HowieJams
Active member
With my Soldano Astro 20 incoming next week I figured I would do a full demo and videos of my favorite Friedman, the JEL-20.
I have had as many as 4 Friedmans... (Little Sister, JEL-20, Pink Taco V2 and JJ Junior), I am currently down to two, the Little Sister and the JEL-20.
People ask me which is my favorite and it would be the JEL-20 due to the versatility of two channels and it has great tone, but...
I also say that the Little Sister has the best tone out of all 4 Friedmans, but it is only one channel, but it does clean up well by rolling down the guitar volume, so that shouldn't deter you from buying one if you love the tone.
The larger Twin Sister (40w) has two identical channels, so I am sure that would be amazing, but I tend to stick with Cathode Biased amps for easy tube changes, just swap them in and out, no biasing required.
Why did I part with the JJ Junior and the Pink Taco V2?
The JJ Junior did not do it for me, the clean channel was too sterile for me, just plain cleans. The gain channels were nice, with optional BE and JBE switches for more saturation, but it was a bit too modern toned for me so I moved it pretty quickly.
The Pink Taco V2 single channel amp I thought would be my favorite as it had tons of squishy gain and plenty of gain options with 3 gain modes and a SAT switch, but after I bought the JEL-20 I just liked the tone and versatility of the JEL better. The Pink Taco is very mids heavy.
I ended up trading in the Pink Taco for my incoming Soldano Astro 20. The Soldano is more transparent in voicing and lets the guitar's tone show through more than the Pink Taco, so I think it will be a nice change of pace.
So, let's get to the JEL-20.
Two great channels...
Channel 1 (Plexi Channel) - You can run the Gain low and get nice cleans or you can turn the gain up a bit and get th Gritty Cleans that I love.
You can max the gain and get the Plexi tones people love with the advantage of a great master volume so you can get those tones at TV volumes, 75-80dB unlike vintage Marshalls that need to be cranked to ear bleeding levels to get those tones
I record all of my videos at low volumes, the master doesn't even get over 1 out of 10, or 11 in the JEL-20s case.
Also, the Plexi channel loves a boost from a Boss SD-1, level at 3 o'clock, drive at 9 o'clock and you will be in 70s-80s Marshall Heaven.
Plus it has a SAT switch which I leave on all the time and a 3 way Bright switch whih I always leave in the middle.
Channel 2 is a modded JCM800 channel and it is my favorite channel on the amp.
It has a ton of gain, much more then a JCM800, but it also has a SAT switch which I always leave on.
Another great thing is it has a Pull out Boost on the gain knob, so if you don't want to run a Boost Pedal, you can just plug in and play, no pedals needed, just pull the boost knob for your leads.
Personally, I prefer to boost this channel with the Ibanez TS808 mini with the level maxxed and the drive on 0, the SD-1 is a bit much for this channel for my tastes.
However, I tend to like simple rigs, so I could easily just bring this amp to a gig with only a delay in the loop.
The big comparison will be the 2 channel JEL-20 to the Soldano Astro 20 with 3 channels and 4 galaxy gain variations, it should be fun.
That is pretty much all I can say, I will let the following 4 videos of the JEL-20 do the rest.
I have had as many as 4 Friedmans... (Little Sister, JEL-20, Pink Taco V2 and JJ Junior), I am currently down to two, the Little Sister and the JEL-20.
People ask me which is my favorite and it would be the JEL-20 due to the versatility of two channels and it has great tone, but...
I also say that the Little Sister has the best tone out of all 4 Friedmans, but it is only one channel, but it does clean up well by rolling down the guitar volume, so that shouldn't deter you from buying one if you love the tone.
The larger Twin Sister (40w) has two identical channels, so I am sure that would be amazing, but I tend to stick with Cathode Biased amps for easy tube changes, just swap them in and out, no biasing required.
Why did I part with the JJ Junior and the Pink Taco V2?
The JJ Junior did not do it for me, the clean channel was too sterile for me, just plain cleans. The gain channels were nice, with optional BE and JBE switches for more saturation, but it was a bit too modern toned for me so I moved it pretty quickly.
The Pink Taco V2 single channel amp I thought would be my favorite as it had tons of squishy gain and plenty of gain options with 3 gain modes and a SAT switch, but after I bought the JEL-20 I just liked the tone and versatility of the JEL better. The Pink Taco is very mids heavy.
I ended up trading in the Pink Taco for my incoming Soldano Astro 20. The Soldano is more transparent in voicing and lets the guitar's tone show through more than the Pink Taco, so I think it will be a nice change of pace.
So, let's get to the JEL-20.
Two great channels...
Channel 1 (Plexi Channel) - You can run the Gain low and get nice cleans or you can turn the gain up a bit and get th Gritty Cleans that I love.
You can max the gain and get the Plexi tones people love with the advantage of a great master volume so you can get those tones at TV volumes, 75-80dB unlike vintage Marshalls that need to be cranked to ear bleeding levels to get those tones
I record all of my videos at low volumes, the master doesn't even get over 1 out of 10, or 11 in the JEL-20s case.
Also, the Plexi channel loves a boost from a Boss SD-1, level at 3 o'clock, drive at 9 o'clock and you will be in 70s-80s Marshall Heaven.
Plus it has a SAT switch which I leave on all the time and a 3 way Bright switch whih I always leave in the middle.
Channel 2 is a modded JCM800 channel and it is my favorite channel on the amp.
It has a ton of gain, much more then a JCM800, but it also has a SAT switch which I always leave on.
Another great thing is it has a Pull out Boost on the gain knob, so if you don't want to run a Boost Pedal, you can just plug in and play, no pedals needed, just pull the boost knob for your leads.
Personally, I prefer to boost this channel with the Ibanez TS808 mini with the level maxxed and the drive on 0, the SD-1 is a bit much for this channel for my tastes.
However, I tend to like simple rigs, so I could easily just bring this amp to a gig with only a delay in the loop.
The big comparison will be the 2 channel JEL-20 to the Soldano Astro 20 with 3 channels and 4 galaxy gain variations, it should be fun.
That is pretty much all I can say, I will let the following 4 videos of the JEL-20 do the rest.