U
ubermetaldood
Banned
New member
I have come across many inquiries about the Smallbox over the last few months, and some of them were questions I wanted answers to as well. There is information out there, but no one has amalgamated it yet into a single source of easy-to-find information so I figure I'll tell what I know of so far. This is not meant as an authoritative source as I am not an expert.
Plexi Channel/Clean Headroom: With moderate output humbuckers, I have no problem getting very clean sounds with the Smallbox. I have opened the volume up quite a bit and am able to get a beautiful, pristine clean tone. It's definitely suitable as a clean channel, but that's not what it's good at. It really wakes up when you turn the gain up a little past noon.
Size of Headshell: Friedman does not currently list the dimensions & weight on their website, and I haven't seen it posted anywhere else. When I first saw it in the box, it was bigger than I expected. When I took it out of the box, I thought they might have used a Brown Eye headshell. However, it measures about 4 inches shorter in width than the BE100. I think it's the same size and weight as a Marshall JTM45.
Amount of Gain: It has pretty much the same amount of gain as a Pink Taco, but less than a BE100. I just played a BE100 yesterday and it kind of confirmed my initial impression. It might be a *feel* thing though since they all have a comparable amount of gain.
The Brown Eye Channel: The Smallbox overdrive channel is supposed to be the BE gain channel. I would say it's pretty much spot on, but the Smallbox does sound different than the Brown Eye. To me, it sounds more like the Pink Taco. There is somethin about the mids that stands out more than the Brown Eye. I don't know how that translates to cutting through a mix, but there is indeed something more up-front about the Smallbox mids.
Low Volume: Being that Friedmans are Marshall or modded-Marshall type amps, it's amazing how good they sound at lower volumes. The JVM is pretty good at low volumes, but no 50 or 100w Marshall I ever played sounds as good as Friedmas at lower volumes. To me, ironically, the Brown Eye sounds better at lower volumes than both the Smallbox and Pink Taco. The Pink Taco needs a bit to get those little tubes cooking. The Smallbox plexi channel doesn't come alive all the way until you give it a little juice. The Smallbox seems to need about as much volume as a Splawn Competition or Quick Rod to start getting real good tone.
FX: The Smallbox FX loop is fantastic. I have a Reeves which takes FX at the input better than any amp as far as I can remember. The Smallbox takes FX at the input too but sounds way better through the FX loop. So far, the best FX loops I have ever encountered are the ones on Diezel amps. I don't know if that's an opinion shared by most people, but that's my experience. The Smallbox FX loop is up there on that level.
Low End/Bass: The low-end on most amps seem rather tame compared to my D-Moll. The Smallbox is much more mid-oriented that that. The manual suggest running the bass pretty high, and that seems to be about right. I want to say that the BE100 has more bass, but I don't have one to compare side-by-side. I don't think the Smallbox lack any bass except for the most extreme cases of brootz, but it won't ever be too bassy either.
Footswitch: The Smallbox footswitch is very small with only 1 button to switch channels. I wish it had 2 more buttons though. It needs a button to turn on/off the FX loop, and it needs a button that lets you click a few times to switch the bright control (0, 1 or 2). The bright switch is ESSENTIAL, in my opinion, when you are trying to dial in a vintage plexi sounds or using different kinds of pickups.
Manual: Yes, my Smallbox came with a user manual. It's leaves the bright switch kind of a mystery, but it's pretty sufficient. I like Mesa Boogie and Engl manuals because they explain a lot more about how their controls interact, but the Smallbox is a simpler kind of amp so that's not really necessary.
Plexi Channel/Clean Headroom: With moderate output humbuckers, I have no problem getting very clean sounds with the Smallbox. I have opened the volume up quite a bit and am able to get a beautiful, pristine clean tone. It's definitely suitable as a clean channel, but that's not what it's good at. It really wakes up when you turn the gain up a little past noon.
Size of Headshell: Friedman does not currently list the dimensions & weight on their website, and I haven't seen it posted anywhere else. When I first saw it in the box, it was bigger than I expected. When I took it out of the box, I thought they might have used a Brown Eye headshell. However, it measures about 4 inches shorter in width than the BE100. I think it's the same size and weight as a Marshall JTM45.
Amount of Gain: It has pretty much the same amount of gain as a Pink Taco, but less than a BE100. I just played a BE100 yesterday and it kind of confirmed my initial impression. It might be a *feel* thing though since they all have a comparable amount of gain.
The Brown Eye Channel: The Smallbox overdrive channel is supposed to be the BE gain channel. I would say it's pretty much spot on, but the Smallbox does sound different than the Brown Eye. To me, it sounds more like the Pink Taco. There is somethin about the mids that stands out more than the Brown Eye. I don't know how that translates to cutting through a mix, but there is indeed something more up-front about the Smallbox mids.
Low Volume: Being that Friedmans are Marshall or modded-Marshall type amps, it's amazing how good they sound at lower volumes. The JVM is pretty good at low volumes, but no 50 or 100w Marshall I ever played sounds as good as Friedmas at lower volumes. To me, ironically, the Brown Eye sounds better at lower volumes than both the Smallbox and Pink Taco. The Pink Taco needs a bit to get those little tubes cooking. The Smallbox plexi channel doesn't come alive all the way until you give it a little juice. The Smallbox seems to need about as much volume as a Splawn Competition or Quick Rod to start getting real good tone.
FX: The Smallbox FX loop is fantastic. I have a Reeves which takes FX at the input better than any amp as far as I can remember. The Smallbox takes FX at the input too but sounds way better through the FX loop. So far, the best FX loops I have ever encountered are the ones on Diezel amps. I don't know if that's an opinion shared by most people, but that's my experience. The Smallbox FX loop is up there on that level.
Low End/Bass: The low-end on most amps seem rather tame compared to my D-Moll. The Smallbox is much more mid-oriented that that. The manual suggest running the bass pretty high, and that seems to be about right. I want to say that the BE100 has more bass, but I don't have one to compare side-by-side. I don't think the Smallbox lack any bass except for the most extreme cases of brootz, but it won't ever be too bassy either.
Footswitch: The Smallbox footswitch is very small with only 1 button to switch channels. I wish it had 2 more buttons though. It needs a button to turn on/off the FX loop, and it needs a button that lets you click a few times to switch the bright control (0, 1 or 2). The bright switch is ESSENTIAL, in my opinion, when you are trying to dial in a vintage plexi sounds or using different kinds of pickups.
Manual: Yes, my Smallbox came with a user manual. It's leaves the bright switch kind of a mystery, but it's pretty sufficient. I like Mesa Boogie and Engl manuals because they explain a lot more about how their controls interact, but the Smallbox is a simpler kind of amp so that's not really necessary.
