Friedman BE in the house...

[Red_Label]

My music store manager buddy is heading to Vegas for a couple of weeks and left me his newer-model Friedman BE100 to babysit... with the option to buy at a great price if I fall in love with it. I briefly had it at my house when I first bought it over at TGP for him (he doesn't have a user account there). But I was underwhelmed. That was for two reasons: 1) I didn't want to fall in love with it because I didn't want to go through the stress of paying for it, and 2) it had something wrong with one of the tubes and didn't sound right.

Fast-forward to this time... I absolutely LOVE it. Such a rich, refined, big tone in this monster. Be he and I have the Smallbox, and he prefers the Smallbox. Not I! I dig my Smallbox, but there's something in the BE that is just special. I A/B'd the BE with the Smallbox back and forth on Saturday and preferred the BE. It's got more bottom, and something on top that sets it apart from the Smallbox. Just some presence and kerrang there that I don't hear in the Smallbox. On Sunday, I A/B'd the BE with my 2012 Splawn Quickrod and then played them both for a while. So much awesomeness there! I would give the BE the edge in tone there... but not by a landslide. Both amps are rich and big sounding. Both great... but different. If I was playing large, outdoor rock gigs... I would haul the Quickrod and BE to them and just slay tone-freaks in the audience. Having played/owned nearly everything else out there -- this is my favorite tone combination so far. My old Bogner XTC Classic in stereo with a Bogner Twin Jet would probably be my second.

Anyways... even if for some reason don't end-up buying my friend's BE... no doubt I'll eventually get one anyways. I had assumed that I'd probably be getting a Dirty Shirley next, as I really dig 'em and think that it would go nicely with my Smallbox. But now I'm thinking that the Shirley will have to wait for a while.

Current pic of the amp wall of my man cave. (I want to get a pic of my three Tom Anderson guitars in front of this rig. Talk about tonal heaven!!!)

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Friedman BE in the house...

Yeah, but who wants an amp named after a butthole? :jester: (Brown Eye, Hairy Brown Eye)

Seriously, those are some sweet amps. Pricey, but all great things are.

There's always that catch 22 of 100W amps sounding better, but being ungodly loud. I'm finding I'd rather make a 50W sound huskier by putting some sort of fattening boost in front of it, to emulate the big shoulders of a 100 watter.

 

[Red_Label]

Re: Friedman BE in the house...

Yeah, but who wants an amp named after a butthole? :jester: (Brown Eye, Hairy Brown Eye)

Seriously, those are some sweet amps. Pricey, but all great things are.

There's always that catch 22 of 100W amps sounding better, but being ungodly loud. I'm finding I'd rather make a 50W sound huskier by putting some sort of fattening boost in front of it, to emulate the big shoulders of a 100 watter.

I totally agree GJ. In fact, I almost always run my Quickrod in 50-watt mode. But the BE has something going-on in there that's just different. I dunno if I could get that sound out of the Smallbox, even with a pedal. Not that there's anything lacking in the Smallbox. It's one of the top five amps I've ever owned. But the BE might just be the best all-arounder ever for me.

 

[Gone_Shootin]

Re: Friedman BE in the house...

I totally agree GJ. In fact, I almost always run my Quickrod in 50-watt mode. But the BE has something going-on in there that's just different. I dunno if I could get that sound out of the Smallbox, even with a pedal. Not that there's anything lacking in the Smallbox. It's one of the top five amps I've ever owned. But the BE might just be the best all-arounder ever for me.

I wonder if some of that difference might be the transformers. My Splawn Pro Mod has Heyboer iron, but I've seen newer Splawns with Classic Tone (Magnetic Components) iron, and the ones I've tried out have a different vibe. Granted mine has 6550s in it currently, but there's more than that going on. I've also read that Friedman uses transformers with custom specs, which is more than likely a rumor, but it wouldn't surprise me either, and it would explain some of the difference that you hear between your Splawn and the Freidmans.

 

[Red_Label]

Re: Friedman BE in the house...

I wonder if some of that difference might be the transformers. My Splawn Pro Mod has Heyboer iron, but I've seen newer Splawns with Classic Tone (Magnetic Components) iron, and the ones I've tried out have a different vibe. Granted mine has 6550s in it currently, but there's more than that going on. I've also read that Friedman uses transformers with custom specs, which is more than likely a rumor, but it wouldn't surprise me either, and it would explain some of the difference that you hear between your Splawn and the Freidmans.

