Framus Cobra... Who owns one? Like it?

[jwhitman]

I'm considering a Framus Cobra ( I wanted a Diezel, but circumstances have me needing to be stage ready much sooner than I can cough up the coin for a used VH4 ). I see they can be had sub 1500 used and I love some of the tones I hear.

So here's the questions. How versatile are they? I play melodic hard rock, I'll be using a G Major or similar unit for FX and controlling them via a midi controller. Are they a one trick pony or can they create a pretty wide range of tones?

Are they reliable? Am I going to be working on this amp more than I play it? I really don't have the time/ability to have a high dollar amp that's down all the time. That would royally piss me off.

Thanks guys and gals!
JD

 

[Mailman1971]

I had one for a few months. It leans REALLY on the HEAVY side!
Really a Brutal amp. To me it was sorta one trickish.
Rock tones werent that good from what I remember.
It was either METAL.....or LESS METAL.....make sense?
I still want to get another one some day. I had a Herbert as well. The Cobra was Meaner then the Herbie.
My opinion only.

 

[RJF]

If you bring a Cobra home it will bang your old lady, kick your ass, and drive off in your wheels. ... Because it's a badass.

It does two things only, and it does both of them exceptionally well, which is metal and as clean as clean can get. Run a boost into the crunch channel and you have a punchy razor tight unique metal tone. The clean channel is probably one of the best out there, hi gain amp or not.

I wouldn't say it's meaner than a Herbert though....

 

[Mailman1971]

I wouldn't say it's meaner than a Herbert though....

Ok.....its been a few years since I had the Cobra.....would like to do the old A/B with the 2 amps.
But its one pissed off Mutha for sure!!!

 

[rottingcorpse]

be careful with it if your gonna be gigging with it. i had two friends in different bands playing them on the road, and they both said they were made of glass. you have to let them cool off before moving them. and don't bump them hard, i mean at all.

don't expect to use a noise gate in the loop.

one of the best heavy tones i ever had. want another one and get the loop modded.

 

[jwhitman]

If you bring a Cobra home it will bang your old lady, kick your ass, and drive off in your wheels. ... Because it's a badass.

It does two things only, and it does both of them exceptionally well, which is metal and as clean as clean can get. Run a boost into the crunch channel and you have a punchy razor tight unique metal tone. The clean channel is probably one of the best out there, hi gain amp or not.

I wouldn't say it's meaner than a Herbert though....

LMFAO. I play anything from groove hard rock, think Godsmack, Disturbed etc etc, to mainstream, think Breaking Benjamin, Seether, Tool, Skillet, to metal along the lines of Killswitch Engage, Soilwork and such.

So theoretically I need an amp that can do the "cleanest of cleans" as a good base for FX and other ambient sounds and an extremely mean amp that I won't have to run an OD in front of to get squeals and such from. I need MIDI so that I can switch channels and control a G-Major II with. I don't want to use OD, or any other pedals for that matter, so my rack can be as simple as possible. The moment I start adding individual pedals is the moment I have to by a loop switcher and nearly double the size of my rack. I think the Cobra will fit the bill, I just really want some "real world" testimony on the capability or the crapibility of this amp.

 

[jwhitman]

be careful with it if your gonna be gigging with it. i had two friends in different bands playing them on the road, and they both said they were made of glass. you have to let them cool off before moving them. and don't bump them hard, i mean at all.

don't expect to use a noise gate in the loop.

one of the best heavy tones i ever had. want another one and get the loop modded.

Loop modded? What's wrong with the loop?

You can't move them hot? Why's that?

 

[Les Zombie]

I owned 3 of them and the cleans are great, i never used the loop so i cant help you with that. the amp sounds great for heavier styles of music and like someone else said it can sound heavy and less heavy. i wasnt inlove iwth the build quality for the price they ask for a new amp but the used prices are pretty decent. my first cobra brokedown and had a bunch of issues but the other 2 was fine. its a tricky amp to dial in and can sound like shit but with the right speakers and pickups it will reward you.

 

[rottingcorpse]

my bros that had them on the road said if the took any kinda bump right after they took them off stage the would stop working. they had to be handled with care when they were still hot. they are not the most road worthy/bullet proof amps out there.

 

[wwhhaatt]

I've owned one since 04'. It's seen tons of use and been dropped 5 ft flat onto concrete and still works fine. I've never played another amp that can handle lots of pedals into the front and still keep a tight sound.

 

[moltenmetalburn]

Plus one. Seen dozens of these go belly up on thenroad under daily professional use. Tour with caution.

 

[JohnnyC]

owned one when i was playing the brootals+gigging, my taste have now "matured" but i still own a framus (30W EL84)

RE the fx loop

framus loops are a bit finnicky and i battled with them for some time.

because the stock loop is
1) parallel ...even with the fx mix knob set to 100%, it isnt 100%series, which causes issues with phase cancellation when the fx is bypassed.

this can be overcome with fx units that have a kill/dry feature. this will allow you to use stuff like chorus/delay/phaser in the loop with good results (just work out how much dry/wet blend you want by adjusting the amps fx mix knob)

however...if you want to use fx that needs the full signal processed (ie noise gates,eqs,tremolos/compressors) you will need to mod the fx loop to series.

2) line level loop, this is the other bitch, most rack units are +4db, framus loops is 0db, and pedal/instrument signal is -10db. select the closest output on you fx unit to match the framus loop (0db) or the closest level, so that the fx unit send level doesnt clip the cobras fx return and vice versa

 

[Big Rich]

played a cobra through a cobra cab and it was a monster

by far one of the most beastly modern sounding metal amps out ....

only reason i dont own one is cuz of all the quality control talk ive heard, apparently there made like shit.

and another thing is that it is very picky when its not paired with the right speakers/cabinet and pickups. thers alot of things that can make it sound bad

just buy a mark 5 and call it a day

 

[RJF]

played a cobra through a cobra cab and it was a monster

by far one of the most beastly modern sounding metal amps out ....

only reason i dont own one is cuz of all the quality control talk ive heard, apparently there made like shit.

and another thing is that it is very picky when its not paired with the right speakers/cabinet and pickups. thers alot of things that can make it sound bad

just buy a mark 5 and call it a day

This is true, about the Cobra needing the Cobra cab. Pair it's cab with the Cobra head and you can pretty much nuke anything in it's path.