Framus Dragon (update)

[JohnnyC]

RE the OP on the subject on too much bass.
i found running the bass eq knob o the crunc and lead channesl quite low (around 9-10oclock) and compensating with the deep knob.
that was where i found that tight percussive thud...especially on single notes which just seem to punch through cabs

And RE greenbacks Vs V30s
at low volumes and to a certain extent high level volumes, the cobras crunch channel (which is why you buy the cobra for in hte first place) really work well. the LEad channel with V30s however was great for both low and high volumes. but after i got the matching cobra cab...wow.

that said...i love the dragons lead channel. and if i were to ever require a 100W EL34 amp again...it would be on the top of my list.

 

[nighttrain69]

i agree ,after hearing many amps ,personally i havent heard much that sounds better..if the dragon was ever stolen

 

[Gsxrbusa]

RE the OP on the subject on too much bass.
i found running the bass eq knob o the crunc and lead channesl quite low (around 9-10oclock) and compensating with the deep knob.
that was where i found that tight percussive thud...especially on single notes which just seem to punch through cabs

And RE greenbacks Vs V30s
at low volumes and to a certain extent high level volumes, the cobras crunch channel (which is why you buy the cobra for in hte first place) really work well. the LEad channel with V30s however was great for both low and high volumes. but after i got the matching cobra cab...wow.

that said...i love the dragons lead channel. and if i were to ever require a 100W EL34 amp again...it would be on the top of my list.

Yeah, Thats's funny we had the bass set up the same. I had it at 9oclock and depth at 9-10 oclock and it was perfect. It does not need any more bass than that, and that was bringing a hardcore thump. As I said before the Dragon sounded killer through the Fat Bottom VHT and pretty damn good through the Engl XXL with V30's. But running both cabs at the same time was the best of both worlds.

i agree ,after hearing many amps ,personally i havent heard much that sounds better..if the dragon was ever stolen

This amp really did surprize me, I like it.

 

[the4thlast1]

I liked my Cobra alot!!
Always wanted to try the dragon.
If someone buys a Cobra to play Blues licks on.....barking up the wrong tree!
That amp is METAL!!
Great clean on it though.

Yeah, The Cobra really has no need for a third channel. On my Cobra it sounded identical on lead and crunch. I had an older version. Maybe the newer versions had some differences. Some guys say the newer Cobras are not that way. IDK. Mine would breath fire or go clean and nothin inbetween. They should have called the Cobra the Dragon for it's fire breathing abilities.

There is one for sale locally here for $1250.
So tempting, but have no need for another three channel head.

Dude, if you think the Cobra's crunch and lead channels sound identical you're crazy!!! They sound NOTHING alike.

Most of us have no need for another head but, my stable gets lonely and they need new friends at times.

Well what version did/do you have? Because my Cobra Lead and Crunch sounded Identical. And I mean fucking IDENTICAL, I am not crazy. Everyone who heard it agreed. Of course they are not dialed in on the controls exactly the same but sounded the same If I wanted them to. I had an older internal biased one. Everyone who has the newer ones say the crunch/lead are way different from each other. Swear to fucking God.

Oh I believe you for sure. It turns out that both the Dragon and Cobra went through there fair share of changes in design of the preamp through the years of production. I had a older Dragon side by side with a new one and they sounded a good deal different. I have also heard from a couple reliable sources that the older Cobras sound different from the newer ones. There have been 3 or 4 different versions of both heads, each version tweaked a little and sounding a little different from the last.

My Cobra was made when they first started with the external bias points, not sure which version it was but the crunch and lead channel sounded very different. I loved the Cobra and always wondered what a mix of the crunch and lead channel would sound like. Basically sometimes the crunch channel was a bit to dry and raw and the Lead channel was a bit to compressed, liquidy....... It was great to have those two sounds though.... For me personally I like a rhythm tone that can go right to a solo and sound just as good. With the Cobra I had any lead work had to be done on the Lead channel and rhythm on the crunch. My band plays some riffs that have lead work within the riff so it wasnt always perfect but what is ?

Now maybe your older non external bias Cobra has that sound. I would imagine if both channels sound the same then it is probably sounding like somewhat of a mix of the two channels the newer ones have. Does your Cobra sound very mean, aggressive, tight, raw, and open ? or does it sound dark, a little compressed, a little squishy, liquidy kinda like a better refined recto ? If it sounds somewhere in the middle then I would love to try your Cobra.......... However if this is the case then you are missing out somewhat on the magic of the newer Cobras crunch channel, That channel has one of the most unique tones IMO....It just kills for Metal Rhythm, like I said not the best for lead work but riffs are just mean as hell.

 

[Gsxrbusa]

I liked my Cobra alot!!
Always wanted to try the dragon.
If someone buys a Cobra to play Blues licks on.....barking up the wrong tree!
That amp is METAL!!
Great clean on it though.

