My Friedman ASM-12 Review

Georgy said:
Let me put your mind at ease man.. I've got the ASM, and it easily keeps up with my other guitarist's 100w JCM900. It's plenty loud, plenty of punch and thump, and cuts through no worries. However, make sure your patches are dialed in accordingly..

MY SUGGESTION based on my experience with the another guitarist in a covers band... Given the ASM is a FRFR wedge, I really dialed out a lot of the typical FRFR hi-fi/top end that FRFR is renown for. It's not a bad thing; the reality is, if you wanna be heard and stand out in the mix and not get lost, and, if you don't want it to pierce your ear drums as well as the rest of the band, definitely dial OUT some of the hi's and try and make it get closer in sound to a normal tube amp. That's the amazing thing about the ASM - you can go FRFR all the way, and you can also bring that back a bit and make it more 'real amp like'. Amazingly, my go-to patch for 80% of ALL my Axe FX playing (in band environment) is the Dirty Shirley.

Hope this helps..
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Georgy is right and that goes for any live situation. When practicing, dip the mids a bit and treble and bass up and the opposite for live use.

Dude, I never was using the Dirty Shirley before. I got some new pickups for my Les Paul and was jamming on some AC/DC and other classic rock stuff and the Dirty Shirley sounded awesome!!
 
Thanks Roman..

Yeah very true man.. It's so good to be able to a proper PROPER amp vs Axe comparison, I think it's critical that all Axe-users should play around with that if given the chance.

And as for the Dirty Shirley, she really is my go-to amp!! It blows me away how good I get it sounding thru the ASM.
 
I owned a CLR and used it for years. Also still own 2 of the RCF NX12's -used in my studio PA (my bass player has an entire RCF pa which is amazing for our bands live use)! With the Ax8 on a truck to hit my door tomorrow my interest is peaked regarding the Friedman asm's.
I really liked the CLR's a lot but several factors keep me from getting one again- reliability, service, communication ect. I will say I had zero issues with mine a friend did not and it went downhill from there.... I will leave it at that.

My current band does a lot of material with the drop Db tuning that I think the asm will match up nicely with. As far as the weight, Costco makes a cool little mini dolly to cart these around with and there are covers for these too made by several companies.
 
No comparison unfortunately. Mine does sound quite a bit better after I loaned it to my bass player for a month. It's either broken in and sounding better or I just was crap at building patches a while back cause it sure sounds good now. Some 3rd party IR's are probably helping also. Band practice tomorrow and I'm going to try ditching my 4x12 for the night and if all goes well I'm going to buy a second one.
 
I got mine today, I was highly influenced by this thread. I agree on all points "EXCEPT". It is "NOT" loud enough, not even close. Yes, it puts out volume, but my Suhr Badger 35 (35 watts) drowns this thing out. I can easily have a conversation with another person, with it maxed out.

I have it coming out of my AX8 (Left XLR) to the Freidman XLR Input. I have the gain all the way up on the Freidman. I adjust my output of the AX8 until I see the Freidman Compression Clip Light flicker occasionally. All per both manuals. I've also tried the 1/4 balanced out of the AX8 via an XLR to 1/4 Balanced cable as well, same results.

No way could i Jam with this with a typical heavy metal drummer. Sure, jazz, no problem. Very under underwhelmed with the volume. 500 watts, what a freaking joke!

Great sound though! I also prefer the standing up position vs the wedge. It felt and sounded more natural.

Most likely headed back to Sweetwater.

Also, very unhappy with the quality control. Both of my tabs to pull out the grill are severely frayed. How can you not catch that when packing?

The handle is located in the most ridiculous location. Makes zero sense.
 
wcfieldskx said:
Not loud enough? Something is wrong with your setup or the speaker...it is plenty loud IMO
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I've confirmed that its setup correctly. I think I just have differrent expectations. My 80 Watt Mesa Boogie Mark IV is so loud you can't even stay in the same room when its cranked. You can hear it down the block with all doors and windows closed. At a rating of 500 watts, I was expecting even more from the Freidman.

My Mark IV can make the walls rumble.

The Freidman is plenty loud for jamming in the studio, but in a band situation, I just don't see it.
 
Barry Johns said:
I've confirmed that its setup correctly. I think I just have differrent expectations. My 80 Watt Mesa Boogie Mark IV is so loud you can't even stay in the same room when its cranked. You can hear it down the block with all doors and windows closed. At a rating of 500 watts, I was expecting even more from the Freidman.

My Mark IV can make the walls rumble.

