Friedman BE100 Deluxe vs Mini

This is the forum for discussion and questions regarding Amplifiers, yours, or someone elses.
User avatar
Nick Layton
Posts: 781
Joined: Sat Jun 17, 2006 1:20 am

Re: Friedman BE100 Deluxe vs Mini

Post: # 246577Post Nick Layton

I've not played the BE Mini or the Deluxe, but I do own the Friedman JJ Jr and it's become my favorite amp. The BE channel is so killer...kinda like a Plexi on steroids but a little smoother. It's a 20 watt head and I've used it live twice (sounded great), but this thing sounds amazing for recording through my Two Notes Captor X.

I doubt I'd find any use for the BE Mini at this point, but the Deluxe would be nice someday.

On a side note, I tried using the BE-OD pedal for a few months and I could never make it work for me. It's a different sound in my opinion than the real BE tone from the tube amps.
User avatar
Dinosaur David B
Posts: 18578
Joined: Tue Nov 16, 2004 5:21 pm

Re: Friedman BE100 Deluxe vs Mini

Post: # 246589Post Dinosaur David B

Nick wrote:Sat Jan 03, 1970 8:29 pmThe BE channel is so killer...kinda like a Plexi on steroids but a little smoother. It's a 20 watt head and I've used it live twice (sounded great), but this thing sounds amazing for recording through my Two Notes Captor X.
 
Friedman's whole thing was to be the "boutique modded/hot-rodded Marshall." They do it very well, but they're hardly the first or the only ones doing that. Remember when it was Splawn?  But they are the current benchmark. The thing that kept me away from the Friedman 20 watt heads is that they're all EL84 rather than EL34. That's why I went Fargen (which has EL34s) instead. I learned from running a stereo rig in Feints, the difference between having EL34s and EL84s: LOW END. The EL34s produce more.  But EL84s sound so good, it's not something you really notice unless you're A-B ing them in context. Having EL34s matters more for live work than studio work IMO. 
Nick wrote:Sat Jan 03, 1970 8:29 pmOn a side note, I tried using the BE-OD pedal for a few months and I could never make it work for me. It's a different sound in my opinion than the real BE tone from the tube amps.
 
Related to the above. My understanding is that the pedal contains the BE100 preamp circuitry.  Thus IF you ran the BE-OD pedal through an EL34-based power amp (either stand-alone or in the FX loop of say a Marshall head), it SHOULD sound exactly like a BE100 head. Of course, if you don't, you're losing the whole power amp side of the equation. And that still matters. 
 
 
 
 
Every cord/cable is a cunt.
User avatar
merlo_zeppelin
Posts: 1774
Joined: Mon Aug 18, 2008 6:52 pm

Re: Friedman BE100 Deluxe vs Mini

Post: # 246602Post merlo_zeppelin

I remember Chubtone, Sancho and maybe some other old forum regulars  raving about the Splawn. I've never seen or heard one in person but when Friedman started to become so big I remember wondering what happened to Splawn, they seemed to be doing a very similar thing but for some reason it didn't catch on.
User avatar
Dinosaur David B
Posts: 18578
Joined: Tue Nov 16, 2004 5:21 pm

Re: Friedman BE100 Deluxe vs Mini

Post: # 246606Post Dinosaur David B

merlo_zeppelin wrote: Wed Jan 12, 2022 3:24 am I remember Chubtone, Sancho and maybe some other old forum regulars  raving about the Splawn. I've never seen or heard one in person but when Friedman started to become so big I remember wondering what happened to Splawn, they seemed to be doing a very similar thing but for some reason it didn't catch on.

 
Splawns caught on fine for a while. They're still great amps (last I heard). I think that the Friedman just supplanted it as the boutique modded Marshall-dujour. Could be as simple as Friedman had better marketing. I think he already had a "name" as an amp modder guru before he started making his own.  Mark Cameron (also a name) made one of the best 100w amps I ever heard, but he didn't have the business acumen to bring it to market.  (Cameron amps are not made by Mark anymore, and I don't know how close the production amps are to the prototype heads we heard at NAMM in 08). 

