Friedman BE100 Pedal Inbound. Begin bulge sequence.....

[romanianreaper]

I picked up a Friedman BE100 pedal and should have it in a few days. I don't really NEED the pedal because I have a Fractal Axe-Fx II with the Friedman amp emulations but really want to hear how the pedal sounds in front of a clean amp emulation. I'm even thinking of picking up a little combo amp to run the pedal into. From the clips I've heard, sounds like it has an extra little something that gives it that edge. I think best use with this would be into a really clean amp but then again, people have been ranting about how great it sounds boosting a Marshall, etc. so we'll see.

 

[RaceU4her]

are these available now??

 

[Rick Lee]

I got one Sat. morning at the local GC, took it right to band practice and will gig with it this coming Sat. Takes LOT of dialing in, but it's pretty cool. If the gain is too much, there is an internal trim pot under the bottom cover.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

So as we figured.. a distortion box that like many dials the gain way too high and will not in fact make your amp the same as a 3,000$ amplifier. There's a shocker! Even the Pete Thorn clips didn't impress me that much.

 

[Rick Lee]

How could you not like Pete's demo? Though that was also done through a $3k amp., so the jury is still out on how it does with a cheap amp. I ran BE pedal through my Metro kit '69 Plexi 100w clone. That's not a crazy expensive amp, but it's a pretty clean organic sound. So the pedal dirtied it up a lot more than a MV or attenuator could have. I also ran it through my '79 JMP 50, which I have $500 into. So it's kind of cheap, but still a nice amp.

 

[Bankrupted A Casino]

So as we figured.. a distortion box that like many dials the gain way too high and will not in fact make your amp the same as a 3,000$ amplifier. There's a shocker! Even the Pete Thorn clips didn't impress me that much.

You must be fun at parties

 

[sjk]

So as we figured.. a distortion box that like many dials the gain way too high and will not in fact make your amp the same as a 3,000$ amplifier. There's a shocker! Even the Pete Thorn clips didn't impress me that much.

You must be fun at parties

Least his reply was honest.

Congrats on the incoming pedal!

 

[Bankrupted A Casino]

So as we figured.. a distortion box that like many dials the gain way too high and will not in fact make your amp the same as a 3,000$ amplifier. There's a shocker! Even the Pete Thorn clips didn't impress me that much.

You must be fun at parties

Least his reply was honest.

Congrats on the incoming pedal!

I'd say needlessly cynical rather than honest but ok.

 

[hatrick00]

So as we figured.. a distortion box that like many dials the gain way too high and will not in fact make your amp the same as a 3,000$ amplifier. There's a shocker! Even the Pete Thorn clips didn't impress me that much.

Have you played this pedal? I thought Pete's demo was pretty amazing.

 

[Tone Merchant]

So as we figured.. a distortion box that like many dials the gain way too high and will not in fact make your amp the same as a 3,000$ amplifier. There's a shocker! Even the Pete Thorn clips didn't impress me that much.

I dont chime in much , but i have to know what clips/video impresses you?

 

[Beyond Black]

So as we figured.. a distortion box that like many dials the gain way too high and will not in fact make your amp the same as a 3,000$ amplifier. There's a shocker! Even the Pete Thorn clips didn't impress me that much.

I dont chime in much , but i have to know what clips/video impresses you?

Yeah, really. That demo sounded amazing. What would it take to impress you, Pete doing a demo for you in your home?

 

[LP Freak]

So as we figured.. a distortion box that like many dials the gain way too high and will not in fact make your amp the same as a 3,000$ amplifier. There's a shocker! Even the Pete Thorn clips didn't impress me that much.

I dont chime in much , but i have to know what clips/video impresses you?

Yeah, really. That demo sounded amazing. What would it take to impress you, Pete doing a demo for you in your home?

Debbie Downer's never happy. He loves bagging on Friedman and pretty much everything else he's never tried.

 

[webrthomson]

Have to say I thought that Pete's demo sounded good, most of his do

I'm excited about the BE-OD, and the Diezel VH pedal too, oh yeah and the Angry Charlie - looking for a pedal that actually sounds like a amps dirty channel - the BE-OD sounded like that in all the demos I've seen and that's a tough one to do!

