The new E670FE is an updated version of Engl’s E670 Special Edition. The Special Edition amp spent years in the studios of Edmund Engl – the founder of ENGL amps – and was played by many iconic professional guitarists, who all had their own unique thoughts and requests when it came to tone and performance. Over the years, Edmund Engl and senior designer Horst Langer tweaked the Special Edition multiple times, and now it is finally available – on ENGL’s 40th anniversary year – to the public as an amp in ENGL’s standard portfolio as the Founders Edition. The E670FE – supreme in a stunning black finish with chrome knobs and an in-your-face red-lit front panel illumination – has been tuned and revoiced, but still retains the crushing tones that made the previous Special Edition iconic.
The amp, which features five ECC83 preamp tubes and either four 6L6 or four EL34 power amp tubes, delivers a massive range of sounds across its five channels (Clean, Crunch, Lead I, Lead II, and Tubedriver) and nine voicings, from crystal-clear cleans to searing high-gain distortion and everything in between. The multiple sound-shaping options on board – ranging from powerful EQs and separate gain controls on each channel to Gain Boost, Hi Gain, Mid Shift, Contour, Bright, Mid Edge, Modern Classic, Mega Lo Punch, and Depth Boost switches, alongside a built-in Reverb – help make the Founders Edition one of the most versatile amplifiers on the market. Perhaps the special pick of the bunch is the Tubedriver channel, which bypasses most of the amp’s inner workings to offer the most pure circuit and all-tube tones imaginable. On top of that, the E670FE – which is handcrafted in Germany to the highest of quality standards using only the finest components and materials – packs a wide array of practical features for the demanding modern guitarist who accepts only the best.
The amp is MIDI programmable, so players can save their favorite settings in up to 128 presets with the use of an optional external MIDI controller. There is also a threshold-footswitchable noise gate, a Power Tube Monitor, three tube buffered FX Loops, a line output and multiple cabinet output options on board. Edmund Engl, the founder of ENGL Amplifiers, said: “We're thrilled to introduce the E670FE Special Edition Founders Edition. This amplifier is the culmination of our 40 years of experience in crafting high-quality amplifiers that deliver uncompromising tone and versatility, and it is sure to take any guitar player’s tone and performance to the next level!" The E670FE is available in September 2023. For more information, visit the official ENGL website.
Features
- Five Channels: Clean, Crunch, Lead I, Lead II, Tubedriver
- All Tube, 100 Watts
- Preamp tubes: 5 x ECC83 (12AX7)
- Power amp tubes: 4 x 6L6 or 4 x EL34
- Three Tube buffered FX Loops (Serial FX Loop, FX Loop I and FX Loop II are variable from serial to parallel)
- Noise Gate with footswitchable threshold
- Power Tube Monitor
- MIDI In / MIDI Thru / S.A.C Port / Dual footswitch Jack
- Sound shaping options: Gain Boost, Hi Gain, Mid Shift, Contour, Bright, Mid Edge, Modern Classic, Mega Lo Punch, Depth Boost
- Controls: Gain (separate for each channel), Bass, Middle, Treble (Clean, Crunch), Bass, Middle, Treble (Lead I, Lead II), Reverb, Volume (separate for each channel), Presence A, Presence B, Master A, Master B
- Controls (Rear): Noise Gate threshold level, FX Loop I Balance, FX Loop II Balance, Tube Driver EQ
- Outputs: 1 x 4 ohms, 2 x 8 ohms, 1 x 8 ohms, 2 x 16 ohms, 1 x 16 ohms
- Line output
- Handcrafted in Germany
ENGL Amplifiers Special Edition Founders Edition E670FE 100-watt Tube Amplifier Head - EL34 Version
This 1933 Vivi-Tone, with its hollow body and acoustic flexibility, represents a piece of electric guitar history that was beaten out by more popular solidbody electric designs.
Back in the early fervor of electric guitar design, builders experimented out of necessity, trying to create working instruments by any means. When studying these guitars today, their choices might seem strange, but they present many wonderful “what-ifs” or guitar-building roads not taken.
qThe instrument we have here is such a guitar: a 1933 Vivi-Tone. This exact specimen appears in Lynn Wheelwright and Nacho Baños’ The Pinecaster: Early Electric Guitars (1920-1955), which explores the “what-if” history of this period in captivating detail.
“When studying these guitars today, their choices can seem strange, but they present many wonderful ‘what-ifs’ or guitar-building roads not taken.”
Vivi-Tone was a company founded in the early 1930s with the express purpose of manufacturing electric instruments—not just guitars, but violins, cellos, mandolins, and even an electric piano. Interestingly, its co-founder and chief inventor was Lloyd Loar, who in the 1920s famously created Gibson acoustic archtops and mandolins that are prized to this day.
A sliding drawer built into the guitar’s body allows access to the pickup, which is set up under the bridge.
By the ’30s, however, Loar wanted to bring out “pure string tone,” as he called it, through the power of amplification. His patented pickup, which can be found in this 1933 guitar and throughout the Vivi-Tone lineup, works in a distinct way from modern pickups. Here, the bridge itself rests on top of a metal bar that is ever-so-slightly suspended over an electro-magnetic pickup system. When the strings move the bridge, the bridge moves the bar, and the resulting current goes out to the amp. While most modern guitar pickups require metal strings to work, Loar’s Vivi-Tone design could work with any material, steel or gut.
The very first Vivi-Tones, released in 1932, were strikingly revolutionary. Loar, with a utilitarian spirit, did not give them much of a body at all. The skeletal design supported the pickup system, neck, and a thin body that featured only a decorative top—there were no back or sides. However, in ’33, public sentiment forced the company to at least pretend their instruments were traditional. So, the then-newly built Vivi-Tones came with a full acoustic body like you see in this model, which features a spruce top and back, and composite sides. The pickup system can be accessed through a sliding drawer built into the guitar’s body.
Before they folded in 1937, Vivi-Tone built just around 600 instruments.
Thanks to another twist of ingenuity, you can actually play this guitar as an acoustic. The contraption you see by the bridge is a lever you can use to separate the bridge from the internal pickup, cutting off any flow of electrons. Perhaps because the internal spine, pickup, and lever made the top too rigid, the guitar’s back is its own resonating soundboard as well. It not only features two f-holes, but is actually inset from the sides so that a player’s body doesn’t press upon it or interfere with its vibrations.
Up for sale by Reverb seller Jay Rosen Music, this 1933 Vivi-Tone (serial number 220) is one of around 600 instruments built by Vivi-Tone before it shuttered in 1937. When new, this guitar likely sold for around $175. Today, being a surviving example in excellent condition—with its original pickup cable still intact—it’s listed for $10,500.
Sources: The Pinecaster: Early Electric Guitars (1920-1955) by Lynne Wheelwright and Nacho Baños, Reverb listings.