Friedman or Marshall?
- Thread starter Reee
- Start date
It depends on what your core tone chase is. The JJ is nice and would be my choice hands down out of what you listed. If I were looking for something in that price range I would grab the new EVH 50 watt stealth. Another option would be a PRS Archon and pound for pound the best amp for the money is the PRS MT-15. The PRS amps are sleeper amps but both are fantastic!
Cynical
Active member
^Are you actually Reinhold Bogner, or are you just using "Bogner" as a username?
Anyways, the only one of the low-watt Friedmans I've played is the PT-20, but I've actually played one of those side-by-side with an SC20, and IMO, the SC20 absolutely murdered the PT. The PT was a good but somewhat generic high-gain sound; the SC actually sounds and feels like an old 2203, with that classic crunch and immediacy.
Anyways, the only one of the low-watt Friedmans I've played is the PT-20, but I've actually played one of those side-by-side with an SC20, and IMO, the SC20 absolutely murdered the PT. The PT was a good but somewhat generic high-gain sound; the SC actually sounds and feels like an old 2203, with that classic crunch and immediacy.
Ascension
Well-known member
Spent some time with a Runt really like the little amp!! The Friedmans are very nice amps every one I have played sound fantastic and are very well built. Agree with the PRS amps own both a MT 15 and a Archon 50 head and am now well past any honeymoon period with both. They still inspire me every time i play through them. Agree on the MT 15 being the best bang for the buck new amp in the market. However my Archon is just a monster the warm smooth and full cleans to the amazingly dynamic and expressive high gain it just blows me away. I honestly cant think of anything I would rather own than the Archon..
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I don't know what it is with EVH amps but they just sound way too compressed to my ears
Have you tried the new 50 watt stealth? To me it is a much better amp.
it sounds good, but still has the EVH sound, a bit too compressed for my taste, i prefer something a bit more open
Semetery
New member
I owned and have played a BE-100 Deluxe side by side with the JCM (2204, 50 watts) and ** I ** much, much preferred the Marshall. The Friedman feels big and polished and like something to behold in ways but it felt smoother and more polite than the Marshall did, which wasn't what I wanted, so I sold it. I love the sounds others get with them, but in the room, for what I like, the Marshall was the keeper for me. Some get it, some would call me crazy. I'm fine with both. Dave said on another forum that it could do the JJ sound and posted some settings. It did. I tried them and it sounded great but I went back to the Marshall every time for that thing they do that just works the way I like. I haven't tried the Runt but no doubt you'd enjoy any Friedman most likely. They're great, just not what I wanted.
Someone mentioned the EVH Stealth. I adore the blue channel on it. Compared to the red channel, it's far less compressed and really open sounding. I feel like I remember it being pretty open on the regular 50 watters as well. I didn't like it on the EL34 I had as much. I play it next to a JCM 800 often and it doesn't feel a lot more compressed to my ears. It's nothing like the red channel at least, which is very compressed. Both are incredible amps.
I usually end up back on the EVH when playing both because it's got a clean channel (depending on your idea of a good clean, I like it fine) and a lot more aggression without pedals. I don't even use pedals with it. But the blue channel pushed and a JCM pushed are just beyond words to me. lol Not sure any of that helps, but good luck, you can't go wrong with any of them!
Someone mentioned the EVH Stealth. I adore the blue channel on it. Compared to the red channel, it's far less compressed and really open sounding. I feel like I remember it being pretty open on the regular 50 watters as well. I didn't like it on the EL34 I had as much. I play it next to a JCM 800 often and it doesn't feel a lot more compressed to my ears. It's nothing like the red channel at least, which is very compressed. Both are incredible amps.
I usually end up back on the EVH when playing both because it's got a clean channel (depending on your idea of a good clean, I like it fine) and a lot more aggression without pedals. I don't even use pedals with it. But the blue channel pushed and a JCM pushed are just beyond words to me. lol Not sure any of that helps, but good luck, you can't go wrong with any of them!
allright maybe i'll check out the EVH some more, would be nice to also have a clean channel in the same amp, but so far the EVH sounds fizzier and more scooped and compressed compared to the JCM, maybe i've been checking out the wrong videos though.
Demanic
PenultimateTone Member
Well, fizzy and scooped should be able to be affected by the tone controls on the amp. Maybe all the videos sound like that because the people recording them think that that's how the amp should sound, so they dial them in that way.
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Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk
What are some amps you do like and I can point you in that direction.
my favorite amp so far is probably the JMP 2203/2204 but it's too heavy, too big and too loud for me at the moment.
ideally i'd have a 2channel (clean and crunch) amp combo/head with a nice master volume and not too big/heavy, but i'd settle for a 1channel amp that cleans up nicely with the volume knob.
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I like all those amps' tones, but they are all out of my budget range, i'd like to keep it around €1000 used
Del Rei
New member
Interesting... If that matters, the Friedman’s have two channels.
I have the SC20H and some Friedman (Smallbox and Dirty Shirley Mini). They’re different amps. The Marshall needs to be played loud, probably with attenuation. After using the SC20 with my attenuator, I can’t even play with Master below 5 or 6 again... 8 is my sweet spot. And that’s where you get the classic Marshall tone.
Friedman will sound insanely good even with Master at 1... and I tried my attenuator to crank the volume, didn’t notice that bigger difference as the Marshall.
Both brands sounds awesome. If I had to choose one of your list, I don’t know... probably would go for the Friedman because of 2 channels.
I have the SC20H and some Friedman (Smallbox and Dirty Shirley Mini). They’re different amps. The Marshall needs to be played loud, probably with attenuation. After using the SC20 with my attenuator, I can’t even play with Master below 5 or 6 again... 8 is my sweet spot. And that’s where you get the classic Marshall tone.
Friedman will sound insanely good even with Master at 1... and I tried my attenuator to crank the volume, didn’t notice that bigger difference as the Marshall.
Both brands sounds awesome. If I had to choose one of your list, I don’t know... probably would go for the Friedman because of 2 channels.
I think i'd get the Pink Taco instead of the Runt, it only has one channel but it seems to sound better than the Runt, how do the SC20 compare to the friedman in terms of feel, are the Friedmans easier and more fun to play? and are the dynamics of the amps similar?
Del Rei
New member
I agree with you about PT vs Runt, but never played neither...
I’d say the Friedman’s are definitely easier to play, you don’t need to crank for great tones.
And as I mentioned, for the best result you must really push the Marshall I’m order to see what it takes. But as we know, high volumes comes with some noise. Not sure if that’s a problem for you, maybe a noise gate would solve.
About the dynamics, I think both are great. I didn’t record anything exploring dynamics with the SC20 (I’ll probably do, sometime), but I did with one of my Friedman:
https://youtu.be/SWvxTskTxvk
