The ULTIMATE Metal Lunchbox Amps? (Fireball vs Kraken)
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- Опубліковано 17 чер 2024
- Kraken MKII vs MT15: • Which "Lunchbox" Amp S...
Thanks for watching my comparison of the Victory Kraken MKII VX MKII vs ENGL Fireball 25! Let me know your thoughts in the comments below! Cheers!
My review of the Kraken MKII: • Victory "FIXED" The KR...
Gear used in this video:
- Schecter E1 SLS Elite
- Schecter E1 Apocalypse Red Reign
- Victory Kraken MKII tube amp
- ENGL Fireball 25
- ML Drums by ML Sound Lab
- Cubase 13 Pro
- OwnHammer Impulse Responses
- RedSeven Amplification Amp Central reactive load
- Klotz Cables & DI Box
This channel is sponsored by:
ML Sound Lab: ml-sound-lab.com/
An original song of mine with me on vocals: • My First Song w/Vocals...
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#englfireball25 #victorykraken #comparison
Disclaimer: this video can be consideredas sponsored as I got the Kraken in change for content but as always all thoughts and opinions are 100% my own!
Keywords: metallica, sonic drive studio, james hetfield, meshuggah, deftones, rhythm, guitar, amp, tube, modeler, line 6, helix, fractal audio, axe fx, fm3, fm9, hx stomp, tonex, neural dsp, quad cortex, gibson, les paul, custom, standard, esp ltd, phoenix, black metal, deluxe, 1000, ec1000, ec1000t, baritone, prs, mushok, 9-string, 8-string, ibanez, meshuggah m80m, fishman, fluence, seymour duncan, nw44, schecter, hellraiser, e1, apocalypse, ml drums, ml sound lab, grit, meld, cubase, slate digital, steven slate audio, phoenix-7 sc607b, sc608b, adam jones, will adler, tutorial, lesson, tones, settings, new, firmware, free, mesa boogie, marshall, orange, soldano, friedman, peavey, evh, laney, redseven, victory, wangs, lichtlaerm audio, walrus audio, engl, bluguitar, driftwood, hughes kettner, pedal, djent, death, rock, crunch, classic, ola, fluff, blackstar, randall, dsl50, jcm 2000, ds20hr, dsl1000hr, 6505, 6505mh, 1992 original, xxx, satriani, astro 20, slo100, diezel, vh4, vh2, ksr, revv, generator, jvm410h, jvm210h, jvm205, boss, tube screa,er v30, ownhammer, rock-box, essentials, low-tuned, bogren, sc20, sv20, plexi, jubilee, 2525, invective, mini, leviathan, iridium, mercury, preamp, jmp1, dual, triple, mini, rectifier, mk iic+, mkv, kraken, mkii, fireball, 25, 100, powerball ii, savage, special edition, founders edition, slash, 5150, iii, el34, 6l6, single, or15, tiny terror, dual terror, or30, ad30, rockerverb, 50, mkiii, purple, nightmare, archon, mt100, mark tremonti, tubemeister, black spirit, grandmeister, deluxe, toontrack, superior, ez, drummer, ironball, ironheart, ht, clob, venue, jj jr, emg, jb comparison, rig, capture, kemper, profile, free, preset, headrush, amped, digital, analog, hotone, ampero, roland, me90, leptop, daw, kreative devices, desktop, music production, mixing
The Kraken has a real mid-focused snarl to it which I love, but I just can't get away from that ENGL high gain tone, it's just perfect. Such a big price difference too.
both amps sound absolutly killer, you should do a clip with both amps running together for shits n giggles.
You can buy 2 Fireballs for the price of Kraken. So test should be 2 Fireballs vs 1 Kraken ;]
In 2019 I bought a kraken for 980€ in spain.. official distributor price...prices went crazy since then
@@abheceshabemuskk3531hype, brexit, inflation, general economic fuckery from all the legal financial criminals (greed) 😂😂
I would get fireball 100. What is the point of having a lunchbox amp to run it hybrid?