The Freidman is plenty loud for jamming in the studio, but in a band situation, I just don't see it.
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I'd have to agree with WC here. Is it possible the AX8 is set at -10db on the output? Maybe check that. I've jammed with a loud drummer and the level on the back is at noon and the AX8 level is just shy of noon and it's LOUD.
 
pat6969 said:
I'd have to agree with WC here. Is it possible the AX8 is set at -10db on the output? Maybe check that. I've jammed with a loud drummer and the level on the back is at noon and the AX8 level is just shy of noon and it's LOUD.
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Maybe, but if it's not set at the right output, why does the Freidman compression light come on, indicating that it's getting close to clipping the input of the Freidman?
 
Barry Johns said:
Maybe, but if it's not set at the right output, why does the Freidman compression light come on, indicating that it's getting close to clipping the input of the Freidman?
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True enough. How high do you have the output knob set? Maybe the ASM-12 is being fed a clipped signal and that is engaging the light. I'm just speculating here trying to help. I know my ASM-12 was ear splitting.
 
pat6969 said:
True enough. How high do you have the output knob set? Maybe the ASM-12 is being fed a clipped signal and that is engaging the light. I'm just speculating here trying to help. I know my ASM-12 was ear splitting.
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I'm out of town for the weekend, and I truly appreciate your help on this one, I'm going to explore this further when I get back on Sunday night. All along, I felt like it has to be user error, is it does take some time wrapping your head around these units. Not the Friedman, but the fractal units.
 
Hey guys! So I've been reading almost all of your answers to this topic.

Here is my question in this.


Let's say I want to get the most accurate sound from one of these monitors as possible that would match my studio monitors sound.

How would you compare the Friedman to the Atomic in this case?
 
Ibanizt said:
Hey guys! So I've been reading almost all of your answers to this topic.

Here is my question in this.


Let's say I want to get the most accurate sound from one of these monitors as possible that would match my studio monitors sound.

How would you compare the Friedman to the Atomic in this case?
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I can speak on the Friedman sound for this - and in my particular experience / room / gear.

Between cheap studio monitors, an Alto TS110a, and the ASM-12 - the only real diff for me is in the bass response. Mids and highs can be about the same to my ears in my basement. Stuff I tweak on the smaller speakers will always be a bit too bass heavy on the friedman. Most of the time the bass cut takes care of it, but in some instances I just bring the bass down in the AX8.
 
sskkmm said:
I can speak on the Friedman sound for this - and in my particular experience / room / gear.

Between cheap studio monitors, an Alto TS110a, and the ASM-12 - the only real diff for me is in the bass response. Mids and highs can be about the same to my ears in my basement. Stuff I tweak on the smaller speakers will always be a bit too bass heavy on the friedman. Most of the time the bass cut takes care of it, but in some instances I just bring the bass down in the AX8.
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Thanks! I really prefer the looks on the Friedman. I haven't seen a typical "great" review yet about them tho... Do you know any links perhaps?
 
Ibanizt said:
Thanks! I really prefer the looks on the Friedman. I haven't seen a typical "great" review yet about them tho... Do you know any links perhaps?
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Nope sorry. I think we are all too busy playing them .... :)

They do look and sound great. Heavy, a bit awkward to carry, but worth it for me.
 
I'm reviving an old thread to say how AWESOME this thing is. At first I hated it was boomy, muddy and unusable on anything but metal tones. I had to turn the bass off and the highs were terrible. Then I learned about the Lo-Cut on the cab block and BOOOOOM!!!!! this thing came alive. Now everything sounds like I thought it would especially the cleaner country, blues tones. It really is an incredible option.

With all of that new revelation I wonder about some of the comparison videos like this ASC/ASM with the DXR... I bet by tweaking the LowCut and eq the Friedman can sound just as good if not better!

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shredsquatch said:
I'm reviving an old thread to say how AWESOME this thing is. At first I hated it was boomy, muddy and unusable on anything but metal tones. I had to turn the bass off and the highs were terrible. Then I learned about the Lo-Cut on the cab block and BOOOOOM!!!!! this thing came alive. Now everything sounds like I thought it would especially the cleaner country, blues tones. It really is an incredible option.

With all of that new revelation I wonder about some of the comparison videos like this ASC/ASM with the DXR... I bet by tweaking the LowCut and eq the Friedman can sound just as good if not better!

---
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Oh yeah man, the low cut is where it's at in my opinion. I think it is good to have low end in the cab in case someone needs it but I have plenty of low end and don't need more. :)
 
romanianreaper said:
Oh yeah man, the low cut is where it's at in my opinion. I think it is good to have low end in the cab in case someone needs it but I have plenty of low end and don't need more. :)
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Right on! It's just amazing to me how crappy the ASC sounded with the factory AX8 setting all the way to the left. Once I got it around 120.0 HZ it started to sound like a real amp instead of running direct. It has plenty of low end now but it was just un-useable before. These Friedmans are bad a$$!!!

~ss
 
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