A lot of people are commenting on the price of these amps. Sure its a lot of money, but if you save up and get one, you will not regret it. I have had Marshalls, Carvins, Peaveys, Orange, and Fender amps. I was never happy with any of them. I saved up, and got a BE100. Every time I plug into it, I am just amazed at how great it sounds. I just sit and shake my head in disbelief every time I his a note. Everybody who hears it is blown away. Its worth the $3700.00. It does everything rock, and it has a great clean channel too. GET YA ONE!!!!
Exactly. People confuse me. Guitarists these days will spend their entire adult life cycling through purchasing cheap $1000 chinese amps searching for the “tone in their head” because they refuse to just save for the amp they want. I’d rather spend $4000 once on an amp that will last me the rest of my life and beyond, with a lifetime warranty than buy a new $1000 amp every year just to be disappointed and have 0 customer support when one of the PCB mounted tube sockets decides to separate itself from the rest of the amp. I own 2 Friedman’s and have never been happier with my sound. The attention to detail on these amps is bar none. But hey, buy cheap buy many is most people’s life motto which is why Walmart is so profitable.
It's pretty asinine, really. If anything, once something SO distorted, it starts to sound clean again. To me, a guitar tone Like Whole Lotta Love is way nastier to me than any metal, because that stuff all sounds so smooth, as where JPs Les Paul on LZ2 was all sorts of rough and gritty.
Even @ $50.00 per hour to wire it, $2000.00 would leave you 40 hours to build it. He's not paying that to wire it and I doubt it takes 40 hours to put it togehter. It's not too hard to figure out these things are overpriced for what they are.
I think when you consider the design development time, the custom transformers and implementation and the meticulous construction, these prices aren’t so bad. I mean, you get a world-beating product at the end of it that, with care, will outlive the buyer.
These are not amps you buy to hop on a hype train and then sell on Reverb a year later. These are tanks with lifetime warranties. How many $1000 cheap chinese amps do people buy in their lifetime? Sure, some Friedman’s are 4k, but that’s 4 cheap chinese amps. These are buy once for life amps.
Butterslax. I just like saying that word. Butterslax Butterslax Butterslax. It rolls off the tongue and leaves you with a pleasant sensation for having said it. Butterslax
Been excited ever since I heard Bill was making a signature amp with Friedman. Great sounding amps already and Mastodons music has an awesome gain sounds but still remains immense clarity. These both factors combined I just knew it would be great. And it is. Just not the price tag :d
PS - uh Bill...."Clean" is a Roland Jazz Chorus. Clean is a Twin Reverb on 3, Clean is Jim Hall or Joe Pass. Clean is Albert Lee or Chet Atkins. Clean is NOT a high-gain distortion channel that's a less fizzy than the other high-gain distortion channel What he wants is "clear distortion" - I can totally relate to that - you don't want mud and you want chord voicings to work with distortion. But that is not the same as a clean channel, at least not in my lexicon. For $4K I'd want an amp that can produce any sound ever recorded by an electric guitar and I do not expect it to be "simple". I expect there to be adequate controls to shape the sound that's in my head and control it in a live situation. A Mesa-Boogie Mk V gets it right IMO. I think that's the amp he's dissing for having 'too many knobs".
I'd like a small low wattage version, with just a few nasty Bill Kelliher gain voicings with the same styling. That along with a smaller Phil X version too! ; )
+Garrett Kniffen i watched another video from namm and the friedman rep basically said it was the first time the amp was in public could be the first time bill even played with the final version
+hawg427 Why? Because you can't save $4K? I did that when I was 15 yrs old - I think you could do it if you tried. Most "pro musicians" are working paycheck to paycheck- so I'd think someone with a "day job" might be more likely to afford a $4000 amp than some guy playing in the travelling off-Broadway pit orchestra for "Cats" making $500/week. That kind of gig is what being a "pro musician" is about for the vast majority - not headlining arenas.
+Tioga Fretworks I just play at my house & not for money. I guess I could save the money but to be honest I personally don't hear $3800 coming out of that amp. Friedman makes other great amps at half that price :-) To each his own I guess :-) Have a good one.
+Watta Mugen I've been retired for 4 years :-) LOL I just pay cash for all my gear. I don't pay retail, usually get a 15-20% discount when I order something. 8 guitars and 5 amps and 1 Kemper later I'm all set. LOL I'll sell what I don't play for several months.
