Thinking of buying another Friedman: Advice Needed

[itsme]

Production Friedman market is so over saturated. Everyone has one and you can buy them at your local supermarket now. Every new one is a variation of the same thing. The old kitchen sink mods are where it's at for me. I have a BE100 from back when they were all hand made by Dave in the shop. It sounds nice, but I'd trade it for an old kitchen sink mod in perfect shape. There seems to be more interesting things happening these days than friedmans

 

[Beyond Black]

Production Friedmans are so over saturated. Everyone has one and you can buy them at your local supermarket. Every new one is a variation of the same thing. The old kitchen sink mods are where it's at for me. I have a BE100 from back when they were all hand made by Dave in the shop. It's sounds nice, but I'd trade it for an old kitchen sink mod in perfect shape. There seems to be more interning things happening these days than friedmans

Totally agree. I had a Kitchen Sink modded ‘80 JMP and it smoked my buddy’s BE100. I much prefer the two Monomyth’s I’ve had than the Friedman amps.

 

[Beyond Black]

For me it was stock Marshall’s with 6550’s. I would always get a JMP and immediately change it out to EL34’s then a few month later I’d sell it. I must have done this 5-6 times. The JMP I own now is bone stock with 6550’s and I’ve owned it for a few years. It just sounds killer with a pedal out front.

Here it is... just guitar, VFE Standout pedal and amp. Playing through two 4x12’s with Celestion G12H30 anniversary speakers.

And here it is testing two pedals. Tons of aggression, tone and the feel is there.

That sounds sick. Unbelievably tight for a vintage Marshall. The 6550’s tighten them up that much?
How do you record your clips? My tablet and Android record like shit, and I’d like to get an external mic, or something, to record some good clips, but don’t know wtf I’m doing.

 

[psychodave]

For me it was stock Marshall’s with 6550’s. I would always get a JMP and immediately change it out to EL34’s then a few month later I’d sell it. I must have done this 5-6 times. The JMP I own now is bone stock with 6550’s and I’ve owned it for a few years. It just sounds killer with a pedal out front.

Here it is... just guitar, VFE Standout pedal and amp. Playing through two 4x12’s with Celestion G12H30 anniversary speakers.

And here it is testing two pedals. Tons of aggression, tone and the feel is there.

That sounds sick. Unbelievably tight for a vintage Marshall. The 6550’s tighten them up that much?
How do you record your clips? My tablet and Android record like shit, and I’d like to get an external mic, or something, to record some good clips, but don’t know wtf I’m doing.

I use a Zoom iQ-7 with my iphone. Thats it.

 

[ClintN667]

Personally I think Friedman amps are overrated. The couple I've tried didnt wow me. I mean they are nice amps but I dont think they are $3800 nice. I bought a JJ jr. with the hopes that it would satisfy the hot rodded Marshall itch left from having to sell my first Monomyth. A week later I sent it packing. Not saying that would match a 100 version but out of those that I tried I didnt walk away thinking "that was $3800" worth of an amp. I have a Ceriatone Molecular right now and I love it. The only thing I dont like about it is its a single channel amp but then again I never use more than 1 channel. My Mark IV and KSR Orthos havent had a button pressed on the footswitch in ages. At anyrate its a matter of taste.

Having said that if you have the money and want a Friedman go for it.

 

[psychodave]

Personally I think Friedman amps are overrated. The couple I've tried didnt wow me. I mean they are nice amps but I dont think they are $3800 nice. I bought a JJ jr. with the hopes that it would satisfy the hot rodded Marshall itch left from having to sell my first Monomyth. A week later I sent it packing. Not saying that would match a 100 version but out of those that I tried I didnt walk away thinking "that was $3800" worth of an amp. I have a Ceriatone Molecular right now and I love it. The only thing I dont like about it is its a single channel amp but then again I never use more than 1 channel. My Mark IV and KSR Orthos havent had a button pressed on the footswitch in ages. At anyrate its a matter of taste.

Having said that if you have the money and want a Friedman go for it.

The price kills me. Honestly if the were $2,300 I'd probably own a few of them.... then mod to my specs.

 

[panhead]

There are a couple of legit Friedman ‘Marsha’ amps on the verb right now as well as a legit Friedman ‘Naked.’

If I was in the market, I seriously consider one of those...

Like I said before buy a Naylor or even a Budda SD80

 

[romanianreaper]

Personally I think Friedman amps are overrated. The couple I've tried didnt wow me. I mean they are nice amps but I dont think they are $3800 nice. I bought a JJ jr. with the hopes that it would satisfy the hot rodded Marshall itch left from having to sell my first Monomyth. A week later I sent it packing. Not saying that would match a 100 version but out of those that I tried I didnt walk away thinking "that was $3800" worth of an amp. I have a Ceriatone Molecular right now and I love it. The only thing I dont like about it is its a single channel amp but then again I never use more than 1 channel. My Mark IV and KSR Orthos havent had a button pressed on the footswitch in ages. At anyrate its a matter of taste.