My guess is that once everyone has a Friedman, they'll get bored and move on to the next new boutique modded Marshall-dujour.
Every cord/cable is a cunt.
User avatar
Tatosh Guitar
Posts: 3322
Joined: Wed Nov 04, 2015 5:43 pm
Location: Mexico

Re: Friedman BE100 Deluxe vs Mini

Post: # 246611Post Tatosh Guitar

Dinosaur wrote:
merlo_zeppelin wrote: Wed Jan 12, 2022 3:24 am I remember Chubtone, Sancho and maybe some other old forum regulars  raving about the Splawn. I've never seen or heard one in person but when Friedman started to become so big I remember wondering what happened to Splawn, they seemed to be doing a very similar thing but for some reason it didn't catch on.


 
Splawns caught on fine for a while. They're still great amps (last I heard). I think that the Friedman just supplanted it as the boutique modded Marshall-dujour. Could be as simple as Friedman had better marketing. I think he already had a "name" as an amp modder guru before he started making his own.  Mark Cameron (also a name) made one of the best 100w amps I ever heard, but he didn't have the business acumen to bring it to market.  (Cameron amps are not made by Mark anymore, and I don't know how close the production amps are to the prototype heads we heard at NAMM in 08). 

My guess is that once everyone has a Friedman, they'll get bored and move on to the next new boutique modded Marshall-dujour.

 
I remember those years well... Harmony Central and the Gear Page were a good representation of how things were... For a while it was all about Cameron (word spread that Doug Aldrich was playing one) and also Suhr, Roccaforte, Metro, Mojave, Splawn, Wizard... you name it. Everybody was building their own Modded Plexi. 

Friedman is it right now. I agree that marketing plays a huge part. 
 
Stitsel
Posts: 2429
Joined: Fri Jan 14, 2005 6:02 pm

Re: Friedman BE100 Deluxe vs Mini

Post: # 246620Post Stitsel

I may not be a touring musician, let alone a tone aficionado , nor am I a tone snob....but just crank a fuckin Marshall up for Pete's sake. I have a couple different killer heads, they sound glorious when you let 'em breathe. I just have a ratty old 4x12 angled cab ( Marshall 1960A of course ) with Vintage 30s & I don't need a boutique whatever. Why would I? I have a badass Marshall 1/2 stack, and it works just fine. 
User avatar
Dinosaur David B
Posts: 18578
Joined: Tue Nov 16, 2004 5:21 pm

Re: Friedman BE100 Deluxe vs Mini

Post: # 246622Post Dinosaur David B

Stitsel wrote: Thu Jan 13, 2022 2:02 am I may not be a touring musician, let alone a tone aficionado , nor am I a tone snob....but just crank a fuckin Marshall up for Pete's sake. I have a couple different killer heads, they sound glorious when you let 'em breathe. I just have a ratty old 4x12 angled cab ( Marshall 1960A of course ) with Vintage 30s & I don't need a boutique whatever. Why would I? I have a badass Marshall 1/2 stack, and it works just fine. 

 
:text-goodpost:
 Touring musos would agree with you. Most Friedman's I see never make it out of a bedroom.  Live performances? I still see Marshalls a lot more than boutiques.
Every cord/cable is a cunt.
User avatar
merlo_zeppelin
Posts: 1774
Joined: Mon Aug 18, 2008 6:52 pm

Re: Friedman BE100 Deluxe vs Mini

Post: # 246623Post merlo_zeppelin

Yeah, boutique amps are, like the word says it, boutique,  a small market for deep pocketed costumers.
Most working musicians can't afford a Friedman, and even if they did, it's not a good idea to bring a $3000 amp to a $100 dollar gig.
I know Joel Hoekstra tours with Friedman heads in Whitesnake,  but that's a major league gig, I assume the budget allows it.
On the other hand, it's crazy how many pro musicians are doing huge tours with just an Axe Fx or other modeler.
User avatar
Tatosh Guitar
Posts: 3322
Joined: Wed Nov 04, 2015 5:43 pm
Location: Mexico

Re: Friedman BE100 Deluxe vs Mini

Post: # 246648Post Tatosh Guitar

Let's keep in mind that, as far as big bands go, what you see on stage and what they are actually playing are two different stories. DIO had a bunch of Marshall JCM800, band owned, that were always on stage regardless of who the guitar player was... Doug Aldrich was playing a Cameron modded Marshall that was safely secured back stage.