$3,899.00 wow! How many takers? For $4K I'd want an amp that can produce any sound ever recorded by an electric guitar and I do not expect it to be "simple". I expect there to be adequate controls to shape the sound that's in my head and control it in a live situation. A Mesa-Boogie Mk V gets it right IMO. I think that's the amp he's dissing for having 'too many knobs".
guitaristinseattle The reason it's expensive is a because it was hand wired by a human being with an extensive background in electronics. All of the Marshall hand wired reissue heads are around 3k too. Mesa Boogie's are slightly less because that's all they do is hand wire, so the production is slightly easier for them. I had a Mark V and it wasn't that great. I sold it and bought a DSL40, which completely blows the Mesa away in the tone department IMHO.
Second hand Cantrell sig, if anything. That's a lot of cash!! Friedman is great stuff. The trend here with the likes of Morgan as well, too pricey. Defo suits bills style though.
Thanks alot FRIEDMAN. Now I want one. Also...why does Friedman Amps have the font and style of the very first Marshall made? Dont know back story,just thought when I 1st saw them that they were Marshall copies. Now,I know better. Great Amps,but dont have 4grand right now.
Basically he could've simply asked for an amp with no clean channel and three gains, lo med hi. This has no clean channel, nothing wrong with it but his calibration to clean all rests on the idea that he wants the 'not-clean' channel gainy.
I was watching other videos about Friedman amps, they are nice and chunky, BUT! what is this overly compressed tone? I'm not talking about YT compression but a kind of compression on the mids mainly, it is so audible and exaggerated. It was also present on the BE100 as well. Very compressed and the tone stack was not really offering a wide range. It might be good for some EVH stuff but where is that Marshal rawness here? Marshals usually have way more hair on the mid area while the amps is not as compressed as these. Friedmans seem to be too smooth for my taste...
+konnektlive That trait seems to be the point. It gives you the opportunity to bring your mids back up without losing the bottom tightness, something that caused the mid cut I started using in the 70's. Also remember that it is not supposed to sound good in your face all alone. It is meant to be on a stage fighting for space...something totally different. In fact, Trace Davis at Voodoo once said something like...if you are playing at home our amps might not be for you, they are for a professional guitarist...or something similar. I have tiny amps and a 180 watt rack mount power amp and stuff in between...all work differently in different situations.
+TheDogpa Sire, I'm a professional session guitarist for more than 20 years. And I know how the tone should be to cut through the mix. I think what you are saying is exactly opposite of what the mid should be. Marshals or Boogies cut through the mix (1971 plexi or jcm800 half cranked or Mesa Mark V, Lonestar, etc...) because they are NOT out of the box overly compressed unless one make them compressed with either eq, OD pedals or more push against the preamps section. The high mid area is present up to your face and though as you said the tone probably is not pleasant in one's basement, but in the mix and on the stage its just the magical recipe to win! Friedman (maybe with the exception of dirty shirley which I tried couple of days ago) amps are very smooth in the high mid and there are no rawness in the tone. The dynamic range is good enough for some genres but in general its too squished and compressed. Its like they added another pre-gain stage with compression (like what a ProCo Rat or OCD does to your tone). I know its fun to have such heavy saturated tone out of the box, especially for kids and new comers but exactly for the pro musicians (not only metal guys) these amps are overly compressed. Maybe there are some hidden settings somewhere that can be changed to reduce the squishy/compression but I am not aware of them. I have tried almost all of the Friedman amps in a shop near me and unfortunately I was right about the compression. For instance, on the BE100, try to lower the gain on 10-12 o'clock, use a medium output humbucker pickups (LP traditional with 57s for instance) and you will realize that you can not ever get a nice bluesy tone out of it. If you increase the gain you will get go to the EVH tone area which is great, but lower than that... there is not enough Sag, not enough juicy fluid tone that remains after the initial attacks.
