The friedman question everyone is thinking?

[sixty-niner]

I played both the runt and smallbox and pink taco and the sound was good , not great but the feel of the amps were very different. The runt seemed much more stiff and harder to play than the small box and pink taco. That was the feeling I got anyway.

 

[sixty-niner]

For those of you who have the BE-100 amp and have played or bought the new be-od pedal,
Is the pedal good enough for you to sell your friedman be-100 amp? Do you regret buying an almost 4k amp to have a pedal get extremely close? Is it extremely close? I have heard great clips. I am gassing for a be-100 2016 edition but am thinking a pink taco with the be-od pedal may be a better way to go since I can get a great clean from the pink taco and then just boost it and have a great be-100 Overdrive.
thoughts

NO. I have the pedal and the amp is so much better.

Meh. I've had the pedal for a couple of days and my Smallbox isn't feeling much love since the pedal came. We'll see if the pedal survives the honeymoon period, but it definitely catches the Friedman magic. I had possession of a BE100 for a couple of weeks as well, and from what I remember, the pedal does a helluva job at that schtick as well. Is it "as good" as a Friedman amp? Nah. But it's DAMN close and for those who don't want to spend that kind of money, this pedal is awesome. It does as good of a job (or better) as the Bogner Blue and Red pedals did of capturing the magic of my old XTC. Seriously, I dunno how Dave crams that much tone into that little pedal.

In regards to the post about running the pedal into a Taco... I dunno why someone would want to do that. I had a Taco for a day or two and it had NO headroom at all. It would be pointless to run a pedal like this into it. You'd be better off using a Fender or other amp with good clean headroom.

You're never gonna convince guys who buy amps that cost that much that their money wasn't well spent no matter what they think their ears are telling them.... good to see there are still those out there like you who truly objectively listen and not listen with their wallet.

Never wanted to convince anyone of anything, just wanted to know what their opinions were.

 

[megaboogie]

This pedal is surprisingly good that is you are into chunky tight high gain.
If you played and loved the tone and feel of Friedman(BE100, SB, JJ), you will most likely dig this pedal.

For me the question is will the Runt be a suitable substitute for the Smallbox. Very interested to see how it stacks up against the non-pcb amps.

Kind of. My buddy (who runs the local Friedman shop) owns a BE100, Smallbox, and Dirty Shirley. He just got a shipment of Runts in and says they're great and very comparable to the Smallbox... but not as "3-D". I haven't had a chance to plug into one yet, but may get down there this weekend. He delivered the BE-OD to my house the other day (that came in on the same shipment).

Yeah I tried the Runt 50w and the SB few days ago and preferred the SB by far.
The Runt sounded great too but was brighter and more sterile sounding(kinda solid state like) to me.
Funny thing is few months ago I was underwhelmed by the SB right after playing the BE100.

 

[LPMojoGL]

No. The answer is no.
I'd be happy to have a $300 pedal that captures the feel and sound of a 50-100 watt tube amp.
There's not one capable of it that I'm aware of.
The BEOD does capture that Friedman vibe and is a cool dirt box. Plenty of gain and nice feel.

I like the Runts. Cool amps. I heard a guy playing an SG through the 20 watt, pulling some great vintage tones.
I played the 50 watt and then the Smallbox. The Runt was a bit brighter, maybe not as deep feeling. Both were great.

 

[Racerxrated]

I thought this thread was about the real question everyone is thinking... Did we really pay 4K for a partially Chinese made amp???

 

[Dave Rocks]

I thought this thread was about the real question everyone is thinking... Did we really pay 4K for a partially Chinese made amp???

What part(s) are made in China and when did this start?

I just picked up a 2015 BE-100 and I have an older BE-100 (single channel) that has no S/N and the labels on the back where done with a P-touch. It's not a Marsha - it's still badged as a Friedman

 

[mdc1mdc11]

I have both and the amp is better, the pedal is pretty good for what it does.

 

[Red_Label]

For those of you who have the BE-100 amp and have played or bought the new be-od pedal,
Is the pedal good enough for you to sell your friedman be-100 amp? Do you regret buying an almost 4k amp to have a pedal get extremely close? Is it extremely close? I have heard great clips. I am gassing for a be-100 2016 edition but am thinking a pink taco with the be-od pedal may be a better way to go since I can get a great clean from the pink taco and then just boost it and have a great be-100 Overdrive.
thoughts

NO. I have the pedal and the amp is so much better.

