NAD: Friedman Runt 50

[sahlomonic]

I've been GASsing for this ever since I saw that it was coming out. I've loved my Friedman modded Jet City 20 watt amp so much that I've wanted a 50 watt version of it. So here we are.

I have no experience with a BE-100, but for half the price and half the watts, I'm damn impressed by this thing. It gives my Splawn Quickrod a serious run for its money.

Compared to my Splawn, the voicing is quite different. Runt is fairly dark, and the Splawn is fairly bright and heavy in the high-mids; almost honky. I prefer darker amps like the XTC so this fits in very well. Not quite as much gain as the Splawn, but the amount I use with the QR is exactly what the Runt maxes out at. Perfect. The low end is huge, and extremely tight and crisp. Not a characteristic I'd normally associate with an EL34 based amp. Quite impressive how defined it is.

 

[mudf00t]

Wow nice

 

[Avi8r2005]

These are such bad ass little amps. The volume taper on it though gets real loud real fast. If you really want to make it a monster, put the BE-OD pedal with it. Such a killer sound together.

 

[splawner]

These are such bad ass little amps. The volume taper on it though gets real loud real fast. If you really want to make it a monster, put the BE-OD pedal with it. Such a killer sound together.

I agree... The be pedal works really well with this amp..

 

[napalmdeath]

I've been GASsing for this ever since I saw that it was coming out. I've loved my Friedman modded Jet City 20 watt amp so much that I've wanted a 50 watt version of it. So here we are.

I have no experience with a BE-100, but for half the price and half the watts, I'm damn impressed by this thing. It gives my Splawn Quickrod a serious run for its money.

Compared to my Splawn, the voicing is quite different. Runt is fairly dark, and the Splawn is fairly bright and heavy in the high-mids; almost honky. I prefer darker amps like the XTC so this fits in very well. Not quite as much gain as the Splawn, but the amount I use with the QR is exactly what the Runt maxes out at. Perfect. The low end is huge, and extremely tight and crisp. Not a characteristic I'd normally associate with an EL34 based amp. Quite impressive how defined it is.

I've been intrigued by these as well! Nice cab, btw...

 

[JTyson]

Nice score!
It is amazing how tight and still juicy Dave's stuff is.
We need clips!

 

[Red_Label]

The Runts are kickass little amps. I've been eyeing the 1X12 50 watt combo for eventual purchase.

I gotta wonder though... based on Dave's previous product names, if the "R" wasn't originally supposed to be a different letter.

 

[Red_Label]

Nice score!
It is amazing how tight and still juicy Dave's stuff is.
We need clips!

Uhhhhhh... hhhhhhh... you said "tight and juicy". Adjectives right outta the Friedman handbook.

 

[sahlomonic]

The Runts are kickass little amps. I've been eyeing the 1X12 50 watt combo for eventual purchase.

I gotta wonder though... based on Dave's previous product names, if the "R" wasn't originally supposed to be a different letter.

R'unt. Meaning Rotten Cun. . .. well you know what the last letter is.

 

[Red_Label]

The Runts are kickass little amps. I've been eyeing the 1X12 50 watt combo for eventual purchase.

I gotta wonder though... based on Dave's previous product names, if the "R" wasn't originally supposed to be a different letter.

R'unt. Meaning Rotten Cun. . .. well you know what the last letter is.

Gotchya... so it WAS indeed what I was thinking that it was. And here I thought Dave was getting more PC or at least maturing.

Oh well... his stuff is KILLER and that's all I really care about.


P.S. He could have called it the "Hillary".

 

[sahlomonic]

Well, he's cleaned up the names a bit. No longer on the chassis do you see Pink Taco or Brown Eye - just PT-20 and BE-100.

 

[JerEvil]

Interested to hear your thoughts on it in a full band scenario. Based off Shane's comment in the other forum about the volume and not keeping up.

I still want to check one out.

 

[sahlomonic]

I think it would suffer from the voicing not cutting through and not necessarily lacking volume. Same reason some guys don't like a Bogner XTC in a band context because the dark mids don't cut through.

 

[Red_Label]

Well, he's cleaned up the names a bit. No longer on the chassis do you see Pink Taco or Brown Eye - just PT-20 and BE-100.

True that. And Buxom Betty was plenty tame. I like my Betties buxom too.