Demo of my 2026 pedalboard with the Friedman Jose

[CarlF]

That amplifier sounds amazing. That’s all I know.

 

[ChurchHill]

OK, this may sound crazy, but I'm considering flipping the Thornley Roughneck for the Jose.
Someone tell me that the SLO or Wizard MC is close enough. Please.

No experience with the Wizard. The SLO is a great amp, but it's not the Jose. I haven't found anything that does what the Jose does. It's just that sound.

 

[LPMojoGL]

No experience with the Wizard. The SLO is a great amp, but it's not the Jose. I haven't found anything that does what the Jose does. It's just that sound.

What do you dig about it?

 

[ChurchHill]

What do you dig about it?

Mostly that it's the sound I grew up listening to. It's just cool to be able to finally get that sound just plugging in. In some ways, it's a one-trick pony, but it's a great trick. Not that it's not capable of a range of sounds. I really like the way it cleans up, too, but that's also one of those sounds I grew up listening to. To me, it's the perfect modded Marshall with just the right amount of everything and nothing else.

I'm sure there are other amps that do the Jose thing. I've got a Bogner Helios 100 that comes to mind and it's another great amp, but it's also a Bogner and sounds like it. The BE100-Dlx comes really close, too, but has the Friedman sound. I've heard other amps come really close, but to me, the Jose just nails that specific sound without sounding like anything else.