konnektlive Probably the worst amp IMO is a Marshall. In the 80's everyone ditched them because they sucked. Posers today just copy the latest star, and have no ear. The inability of a Marshall to work anywhere but on a huge stage...sometimes, created the boutique industry. You could not give away a Marshall in '85! Anyone playing them had to mod them as...remember...they sucked! Once places like plexi palace and a few others figured out that when the caps and other junk parts wore out or drifted they sometimes sounded good, then everyone made clones that worked...even Marshall has copied the circuits...because originally, they were trash. Friedman makes stuff for the stage, based on the circuits figured out from a stock, useless Marshall...and fixed. Remember, in a studio you have an engineer (oops, no more!) who made the Marshalls sound OK. A good engineer can even make a junk, terrible little supro toy sound good, but they don't in person. Of course, there are actually people that like the sound of a Fender Deluxe, so there is obviously no accounting for taste...mine, yours, or the rest. One person's awesome amp is an ice-pick of noise to another, and that is just fine by me. Sag, compresion, gain, etc., are all subjective. Your nice bluesy tone may sound like a fender to me...which all suck, even my 1958 410 tweed bassman...or not, as others think it is the grail. I have one and beg to differ....and everyone who has heard mine thinks it is the best ever...go figure. I will sell it soon and get something that sounds like an amp to ME. So try a Friedman on a stage in a room with 10,000 people and let me know if it works for you in the situation and in the style it was made for, or not...it's youtube so bitching is fine...LOL!
+TheDogpa If Marshall amps were ditched during the 1980s, then why were they in so many backlines and so many rows of them on stages? Lots of music videos from the 1980s are filled with Marshall amps. From what I've seen, old Marshalls were getting modified in the '80s so they could get more distortion & voicing like a Mesa/Boogie, rather than just buy a Mesa/Boogie.
I'll keep my 70's JMP for less than half the price and is still worth what i paid. I'm partial to the old school stuff/designs this amp has too many knobs!! 3 channels is obscene use your volume knob. I guess its different style than i play but i can get any sound i want with my vol/tone knobs because i use good pickups, good electronics, and a great amp. 4k for an amp that will be worth 2 as soon as its out of the box is sick. I like the buxom betty id be nice if he built a jtm 45 oh but then id just buy a real one. Theres no substitute for cranking a tube amp and letting it do its natural thing.
+Toni Paradise Why would you spend $4k on a solid state amp that sounds good but nothing spectacular, when you could spend half that on an old tube amp and have wayyyyy better tones IMO
I love Mastadon and Bill Kelliher... But I don't understand this signature amp. Bill uses AxeFX live (and he sounds great) so what's the point of an incredible sounding amp like this?
What is the actual price difference ratio of gear vs wages compared to the 70s and 80s? Is stuff really more expensive than that? Yeah to a young kid it is a lot, but sometimes cheap chinese made stuff while good quality might not be the best thing. Is it really better to have people able to afford 25 cheaper foreign made guitars/amps vs just a few more expensive american made ones?
I really like this amp but for 4k I could never justify spending 4k on amp. The cab is 1500. You could get a decent guitar, amp, cab and a ton of guitar lessons for 4k and come out sounding better.
Ppl moan and complain about the price of these "botique" hand wired amps. Lets stop for a reality check. In 1970, a 100 watt Marshall Super Lead (A plexi) was $680. Thats $4280 in 'todays' money. The price of a 100 watt top-of-the-line rock amp has gone down in 48 years.
"I think most musicians, like myself at least...want...." Translation: I want. This is the typical boutique builder who (incorrectly) believes the majority of musicians like/want the same things they like/want. If they're right - they hit the ball out of the park. If they're wrong, they'll still be paying for their trip to NAMM 2016 in 2026 ;-)
Handmade in America? Yep it's going to cost. That is the reality of the way things are these days. We don't have to like it but local companies have to be able to support themselves. Would you rather he put cheap china made parts in there instead? Won't sound the same. While we are on the subject, were is the outcry for custom shop les pauls being lowered in price? They're often twice the cost of this amp nowadays! Just sayin'. This is a larger economic problem and shouldn't be blamed on the amp maker who clearly puts out a quality product. Now Gibson. There's a maker that is in no way NOT being greedy from the cost it takes to make these instruments, to the cost they are selling to the customers. Boom shots fired! I said it!
