danburton
Active member
TL; DR: Seriously, go order one now before word on how awesome this head is gets out and they're backordered into 2019. Basically every Marshall tone you've ever dreamed of packed into one feature-laden head so loud you will wonder if it is really only 50 watts.
Test subjects: I brought a Les Paul (equipped with Bare Knuckle "Rebel Yell" pickups), another Les Paul (with Bare Knuckle "Cold Sweat" pickups) a PRS McCarty (with Arcane "Paradox" pickups) and an EBMM Axis (with SD's "Hot Rod" set). Thus far, I havent brought any other guitars up to play and have only had time to test the BE50 plugged into a Friedman 4x12 BE straight cab. I have noticed that every amp that sounds anything like a Marshall sounds its best through the Friedman cab. I'm going to rehearsal again today and will bring something with single coils this time. Also, I am going to assume if youre reading this that youre familiar with Friedman amps in general and not spend a lot of time going over the basics here.
Lead-up, Unboxing and Setup: I will admit that this was a stretch for me. I have a pretty sweet collection of boutique amps (Friedman, Soldano, Bogner, Diezel, Voodoo, KSR, etc etc) but am generally a bargain shopper on the used market. The BE50 is the most expensive amp (at least by what I paid for it) that I own, and the only amp I have ever bought without at least hearing clips on youtube. However, I already own two Friedmans (a WW Smallbox and a Dirty Shirley) so I trust that Dave will only come out with amps that are awesome. The feature list looked awfully impressive so I took the leap and pre-ordered at Sweetwater. It showed up well-packed although curiously without a manual of any kind. Not a big deal as Im assuming the controls do basically the same things they do on the BE100 (or basically any other amp). It's roughly the same size as my Smallbox and sits nicely on top of my Friedman cab.
Clean Channel: This was one of the big selling points. I already loved the BE and HBE channels on the BE100 but with the "Buxom" clean channel on board, this is like two amps in one. Normally with a new amp I fire up the heaviest, beefiest tone the amp has but this time I actually started here. To put it mildly, it sounds GREAT. Not that the clean channel on the BE100 isnt great but this one has a little more character to my ears. Kinda like an old "Plexi", this channel does some neat things. Sounded great with all three guitars I had with me and really shined with (and without) a couple of Strymon pedals (chorus, reverb and delay). In addition to sounding great it was really fun to play. Lots of dynamics with pick attack and volume knob make it feel like its somehow alive. Even more fun when you start playing with the "thump" and "response" controls. All three guitars sounded great here but I had a ton of fun with the Les Paul on this channel. Today I am going to bring a strat with me.
"BE" Channel: A lot has been written about the BE channel, so I will try to focus on what is "new" here. Yes, it still nails the "hot-rod" plexi tone. Sounds great: voice switch, sat switch, the new structure switch, etc. What was new to me was the "response" control. I found a neat tone with the Les Paul by lowering the gain, turning response up about 60-70% and a more credible version of Slash's early "AFD" tone than Ive heard a lot of other places. Switch to the Axis and its easy to coax a couple of different eras of Van Halen out of this channel.
"HBE" Channel: Wow...vicious. If you're a big fan of modded "Jose" Marshalls with gobs of sustain that are somehow compressed and highly-dynamic at the same time, this is basically as good as it gets. Being able to dial in some extra punch with the "response" control is a neat new sound on this channel. It was tons of fun to chunk out some single notes that filled the room. Then I dropped down to "drop D" and threw some stacked fifth chords at it, just to see if I could still hear all 3 notes. It sounded great - even with the gain up high (60-70% or so) you can still hear individual notes articulating through the mix. I havent played a "JJ" head but I imagine this new HBE is pretty close to the "JBE". Or at very least, I can nail some great AIC tones with it.
Overall Impressions: My expectations were sky-high, which had me a little worried, but Dave really came through with this one. I envisioned the BE50D as the "centerpiece" of my collection, and it didnt disappoint. Sounds great, looks cool, has a wide range of tones and its fun to play.