Meh. I've had the pedal for a couple of days and my Smallbox isn't feeling much love since the pedal came. We'll see if the pedal survives the honeymoon period, but it definitely catches the Friedman magic. I had possession of a BE100 for a couple of weeks as well, and from what I remember, the pedal does a helluva job at that schtick as well. Is it "as good" as a Friedman amp? Nah. But it's DAMN close and for those who don't want to spend that kind of money, this pedal is awesome. It does as good of a job (or better) as the Bogner Blue and Red pedals did of capturing the magic of my old XTC. Seriously, I dunno how Dave crams that much tone into that little pedal.

In regards to the post about running the pedal into a Taco... I dunno why someone would want to do that. I had a Taco for a day or two and it had NO headroom at all. It would be pointless to run a pedal like this into it. You'd be better off using a Fender or other amp with good clean headroom.

You're never gonna convince guys who buy amps that cost that much that their money wasn't well spent no matter what they think their ears are telling them.... good to see there are still those out there like you who truly objectively listen and not listen with their wallet.

Thanks man. I'm not a true gear snob. I do like the cork-sniffer brands, but at the end of the day it's ALL about the tone and the fact is, I often get bored with the boutique stuff and flip it to try something else (cause I can't afford a room full of boutique gear that I rarely play). If a pedal can capture 90+ percent of the magic of the much more expensive amp, then it's got my full attention, because it doesn't bother me to have a bunch of pedals that I don't play every day. At any rate, I do still love my Smallbox, but I need to move around to various gear to stay inspired. I've had nearly all of the well-known boutique channel switchers and eventually got bored with all of them. Dunno if that'll happen with the Smallbox or not, but it's good to know that if it does, I can keep the pedal around for when that Friedman mood strikes me. It does a helluva job of capturing the vibe.

 

[Racerxrated]

I thought this thread was about the real question everyone is thinking... Did we really pay 4K for a partially Chinese made amp???

What part(s) are made in China and when did this start?

I just picked up a 2015 BE-100 and I have an older BE-100 (single channel) that has no S/N and the labels on the back where done with a P-touch. It's not a Marsha - it's still badged as a Friedman

I'm just messing with the Friedman fanbois...there was a rumour about it but its just the foot switches.

 

[RACKSYSTEMS]

I played both the runt and smallbox and pink taco and the sound was good , not great but the feel of the amps were very different. The runt seemed much more stiff and harder to play than the small box and pink taco. That was the feeling I got anyway.[/quote The Filtering is stiffer in the runt thats why. People wanted more cut out of the amps.

 

[Ventura]

Marketing psychology.

What's the current debt to income ration: check
What's the trend in purchasing: check
What's the most popular brand that's getting the nod: check

Let's make a pedal - it's affordable - and people will spend money on it.

Check.

 

[Ventura]

And for the record... The better the amp IMHO, the fewer the pedals (if any whatsoever at all)

 

[errrrrl]

I can get a great clean from the pink taco and then just boost it and have a great be-100 Overdrive.
thoughts

I have a PT20 and the BE-OD, not sure how good of a clean you can get (cause I can't get it very clean at all) but I have heard the BE-OD thru a CARR clean amp.. .holy shit it sounded amazing.

 

[Dave Rocks]

Just got done playing about 30 minutes thru my new 2 channel BE-100. Best amp I have ever owned!!

 

[steve_k]

for fucks sake. this thread.....LOL.

 

[NoodlerKS]

Pedal sounds a million times better than the amp.

 

[hatrick00]

does it replace my BE or JJ? Of course not, that is a silly question. BUT adding another BADASS gain channel for $200 should be a no brainer. Anyone who says it doesn't at least compete with those sounds or provide an all together different type of awesome gain is just being a hater. But to each their own.

 

[Beandust]

we went through all of this when the Bogner pedals came out...sure they're good pedals but they not substitutes for the actual amps

+1 on this..lmmfao..it's going to have 100 watts of depth and headroom...selling all my amps and get a pa and distortion pedal

 

[bog70]

we went through all of this when the Bogner pedals came out...sure they're good pedals but they not substitutes for the actual amps

+1 on this..lmmfao..it's going to have 100 watts of depth and headroom...selling all my amps and get a pa and distortion pedal

So, if I stick the pedal in front of my Marshall or Hiwatt it won't have depth or headroom?

 

[Ventura]

for fucks sake. this thread.....LOL.

Check.