I saw your post over at harmony central but didnt have time to answer.I have not played the engl so cant comment but with the t2 I think you will need a boost up front to get into death metal area,dont get me wrong the t2 can get heavy for sure but death metal edge and tight heaviness I think it...
You do not need a footswitch for the v2 to work,mine works fine without it.If Im understanding what your saying then something is wrong with the amp it should light up when you press the graphic or fx loop or whatever.Hope this helps
I dont know what caused the problem and yes its a band aid fix but has kept it working.Actually I dont use a patch cable anymore I just have a furman pq4 in the fx loop but still does the same thing!
I had a similar problem with a warhead my suggestion would be try a short cable, the ones about 7 inches you use to hook pedals together.Take it and hook one end in your fx loop the other end in the other fx loop input and this may fix the problem.