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

[Mailman1971]

Shit for as much $$$$ I have dumped thru the years....

$200 is a spit in the bucket.

And yes....I do like what I hear in the clips and demos.

 

[Bankrupted A Casino]

All very true. Don't forget that he's also using two high dollar, killer amps that can't put out a bad tone between them. We're all gear snobs here and I have some really nice amps too. But I just think the point of demo'ing this pedal is lost when run through top quality amps. I would like to see this pedal demo'ed through amps that are either naturally very clean (Twin Reverb) or cheapo amps that could use some good tone (Crate, Acoustic, etc.). I've never been a pedal guy and am just starting to get into them because of my two recent Marshall clone builds that don't have enough hair on them by themselves.

I don't think the guys at Friedman look at it this way. I believe their goal is to show that this pedal is capable of world class tones in the right hands. I think this is a no compromise pedal made to sound this good through no compromise pedal platforms. If a $300 Peavey Classic doesn't sound as good as a $3000 Suhr, I'm not sure it's fair to expect a $200 pedal to elevate the Peavey to Suhr level.

However, I believe that Pete would have made this pedal sound just as good in his home studio through a $300 Peavey Classic. That's what he does. And those of us watching start wrestling with our wallets to see if we can keep them closed.

I have a Classic 30 combo and I'm getting this pedal very soon. Will put up a couple clips for sure.

 

[psychodave]

WOW.....Got the Friedman pedal today and all i can say is that it's totally killer....I get my 79 JMP to sound just like my Cantrell....Amazing pedal

Your killing me man.

Congrats! Think I am gonna order one this weekend.

lol.....Dan this is a really killer pedal....I have tried a few with the stock JMP and this one i feel is the best...I honestly can dial in the same tones as my Friedman Cantrell...Give one a spin

Looks like this JJ is going back for a second time.

 

[petethorn]

Heya fellas!
Just for clarity- I use the PT100 CH1 often, in these pedal vids, precisely because it is really a BF Fender type circuit. So if you use a Fender-ish clean, you're hearing an excellent representation of that in these vids I make! Thanks for all the kind words,
Pete

 

[crankyrayhanky]

Hey Pete

Put one through a tiny terror and play some vanilla chords on a guitar that is only somewhat in tune. Tempo should randomly fluctuate...We need to hear what it could sound like in our hands, lol.

Your gear demos rock! The Friedman pedal sounds great....not sure if I want to give that a spin or just wait for the new synergy stuff. I hope you get some of that in your hands

 

[splawner]

WOW.....Got the Friedman pedal today and all i can say is that it's totally killer....I get my 79 JMP to sound just like my Cantrell....Amazing pedal

Your killing me man.

Congrats! Think I am gonna order one this weekend.

lol.....Dan this is a really killer pedal....I have tried a few with the stock JMP and this one i feel is the best...I honestly can dial in the same tones as my Friedman Cantrell...Give one a spin

Thanks Vince for the Final push.

Done.....and DONE!!

Cool Dan.... I think you will dig it...it has boat loads of gain... I have my gain set at 9 o clock and it still bites hard....enjoy

 

[J-Rocks]

Mine gets delivered tomorrow, cant wait to check it out.

 

[Red_Label]

Heya fellas!
Just for clarity- I use the PT100 CH1 often, in these pedal vids, precisely because it is really a BF Fender type circuit. So if you use a Fender-ish clean, you're hearing an excellent representation of that in these vids I make! Thanks for all the kind words,
Pete

Let's see here... I bought two Plexitones based on your vids, a TC Nova System, got a BE-OD on the way, and who knows what else I've bought based on your demos. You're doing awesome work as always Pete.

P.S. I DVR'd a Melissa Etheridge performance a while back in hopes of seeing your live work on my 70" hi-def TV... and was much disappointed when I went to watch it and you weren't on stage.

 

[Candiria]

"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.

Which one? Cherry Hill? That store has gone so far south. Used to stock Mesa, Tom Anderson, PRS, EBMM etc. Now they have maybe two Andersons left and haven't purchased any new ones, no PRS, and two Petrucci models. The worst part is Sam Ash, which is in the same complex, is a copy cat and once GC dropped their high end brands they followed. I also do the same thing too, "rent" their used stuff to see what I like.

 

[Red_Label]

"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.

Which one? Cherry Hill? That store has gone so far south. Used to stock Mesa, Tom Anderson, PRS, EBMM etc. Now they have maybe two Andersons left and haven't purchased any new ones, no PRS, and two Petrucci models. The worst part is Sam Ash, which is in the same complex, is a copy cat and once GC dropped their high end brands they followed. I also do the same thing too, "rent" their used stuff to see what I like.

Wow... it's weird how different the different stores are. The Vegas GC was the first store that I saw that stocked Friedmans (before my local dealer got the line). But they've never had Andersons in there (thankfully my local store does have those and is where I bought mine from).

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

WOW.....Got the Friedman pedal today and all i can say is that it's totally killer....I get my 79 JMP to sound just like my Cantrell....Amazing pedal

How about a side by side clip?

 

[splawner]

WOW.....Got the Friedman pedal today and all i can say is that it's totally killer....I get my 79 JMP to sound just like my Cantrell....Amazing pedal

How about a side by side clip?

I will try tonight

 

[tarices22]

WOW.....Got the Friedman pedal today and all i can say is that it's totally killer....I get my 79 JMP to sound just like my Cantrell....Amazing pedal

How about a side by side clip?

I will try tonight

Now that's f*n interesting...keeping my eye out!

