thick, powerful punch and crunch that the brand’s built their name on, the Powerball also allows metal players to find equally inspiring shades throughout the gain range. If players are looking for a great metal amp with a ton of options under the hood, the Powerball is the place to start.

Never ones to ignore a classic design, Synergy reached out to the ENGL amp designer of the Powerball head, Horst Langer to provide us with the amp’s signature swath of tones in an all-tube Synergy preamp module. The Synergy Powerball module boasts two of the amps four channels with enough control on tap to go toe to toe with the namesake head. Not only will you find the standard 3-band EQ, gain, and volume controls, but two Gain Lo/Hi and Mid Boost switches per channel put a world of these German-engineered tones at your fingertips.

By partnering with such iconic amplifier brand like ENGL and the designers as Horst Langer, Synergy is able to offer you these sought after tones in all-tube designs that are perfect for the direct-recording, lower-stage-volume, and compact-guitar-rig demands of today. It’s easy to see why the Synergy preamp module system is taking the industry by storm.

Cathode Select Switch
The Powerball module features a three-position switch on the PCB which allows you to configure the input tube bass response to match the original circuit of the selected module. This will affect the feel and tightness. Each amp designer has a specific combination of components that makes up their input tube circuit. Synergy selected the three most popular combinations which you can access with this switch. The USA voiced modules typically use setting 1 (1.5K resistor and 22uf capacitor). British style modules use position 2 (2.7K resistor and .68uf capacitor). The Powerball – same as Soldano & VAI modules, uses position 3 (1.8K resistor and 1uf capacitor). Of course, you can experiment and try any of the positions to see what you prefer. The modules will come preset to the designers preferred setting which for the Powerball module is position 3 (1.8K resistor and 1uf capacitor).

Dual-Single Slide Switch
The Powerball module features a secondary switch allowing the new Synergy modules to be used in older single-channel Egnater and Randall modular amps/preamps that do not accept the dual-channel modules. This allows access to either of the module channels when that slot is turned on. You will still not be able to switch between the two channels due to the limitations of the older hardware. You can set it so either module channel one or module channel two will turn on when the slot is selected. Set to Dual when using the module in units that have the switching circuit to access both modules. If you are using a single-channel only amp/preamp, setting to DUAL will make the bottom module channel active. Set to Single will cause the top channel of the module to come on when selected.