Friedman JJ-100 where’s the hype?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Chuggs_The_Barbarian
  • Start date Start date
I love the Friedman tone and have a JJ Jr. I can see why people might not like Friedmans. The sounds are definitely not raw, ACDC-inspired, loose, etc. The tones are smooth, tight, etc. If you think about it, makes sense those would work with Alice in Chains, Mastodon, etc because it is tightening up a downtuned sound, etc.
 
I feel like the last few amps Dave has done sound better/more aggressive?
The SS2, PT2, Jake amps all have an extra kick in the highs and seem more geared towards guys who gravitate towards the “classic” Marshall modded crunch.
 
Marshalls Kerrang with upper mids and treble
Friedmans Growl and Grunt with prominent low mids

two different animals. people take the BE connection to marshall too literally,
i like the friedman BE eq'd for a lil more highs

frankly he doesnt design them to be death metal amps that some want them to be. they are his atfempt to bottle HIS FAVORITE tones... not what YOU wish it was
 
tonedover said:
Marshalls Kerrang with upper mids and treble
Friedmans Growl and Grunt with prominent low mids

two different animals. people take the BE connection to marshall too literally,
i like the friedman BE eq'd for a lil more highs

frankly he doesnt design them to be death metal amps that some want them to be. they are his atfempt to bottle HIS FAVORITE tones... not what YOU wish it was
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It’s definitely killer . All these amps . Some people just have different ears. I actually would love a JJ or BE
 
That's the nature of the beast OP, they're supposed to be smooth and refined and dark.

It's not my cup of tea, but I can see how it would be for others. The darkness (like with some bogners) seems to work well for some lead tones, and is pretty forgiving under the fingers.
 
There have been several circuit variations over the years so yall might not even be talking about the same circuit.
Friedman has pretty big treble suppression capacitors on the last stage. Snip those out and it's way more kerrrang and not so polished/dark
 
Chuggs_The_Barbarian said:
Who all loves this amp? Having a hard time with it. Played a BE-100. Same. They sound like a recording of a amp. Very dark and not that responsive.
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Ran the gamut of Friedman kit - BE, JJ, Butterslax, etc.

Outta the lot, my fave was the JJ - just sounded really nice. However, given the pricepoint, and the fact I had a lot of amps that overlapped it tonally, I decided to let it go. Do I regret that decision?? No. Do I miss the JJ?? Sometimes. But overall - Friedman IMHO makes great sounding amps for a large demographic of players comfortable with those great sounds - but if you're on the outside of that demographic - they're somewhat generic sounding in amongst themselves, and overpriced.

Flamesuit on.
 
Regarding the BE100 sounding dark and smooth, how would that compare to a Bogner 101b? I always thought those were dark and smooth/compressed sounding amps.
 
Never tried a JJ, it's a signature amp. Does it sound like AIC? Isnt that what your purchasing? He is a highly respected player, bitching about a signature amp not sounding like another brand or what's all the hype post when there are tons of threads and information from owners and users in the Friedman section about the JJ. Oh well I guess it's easier to ignore that stuff and just make a thread leaving out the signature on the mentioned signature amp. Maybe it's a cash thing and Cantrell absolutely hates the fucking thing. I kind of have doubts on that tho. I still want that signature amp that makes me sound like an artist that's never even been born but I got his signature amp already. His name will be Richard Troll
 
I liked mine a lot. It took me a while to figure out how to set it up (Presence knob higher first).

It’s not a Marshall. But it cut through great on all my gigs. I do wish it had a few of the Deluxe features like Thump, Response, Voice, etc.

I sold it and had Dave mod me a JJ50, but more raw and aggressive, which it was. Had to sell that too to a studio guy locally who really digs it.
 
No experience with Dave’s stuff he’s a super cool guy though , if anything throw an eq in the loop and see where that gets you .
 
I love my Butterslax, but love it way more with an eq in the loop. Seems like an easy fix for me but I can see how some are expecting more due to the price. But how is that different than having to boost a 3k to 4k amp? Same shit in my eyes, do what you need to do to get your tone.
 
I can't speak for others, but I didn't buy the JJ to get any AIC type of tone. I was just looking for a good high gain amp, found one for a good price (with the JBE switching so it is like a 3 channel amp) so I bought it. Every time I've thought about getting rid of it and got another comparably high priced amp to play against it, the JJ won. The amps that it sits side by side with are my Mark IV, Mark 5 35 and 5150 III, but those are very different tone wise from the JJ.
 
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