Friedman BE-100 vs Bray 4550

[CB Rocker]

Anyone out there had the privilege to play through both amps? Please share your thoughts on comparing the two with tone, feel, etc. I am GAS'ing for a hot rodded plexi and don't live near a dealer to try myself. I want an EL-34 amp that can cover blues rock (Led Zep) to 80's (VH) to modern (Alice). Both of these amps get great reviews but I haven’t read a comparison between the two. Thanks!

 

[eljodon]

Anyone out there had the privilege to play through both amps? Please share your thoughts on comparing the two with tone, feel, etc. I am GAS'ing for a hot rodded plexi and don't live near a dealer to try myself. I want an EL-34 amp that can cover blues rock (Led Zep) to 80's (VH) to modern (Alice). Both of these amps get great reviews but I haven’t read a comparison between the two. Thanks!

They're both great amps! I have a Marsha and I'm getting my Metro Plexi modded by David so I'll be able to give you a better opinion. But I believe that the Marsha might give you a little bit more options with the Fat switch, C45,Saturation and a HB and HBE channels which are voiced differently. The Bray will give you an AC DC/ VH sound and the Freedman more toward 80's 90's . I would say get both!! LOL!

 

[LP Freak]

The Friedman is tighter undeed.

 

[joepete77]

Bray nails the vh tone and classic pushed plexi tone , the freidman is tighter and can get heavier with hbe channel and the sat clipping option. Freidman also has the built in footswitchable simple clean channel standard. Freidman also seems to have a thicker/darker voice with more bass on tap. I know bray can tailor your build to your style with different options , I am sure that Dave freidman could do this also but I am not sure if they come with the option. Both are great sounding usa hand wired amps. Some great demos and clips for each builder can be found on YouTube and their websites, probably the two best guys for Marshall mod circuits.

 

[joepete77]

Anyone out there had the privilege to play through both amps? Please share your thoughts on comparing the two with tone, feel, etc. I am GAS'ing for a hot rodded plexi and don't live near a dealer to try myself. I want an EL-34 amp that can cover blues rock (Led Zep) to 80's (VH) to modern (Alice). Both of these amps get great reviews but I haven’t read a comparison between the two. Thanks!

They're both great amps! I have a Marsha and I'm getting my Metro Plexi modded by David so I'll be able to give you a better opinion. But I believe that the Marsha might give you a little bit more options with the Fat switch, C45,Saturation and a HB and HBE channels which are voiced differently. The Bray will give you an AC DC/ VH sound and the Freedman more toward 80's 90's . I would say get both!! LOL!

I am curious to see how you like your bray when you get it back. I hope you post some clips

 

[guitarmike]

It will be interesting to hear how good the amp sounds at lower volumes. I have heard that Bray's need a lot of volume to sound decent.

 

[ericsabbath]

if you're looking for the true cranked plexi sound, brays are hard to beat
and that's exactly because his mods over the classic marshall circuit are much less extensive than friedman's
it's like supersoldier serum x ooze
friedmans are mutant ninjas and pretty unique, while brays are marshalls in their best performance

for the classic stuff I'd definitely pick a bray over most amps in the market, including friedmans
but the friedman BE-100 has quite unique tones and a ton of versatility
a bray would still do AiC or Tool with a booster, anyway, and NAIL those Jake E. Lee marshall tones on Badlands albums even in the lowest volumes

 

[joepete77]

It will be interesting to hear how good the amp sounds at lower volumes. I have heard that Bray's need a lot of volume to sound decent.

I don't know why this gets repeated but my bray can scream at even iPod volume levels its not one of those masters that goes from 1 to ten and blows your ears out. It's so good it makes owning a bedroom or small watt amp pointless.

 

[ConcreteVampire]

if you're looking for the true cranked plexi sound, brays are hard to beat
and that's exactly because his mods over the classic marshall circuit are much less extensive than friedman's
it's like supersoldier serum x ooze
friedmans are mutant ninjas and pretty unique, while brays are marshalls in their best performance

for the classic stuff I'd definitely pick a bray over most amps in the market, including friedmans
but the friedman BE-100 has quite unique tones and a ton of versatility
a bray would still do AiC or Tool with a booster, anyway, and NAIL those Jake E. Lee marshall tones on Badlands albums even in the lowest volumes

Eric has an excellent ear for Marshall tones and circuits.
I endorse this statement!

