I remember for a very short period of time before joining the Friedman camp, Steve Stevens was seen at several live shows playing through Splawn Quickrods. In an interview from that time, he said he loved how tight and articulate they were - even at high volumes with a lot of gain. The Friedman SS definitely has its own thing going on and is tighter then much of the Friedman line-up - which tends to be a bit squishier and more compressed. Absolutely no value judgment intended there at all - just what my ears hear and what my hands feel when I’ve plugged into the few Friedman’s that I have played through. They always sound glorious. I dig the SS and the Phil X.