Test subjects: I brought a Les Paul (equipped with Bare Knuckle "Rebel Yell" pickups), another Les Paul (with Bare Knuckle "Cold Sweat" pickups) a PRS McCarty (with Arcane "Paradox" pickups) and an EBMM Axis (with SD's "Hot Rod" set). Thus far, I havent brought any other guitars up to play and have only had time to test the BE50 plugged into a Friedman 4x12 BE straight cab. I have noticed that every amp that sounds anything like a Marshall sounds its best through the Friedman cab. I'm going to rehearsal again today and will bring something with single coils this time. Also, I am going to assume if youre reading this that youre familiar with Friedman amps in general and not spend a lot of time going over the basics here.
Lead-up, Unboxing and Setup: I will admit that this was a stretch for me. I have a pretty sweet collection of boutique amps (Friedman, Soldano, Bogner, Diezel, Voodoo, KSR, etc etc) but am generally a bargain shopper on the used market. The BE50 is the most expensive amp (at least by what I paid for it) that I own, and the only amp I have ever bought without at least hearing clips on youtube. However, I already own two Friedmans (a WW Smallbox and a Dirty Shirley) so I trust that Dave will only come out with amps that are awesome. The feature list looked awfully impressive so I took the leap and pre-ordered at Sweetwater. It showed up well-packed although curiously without a manual of any kind. Not a big deal as Im assuming the controls do basically the same things they do on the BE100 (or basically any other amp). It's roughly the same size as my Smallbox and sits nicely on top of my Friedman cab.
Clean Channel: This was one of the big selling points. I already loved the BE and HBE channels on the BE100 but with the "Buxom" clean channel on board, this is like two amps in one. Normally with a new amp I fire up the heaviest, beefiest tone the amp has but this time I actually started here. To put it mildly, it sounds GREAT. Not that the clean channel on the BE100 isnt great but this one has a little more character to my ears. Kinda like an old "Plexi", this channel does some neat things. Sounded great with all three guitars I had with me and really shined with (and without) a couple of Strymon pedals (chorus, reverb and delay). In addition to sounding great it was really fun to play. Lots of dynamics with pick attack and volume knob make it feel like its somehow alive. Even more fun when you start playing with the "thump" and "response" controls. All three guitars sounded great here but I had a ton of fun with the Les Paul on this channel. Today I am going to bring a strat with me.
"BE" Channel: A lot has been written about the BE channel, so I will try to focus on what is "new" here. Yes, it still nails the "hot-rod" plexi tone. Sounds great: voice switch, sat switch, the new structure switch, etc. What was new to me was the "response" control. I found a neat tone with the Les Paul by lowering the gain, turning response up about 60-70% and a more credible version of Slash's early "AFD" tone than Ive heard a lot of other places. Switch to the Axis and its easy to coax a couple of different eras of Van Halen out of this channel.
"HBE" Channel: Wow...vicious. If you're a big fan of modded "Jose" Marshalls with gobs of sustain that are somehow compressed and highly-dynamic at the same time, this is basically as good as it gets. Being able to dial in some extra punch with the "response" control is a neat new sound on this channel. It was tons of fun to chunk out some single notes that filled the room. Then I dropped down to "drop D" and threw some stacked fifth chords at it, just to see if I could still hear all 3 notes. It sounded great - even with the gain up high (60-70% or so) you can still hear individual notes articulating through the mix. I havent played a "JJ" head but I imagine this new HBE is pretty close to the "JBE". Or at very least, I can nail some great AIC tones with it.
Overall Impressions: My expectations were sky-high, which had me a little worried, but Dave really came through with this one. I envisioned the BE50D as the "centerpiece" of my collection, and it didnt disappoint. Sounds great, looks cool, has a wide range of tones and its fun to play.