Re:Bray low Volume? Like the post before, one of if not the best low volume cranked tones. Bray demoed it for me at the amp show, and the tv volume was stupid good!

 

[LP Freak]

It will be interesting to hear how good the amp sounds at lower volumes. I have heard that Bray's need a lot of volume to sound decent.

I don't know why this gets repeated but my bray can scream at even iPod volume levels its not one of those masters that goes from 1 to ten and blows your ears out. It's so good it makes owning a bedroom or small watt amp pointless.

It's because it's obvious that Bray records his clips at pretty high volume.

 

[bonedarrell]

if you're looking for the true cranked plexi sound, brays are hard to beat
and that's exactly because his mods over the classic marshall circuit are much less extensive than friedman's
it's like supersoldier serum x ooze
friedmans are mutant ninjas and pretty unique, while brays are marshalls in their best performance

for the classic stuff I'd definitely pick a bray over most amps in the market, including friedmans
but the friedman BE-100 has quite unique tones and a ton of versatility
a bray would still do AiC or Tool with a booster, anyway, and NAIL those Jake E. Lee marshall tones on Badlands albums even in the lowest volumes

Eric has an excellent ear for Marshall tones and circuits.
I endorse this statement!

Re:Bray low Volume? Like the post before, one of if not the best low volume cranked tones. Bray demoed it for me at the amp show, and the tv volume was stupid good!

Bray must have changed something recently. The Bray I owned sounded like ass at low volumes and sounded like a massive cranked Plexi at high volumes.......because, well. it WAS a cranked plexi in that scenario. Go with the the Friedman!

 

[guitarmike]

It will be interesting to hear how good the amp sounds at lower volumes. I have heard that Bray's need a lot of volume to sound decent.

I don't know why this gets repeated but my bray can scream at even iPod volume levels its not one of those masters that goes from 1 to ten and blows your ears out. It's so good it makes owning a bedroom or small watt amp pointless.

I repeated it because when I asked about Bray amps a couple of months ago and was told by some here that owned Brays and Friedman's amps that The Bray does not sound so good at low levels as does the Friedman stuff.
I don't want to have different amps for practicing at home or playing small gigs vs playing outdoors at a festival. A Marshall modded by Bray or Friedman will cost $1500+. At that price point the amp should work well at any volume unless it was specifically designed not to. I am glad to hear the Bray works that way for you. Bray's work sounds fantastic and it would be a shame if you couldn't use the amp for practice.

 

[maddnotez]

Fwiw: only clips here and am definitely not a seeker of the plexi/vh tone but that Bray was very impressive.

 

[CB Rocker]

Thanks guys for the input. All good stuff. Definitely interested in joepete77's comparison of his Marsha and new Bray modded Plexi.

 

[LP Freak]

I think you guys forgot about the calboration of Friedman and Metropoulos. Those are some smokin' amps for a Plexi tone.

 

[joepete77]

I have never heard a plexi clip that impressed me as much as the Bray's. Just so fat and chewy with amazing touch sensitivity. I owned a handwired 1959 and it was a low gain mod (bought used) so I didnt get all the tones I was hearing on the demo's but when it was cranked it was awesome just couldnt play it that way often. So I traded it for a Triamp MK I and still have this amp which is just great as well.

That's the thing, since you got it used it might have been ordered with a different spec and tone in mind. A lot of brays mods are different and built to order. Some are ordered with headroom in mind and are ordered with no master volume and no channels jumpered internally. I have a mod 1 with some extras and I have never had any amp sound as cranked up as this yet still be whisper volume levels. Most of brays clips are recorded at talking volume levels which is why he calls his master the "wife" knob. As of now my bray is my number 1 amp but I have a freidman hopefully en route back soon which may give my bray a break! Can't wait to spend time dialing it in

 

[LP Freak]

I'd take a metro over friedman for a more authentic tone.. just my opinion...

You're not getting what I'm saying. George and Dave designed an amp together.

Here, listen.

 

[Jofipe]

Friedmans are a work of their own. Awesome, and while "Marshalls" indeed, it's very Friedman. He's made a tone of his own thats very thick in the mids/low-mids... even in the modded Marshalls. BUT it sounds fantastic!! It all depends on what you want I guess.