Still havent found what i am looking for: the definitive Friedman

    It is not the old question of "amp in the room" vs recorded amp/profile here. I dunno how the others do it.


    I have recorded for instance an 8-bar-riff, took my best 5 friedman profiles and let my wife decide which one sounds best.
    she is a pro musician, a classical piano player. It got boring after two versions. She always picked the Friedman by Thomas Dill.
    Because it is raw, she says, it has attack, but sounds rich. I could not have said it better,
    Then we changed places. I made markers for my wife, looked the other way, and she played those 5 recordings to me.
    Took at the most ten seconds to find the Dill.


    Knowing that the profile of Thomas was a quick shot, i hope that someone with more time on his hands will be able to profile all of the
    fantastic Friedmans out there. Seems to be no easy task.

    My occupation: showing teenagers the many hidden secrets of the A-minor chord on the guitar.

    Quote from Havohej

    Maybe the Friedman sound is too different from the so-called base amp models the Kemper uses so it fails to exactly copy all of its details ?
    Or rather some nuances/frequencies that make the Friedman sound what it is are not being captured by the profiling process ?


    I know for sure from some blind tests that the Kemper can almost perfectly replicate a lot of amps, but I am still wondering why there isn't the definitive Friedman profile out there yet that everyone raves about.
    I have MBritt's friedmans from his modern pack and the DS from andy's last pack. While they sound good for what they are they are imho still missing something, because when you hear a real recorded friedman there are these layers of (delicious) texture that are missing from the profiles I've tried. Best way I can put it I guess.


    Haven't tried the ones in the free profile scene fwiw.


    You took the words right out of my mind @Havohej I do not know why either, but sth s still missing.

    My occupation: showing teenagers the many hidden secrets of the A-minor chord on the guitar.

    Quote from benvigil

    That does sound glorious doesn't it... I've not found one that touches that tone or the tone out of the PhilX head either.


    That said, one of the better ones I've heard on Rig Exchange is called BE100 SAT1 DEMO by Craig Sorrenti.


    Okay, this one is good! I have a new number two now, in the ballpark of the best IMHO. thx for the hint. :thumbup:

    My occupation: showing teenagers the many hidden secrets of the A-minor chord on the guitar.

    Like 1
    Quote from Geraldo7

    Okay, this one is good! I have a new number two now, in the ballpark of the best IMHO. thx for the hint. :thumbup:


    I know right!!!


    There's something about the Friedman distortion character: while the "Boogie sound" to me is a very tight, refined, super creamy distortion; and the classic Marshall distortion character is very open, knarly, rough and rip yer face off.... the Friedman combines the two: the Marshal rip with the smooth Boogie flavor on top.


    If they were sandpaper, the Boogie would be 400-grit, and the Marshal would be 80-grit, but the Friedman would be a cool 150-grit. :thumbup:

    These are mean machines. Liked benvigil your sandpaper metaphora above. :D


    It seems not an easy task to capture the basic essence of an super saturated amp keeping it still raw, punchy, harmonically complex and balanced what comes to the overall EQ. Will check out the RE stuff brought up here for sure..

    I hope I don't get any hate mail for the comment I am about to make...


    but I wonder how many members, who have commented in this specific thread, have actually played a Friedman BE-100 first hand.
    Be honest.


    I will start first. I have never played nor heard a Friedman amp, in person.


    My point being...if one has never played a Friedman BE-100, and more importantly, if one has never personally authored the profile of a BE-100 (which allows the ability to compare the reference amp to the profile)...how can one argue if a given BE-100 profile is "definitive" or not??


    I mean, this is kind of like tilting at windmills...no?

    Edited 2 times, last by Tritium ().

    Like 2
    Quote from schneidas

    Not even in the same ballpark... no chunk at all



    Shneides is right, Not even close! I respect Andys work but this one was not good. I did have some success changing the cab to one of Mbritts cabs (can't remember which one and I'm not at home to check) and got wayyyy closer, but when I came back to it later it wasn't as close as I thought, however it was still a great "new" profile and have been using it live ever since.I have played and heard in the flesh a BE100, an SS-100, Dirty Shirley. All great amps, but change a cab/speaker and all of a sudden one mans delight is another mans dread, and then when you use different mics & indeed micing techniques and there are so many different tones you can get that are all subjective.