Yeah, The Cobra really has no need for a third channel. On my Cobra it sounded identical on lead and crunch. I had an older version. Maybe the newer versions had some differences. Some guys say the newer Cobras are not that way. IDK. Mine would breath fire or go clean and nothin inbetween. They should have called the Cobra the Dragon for it's fire breathing abilities.

There is one for sale locally here for $1250.
So tempting, but have no need for another three channel head.

Dude, if you think the Cobra's crunch and lead channels sound identical you're crazy!!! They sound NOTHING alike.

Most of us have no need for another head but, my stable gets lonely and they need new friends at times.

Well what version did/do you have? Because my Cobra Lead and Crunch sounded Identical. And I mean fucking IDENTICAL, I am not crazy. Everyone who heard it agreed. Of course they are not dialed in on the controls exactly the same but sounded the same If I wanted them to. I had an older internal biased one. Everyone who has the newer ones say the crunch/lead are way different from each other. Swear to fucking God.

Oh I believe you for sure. It turns out that both the Dragon and Cobra went through there fair share of changes in design of the preamp through the years of production. I had a older Dragon side by side with a new one and they sounded a good deal different. I have also heard from a couple reliable sources that the older Cobras sound different from the newer ones. There have been 3 or 4 different versions of both heads, each version tweaked a little and sounding a little different from the last.

My Cobra was made when they first started with the external bias points, not sure which version it was but the crunch and lead channel sounded very different. I loved the Cobra and always wondered what a mix of the crunch and lead channel would sound like. Basically sometimes the crunch channel was a bit to dry and raw and the Lead channel was a bit to compressed, liquidy....... It was great to have those two sounds though.... For me personally I like a rhythm tone that can go right to a solo and sound just as good. With the Cobra I had any lead work had to be done on the Lead channel and rhythm on the crunch. My band plays some riffs that have lead work within the riff so it wasnt always perfect but what is ?

Now maybe your older non external bias Cobra has that sound. I would imagine if both channels sound the same then it is probably sounding like somewhat of a mix of the two channels the newer ones have. Does your Cobra sound very mean, aggressive, tight, raw, and open ? or does it sound dark, a little compressed, a little squishy, liquidy kinda like a better refined recto ? If it sounds somewhere in the middle then I would love to try your Cobra.......... However if this is the case then you are missing out somewhat on the magic of the newer Cobras crunch channel, That channel has one of the most unique tones IMO....It just kills for Metal Rhythm, like I said not the best for lead work but riffs are just mean as hell.

Mine was dark and you described it best by saying a refined recto. It was good but I felt it got lost in the mix a bit being darker, IDK. I sold it because I like a brighter amp, VHT UL is my go to amp right now. Now that you have told me the difference i want to try a newer one (way to go man ) Thanks for the post man.

 

[Mailman1971]

Let me know how you like the Dragon over the Cobra.
If I go after another "METAL" amp.....it will be the Cobra.

 

[FourT6and2]

I had a Dragon for about a year. I hated that thing. Got rid of it as soon as I could.

 

[Gsxrbusa]

Let me know how you like the Dragon over the Cobra.
If I go after another "METAL" amp.....it will be the Cobra.

You got it man

I had a Dragon for about a year. I hated that thing. Got rid of it as soon as I could.

That is how the current owner of this amp feels and why I am getting a smokin deal. Sounded good through my cabs and set up.

 

[the4thlast1]

Cool man so it seems your Cobra was more like having 2 channels voiced like the lead channel of the newer ones if that makes sense. I would say if you ever get a chance to try the newer ones because like I was saying before the crunch channel on the newer ones with external bias points is very unique. Its not dark, infact its pretty bright and with certain pickups it can even be to bright..... its Probably the most raw and mean sound out there.

I bet you will like the Dragon a lot because the Dragon is something like the lead channel of the Cobra but better...... The best sounding Framus would be if they made an amp with the Crunch channel of the newer Cobras and the Lead channel of the Dragon. Both clean channels are great so its a toss up there. I know they say the Cobra can be modded this way but I never got to try it.

 

[FourT6and2]

Let me know how you like the Dragon over the Cobra.
If I go after another "METAL" amp.....it will be the Cobra.

You got it man

I had a Dragon for about a year. I hated that thing. Got rid of it as soon as I could.

That is how the current owner of this amp feels and why I am getting a smokin deal. Sounded good through my cabs and set up.

You see, that's how I felt when I first bought it...

 

[Gsxrbusa]

Cool man so it seems your Cobra was more like having 2 channels voiced like the lead channel of the newer ones if that makes sense. I would say if you ever get a chance to try the newer ones because like I was saying before the crunch channel on the newer ones with external bias points is very unique. Its not dark, infact its pretty bright and with certain pickups it can even be to bright..... its Probably the most raw and mean sound out there.

