BE100 Switch Questions

MistaGuitah

Well-known member
First of all, I'm still trying to figure out what the C45 switch exactly does. It seems to make almost no difference as far as I can tell, so either it only works when the amp is loud or could mine just not be working?

Second, I've been playing with the gain switch with the little S next to it on the front panel, and when the toggle is in the middle or to the left (lower gain settings) it reminds me a lot of the Smallbox but the mids are different of course. Is that kind of where the Smallbox circuit came from? Just curious about that.

Last question has to do with the saturation switch on the back panel. Does it switch to like diode clipping or something or just add more gain? Thanks in advance Dave.
 
The C45 adds a little low and a little gain

The Smallbox was around before the Structure Switch

The Saturation Switch is diode clipping and adds gain
 
Try rolling back your guitar volume and then compare C45 and regular. C45 should sound more full, regular should sound noticeably thinner. Regular should sound a tiny bit tighter at full guitar volume.
 
Friedman is the master of useful subtlety. All these switches change stuff, but it's all very subtle, yet extremely useful. This goes with his amps too. Most are the same amp with useful and subtle differences. These differences are enough to have you prefer one over the other, but they are all so similar. Same goes with the switches.

I find the c45 is great for soloing. It's adds a touch of gain, compression and a slight mid-shift. Fat is great if you have weak pickups or single coils. I never personally use SAT, but it does sound great. The voice switch is great if you want that 70's Plexi bite tone.
 
I just wanted to follow up. The manual is very brief in it's descriptions but I was able to get a handle on the switches. As Atrox said, there is subtlety in this amp. I like the amp with the C45 switch on when I'm not using any pedals. The sat switch is a bit too much for me so I don't know how to make it useful, but it's nice to have it if I ever need it. Some of the combinations of the switches seem to benefit a lot for single coil as well as humbucker equipped guitars. The 3 way gain switch on the front panel is very handy. This is an amazing amp. Great thanks to Dave Friedman for this masterpiece.
 
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