Certainly could be man. But I did some testing today -- swapped the Smallbox and BE back and forth between the V30-loaded Friedman 2x12 and the V30/H30-loaded Line 6 4x12. Both amps seemed to prefer the 4x12. In fact, when I was running the Smallbox into the 4x12, it sounded every bit as good and rich as the BE. Nevertheless the best tone was when I was running the full stereo rig with both heads and cabs. I've been on the edge of ordering a Friedman 4x12 for the past two days. The ones I've played at the store sure seem to sound awesome. Very full and 3D.

 

[BloodRose]

Re: Friedman BE in the house...

Dude that man cave picture..... Thats hot like a centerfold pic.. haha.. Im jealous!! I havent ever played a BE, but based on everything Ive heard, read, seen and otherwise.. I think that would be my fav too. Ive run my QR and my JCM800 together and that was glorious.. I can only imagine the tonal ecstasy you are getting.

Now for the obvious question.. Does it cop the "brown" tone? How would would you say it differs from the QR? QR being more middy I would think? And speaking of brown tone, how does it compare to a 5150 3?

I was shocked when you disliked it so much before.. Now I know why.. Im happy for you !! Enjoy your new amp!

 

[Jeff5]

Re: Friedman BE in the house...

Friedman's are great, I love my JJ. Had a it several months, and even after the honeymoon period, it sounds great every time I turn it on.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Friedman BE in the house...

I'm too innept on my phone to post it, but search Doug Rappoport Friedman.
He does an outstanding demo, as usual.

 

[MetalManiac]

Re: Friedman BE in the house...

Take that absured Marshall emblem off that aftermarket cabinet inmediately. This is not a request, It's a demand.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Friedman BE in the house...

I looked up Friedman cabs, and his formula is just Greenback upper two, and V30 bottom two.

There's a lot of combinations, but I always go top/bottom or all the same, never criss cross. That causes the sound to change depending where you're standing.

 

[MetalManiac]

Re: Friedman BE in the house...

I was seriosly considering sending my Traynor Bassmaster to Dave for a $500 upgrade..dirty shirly? , Browneye? who knows.
Then people on soem forums and a bud who is a tech, saids these mods are a formulaic layout, that someone should pay a tech 200 bucks for, so bascically I surmise that D. Freeman was doing a general Modification to the amp and then that you'd give David 200 bucks on top of that for THE David FReeman impramatur.

Guys said the Marshall mods are really a matter of record, and a decent tech worth his salt ( not actually an easy task to locate) should eb able to do a Van Halen style Marshall Mod.

 

[BloodRose]

Re: Friedman BE in the house...

I looked up Friedman cabs, and his formula is just Greenback upper two, and V30 bottom two.

There's a lot of combinations, but I always go top/bottom or all the same, never criss cross. That causes the sound to change depending where you're standing.

This is interesting. So many years, Ive seen artists using, and recommendations of , using cross pattern. And because of that, have often planned to try that one day. What you say makes sense..

 

[Red_Label]

Re: Friedman BE in the house...

Dude that man cave picture..... Thats hot like a centerfold pic.. haha.. Im jealous!! I havent ever played a BE, but based on everything Ive heard, read, seen and otherwise.. I think that would be my fav too. Ive run my QR and my JCM800 together and that was glorious.. I can only imagine the tonal ecstasy you are getting.

Now for the obvious question.. Does it cop the "brown" tone? How would would you say it differs from the QR? QR being more middy I would think? And speaking of brown tone, how does it compare to a 5150 3?

I was shocked when you disliked it so much before.. Now I know why.. Im happy for you !! Enjoy your new amp!

Oh yeah... I get all kinds of "brown sound" out of what you see there. I was playing both the Smallbox and the BE last night and playing some old Van Halen (Feel Your Love Tonight, Jamie's Cryin, On Fire, Meanstreets, etc) and was just in awe of how authentic the tone was. For decades us guitar players have sought the early VH holy grail tones... and now we've got many choices to get them.

I will say that before the Friedman amps came along, I was pretty happy with the Splawn for VH tones, but the Friedmans seem to have more of the plexi high-end kerrang (or whatever) that I hear in the early VH recordings. I still love the Splawn... but I find it better for doing slighting darker, more overdriven stuff like AIC and Tool. Nevertheless, if I was in an 80s cover/tribute band and using the Splawn... I would be more than happy with my tone. So there's nothing lacking in the Quickrod. I haven't played the 5150 amps at all. I think that I've shied away from them because of where they're made. But if I was younger and/or of more limited financial means -- I'm sure I'd have already had an EVH head by now. You certainly read lots of good reviews about them.

 

[Red_Label]

Re: Friedman BE in the house...

I looked up Friedman cabs, and his formula is just Greenback upper two, and V30 bottom two.

There's a lot of combinations, but I always go top/bottom or all the same, never criss cross. That causes the sound to change depending where you're standing.