I bet you will like the Dragon a lot because the Dragon is something like the lead channel of the Cobra but better...... The best sounding Framus would be if they made an amp with the Crunch channel of the newer Cobras and the Lead channel of the Dragon. Both clean channels are great so its a toss up there. I know they say the Cobra can be modded this way but I never got to try it.

For sure man, would like to hear a newer one. I had heard that about modding too. Wonder if I could have the Crunch channel, of the Dragon, modded to sound like the newer Cobra crunch?

Let me know how you like the Dragon over the Cobra.
If I go after another "METAL" amp.....it will be the Cobra.

You got it man

I had a Dragon for about a year. I hated that thing. Got rid of it as soon as I could.

That is how the current owner of this amp feels and why I am getting a smokin deal. Sounded good through my cabs and set up.

You see, that's how I felt when I first bought it...

It's cool man, not like it's my only amp. If I hate it after a while I will just turn it, maybe after the prices(hopefully) go back up.

 

[RJF]

Is anyone else's Cobra really noisy? Mind hisses a ton and feeds back easy.

 

[Gsxrbusa]

Is anyone else's Cobra really noisy? Mind hisses a ton and feeds back easy.

Well, on the older models they had an adjustment pot on the same board as the preamps tubes are mounted on. You could adjust the preamp "noise", kinda cool. Don't know the technical term for the pot/function but it does lower the hiss and noise. IDK if the newer ones have that adjustment or not. The pot looks identical to the bias adjustment pot so be carefull not to go cranking on that pot instead. Have you swapped out the preamp tubes with something else to see if that is causing your noise?

 

[FourT6and2]

It's cool man, not like it's my only amp. If I hate it after a while I will just turn it, maybe after the prices(hopefully) go back up.

No worries. I hope you enjoy it! I will say, however, that I did like the Effects Loop on the Dragon. Very transparent and easy to get it to work well with most pedals.

 

[JohnnyC]

^ you liked the effects loop?

i battled with framus loops for years...YEARS!
line level (0db) and parallel.

only thing i could get to play nice in hte loop was the eventide timefactor (without going rack gear) as that had BOTH line level connections AND Kill/dry functions

and can anyone actually confirm this made in china stuff about framus? seems a lot to me like internet hearsay.

my cobra was the V5 (there were 3 revisions when i purchased it V1 V2 and V5)
the V5 having hte external bias. crunch and lead channel were diffrent. one channel sounded like poop with V30s...both sounded killer with Greenbacks.

 

[RJF]

Is anyone else's Cobra really noisy? Mind hisses a ton and feeds back easy.

Well, on the older models they had an adjustment pot on the same board as the preamps tubes are mounted on. You could adjust the preamp "noise", kinda cool. Don't know the technical term for the pot/function but it does lower the hiss and noise. IDK if the newer ones have that adjustment or not. The pot looks identical to the bias adjustment pot so be carefull not to go cranking on that pot instead. Have you swapped out the preamp tubes with something else to see if that is causing your noise?

Mine has the Doug's Tubes tone kit in it, and sounds killer, so I figured the amp was just a noisy one. I'll open it up and see if I can find that pot.

 

[Spaceboy]

How's the build of the Framus Cobra? I've seen people comment here and there that they are sub-par, and I remember someone describing them as 'frail'. I'm fairly certain Mitch Harris uses those amplifiers to tour with Napalm Death, who have a huge stage sound, and I'm an enormous fan of that band.

 

[rottingcorpse]

i had both a cobra and a dragon at one time. wish i kept the dragon.

Yeah, I think I like the Dragon better. How do you like the Mr. Hector?

man, i love it.

i recently sold the cobra. the guy who bought it had always wanted to try the mr.hector, and offered me the same cash for it as he did the cobra. probably should have sold it for the money he offered, but i really do like that head a lot. not enough bass, but you KNOW the isp sub solves that problem. i really like the laboga's midrange. and i never play clean, so the single tone controls don't bother me.

i have had issues with the cobra's noise and loop too. i tried taming the noise with a decimator, but was having problems with the loop. the dragon i had was much more quiet, and it's loop worked fine. (i know,knob to the left,parallel, right is series)

 

[JohnnyC]

the issue with the parallel loop is that even with the mix knob fully clockwise...it isnt 100% series.
hence why most people blame the loop for tone sucking when it is in fact phase cancellation they are experiencing when their pedals is in bypass mode.

thank f#ck for effects units with kill/dry functions.

 

[JohnnyC]

How's the build of the Framus Cobra? I've seen people comment here and there that they are sub-par, and I remember someone describing them as 'frail'. I'm fairly certain Mitch Harris uses those amplifiers to tour with Napalm Death, who have a huge stage sound, and I'm an enormous fan of that band.

the tolex is paper thin. just by looking at it...it tears.
and it indents easilly with anything that has some weight on it

its not "boutique" quality build but i havent had any issues (other than cosmetic) with the cobra i gigged with for 2 years.

FYI...DO NOT LICK THE FACEPLATE.