Friedman Brit-50 Head

[motorboy1]

....because with original Ceriatone iron, ALL of the amps I have played or come across my bench sound like shit...that's why!
They do not run at appropriate power (probably because out of China and can't design them to handle higher power and reliably) and are bright, so something wrong (don't care what it is, the ears and Tone dictate - could be wire, wire type, how they are magnatized, lamination stack, whatever).
If you can't HEAR the difference...well, that's where the problem starts, but I'm an electrical engineer masters degreed and have built or modified over 1,000 amps in 16 years and they don't get flipped, so I think I know what I'm talking about and not just happy with a cheap amp in the vicinity! Thanks.

As for people inquiring about higher gain....Yes, as indicated above, the Butterslax should fit that bill and is the highest gain amp Friedman has offered to date. One channel is pre-tonestack (Jose) master designed and the other post-tonestack master (traditional and typical Friedman-style), fyi!

Yes, Friedman resale is in the shitter! People's wages have not been keeping up while expenses increasing significantly. People looks for cheap right now and you have resale market or modelers for solutions, so sales are affected. Tariffs don't help with Ceriatone if getting from across the pond, but if local distributor at AP (asia-pacific) rates....that's the way to go. I would however and again as stated...NOT put in Ceriatone iron! I would either:

1. Order, but with upgraded Heyboer iron across the board (if you can trust it will be authentic and now a typical Chinese inferior clone).
2. Order a completed rolling chassis with boards and everything populated and installed, but NO iron, nor tubes, nor enclosure if you don't like theirs and want your own and as enclosures are heavy and addl $$$ again unless you can get domestic distributor pricing and then get real Heyboer iron and install yourself or have a local tech do it. Then you have good components and build quality with real domestic iron!! One other thing though is the Ceriatone designs though good, many need tweaks and again, you or a tech could do. Hope this helps and in making decisions!!

Relax…..lay off the caffeine..

 

[Rick Lee]

Looks like a really cool amp. But how is it better than the Plex? The local GC had a Plex, brand new, that sat and sat. It was discounted down to $2099 and still sat another few mos. By then I had already gotten a Suhr SL67, so I could not justify getting the Plex. Finally, it sold. I had my SL67 for five mos. before I had occasion to bring it to band practice, where it just slayed. Brought my Runt 50 the next week, which sounds so great at home, but didn't compete with the SL67 at band practice. When these Brits hit the used market, I might be interested in one. But it only stays in the stable if it can hang at band practice. YT videos don't really settle that.

 

[napalmdeath]

WOW! Thanks for pointing out the Ceriatone JCM 52. 52 is two JCM800s. 51 is Plexi and JCM800, which is more like the Brit-50 from that the demonstration shows.

Yeah, it's veeeeeeery similar in layout speaker in the center instead of off to the left side, the 2 jacks on front including Input and Footswitch, and PPIMV!!! :O One thing is, it doesn't say whether the footswitch is 1 or 2 button!!! If only one button, just switches channels, but I know I personally would not want it unless it's a 2-button footswitch and can turn the FX Loop on and off by the footswitch rather than always on or always off....that would suck!

The Ceriatone has way more versatility with additional switches and defeatable FX loop, and bright channels on BOTH channels, and of course independent Bias controls to really dial in mismatched tubes.

I'm actually a little pissed off Nik stole my amp name "Double Barrel" I had developed like 10-15 years ago!! Everyone steals until it's truly "unique"!

Too bad Ceriatone transformers are the weakness and shit. Take this circuit and put in some good iron and you'd have a really good Plexi/800 amp!!

At least you get a usable FX Loop with the Friedman. Ceriatone's are shit.

 

[harddriver]

Looks like a really cool amp. But how is it better than the Plex? The local GC had a Plex, brand new, that sat and sat. It was discounted down to $2099 and still sat another few mos. By then I had already gotten a Suhr SL67, so I could not justify getting the Plex. Finally, it sold. I had my SL67 for five mos. before I had occasion to bring it to band practice, where it just slayed. Brought my Runt 50 the next week, which sounds so great at home, but didn't compete with the SL67 at band practice. When these Brits hit the used market, I might be interested in one. But it only stays in the stable if it can hang at band practice. YT videos don't really settle that.

The Plex is Plexi tones only has a PPIMV and no loop.

This Brit 50 appears to be a Sweetwater version of the JEL50 amp that has a Pre Phase inverter master volume, Plexi and JCM800 switchable channels which also appear to be footswitchable and a loop.