    Still the SS-100 is a special amp to my ears and that Steve Stevens clips is "my" holy grail tone. Can someone profile Steve Stevens hands and musical knowledge, I'll pay big money :thumbup:



    I was fortunate or unfortunate, it depends :D on your view being no friggin millionaire, to play the SS, DS and BE for six hours on two days. it was holiday season
    the place was more or less empty and i am a good customer of the shop. Nevertheless it is a wonder the did not throw me out of the damn place. :thumbup:
    I could play them even with 20 diffferent speakers, unbelievable switching system there.
    If you are anywhere near liking the Marsh sound, those are the garden Eden. period.


    I am going to sell my Grandma on ebay now and buy the BE, cheers, i'll burn in hell

    My occupation: showing teenagers the many hidden secrets of the A-minor chord on the guitar.

    Like 2
    Quote from benvigil

    There's something about the Friedman distortion character: while the "Boogie sound" to me is a very tight, refined, super creamy distortion; and the classic Marshall distortion character is very open, knarly, rough and rip yer face off.... the Friedman combines the two: the Marshal rip with the smooth Boogie flavor on top.


    We are on the same page! :thumbup:

    My occupation: showing teenagers the many hidden secrets of the A-minor chord on the guitar.

    Like 1

    Hi All,
    I love the BE100 too and I have got the best results using the great 3Sigma Audio Friedman IR's (7$) with the profiles you mentionned + the very good DI profiles made by Kentoshan on Rig Exchange.
    Very often lowering the Pres helps.
    Cheers.
    Alain

    Quote from visionxxx

    Hi All,
    I love the BE100 too and I have got the best results using the great 3Sigma Audio Friedman IR's (7$) with the profiles you mentionned + the very good DI profiles made by Kentoshan on Rig Exchange.
    Very often lowering the Pres helps.
    Cheers.
    Alain


    What is an audio friedman IR ??? is it easy to import? thx for the kentoshan hint, have not had him onm y radar yet! :D

    My occupation: showing teenagers the many hidden secrets of the A-minor chord on the guitar.

    I'm in the same boat. I haven't found a Friedman profile (BE-100 or other models) that really does it for me. I find that some Marshall profiles ( My favorite being the JCM 800 profiles from @r_u_sirius ) do a better job of approximating the Friedman 'thing' than most of the actual Friedman profiles I've tried.


    I've owned a pink taco (roughly the BE channel) and I've tried the smallbox and BE-100. They are jaw dropping in person and even some youtube videos will at least give you a taste (

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    ). IMO the biggest issue with the profiles that I've tried (admittedly I'm sure I haven't tried them all) is that they don't come close to emulating the dynamics that to my ear make Friedmans some of the best sounding amps. For that same reason I love the JCM 800 profile I mentioned earlier. It does an incredible job of cleaning up with the guitar volume but retaining a real sweet top end and deep lows (something Friedmans do extremely well).

    just tried the 3sigma audio friedman IR's and it was a waste of time and 7$ . same lifeless, one-dimensional sound and feeling as the ownhammers and redwirez...maybe they fit in a mix but I won't bother trying...a good kemper-cab is like night and day compared to IR's...IMO of course

    Quote from themegabacon

    I'm in the same boat. I haven't found a Friedman profile (BE-100 or other models) that really does it for me. I find that some Marshall profiles ( My favorite being the JCM 800 profiles from r_u_sirius ) do a better job of approximating the Friedman 'thing' than most of the actual Friedman profiles I've tried.


    I EXACTLY understand what you mean, those JCM are fantastic. and still ... :D

    My occupation: showing teenagers the many hidden secrets of the A-minor chord on the guitar.

    While we're seque'ing into into Marshall land... I found that BE100 SAT1 because I was testing another of Craig's profiles: the Marshall JMP Jose Arredondo Mod, which is pretty awesome in it's own right.

    @Geraldo7 , i put in the "hard word" to TopJimi (Steve actually endorses his profiles)
    He says he is going to look out for one man, fingers crossed bro


    What new Video will you make from this profile, this will be good man :D


    Ash

    Have a beer and don't sneer. -CJ. Two non powered Kempers -Two mission stereo FRFR Cabs - Ditto X4 -TC electronic Mimiq.

    Like 2