NAD: Friedman Smallbox 50 *With Pics*

[LPMojoGL]

Disclaimer: I bought this at the Dallas Guitar Show from Guitar Center, who wasn't actually supposed to sell it. I ok'd this post with Brad, who said you can get the Friedman Smallbox from King Guitar when they start officially shipping, for $2799.

With that out of the way....

This thing is killer, and more my speed than the BE100 I had.
Two footswitchable channels, one Plexi, one Brown Eye, each with their own master volume.
A great effects loop. A 3-way bright switch for the plexi channel. Done. Love the simplicity.

The Plexi channel goes from clean to 70s rock crunch. There is plenty of clean headroom if you want it loud and clean. It also cleans up great if you dial the gain all the way up for crunch, and back off the guitar volume for cleans. Hitting this channel with an overdrive pedal takes it to 80s hard rock. The bright switch takes if from sounding just like the BE channel, to chimey and chimier. Most folks could cover just about any genre with this channel and a pedal or two.

The BE channel is the tight, saturated sound that makes the Friedman amps so awesome. It rocks! It cleans up great, and takes a boost just fine to put it over the top. Love it.

The master volumes are great. Bedroom to LOUD (loud enough cleans on the plexi channel to make me worry about my 2x12 mesa rectifier cab with V30s), it sounds perfect. Transparent effects loop, with no switch or volume knob. Just there and works.

For those who wished for a handwired DSL50 that fixed the issues with that amp, or who had the Bogner Shiva and wish it was more Marshally on the drive channel, or had the ability to be not so pristine on the clean channel, or who don't need all the bells and whistles and 100 watts of the BE100 but want that sound...this could be your amp.

 

[yngzaklynch]

Clippage?

 

[LPMojoGL]

Clippage?

None yet. Will work on it the next couple days.

 

[yngzaklynch]

Nice!

 

[glassjaw7]

Cool! Sometimes simple is best. How does it sound compared to the Naylor? (Isn't Friedman's Naked circuit based on that amp?)

 

[LPMojoGL]

Cool! Sometimes simple is best. How does it sound compared to the Naylor? (Isn't Friedman's Naked circuit based on that amp?)

I'll try to describe. The amps need to be played to feel and hear the difference. Both are great amps.

The Naylor is thicker, darker, more refined and smooth than a Marshall. You can plug into one of the two inputs, and either have sweet overdrive, or a great cleaner channel that takes pedals well. Can't switch between the two sounds on the fly. Killer effects loop and master volume.
The footswitchable channels makes the Friedman more versatile, and the sound is overall much more Marshally. The BE channel is tighter.
I've never played a Friedman Naked or APC mod. It is my understanding that he tweaked the Naylor circuit and mated it to a 100 watt Marshall power section.

 

[geese_com]

Very nice! I'd love to check one of these out.

 

[glassjaw7]

Cool! Sometimes simple is best. How does it sound compared to the Naylor? (Isn't Friedman's Naked circuit based on that amp?)

I'll try to describe. The amps need to be played to feel and hear the difference. Both are great amps.

The Naylor is thicker, darker, more refined and smooth than a Marshall. You can plug into one of the two inputs, and either have sweet overdrive, or a great cleaner channel that takes pedals well. Can't switch between the two sounds on the fly. Killer effects loop and master volume.
The footswitchable channels makes the Friedman more versatile, and the sound is overall much more Marshally. The BE channel is tighter.
I've never played a Friedman Naked or APC mod. It is my understanding that he tweaked the Naylor circuit and mated it to a 100 watt Marshall power section.

Awesome, thanks for that

 

[November5th]

Would you say this amp has about the same amount of gain on the BE channel as the BE100's BE channel? Or is it a bit more saturated considering it is 50 watts?

 

[RustyMcTavish]

Grats, looks like a killer amp and the few clips that I've heard sound stellar.

 

[MississippiMetal]

Very nice. Does it pop when you switch channels?

 

[LPMojoGL]

Very nice. Does it pop when you switch channels?

No pops. Very quiet amp.


Here's a quick clip I made this morning, right outta bed, showing the Naylor and Friedman at house-friendly volumes. Not bedroom, not loud:

 

[philb]

Sounds great!

 

[Rdodson]

Sounds fantastic

 

[Gadzz]

Nice!!

 

[LPMojoGL]

That's the drive channel. The pearl in this oyster is the plexi channel, imo.
It's freaking awesome. I want a friedman that is just one plexi channel with master volume and effects loop.

 

[RustyMcTavish]

Both sounded great, thanks for sharing!

 

[LPMojoGL]

Both sounded great, thanks for sharing!

Thanks!

 

[fuzzyguitars]

man

they both sounded great.

the friedman has tightness and crisp.

but that naylor sounded awesome

a little rounder

a little bouncier.

would love to play those two amps side by side at volume to hear the differences.

i would definitly keep both.

 

[LPMojoGL]

man

they both sounded great.

the friedman has tightness and crisp.

but that naylor sounded awesome

a little rounder

a little bouncier.

would love to play those two amps side by side at volume to hear the differences.

i would definitly keep both.

Bouncy is a great way to describe the feel of the Naylor. Leads almost sound like a violin, notes easily fly off the fretboard.
I was able to run both amps at loud volumes for a few hours yesterday, at a buddy's rehearsal space. Both amps sound great. The Naylor is a bit noisier, and you can hear that in the video above. I think it may be an older preamp tube I have in there.
The Friedman sounded huge, especially that plexi channel. Hitting it with an od at volume is monstrous. Of course the BE channel rocks, but we both loved that plexi channel.
He and I took turns jamming together, with an Explore and SG, swapping guitars and amps, clean standard tuning to down-tuned heaviness and everything in between. Was great fun!

I wish I could keep both.