I remember a story from a guy a  while ago that said that the promoter of a show they were hired for insisted on a Marshall backline, cause that was the image he wanted to present. They were actually playing with Kempers. 

So a lot of guys might be playing Friedmans and we could be none the wiser, unless theY have an endorsement and are putting it right on front (Like the one I mentioned, Courtney Cox, who is not even bothering to carry her big rig outside LA.)

Now, people actually playing gigs big enough to put something in front for show like the big names are more and more scarce, so I am guessing that for smaller, club gigs, what you see is the real deal. So there's that too.
User avatar
mr_crowley
Posts: 6176
Joined: Sun Sep 03, 2006 4:25 am

Re: Friedman BE100 Deluxe vs Mini

Post: # 246699Post mr_crowley

merlo_zeppelin wrote: Mon Jan 10, 2022 7:41 pm
mr_crowley wrote: Mon Jan 10, 2022 11:16 am if you want the BE sound on the go the BE-OD pedal is the way to go. I have a plan to assemble a small pedalboard with that one as the heart of 
merlo_zeppelin wrote: Sun Jan 09, 2022 3:44 am I've tried a couple Friedmans and I have to say, although they were great, I very much prefer EVH amps, they do the same style of sound but better (IMHO) and for a lot less money.



 
You believe it is that close? I'll always thought of the EVH amps being much more in the vein of the Soldanos, which is in the same ballpark I guess but sort of a different sound to me, YMMV :confusion-shrug:
I sort of think of Marshall as the budget alternative to Friedman, like the DSL line, which might a bit backwards of course but yeah :music-guitarred:
  
 
 
 



 
On the BE-OD pedal. I own it, bought it sight unseen because of the Pete Thorn video.
It's a great pedal, amazing sound, ridiculous amount of gain (I dont even use it halfway) tight, defined, ballsy sound. My only caveat is that it's a little scooped and it doesn't have a mid control, so you have to use a guitar and amp with good mids. This is the same reason why it sounds more metal than hard rock to me. There's a two channel version that has a mid control,  should be better.

On the Friedman vs EVH thing. You would think that Friedman would be more Marshall like and EVH more in the vein of the Peavey 5150 or the Soldano. And yeah, they both have their own character but they do very similar jobs, I just think the EVH does is better and for less money, especially if you have the EL34 EVH. Bear in mind that a lot of Marshall players switched to Soldano in the late 80s early 90s (Van Halen, DeMartini, Lynch).


 

Good pointers on the BE-OD, I will keep that in mind, thanks :handgestures-thumbupleft:


I meant no slight to the EVH amps at all, they are great. One of the best tones I've ever had myself was when I putting a Destroyer through a 5153 1x12 combo. Riffing on that combination sounded and felt massive, really really cool.
I've never got the chance to put a BE100 through it's paces but I've played around a bit with a Runt, the small one, (20w?) and that was also a killer amp. I liked the inherit sound in it more than the EVH but I had a Suhr plugged in and as nice of a guitar as those are they are not really geared towards achieving fire breathing Dino tones IMO. Not the same way as a Destroyer at least, which you could argue is one of the best and a true shame Ibanez have discontinued them yet again... :doh:
Never had the pleasure to play a real SLO either but my band mate in Gasoline Stars had a, I believe, a Hot Rod which is very close, that I played a lot. That is a thick and very nice tone but also has an insane amount of distortion and can be a bit buzzy to be honest.

It is true that a lot of them switched and with great results, I believe Lynch had, by far, his best tone at Wicked Sensation which supposedly is a Soldano. FWIW when I saw RATT in 2008 (shit it's 14 (!) years ago :lol:) Warren had a couple of Marshalls and a Diezel :confusion-shrug:
As for Eddie I think he had his best tone at Don't Tell Me from Balance. That is freaking amazing, what I think of as the quintessential SLO tone though it is probably an original 5150 :music-rockon:
  :music-guitarred:
 
 
 
 
 
Post Reply