Bray or Friedman for van halen ?

P

Pat_rocks_and_rolls

New member
Hello,

i need some advices. I can't choose between those 2 amps cause i can't test them (where im living no one sells them).

So what's your advice if we are talking about vh sound ? (no need of versatility)

I'll take any advice even if i would prefer advices of guys who owned both of the amps.

Which one sounds closer and which one doesn't need to be cranked.
 
Re: Bray or Friedman for van halen ?

metlking said:
Save some money and buy a Landry LS100G3:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p_gGQJBH3Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y97ry-fEZ5c
Click to expand...

I don't want to be mean landry amps sound good but it doesn't seem to get as close as the brays and friedmans. I better go for a soldano than landry.

I think it's worth it to pay a lot for a good amp because 50% of your tone comes from the amp 20% the pickup 10% the way you pick and hold the strings 10% the speakers 10% the materials of your tremolo and guitar.

So i don't really care for the price of the amp.

Mr suhr amps sound very good. He worked on vh plexi during a long time. But it lacks something. Perhaps the variac :D

But i want an amp that doesnt need the variac to reach that tone :P.
 
Re: Bray or Friedman for van halen ?

Pat_rocks_and_rolls said:
I don't want to be mean landry amps sound good but it doesn't seem to get as close as the brays and friedmans. I better go for a soldano than landry.

I think it's worth it to pay a lot for a good amp because 50% of your tone comes from the amp 20% the pickup 10% the way you pick and hold the strings 10% the speakers 10% the materials of your tremolo and guitar.

So i don't really care for the price of the amp.

Mr suhr amps sound very good. He worked on vh plexi during a long time. But it lacks something. Perhaps the variac :D

But i want an amp that doesnt need the variac to reach that tone :P.
Click to expand...

At the end of the day the choice is yours but I have owned several Friedman amps. PT20, BE100, JJ100, and the Smallbox. They're all gone while the Landry stays!
 
Re: Bray or Friedman for van halen ?

I'm bad at math so someone help me. If 50% of Eddies tone came from his amp, and clone amp A sounds 85% like Eddies amp, while clone amp B sounds 80% like Eddies amp and clone amp C only sounds 75% like Eddies amp ... what percentage of Eddies tone would Eddie get from clone amp A, clone amp B and clone amp C, respectively AND comparatively? ...

And, what percentage of Eddies tone would YOU get from clone amp A, clone amp B and clone amp C, respectively and comparatively? ...
 
Last edited:
Re: Bray or Friedman for van halen ?

My DSL works great with my EVH guitar its not a plexi though:) friedman's are awesome you cant loose
 
Re: Bray or Friedman for van halen ?

Methinks you need to try more speakers. The speakers can make or break your love for an amp.
 
Re: Bray or Friedman for van halen ?

I agree with Coma, speakers and cabinets make a huge difference.
 
Re: Bray or Friedman for van halen ?

Darg1911 said:
I'm bad at math so someone help me. If 50% of Eddies tone came from his amp, and clone amp A sounds 85% like Eddies amp, while clone amp B sounds 80% like Eddies amp and clone amp C only sounds 75% like Eddies amp ... what percentage of Eddies tone would Eddie get from clone amp A, clone amp B and clone amp C, respectively AND comparatively? ...

And, what percentage of Eddies tone would YOU get from clone amp A, clone amp B and clone amp C, respectively and comparatively? ...
Click to expand...

In fact his backup amp of 50w and his vox were only used when his main amp had problems. And for the solos, intros where you have 2 guitars. Every vh 78 song was recorded with his marshall super lead with a single cabinet loaded with t1221 greenbacks and jbl d120f. The sound coming from his marshall his unique. Like all marshall from that time.

The objective of buying an amp that emulates vh halen super lead is to help comon mortals like us to sound like him. So yes if you have a clone amp that makes the sound of a cranked plexi under variac you are getting closer. You can't sound exactly like him but i think you can get very close.


If we take all variables it seems difficult but i still think the amp and the pickup are the main goals to get closer to his signature sound.

For exemple a bray could sound 85% of vh plexi which is 50 of the tone.

I'll still need a swamp ash body maple neck guitar with a 9k a2 pickup. A tremolo with a stell block. A cabinet with greenbacks and jbl d120f. Light gauge strings green or purple from d'addario (the ones eddie uses). I think the only thing that will be lacking his the way eddie play it the last 10%.