So I've pre-ordered

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

I am actually a lot of fun at parties! But I am often also very blunt and it drives my wife nuts. Anyways , Pete's demo didn't impress me because I have watched a ton of his videos and am able to compare the killer tones he gets and all the pedals he has demo'd when compared to his amps, just fall short for me. All I am saying is that I could use a carl Martin plexi tone to push a Marshall too... Just about any overdrive stacked on top of a good circuit will push it. Pedal right through clean amp though, of course it isn't going to stack up to the real deal! That's all I am saying.In a mix though, maybe none of this matters. Sorry, we can't all love everything Friedman!!! God forbid I be shunned by the community!!

 

[romanianreaper]

Sorry, we can't all love everything Friedman!!! God forbid I be shunned by the community!!

We are going to burn a big "F" into your skin.

Seriously though, there is nothing wrong with folks disagreeing, especially about tones, amps, etc. I'm a big Friedman fan but I was interested in that tone early on and had a Marshall modded by Dave. For me, Friedman represents the opposite of what happened with the Cameron situation and that is why I respect Dave and his business. I wanted a Cameron so bad years ago and watched everything crumble and Friedman came in after all of that and he just keeps making products that are made for players like us on the forum.

The pedal is a cheaper way for me to get some of that Friedman magic. Don't get me wrong, I'd love an amp but I don't gig anymore and not willing to spend that much, especially since I already have a Fractal Axe-Fx.

 

[Mailman1971]

I am sure I will snag one someday for shits and giggles.

I liked Petes Demo. I thought it showed the depth of the pedal quite a bit.

 

[AndyK]

Best part of Petes demo was when he pushed the front end of his SL68 with the BE pedal. Really sounded like a Friedman modded amp to me, this with the gain trim pot at noon. I bet lowering that trim pot would make it more like an OD. Fun times!

 

[psychodave]

"Most" of Pete's demo didn't impress me much, however I did like where he went through the knob settings and hit the bright switch and was able to use the pedal to adjust the sound back to something reasonable. That seems to make it versatile for multiple amps.

I called my local GC in the Philly area and asked about the pedal. The salesman told me in a laugh that they will never get Friedman products in store unless used. Then told me to try the Manhattan GC. lol. Such a shitty company and I'm glad I only buy from them so I have the opportunity to make a return within 30-45 days.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Let's take the foot off the gas for a moment.. yes it is true that I hear the signature Friedman mids in a lot of the demos which just don't do it for me. To each their own, but how much fun would this forum be if we all licked the same ice cream from the same cone all the time?? (eesh, that sounded a little...... akward)

I have three Friedman modules for my Randall Lynch box and I really like two of them. Brahma is fantastic, so is the Mr. Scary. I have the judge/GTO which is the closest to the BE in tone and vibe and it has those mids which i find soft/hollow. So the BE is not for me. I guess it pisses you guys off when I mention it but we also sit through countless BE jizz posts so i think it is fair to balance them out. Some of you guys take it personally. I don't usually get bent out of shape if someone tells me JCM800's are the worst amps in the world and Mesa's rule for example..

So what does interest me from Friedman? I think the smallbox has a different sound and sounds much better to my ears. The Dirty Shirley I think I hear more openess and rawness. The tube pedal that he came out with at NAMM sounded much better and more complex to my ears than the BE100 pedal. The pedal in the demo sounds a lot like the 5150 did... pedal gain and tons of it. I like Pete's overdrive/booster demos and just about any amp he puts up there. I don't feel the distortion boxes sound as good as the real deal (thoughthe CM sounded pretty good) and I think the modelers like Axe or Line 6 fall short in his demos. In all his mixes, everything sounds good and is passable. So really, all our opinions can essentially be mixed and thrown into a blender because come mix time, anything can sit right if the person behind the desk mixes it in properly.

Hope that clears it up without shitting too much on the party... guarantee we will see just as many of these pop up for sale within a month just like we see amps popping up for sale 2 days after a stellar review from some of our fellow forumites.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

So as we figured.. a distortion box that like many dials the gain way too high and will not in fact make your amp the same as a 3,000$ amplifier. There's a shocker! Even the Pete Thorn clips didn't impress me that much.

I dont chime in much , but i have to know what clips/video impresses you?

Yeah, really. That demo sounded amazing. What would it take to impress you, Pete doing a demo for you in your home?

Debbie Downer's never happy. He loves bagging on Friedman and pretty much everything else he's never tried.

I love statements like these because people like you most certainly lump all the critiques from multiple people into one profile and pin it on whoever doesn't share your opinion. You are a superstar, congrats!