@@abheceshabemuskk3531 Brexit :'(
Hahahahaha
Difference is 1 EQ away.
I fully expected to prefer the Fireball, but was surprised to favor the Kraken. That snarl is great!
Kraken sounds so pissed off. Love it
Just need to call out the amount of time you put in to your vids AND the quantity of quality riffs you have been coming up with for years. Your channel is so good thank you Bro!
Kraken just has a great rounded depth to it, whilst still being agressive
Victory doesn't sound bad, but ENGL just on another lvl.
Awesome Demo as always John.
I personally like the Kraken a bit more. Bit more untamed which i prefer haha.
Thanks for the video!
I like the the Engl more Sounds nasty. In a great way.
Both. Put both in the mix. That would be perfect
Fireball 25 is king 👑
I love the mid range on the Kraken! Reminds me about Archon a lot. I wonder if you could do a comparison between them? Battle of 50 watts :)
Nice comparation, but I think that the top tier lunch amps are the KSR Orion 45w and the Bad Cat Jet Black 38w or the Lynx love to see a comparation with those!
Love that Kraken's ROAR！！！！
I dont know if it's just how the track was mixed, but it kind of sounds like the Engl sits back in the mix more and the Kraken is more in your face.
Would be really cool to get the Kraken in your QC store!
As a Fireball 25 owner has to say the Kraken is an amazing sounding amp. Your dedicated video of the Kraken Victory before also caught my attention. In this case it is difficult to choose one, so I say both are absolutly great amps. The Engl Fireball is a perfect german precise high gain sounding amp, perfect for recording and silent mode as well. The Victory has brutal sound, could sound live loud really nice as well as in this video sounds. I was glad to be able to hear this comparison video! Thanks!
Totally agree, both are great amps. I really enjoyed how they sound. I think it just depends on the personal taste what amp you want to use. Both together would be sound really great.
I like them both I bet they would sound huge together in a mix
Kraken clean, Engl gain. The driven Engl sounded much wider, the Kraken gain would be good for leads or general cutting through duties.
Fireball for me... Though I am bias... It would be great to include a marshall like the DSL20HR in there
I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think the Kraken has a better clean channel! Hi gain, they're both amazing. They would hard pan really well together for some metal madness! Great video, buddy!
The Kraken is 2 times more expensive but then you also get a clean, gain 1 and a gain 2 channel, you get a bass focus for 7 string guitars in drop G or whatever tuning you play in to make sure it does not sound muddy, you get a presence shift button that makes your tone even brighter (in the video the presence shift was off for the gain 2 channel part), you get 2 master volumes 1 for your rythm stuff and 1 for your solo stuff, you also get a gain 1 balance because the clean and gain 1 pot are shared, this means you can balance the volume between both so when you switch to gain 1 it won't have a difference in volume... It comes with 2 pedals, Which have a switch between clean and crunch a switch between gain 1 and 2, a switch between master volume 1 and 2 and a solo that when you press it, it will automaticly bypass everything else to gain 2 and master volume 2, it has a master volume auto assign button, it has 50 watts this means it has bigger headroom for cleans at a higher volume... And last but not least, the FX loop on the kraken and the kraken mkii isn't garbage... I have had a ENGL Ironball SE and I had bad experience with that amp, overall the sound was good on the ironball, the features it got were amazing but the FX loop was garbage.
Whats really neat is that the fireball comes with a build in noisegate.
And yeah in the mix I like both of them but isolated the kraken mkii is way ahead imo.
As you said, the ideal would be having both in a mix, seems like they complete each other, at least with that eq. That said, the fireball has an excellent price for the quality that brings to the table 🤘🤘
Nice work, Jon! I bought a Laney IRT60 yesterday and the guy i bought it from asked me if i knew who you were because youre his favorite content creator... I said, me too!! It was awesome... The Kraken MkII is on my wish list... I love the FB25, but I own a FB100... Have loved everything ive heard from the voicing of the MkII...
damn that kraken sounds good. just got the fireball 25.