Having said that if you have the money and want a Friedman go for it.

The price kills me. Honestly if the were $2,300 I'd probably own a few of them.... then mod to my specs.

They are expensive, and trust me I'm a cheap ass, but not too bad. On one hand, yes you can get a Splawn for much cheaper or other amps. On the other hand, I paid $2800 for my Fractal because I wanted to get it early. I had a Marshall JVM that was $2500 back in the day.

I don't know. Hard for me to comment too much because I'm not good at matching up price to build ratio, etc.

 

[panhead]

None of these amps are actually worth the going price. An amp builder that doesn't sell a lot of amps has a lot higher overhead for parts versus a friedman or a Bogner etc. Friedman amp top of line $1800 in parts and Bang labor tops/ probably not that , hell he probably gets transformer sets in bulk for a 150 bucks. Spend your money as YOU see fit.

 

[paulyc]

Personally I think Friedman amps are overrated. The couple I've tried didnt wow me. I mean they are nice amps but I dont think they are $3800 nice. I bought a JJ jr. with the hopes that it would satisfy the hot rodded Marshall itch left from having to sell my first Monomyth. A week later I sent it packing. Not saying that would match a 100 version but out of those that I tried I didnt walk away thinking "that was $3800" worth of an amp. I have a Ceriatone Molecular right now and I love it. The only thing I dont like about it is its a single channel amp but then again I never use more than 1 channel. My Mark IV and KSR Orthos havent had a button pressed on the footswitch in ages. At anyrate its a matter of taste.

Having said that if you have the money and want a Friedman go for it.

The price kills me. Honestly if the were $2,300 I'd probably own a few of them.... then mod to my specs.

They are expensive, and trust me I'm a cheap ass, but not too bad. On one hand, yes you can get a Splawn for much cheaper or other amps. On the other hand, I paid $2800 for my Fractal because I wanted to get it early. I had a Marshall JVM that was $2500 back in the day.

I don't know. Hard for me to comment too much because I'm not good at matching up price to build ratio, etc.

Splawn isn’t even in the same ballpark IMO, I had two, never again.

 

[romanianreaper]

Personally I think Friedman amps are overrated. The couple I've tried didnt wow me. I mean they are nice amps but I dont think they are $3800 nice. I bought a JJ jr. with the hopes that it would satisfy the hot rodded Marshall itch left from having to sell my first Monomyth. A week later I sent it packing. Not saying that would match a 100 version but out of those that I tried I didnt walk away thinking "that was $3800" worth of an amp. I have a Ceriatone Molecular right now and I love it. The only thing I dont like about it is its a single channel amp but then again I never use more than 1 channel. My Mark IV and KSR Orthos havent had a button pressed on the footswitch in ages. At anyrate its a matter of taste.

Having said that if you have the money and want a Friedman go for it.

I can see why you didn't like the JJ Jr. When I got mine, I was coming out of years and years of only playing my Fractal. I got the JJ Jr. and with my Keeley D&M boost, it just sounds perfect. With that said, I know I would like the sound of the EL-34 amps way better. The Friedman JJ Jr. was my opportunity to have a Friedman without paying that big price.

I'd love to have a BE-50 Deluxe but as a bedroom player not currently in a band, I just can't justify that.

 

[harddriver]

About two years ago, I sold my modded 72 Super Lead and I've been dying to get it back. While I wouldn't even know how to track it down, I was looking on Sweetwater at the BE100 Deluxe and thought about pulling the trigger.

I've been out of the guitar game for about three years now. I sold off my rig and I just want to keep a simple/pure signal path. I typically like to get my clean sounds from the volume knob and keep the gain on tap as I'm not huge on pedals.

So for you guys out there, how does the BE100 Deluxe compare to the SB? The SB is more of my flavor due to the limited options. But then again, the deluxe probably could cover all the ground I'd need. I'm also probably overcomplicating this as well.

Thanks in advance.

Maybe look into a Friedman JJ jr. Probably the most Marshall sounding amp besides the Jake E Lee or Smallbox.. The JJ Jr sound like a bigger amp, I think it's a two channel amps and would cover all the ground you listed. Maybe hold off until a Friedman modded Masrshall hits Reverb or Ebay. Here's a pretty vid of the JJ jr. I still think it sound kinda small but good in the recording, it's the EL84's IMO.

 

[LP Freak]

Personally I think Friedman amps are overrated. The couple I've tried didnt wow me. I mean they are nice amps but I dont think they are $3800 nice. I bought a JJ jr. with the hopes that it would satisfy the hot rodded Marshall itch left from having to sell my first Monomyth. A week later I sent it packing. Not saying that would match a 100 version but out of those that I tried I didnt walk away thinking "that was $3800" worth of an amp. I have a Ceriatone Molecular right now and I love it. The only thing I dont like about it is its a single channel amp but then again I never use more than 1 channel. My Mark IV and KSR Orthos havent had a button pressed on the footswitch in ages. At anyrate its a matter of taste.

