Friedman Master Volume

[State of Epicicity]

I have owned 2203/4s since day one so the 800 was the first stop, then plexis, FAS Brown (whoa...very cool), then back to Friedman, but this time the Small Box sounded better

Funny you should mention that. I ended up playing a whole lot with the Small Box last night too, and I loved it! Though comparing everything, for me the BE C45 was the final winner…for the moment haha.

Since you mentioned the OH cab pack with them, I did also use the @York Audio FDMN pack with the various Friedman with very high MV, and it was totally badass. For those cabs I switched to the Friedman 4x12 Speaker Impedance Curve, but I kept Smoothing at 8.00 and trimmed the length to 512. I was getting every kind of holy grail pleasant hotrod Marshall bark and scream from them.

I was using my Logidy UMI-3 MIDI foot controller, going into Bome MIDI Translator to change commands to keyboard up and down arrows, scrolling with my foot as I played.

 

[State of Epicicity]

Change the Tone Stack to Plexi and you will release a new beast.

Yes, Yes, Yes! This is the feature I always forget to use in the Axe, and it’s so damn powerful! Thanks very much for the suggestion. Now I can’t wait to pick up the guitar again and give that a try. With a Plexi tone stack the big thing I’d imagine would be awesome cleans, edge of to mild breakup, and rude Plexi rock with more anger. This I’ve got to try.

How about your use of MV on the real deal? Did you find yourself cranking it to increase the mids in this way?

 

[Sashman]

Yes, Yes, Yes! This is the feature I always forget to use in the Axe, and it’s so damn powerful! Thanks very much for the suggestion. Now I can’t wait to pick up the guitar again and give that a try. With a Plexi tone stack the big thing I’d imagine would be awesome cleans, edge of to mild breakup, and rude Plexi rock with more anger. This I’ve got to try.

How about your use of MV on the real deal? Did you find yourself cranking it to increase the mids in this way?

The Plexi Tonestack did open up the amp, it’s brighter, more raw and aggressive. I didn’t change the MV settings but now I have to give it a try.

 

[State of Epicicity]

The Plexi Tonestack did open up the amp, it’s brighter, more raw and aggressive. I didn’t change the MV settings but now I have to give it a try.

I meant for the real world Friedmans that you owned; when you played through the actual amps, did you end up playing them really loud to get that full bodied midrange? Or did you like it at low volumes too? If you did like it a low volume, what cab and speakers did you use?

 

[Joe Bfstplk]

I wouldn't dare mess with the expensive Friedmans, but one of the Egnaters I owned was a handwired "Seminar" that I got with minimal $ outlay. So, I replaced the 100+100 filter caps with 50+50 and that made the amp feel more like the late '70s metalface and early '80s 800s that I've always loved.

Filter caps are a maintenance item. They wear out. Any decent amp manufacturer will make them relatively easy to remove/replace. Why not go ahead and try the smaller filter cap values in the Friedman?

 

[macfly]

Filter caps are a maintenance item. They wear out. Any decent amp manufacturer will make them relatively easy to remove/replace. Why not go ahead and try the smaller filter cap values in the Friedman?

LOL I’ve sold all of my analog gear. The last Friedman I had was a Dirty Shirley, which I understand is akin to a 2204 pre on a JTM45 power section. It felt more open, like my ‘80 2204 did, thus needed no mod. The ones I had before that were a Runt 50 and a Small Box. I liked the sound of the Small Box, but not the feel of it. Really happy that the FAS model sounds like it, but actually feels better!

 

[4406cuda]

With my BE100 Deluxe, it sounds best to keep the system volume at 8 or above and adjust the individual channel masters to taste.

The system volume on the BE100 Deluxe kind of acts the same way an effects loop return level works on other amps to tame the overall volume.

 

[Bruce Sokolovic]

3 Friedman amps here. I don’t find any of them particularly dark.

 

[State of Epicicity]

With my BE100 Deluxe, it sounds best to keep the system volume at 8 or above and adjust the individual channel masters to taste.

The system volume on the BE100 Deluxe kind of acts the same way an effects loop return level works on other amps to tame the overall volume.

Does your overall volume end up being pretty high?

 

[State of Epicicity]

3 Friedman amps here. I don’t find any of them particularly dark.

Do you crank them to get the tone, or are they pretty good at any volume?

 

[ApocalypticKatana]

Friedman’s have a fixed depth circuit that gives alot of bass boost i.e “too dark”

So Turn down Depth

if you want more clarity in low mids for friedman be/hbe

turn down Negative Feedback

Friedman Amp negative feedback are wired “weird” compared to traditional amps

Source Fractal Amp Model wiki

 

[la szum]

Not my BE50. What I've noticed is the BE channel's gain and MV controls are very interactive, and running the gain lower means you can crank the MV more to get a different tone. I find the best dynamics are with the MV at at least 50% and variable gain depending on taste.

I was referencing the Fractal model not the actual amp. With Masters volumes up at 6 or 8 that Headroom meter is getting smashed!

 

[4406cuda]

Does your overall volume end up being pretty high?

with the system volume on 8 and all
three channel masters around 5, it is very loud. No problem keeping up with a loud drummer.

 

[Sashman]

I meant for the real world Friedmans that you owned; when you played through the actual amps, did you end up playing them really loud to get that full bodied midrange? Or did you like it at low volumes too? If you did like it a low volume, what cab and speakers did you use?

I was never a bedroom player, so I played them really loud as much as I could.
The Friedman MV is awesome the amp did sound really good on low volume too.
I have used the matching Friedman 4x12 with V30 and Greenback speakers.

 

[Bruce Sokolovic]

Do you crank them to get the tone, or are they pretty good at any volume?

I find they all sound great, even at low volume. Probably the best MVs in the business. That’s what drew me to the brand.

Given that, ALL tube amps change throughout their range of volume. That’s just the nature of them. For instance my Soldano SLO100 are 2 VERY different sounds between a volume of 5 and 6 on the crunch channel.

 

[rossipedia]

input EQ hi-pass around 450hz, crank the presence. EQ is your friend, too many players try to keep things at 12 o'clock. Ain't no rules, just get the tone however you want.

 

[Fizz]

Thanks for the tips.. I am going to give them a try.. you might also want to try a couple of the things Leon does in this video

 

[State of Epicicity]

Change the Tone Stack to Plexi and you will release a new beast.

I tried this, and you're not freaking kidding! It's amazing! It actually gave me the perception of even more gain. I totally was straddling the line between a boosted Plexi and 5150, but like a 5150 that's dynamic as hell.

 

[Dirty145]

Can someone give these settings a run and let me know what you think (if you have the IRs that I’m using). I took snapshots of all my settings.

 

[FusionFanatic]

I never played a real Friedman, nor have I gelled with the FAS models. I made a Dirty Shirley preset a while ago and tried dialing it in with so so results.
But, with these tips I revisited it... and yeah, big improvement!
Turn up the master, (turn down the output to compensate) plexi tonestack... bingo.
Now the Dirty Shirley, and BE C45 are nice.
Thx