The Fireball is no slouch!
I juar got the kt77 version of the ENGL Fireball. I think the mid boost is a huge part of this amp. The scooped tone feels nice but the mie boost brings in that slight low mid the amp really needs!
Modeling is the future
I'd love to hear them both in a left/right comfig, I think they'l supplement each other very wel. Would give such a wide an big sound!
Fireball👍
I prefer the Kraken for sure. I don't care for that upper-frequency hiss/fizz of the Fireball.
The Engl usually sounds a tad dark in solo for me, but in a mix, it's always among the best!
I can't pick a favourite to save my life
If you blend them together that would make the perfect tone.🤘
I love my Fireball 25. I also owned the Kraken (Mk1), but sold it again because it somehow couldn't do artificial harmonics very well…
The main difference I hear is the Fireball has faster attack and the Victory has a bit of lag that makes it sound heavier/grungier. Fireball wins for playing Metallica riffs with the homies. I would go with the Victory for playing my own stuff mainly because the clean tones seem more versatile.
The kraken has more headroom and depth in the clean tone. In crunch tone, each has its own character, but I find the ENGL thiner from a bit. Maybe just the EQ.
Victory is more throughty in mids and its generaly more present in the mix, ENGL has more bite in high mids and low end, but sound pretty scooped. No winner, choose what you prefer more.
There's something about the midrange of Engls that I quite dislike.
Amazing amps, but they're not for me personally.
Great video as always, Jon.
I hated my fireball....severely lacking in mids and highs. If you just want to go chug chug chug it works but for leads it sounded bad to me. Everyone has their thing I guess. Oh and the overall presence of the amp. Absolutely hate it 😂
Engl 4ever
The Kraken is so much more expressive and percussive in the mids. And I'm a bit of an ENGL fanboy.
Victory amps seem cool, but the pricing on them is absolutely ridiculous.
Did I hear it right? 1600€?
Made in the UK. 1600 isn't a lot for a 2/3 channel UK made amp to be honest. It's a normal price.
@@SonicDriveStudio yeah, to be fair thinking about it, £1400 for a 50w head is pretty comparable in price to a bunch of single channel UK made Marshalls in the 30-50w range. I thought it was a 25w head like the Fireball, but it seems I was mistaken.
I have to say I preferred the sound of the Engl for high gain, but I do own a Fireball 100 so I could be biased and/or accustomed to the Fireball sound.
Engl has a beast tone but the krakens tone is unbelievable, personally the kraken has the best high gain tone in the market.
Thoughts? Which one of these AWESOME lunchbox amps would be your choice?
I'm biased towards the Fireball 25. It seemed to cut through the mix with clarity.
They are both great amps though.
Kraken for cleans and Fireball for high gain
Kraken...when are the captures coming out?
I usually prefer more midrange-forward tones but found the Victory a bit too boxy and nasal in this case. I thought the Engl sounded very pleasing overall.
Ive had the Fireball 25 for a few years and just picked up the Kraken VX, is channel 1 on the VX similar to the new Kraken Ch 1 ? I love the Kraken and pair it with my Friedman Twin Sister. Thanks Jon! 💕✌️
Yeah the only thing is that you have a presence that can change the tone in different ways. But it's still your classic british metal tone.
The Fireball sounded like it had a Boss EQ pedal with a very aggressive V curve in the loop. 14yo me would've loved it. Now? Meh. Kraken is thicc.
I've tried the amp sim of the Victory Kraken in Amphub multiple times, always hoping to get a sound I like, always failing. The Fireball 60 on the other hand I have an easy time with. I don't know if it's just the amp sim version of the Kraken or if it's a sign that it's not for me and one to avoid later on when I actually have money to get the real thing? I really want to like it though. `I'm often an Orange fanboy though with a touch of Mesa Rectifier. lol
Maybe I'll have to copy your settings and see if that works. lol
How did Orange not make it to the finals? 😁🍻🤘
Nice review. Both great amps.