Considering that clone amps aren't perfect i think you can reach 80% of his tone.

Here you have a bray getting played with all the elements i listed before it sounds very close...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=b1kl3rO6m1s
 
Last edited:
Re: Bray or Friedman for van halen ?

`FWIW, the Frankenstein has a hard ash body, not swamp ash, it's heavier, harder, and brighter. Other than that, it sounds like you have your mind made up, and I don't have direct experience with the Bray or Friedman amps so I can't offer anything there.

I mentioned speakers and cabinets because in my younger days I had a 4-12 cabinet loaded with some kind of cheap 35W Celestions that sounded like crap. Unfortunately I went through a few nice amps that I wish I had back before I realized that the cabinet was the problem. So, I found a Marshall JCM800 4-12 cab and it was night and day, so I give a lot of credit to the speakers and cabinets, much more than 10% of the overall tone.
 
Re: Bray or Friedman for van halen ?

In my "prime" I wouldn't have been able to reach 50% of his tone with 100% of his gear. All power to you for buying and trying.
 
Re: Bray or Friedman for van halen ?

No clue on Bray, never heard or played them. Friedman are great, and can probably get you there. Which Friedman are you looking at? From what I hear, the Smallbox may be your best bet, followed maybe by a BE.
 
Re: Bray or Friedman for van halen ?

Skip to the 12 minute mark if you don't wanna watch the whole video.

 
Re: Bray or Friedman for van halen ?

Assuming "corect" everything elsem..no doubt I would take a Bray any day of the week over a Friedman. No matter if it was EVH tone or anything else. And I'd look at metropolous too. That metroplex is insane.

Bogner Helios/Ecstasy.

PRS HX/DA if you want "unmodded" plexi tones.
 
Re: Bray or Friedman for van halen ?

JeffB said:
Assuming "corect" everything elsem..no doubt I would take a Bray any day of the week over a Friedman. No matter if it was EVH tone or anything else. And I'd look at metropolous too. That metroplex is insane.

Bogner Helios/Ecstasy.

PRS HX/DA if you want "unmodded" plexi tones.
Click to expand...
Also remember that Eddie's Marshall had no INTERNAL mods. Part of his sound was 6CA7s and (at least I think) long-plate 12AX7s, part was the resistive load, part was the Variac, and part was the Echoplex preamp.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
 
Re: Bray or Friedman for van halen ?

Old old g12ms have alot of breakup that really juices the high end/mids and adds overall distortion. Those speakers are at least as important as his amp was.
 
Re: Bray or Friedman for van halen ?

The Friedman, Bogner, Landry type amps have more preamp gain on tap, so of course they can be run lower in volume, compared to more traditional boutique plexis.

The truth of this subject is that your musical skill in copping VH's songs, solos, and style outweighs anything gearwise.

You'd be better off spending a few years studying VH, using any superstrat into any gainy Marshall amp.
 
Re: Bray or Friedman for van halen ?

I'm not familiar with Bray amps, but having played a few Friedmans, I can say they're definitely not "one thing". They encompass a few flavors, from vintage Plexi all the way up to high gain.

VH tone really is in the hands. You just need gear that will get you in the neighborhood. I'm not even chasing VH tones, but I found them so ridiculously easy to get with some Marshall-in-a-box pedals - the Bogner La Grange, Carl Martin Plexitone (original), the Friedman BE-OD - that the challenge was no longer interesting. With the La Grange, it was literally the first tone I dialed in out of the box. Five seconds, VH tone... have a laugh with some VH riffs, then move on to trying to find *my* tone.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

P
Seymour Duncan SH-5 Custom Special Van Halen pickup 1979
2
Replies
21
Views
2K
pittbull
P
Ashurbanipal
Wishful NGD and ruminations - Yamaha FG9 and FS9
Replies
6
Views
375
Ashurbanipal
Ashurbanipal
J
Is my Seth Lover mis-wired or the coil upside down?
Replies
14
Views
735
xxxplorer
xxxplorer
belensky
The Humbucker Archive: DiMarzio, EMG, BKP, Suhr & Duncan Tested – My Notes & Comparison Samples (Long Read)
2
Replies
35
Views
2K
Artie
Artie
Chris EmCee
Will anything dethrone the '78?
Replies
19
Views
1K
jeremy
jeremy
Back
Top