Having said that if you have the money and want a Friedman go for it.

I can see why you didn't like the JJ Jr. When I got mine, I was coming out of years and years of only playing my Fractal. I got the JJ Jr. and with my Keeley D&M boost, it just sounds perfect. With that said, I know I would like the sound of the EL-34 amps way better. The Friedman JJ Jr. was my opportunity to have a Friedman without paying that big price.

I'd love to have a BE-50 Deluxe but as a bedroom player not currently in a band, I just can't justify that.

Buy mine

 

[GregM]

I'd love to have a BE-50 Deluxe but as a bedroom player not currently in a band, I just can't justify that.

It's justified if it makes you happy.

 

[MetalHeadMike]

Personally I think Friedman amps are overrated. The couple I've tried didnt wow me. I mean they are nice amps but I dont think they are $3800 nice. I bought a JJ jr. with the hopes that it would satisfy the hot rodded Marshall itch left from having to sell my first Monomyth. A week later I sent it packing. Not saying that would match a 100 version but out of those that I tried I didnt walk away thinking "that was $3800" worth of an amp. I have a Ceriatone Molecular right now and I love it. The only thing I dont like about it is its a single channel amp but then again I never use more than 1 channel. My Mark IV and KSR Orthos havent had a button pressed on the footswitch in ages. At anyrate its a matter of taste.

Having said that if you have the money and want a Friedman go for it.

The price kills me. Honestly if the were $2,300 I'd probably own a few of them.... then mod to my specs.

They are expensive, and trust me I'm a cheap ass, but not too bad. On one hand, yes you can get a Splawn for much cheaper or other amps. On the other hand, I paid $2800 for my Fractal because I wanted to get it early. I had a Marshall JVM that was $2500 back in the day.

I don't know. Hard for me to comment too much because I'm not good at matching up price to build ratio, etc.

Splawn isn’t even in the same ballpark IMO, I had two, never again.

I've had two Quickrods, and while the tone and feel of both was awesome, the reliability was shit...so was Scott's utter lack of support. Piss poor customer service & COLD SOLDER JOINTS=No more Splawns for this guy

 

[paulyc]

Personally I think Friedman amps are overrated. The couple I've tried didnt wow me. I mean they are nice amps but I dont think they are $3800 nice. I bought a JJ jr. with the hopes that it would satisfy the hot rodded Marshall itch left from having to sell my first Monomyth. A week later I sent it packing. Not saying that would match a 100 version but out of those that I tried I didnt walk away thinking "that was $3800" worth of an amp. I have a Ceriatone Molecular right now and I love it. The only thing I dont like about it is its a single channel amp but then again I never use more than 1 channel. My Mark IV and KSR Orthos havent had a button pressed on the footswitch in ages. At anyrate its a matter of taste.

Having said that if you have the money and want a Friedman go for it.

The price kills me. Honestly if the were $2,300 I'd probably own a few of them.... then mod to my specs.

They are expensive, and trust me I'm a cheap ass, but not too bad. On one hand, yes you can get a Splawn for much cheaper or other amps. On the other hand, I paid $2800 for my Fractal because I wanted to get it early. I had a Marshall JVM that was $2500 back in the day.

I don't know. Hard for me to comment too much because I'm not good at matching up price to build ratio, etc.

Splawn isn’t even in the same ballpark IMO, I had two, never again.

I've had two Quickrods, and while the tone and feel of both was awesome, the reliability was shit...so was Scott's utter lack of support. Piss poor customer service & COLD SOLDER JOINTS=No more Splawns for this guy

My buddy had a QR that was awesome, my 2 Splawns sucked and also, like you, FULL of cold solder joints and an arcing half power switch, which I had to have a local tech fix because Scott gave them a clean bill of health... utter bullshit.

 

[panhead]

No modded amps in forever. Lee Jackson fucked up a jmp for me in 83. Splawn fucked a jmp in 92. Cameron I aint going there. Jmp with TS9 OD1 that's it. I still have all these amps after Germino returned them to stock.

 

[Junk Yard Dog]

Love my Friedmans in the last 3 years. I was laid off a month ago, so I'm thinking of selling my modded JJ100, which I love, but my band isn't gigging and I will need the cash at some point.

I've had the Slax, BE50, 2017 BE100 and the JJ100. JJ100 is my fave, but I love of them. I like the feel.

The only one I bought new was the BE50 as soon as they came out. I would always go used on these.

 

[NewWorldMan]

About two years ago, I sold my modded 72 Super Lead and I've been dying to get it back. While I wouldn't even know how to track it down...

I might be able to help. I owned that one briefly (may have even bought it from you). It’s been a couple of years, but I recall a guy in Wisconsin bought it from me (because I remember random things like that). I’m sure I have his contact info somewhere if you want to reach out to him to jump down the rabbit hole and follow the trail to wherever it ended up...