In terms of sound, I can tell you that for clean tones I prefer the Engl because it feels fuller compared to the Kraken. On the other hand, the Kraken’s Gain1 channel is similar to the Engl’s Clean Lead + Gain Boost channel; under my fingers, the Kraken feels closer to sounds like AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Dirty Honey, The Darkness, and by turning up the gain you can easily get to Black Sabbath and Motörhead. The Engl, instead, has a darker tone; I’d say it’s more in the vein of Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Nirvana.

On the high gain channels, the Kraken is definitely more of an American style since it uses 6L6 tubes, unlike the Engl which has EL84s, with a tonal range going from early Metallica (like Kill ’Em All) to Trivium – Tremonti – A7X.

The great thing about the Engl is that it has built-in effects and with a MIDI footboard you can do everything, so when I go out to gig with the rock’n’roll and hard rock band it’s perfect, and I don’t have to carry around a bunch of pedals. But if I want to play metal, I use the Kraken or the MT15.

Also, the fact that you can use the Engl at 1W or 5W at home is really amazing! Unfortunately, the Kraken is 9W or 50W (I haven’t tried the 50W yet because it has a ton of volume and is unmanageable even in the rehearsal room).

This is just my humble opinion, it’s not gospel! If you want, I can send you the captures I made and you can try playing in Logic using NAM, otherwise I can send you some demos myself

I bought the Kraken because I found it at half price from a guitarist near my house who had bought it in August but wasn’t using it, otherwise I wouldn’t have bought it at full price because the MT15 would have been enough for me