I used to always mount different 4x12 speaker combos in the "X" pattern. But I think I see Dave's logic. The Greenbacks aren't near as "obnoxious" as V30s can be, so by putting them on top, he's balancing what the player hears and making the two speaker types blend better. Whereas, with a Greenback and a V30 next to each other -- you're going to hear more V30 than GB. I was going to put my H30s on top, and leave V30s on the bottom. But then I realized that the H30 is a lot louder of a speaker than the GB. So I decided that it would match-up better with my V30s. It seems to have worked, as the tone of this cab changed a lot and it much richer now. But it's not all V30 or H30.

I think that the reason Dave puts two V30s in his 2x12s is because of power handling. If he'd have put one V30 and one GB or H30... he'd only have a 50 or 60 watt cab. Then you wouldn't be able to run the later BEs (without the half power switch) through it. That's my theory anyways. I'm considering picking up a 65 watt Creamback to put in the 2x12 with a V30. Perhaps make that cab sound bigger/better. Cause I'm definitely preferring the 4x12 right now (for both the Smallbox and the BE).

 

[Red_Label]

Re: Friedman BE in the house...

Take that absured Marshall emblem off that aftermarket cabinet inmediately. This is not a request, It's a demand.

You can demand anything you want from an anonymous internet poster... but that doesn't mean you'll get it. :wave:

The Marshall logo was laying around and I figured I'd put it to good use. I've owned a room full of Marshall cabs, and could afford another one if I really wanted one. Plus, this particular Line 6 cab (I've owned two of them) is at least as good as any of the Marshall cabs I've had. So why don't I put the Line 6 logo plate back on there you ask? Because the Marshall logo simply looks better. If I had a Friedman logo lying around, I'd slap it on there instead. In fact, I almost bought a Freidman 4x12 on Sweetwater's 36 month, no interest plan last night (it was the last day of that promo)... but I elected not to, because then the Friedman 2x12 would have to go somewhere else and I really don't have room for it anywhere else.


P.S. Did ya notice the Ferrari decal on my Smallbox head? Is that verboten as well? After all... it's not a REAL Ferrari! :chairfall

 

[d1dsj]

Re: Friedman BE in the house...

Awesome rig, I'd definitely get the matching 4 x 12 though.

 

[Red_Label]

Re: Friedman BE in the house...

Awesome rig, I'd definitely get the matching 4 x 12 though.

Oh it'll happen eventually for sure. I just have a couple of pieces of gear to pay off, and the Smallbox head that you see in the pic. It's all interest-free... but still, I'm at my limit for what I'm comfortable carrying in terms of debt. Truck is paid-off and we're only two years out from paying our house off. So once that's done... my gear acquisition might hit new levels. Except I'd like to finally have a nice sports car. So maybe not! :nervous:

 

[BloodRose]

Re: Friedman BE in the house...

Thanks for the reply..
Yeah, the Splawn is capable.. But I havent found the magic settings yet. Plus, I dont have the skills yet.. I know Al Estrada uses a QR in a VH trib band. Or used to.

What settings you run the quick rod on for those tones??

 

[Red_Label]

Re: Friedman BE in the house...

Thanks for the reply..
Yeah, the Splawn is capable.. But I havent found the magic settings yet. Plus, I dont have the skills yet.. I know Al Estrada uses a QR in a VH trib band. Or used to.

What settings you run the quick rod on for those tones??

NOON! Yup. All of my tone controls are set at noon, and my gain as well. I think I'm using 2nd gear with no boost. It's worth noting that I'm running into the Splawn 4x12 loaded with Small Block speakers. Also, I'm using my three Anderson strats (a Drop Top Classic and two Classics), loaded with Anderson pickups. I can still get the EVH thing going with my Yamaha Pacifica 611 loaded with a JB at the bridge though. I do prefer the Andy's these days though. Best guitars on the planet! (For me anyways.)

A pic of the entire "holy grail family"...

 

[Gone_Shootin]

Re: Friedman BE in the house...

I looked up Friedman cabs, and his formula is just Greenback upper two, and V30 bottom two.

There's a lot of combinations, but I always go top/bottom or all the same, never criss cross. That causes the sound to change depending where you're standing.

I was thinking about this on the way back to the yard today (I'm back to driving truck).

Red Label, IIRC you have V30s in the Line6 cab and Splawn Small Blocks in the Splawn cab. The Small Block is a tweaked version of the Eminence Private Jack, if memory serves, which is Eminence's take on the Greenback. Why not try a little speaker swapping and duplicate what Gearjonser said about the Friedman cab that he mentioned? It'll only cost a little time and you may love the results.