 

[Red_Label]

Spent some quality time with the BE-OD last night. Started with it running into the clean channel of my Smallbox. Took me a few minutes to tweak the settings to my preference (was flipping back and forth between that and the dirt channel of the Smallbox, trying to match tone). At first I was like "meh". But after I got it setup right, I was like "SHYEAH!!!". It flat-out NAILS the Friedman tone. Dunno how Dave managed to cram the BE100 and Smallbox into that little pedal, but he surely did. To give it a real test, I shut-down my Smallbox and plugged into the clean channel of my Roland Cube 80XL. After some tweaking of the tone controls on the 80XL, I had it sounding just like the Smallbox. I've been looking for a setup that will capture my Smallbox tone for daily play, without having to burn tubes... and this is absolutely it! I could put the BE-OD on my small pedal board with my Line 6 M9 and have a fly rig that I would feel comfortable plugging into just about any back line and getting a killer sound. This pedal does what many hoped it would do... it captures the Friedman tone in a pedal. I can see a LOT of guys who can't/don't want to spring for Friedman amps ending up with this pedal. And in my limited experience (so far), they'd be getting 95% of the Friedman tone. I'm VERY impressed so far. And the controls all seem to make a big difference. Plus, there's a trim pot inside for adjusting the gain. I'm going to try turning mine down tonight, as I never had the gain past 9:00 because it's got more than enough.

I had my buddy's BE100 for a couple of weeks this spring and this pedal compares very favorably to that as well.

Best amp-in-a-box I've ever had/tried! My Carl Martin Plexitone (and several other distortion pedals) will be going up for sale shortly.

 

[hatrick00]

Spent some quality time with the BE-OD last night. Started with it running into the clean channel of my Smallbox. Took me a few minutes to tweak the settings to my preference (was flipping back and forth between that and the dirt channel of the Smallbox, trying to match tone). At first I was like "meh". But after I got it setup right, I was like "SHYEAH!!!". It flat-out NAILS the Friedman tone. Dunno how Dave managed to cram the BE100 and Smallbox into that little pedal, but he surely did. To give it a real test, I shut-down my Smallbox and plugged into the clean channel of my Roland Cube 80XL. After some tweaking of the tone controls on the 80XL, I had it sounding just like the Smallbox. I've been looking for a setup that will capture my Smallbox tone for daily play, without having to burn tubes... and this is absolutely it! I could put the BE-OD on my small pedal board with my Line 6 M9 and have a fly rig that I would feel comfortable plugging into just about any back line and getting a killer sound. This pedal does what many hoped it would do... it captures the Friedman tone in a pedal. I can see a LOT of guys who can't/don't want to spring for Friedman amps ending up with this pedal. And in my limited experience (so far), they'd be getting 95% of the Friedman tone. I'm VERY impressed so far. And the controls all seem to make a big difference. Plus, there's a trim pot inside for adjusting the gain. I'm going to try turning mine down tonight, as I never had the gain past 9:00 because it's got more than enough.

I had my buddy's BE100 for a couple of weeks this spring and this pedal compares very favorably to that as well.

Best amp-in-a-box I've ever had/tried! My Carl Martin Plexitone (and several other distortion pedals) will be going up for sale shortly.

+1,000,000. And anyone who says that they can't play metal on this pedal makes me laugh. it can get so brutal. or dial it back and if you prefer.... it basically added another gain channel to my rig for $200. i haven't tried using it as a boost, but i am not a believer in the boost. if my gain channel on my amp cannot get there, then it is not right for me.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Still waiting for these side by side vids.. BE/small box vs pedal through same cab. GO!

 

[Rick Lee]

If I had a way to make and edit a decent video, I would. I have a Smallbox and the pedal, but not a BE Head. I have a few clean heads to run the pedal through. It definitely works and makes my SB redundant.

 

[megaboogie]

I will be honest, I was skeptical about this pedal like "yeah just another new hyped distortion pedal that sounds weak next to a real amp distortion".
But then my GC had them in stock so I figured I could try and return it if I didn't like it.
I've plugged into the clean ch of my Mark V and I went back and forth with V's distortion.
My verdict is this pedal really is the best thrash metal pedal I've ever played!
First of all, it sounds huge and TIGHT, not with that fake bottom end like many distortion pedals try to emulate.
The gain gets so tight it will have no problem playing Metallica and LOG stuffs.
I will nitpick say the V does have a bit more tubeyness and dynamic but the BE-OD comes real close to the amp distortion I'd say about 90%. Not just the tone but it also has some of that similar "feel" which the Friedman is known for too.
If you have a clean amp that you want to add an aggressive gain ch to, you need this pedal.
This pedal sounds so good it's actually giving me the GAS for a Friedman amp once again.

 

[metalmaniac93]

I will be honest, I was skeptical about this pedal like "yeah just another new hyped distortion pedal that sounds weak next to a real amp distortion".
But then my GC had them in stock so I figured I could try and return it if I didn't like it.
I've plugged into the clean ch of my Mark V and I went back and forth with V's distortion.
My verdict is this pedal really is the best thrash metal pedal I've ever played!
First of all, it sounds huge and TIGHT, not with that fake bottom end like many distortion pedals try to emulate.
The gain gets so tight it will have no problem playing Metallica and LOG stuffs.
I will nitpick say the V does have a bit more tubeyness and dynamic but the BE-OD comes real close to the amp distortion I'd say about 90%. Not just the tone but it also has some of that similar "feel" which the Friedman is known for too.
If you have a clean amp that you want to add an aggressive gain ch to, you need this pedal.
This pedal sounds so good it's actually giving me the GAS for a Friedman amp once again.

Agree 100%!!!! Even works great in the Low Input of a Marshall style amp!!!!

 

[stompboxfreak72]

I got mine today. Total meh. Mind you I'm sick and most everything is meh but I did not gel with the pedal at all. I'll try it again tomorrow and then try to return it or flip it on Reverb if I have to.