Friedman BE in the house...

Re: Friedman BE in the house...

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.

That's precisely why my favorite amp that Friedman makes is the 40W Dirty Shirley. It just sounds amazing and it's controllable at decent levels but still cranks when needed. It doesn't have as much headroom or as much bass as the BE, but like a 250hp lightweight sports car, you get to use more of the power, more of the time.

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't kick a BE or a Naked 100w head out of bed any time soon. I just wish they made a 50w version. The small box isn't quite the same thing, even if it is derived from the BE.
 
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Re: Friedman BE in the house...

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"...

IMG_1615_zps0ox5pwt8.jpg

Thanks for the info! next time I get it out, I'll try those settings!! I dont run mine set near that. I keep the treble backed off quite a bit. you run the presence at noon too?
I have a Splawn 4 x 12 cab in storage and it has the small blocks in it. But right now the cab I have at the house is my Avatar 2x12 that has Celestions in it. (I think they are g12-75s).
 
Re: Friedman BE in the house...

Never had the honor of playing an Anderson or a Suhr..

I've had both. They're the best strats you can buy IMO. I prefer the Andys over the Suhrs (obviously), but you can't go wrong with either. They're just so buttery smooth playing. "Surgical" scalpal precision. Flawless fit & finish. Awesome tones... and lots of them in the case of the Andersons -- with the myriad of switchable options. And I really love the trapezoidal neck pocket. Even though there are only two neck bolts, I feel that pocket mates the neck so tight to the body that you get neck-thru sustain. I really love these instruments and it's hard to imagine ever going back to a regular strat. Got several of them sitting in cases in fact. No danger of them being played anytime soon. The only other guitars I really GAS about anymore are more Andersons.
 
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Re: Friedman BE in the house...

Thanks for the info! next time I get it out, I'll try those settings!! I dont run mine set near that. I keep the treble backed off quite a bit. you run the presence at noon too?
I have a Splawn 4 x 12 cab in storage and it has the small blocks in it. But right now the cab I have at the house is my Avatar 2x12 that has Celestions in it. (I think they are g12-75s).

I've never been close to getting a legit early EVH tone using the 75Ts. They're just too scooped in my opinion. Greenbacks, V30s, H30s, and the Smallblocks seem to do better. I'm close to pulling the trigger on a pair of G12M65 or G12H75 Creambacks to try in my Friedman 2x12.

Yeah... I've got absolutely every tone control on the Splawn at noon right now.
 
Re: Friedman BE in the house...

That's precisely why my favorite amp that Friedman makes is the 40W Dirty Shirley. It just sounds amazing and it's controllable at decent levels but still cranks when needed. It doesn't have as much headroom or as much bass as the BE, but like a 250hp lightweight sports car, you get to use more of the power, more of the time.

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't kick a BE or a Naked 100w head out of bed any time soon. I just wish they made a 50w version. The small box isn't quite the same thing, even if it is derived from the BE.


My buddy's got a new Shirley (and a Mini) at the shop right now that add both wonderful. We both really love them. I wanted a Shirley next, until he brought the BE over.
 
Re: Friedman BE in the house...

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.

Yeah bud... that sounds like a good idea to try. I'll have to do that the next time I've got the drill out.
 
Re: Friedman BE in the house...

For what it's worth, here's what's in my cabs...
Bogner 412 & 212..all V30

Marshall 1960AHW V30 top/G75T bottom

Jubilee 412A. H30 top/V30 bottom

Jubilee 412B all G75T w/Orange TT

Marshall JCM800 212 combo which can double as an ext. cab....H30/Creamback 65
 
Re: Friedman BE in the house...

Very nice gear mantra!

I actually dig stainless frets. Especially the fact that I don't have to worry about refret jobs! I find that Floyd Rose trems kill some sustain and mess with tone. Biggest reason I'll never own another guitar with a Floyd is because I just HATE dealing with floating trems and locking nuts. I used to block my Floyds for tuning stability, and being able to break a string and keep playing. But what's the point of even having a floyd if it's gonna be blocked? Anyways... I swore them off years ago. One of the reasons that I haven't got a SoCal or some other yummay Charvel. But I have been seeing more and more of them without Floyds on 'em, so I may have one some day. The only guitar that I might consider that's got a Floyd on it is the EVH replicas. Would just be cool to have one to pick up when I'm playing Van Halen stuff.

I find that the quilt Drop Top Anderson is brighter than the two all-alder Classics. I prefer them, but I keep the Drop Top tuned to Eb for Van Halen, AIC, and other flat-tuned stuff. The Classics are tuned regular. I've also got an Yngwie strat tuned to Eb (of course) and a Yamaha Pacific 611 tuned that way as well.

I've had just about everything in modded-Marshall style amps. But I haven't yet tried an SLO. There's just never any around where I live. I'm sure I'm be impressed, but I think the Friedmans are where it's at for my 80s tastes. And when I want to play darker, higher-gain stuff (AIC, Tool, etc) the Quickrod is great for that (though it's a great 80s amp as well).
 
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Re: Friedman BE in the house...

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

Or, if you're in the field of radiology then BE stands for Barium Enema. So we're still in the bunghole region (to use a medical term).

I definitely would like to have a smallbox 50 in my future. The Friedman stuff sounds amazing.
 
Re: Friedman BE in the house...

Have mercy! I hope your closest neighbor is several miles away. :D


LOL.... nope. My poor neighbor is only feet away. They've tolerated my racket pretty well over the years. But I've got to tolerate their mindless, endlessly barking dogs. So I'd say we're even. Actually... they owe me. At least my racket has GREAT tone!!! :laugh:
 
Re: Friedman BE in the house...

Or, if you're in the field of radiology then BE stands for Barium Enema. So we're still in the bunghole region (to use a medical term).

I definitely would like to have a smallbox 50 in my future. The Friedman stuff sounds amazing.


Yeah... I'm not a fan at all of Dave's dirty gear names (though I'm far from a prude). I think think that it demeans the amazing amps that he's created. But at the end of the day.... TONE RULES OVER ALL. So I tend to just ignore the stupid names and forget that they're something a high school student would have come up with.
 
Re: Friedman BE in the house...

For what it's worth, here's what's in my cabs...
Bogner 412 & 212..all V30

Marshall 1960AHW V30 top/G75T bottom

Jubilee 412A. H30 top/V30 bottom

Jubilee 412B all G75T w/Orange TT

Marshall JCM800 212 combo which can double as an ext. cab....H30/Creamback 65

Are you gonna get the new Shiny Terror? It'd match your Jube.
 
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