Friedman Mini Dirty Shirley test drive...

[Red_Label]

Mmmmm... the best lunchbox I've ever played. Played it through a V30-loaded Engl 4x12 at my buddy's shop. Very responsive and rich (like you'd expect a Friedman to be). Flip the switch to the bottom and you've got an awesome, touch responsive blues tone. Roll the guitar volume back and it cleans-up for Fenderish, quacky country cleans with very nice presence. Flip it to the middle and you've got a great straight ahead rock tone. And flip it to the top position and you can get higher-gain tones. We ran it into two 4x12s and I tuned to drop-D and played through some Alter Bridge and it sounded awesome. Tight, and yet punchy and thumpy. The loop is transparent (as you'd expect from a Friedman).

I'd given up on lunchbox 20-watters up until now. I'd owned some great ones, including my favorite thus far... the H&K Grandmeister. I even had a Friedman Pink Taco for a day. It was a nice, rich-sounding little amp... but had no grunt or thump. I recieved the Taco the same day as my Ceriatone Chupacabra and the Chup spanked it hard for thump and punch (despite the fact that the Chup lacks real low-end compared to other 50-100 watters I've had). The Taco also didn't seem to have much variety of tones in there. The Mini Shirley seems to have more than enough thump and punch for a lunchbox, and a lot of different tones in that box. I would have probably just brought it home and kept it, but I've just begun paying for my new Friedman Small Box and Anderson Classic strat. Hopefully there are some Shirleys available when I've crawled-out from under my debt... as I'll very likely end-up with one (and I had totally sworn-off lunchboxes).

If you're curious at all about the Mini Shirley for a great home, recording, or even gigging amp... give it a test drive. Color me impressed.

 

[JeffB]

Re: Friedman Mini Dirty Shirley test drive...

Whats the tube complement?

The DS is my fave full size Friedman,I did not know Dave was making a mini version.

 

[Red_Label]

Re: Friedman Mini Dirty Shirley test drive...

Whats the tube complement?

The DS is my fave full size Friedman,I did not know Dave was making a mini version.

It's got EL84s. Not sure what Dave's got going on inside there, but it seems to have a lot more mojo and versatility than the Taco.

I haven't played a full sized Shirley yet. Would love to! My buddy has mainly been selling Small Boxes so far. Sure dig mine! He's got a BE and a Small Box himself and said that the Small Box gets all his attention lately.

He said the story on the Mini is that some store or distributor in Europe wanted one built and Dave said that need they'd need to buy at least 40 or 60 to make it happen, so they said go for it. And he built more than that in the initial run. Was supposed to be a limited run, but I would imagine he'd want to keep building them because they just seem so much more impressive [to me] than the Taco. If I was him, I'd just stop building the Taco and put the Mini Shirley in my lineup instead. Don't mean to dog the Taco here. It's got a great tone. But for me, it was just that ONE tone. Which didn't have enough thump for me. But the Mini Shirley has all kinds of tones in there and more grunt.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Friedman Mini Dirty Shirley test drive...

Sounds like a great amp, but I can't help but think it's too much money for a lunchbox.

I love the look of it, and would like to check one out. It's probably best I don't, since my Tiny Terror does that trick. At the end of the day, your new Friedman 50W turned down probably sounds better anyway.

 

[BloodRose]

Re: Friedman Mini Dirty Shirley test drive...

Great info!! Mostly cuz it clears up my desire for a pink taco.. (amp anyway...) I was curious about those and a couple vids I heard sounded sounded pretty good. but they were both in the same tonal vein.

 

[Red_Label]

Re: Friedman Mini Dirty Shirley test drive...

Sounds like a great amp, but I can't help but think it's too much money for a lunchbox.

I love the look of it, and would like to check one out. It's probably best I don't, since my Tiny Terror does that trick. At the end of the day, your new Friedman 50W turned down probably sounds better anyway.

Yeah, hard to beat the Smallbox. It's pretty friggin awesome.

The Friedman lunchboxes definitely aren't cheap. But after hearing the Mini Shirley... it overcame my bias against lunchboxes being able to sound big. I've had quite a few and none have sounded as big as the Mini. The Grandmeister probably came closest. Friedman is coming-out with a new two-channel lunchbox called "The Runt" after NAMM that's a two-channel affair. I'm hoping it'll be like a small version of my Smallbox. I could see maybe owning one as a gigging backup to my Smallbox.

I really wanted to get a BE100 down the road, but I've had one in the man cave for a few days and I dunno. My music store buddy has both the BE and Smallbox and says that he pretty much just plays the Smallbox most of the time anymore. Having a $3700 amp sitting around not being played doesn't sound like something I'd be into... LOL! A huge part of the reason that I've been through so many amps over the past decade is that once a new one comes along and I stop playing the old one... the old one always ends-up getting sent down the road because I just can't justify having gear that I don't play. I plugged into the Smallbox and my Quickrod and did some more A/B'ing today and still love my QR... even thought the Friedman gets most of the playing time right now. So the Splawn isn't going anywhere very soon. Between the Splawn and the Friedman, I'm pretty content for now. :headbang:

 

[Gone_Shootin]

Re: Friedman Mini Dirty Shirley test drive...

Sounds like it's a good little amp.

Has your buddy gotten a Jerry Cantrell JJ-100 in? That's the Friedman that I'd like to try out.

 

[Red_Label]

Re: Friedman Mini Dirty Shirley test drive...

Sounds like it's a good little amp.

Has your buddy gotten a Jerry Cantrell JJ-100 in? That's the Friedman that I'd like to try out.

We're not in a big market (Billings, MT... 100K population) and it's a miracle that we even have a Friedman dealer here. It's because my buddy is a gear-whore himself. But just about every other dealer in this rural state focuses on the classics (Fender, Marshall, Peavey, Mesa, Orange, Vox). So a Cantrell would sit on the floor for a long time here. He's going to stick with the plexi-looking and voiced type stuff. The guys with the money for boutique gear here are middle-aged, (day job) working professionals. The younger guys who are into more aggressive tones just don't have Friedman money to spend. I'm surprised he's sold as many Smallboxes as he has... in just a few months. Because most of the boutique guitars and amps he's had have sat for a while before selling. But the Friedman stufff doors sell itself.

P.S. I get some great Cantrell tones with the Smallbox and Quickrod. I rarely plug into either without jamming some "Man In the Box", "Rooster" and others. Such tasty tunes/tones.