For the price it isn't a question. You are giving up nothing if you choose the ENGL.
Add mids to the ENGL for sparkle.🤷
The Kraken is NAAASTY
I preferred the Kraken for clean and ENGL for dirty.
For the money i would take the engl. Red light is cooler anyway
Can’t go wrong with either, but the kraken seems to cut through the mix a little more \m/
Krakken killing it here, engl sounds very grainy and nasal
Kraken has really nice characters nice mid and harmonics.
Fireball for me.
for me it's the Kraken hands down. The clean sounds more vibrant and I'm not a fan of the fizz on the Engl on the driven channel.
Does this Victory model have the same problem with the effects loop as the Sheriff and Jack models (unusable when using the gain channel with reverb and/or delay in the effects loop)??
Here is a description of the issue:
"The master volume on the Sheriff is a post phase splitter type, a fair amount of the amp’s overdrive comes from the phase splitter stage of the circuit, which is after the effects return stage and immediately before the power valves. This type of circuit was chosen deliberately, as the Sheriff was designed to give the overdrive sound of the non-master volume amps of yesteryear, where a great deal of the tone was generated in the output stage; with the flexibility of being able to control the volume"
If you are wondering if you can use a reverb pedal in the fx loop while using gain 1 and 2 then yes you can.
In comparison the fireball sounded almost a bit mesa-ish
does the kraken take pedals well? i have an iroball SE and it freaking sucks with overdrive and fuzz pedals, it squishes the living shit out of the sound lol, so I assume the fireball is the same
Yes, exactly I had the Ironball SE too and the FX loop was garbage. Believe me I have the kraken mkii now and this FX loop is amazing.
@@demonspree yes! I cant use my carbon copy with the lead channel because the internal noise gate eats the repeats, who the f thought of that lol
@@livio1396 I had a boss super chorus that I could test in the FX loop and it sounded like a wind tunnel through my ironball SE, tried it with the kraken mkii on the same cabinet and it sounded amazing. But hey if you have to only pay 1200 euro's with that kind of options on a tube amp you gonna expect some garbage quality.
Hi John, to match the fireball to a 5150 type amp you have to enable the midboost and set the eq to 585 (vs 555 on a 5150). The dampened high end of the fireball fooled me in the beginning as well and made it seem too mid heavy with the midboost, but it sounds very close to a 5150 with a high cut at 6k. Maybe give that a try vs your evh. It surprising how close it gets when you high cut the other amps
I appreciate the comment but I don't want my ENGL to sound like a 5150, I want it to sound like an ENGL ;)
@@SonicDriveStudio sure, but if you compare it to something with a 5150 inspired preamp it would make sense to at least try instead of just saying they sound different. All amps can sound different if you set the controls differently. I think it’s a big plus that the fireball can do a good 5150 high gain sound AND sound like an ENGL. No reason for me to own a peavey or evh (and probably kraken) after I found that out. I actually prefer the dampened high end even with such a mid focused sound.
Buying a kraken for this price tag and run it hybrid makes no point, so as the little engl for that matter) it is still efing loud
Phone speakers: the Kraken had the right presence.
Returned my Fireball 25 , sounded like crap. Went with the Mesa Badlander 50 . Always love your content though. 🤘🏻🤘🏻
Why you hated Fireball 25?!?!
I think it's one of the best ever!!
I love it. It's pretty good. I haven't heard a single bad sound out of a fireball 100 or the 25 Watt.
@@MegaAndyGG I replied once , but it got removed . It might have been a lemon. Lots of noise even with gate full. Distortion was bad . Checked all cables and everything else. I did keep the English cabinet , it sounds amazing .
It's kind of like comparing a Mesa dual rectifier to a marshall jvm 410
The Engl wins easily
very subtle difference... not worth the price difference at all..