Funny that they are based on marshalls which make them a copy nd people still buy it with those insane prices, for 4000$ i would get a marshall jtm45 and a jmp head
yerushalaimnehereset man....have you heard the fractal or kempler or helix stuff??!. I still love "real" amps but for that you could get a 5150iii or mesa roadking,Marshall jvm satriani..... With change for a cab.Typical "modern" American(I'm American by the way) marketing, SELL A GOOD PRODUCT FOR astronomical PRICES then DOG OUT OVERSEAS COMPANIES FOR SELLING "JUST AS GOOD IF NOT BETTER " AFFORDABLE PRODUCTS...... wake up & smell the coffee. Great guitarist...... overpriced amp
Maybe because he's a greedy hungry sob. I would never pay 4 grand for a amp.. I could buy and axfx with a foot switch and a decent cabinet for that amount.
Dan Hahn his amps are really good but unless you are touring professionally i could name amps half the price that would smoke this amp hughes ad kettner,bogner,marshall
way too expensive and what's really sad as I live in California and when you walk into the Guitar Centers and the Friedman amps sit there because they are too expensive and a very acquired taste so to speak.
![Дон ДОН, Алаудинов и СБЕЖАВШИЕ из под Курска ахматовцы 😁 [Пародия]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/dEfCf5IK26Q/mqdefault.jpg)
For 3899 I could get the Chinese to make me my very own Bill.
Ah......such a good comment
😖,Dude,hilarious!
Yeah but you’d have to buy a new one a year later and it would arrive smelling like moth balls.
A lot of people are commenting on the price of these amps. Sure its a lot of money, but if you save up and get one, you will not regret it. I have had Marshalls, Carvins, Peaveys, Orange, and Fender amps. I was never happy with any of them. I saved up, and got a BE100. Every time I plug into it, I am just amazed at how great it sounds. I just sit and shake my head in disbelief every time I his a note. Everybody who hears it is blown away. Its worth the $3700.00. It does everything rock, and it has a great clean channel too. GET YA ONE!!!!
Plus hand wired made in the USA
Exactly. People confuse me. Guitarists these days will spend their entire adult life cycling through purchasing cheap $1000 chinese amps searching for the “tone in their head” because they refuse to just save for the amp they want. I’d rather spend $4000 once on an amp that will last me the rest of my life and beyond, with a lifetime warranty than buy a new $1000 amp every year just to be disappointed and have 0 customer support when one of the PCB mounted tube sockets decides to separate itself from the rest of the amp.
I own 2 Friedman’s and have never been happier with my sound. The attention to detail on these amps is bar none. But hey, buy cheap buy many is most people’s life motto which is why Walmart is so profitable.
only a Mastodon guitarist would call a distorted tone "clean".
i mean i dunno like i have a "clean" patch on my board and its not overalla clean
It's pretty asinine, really. If anything, once something SO distorted, it starts to sound clean again.
To me, a guitar tone Like Whole Lotta Love is way nastier to me than any metal, because that stuff all sounds so smooth, as where JPs Les Paul on LZ2 was all sorts of rough and gritty.
It's a handwired american amp, its not going to cost the same as your Peavey Bandit.
Lol so true
Even @ $50.00 per hour to wire it, $2000.00 would leave you 40 hours to build it. He's not paying that to wire it and I doubt it takes 40 hours to put it togehter. It's not too hard to figure out these things are overpriced for what they are.
For some strange reason - Americans like getting paid for their work.
Just buy a Line 6. It's as good as any tube amp out there. (Only do this if you are Gullible).
@@a_bass_player5622 Get a Line 6 Spider, scoop the mids and put a Metal Zone in the front
shut up and take my money ... oh wait I dont have any
Dude, if I had your money, I'd throw mine away.
+Jason Dotson DON'T WAIT, DO IT NOW. ( I empty the garbage during the night shift.)
thats what i say as i dial in a profile on my kemper -- not quie the same but them germans got enough of my dough for now
The word on the mean streets of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan is that these amplifiers are quite good
I own 2, can confirm.
@@cardbored_ dang!
Same in Delisle!!
Damn David Gilmour has gained weight!
If I had dollar for every time Bill says "ya know", I would afford that amp.
Actual video starts at 5:14
Damn I must say I LOVE the way Channel 1 sounded with some gain cranked into it, I’ve never heard such a gentle crunch
I want this amplifier SO BAD. Bill is the man
It's $4,000 though ;___;
+KBGrevolver Jews! 'Nuff said!
i heard this thing's manufactured at Tiger Wood's Nike plant in Burma, or sumthin.
Jason Dotson
LOL! He's a HACK!
Why Friedman Bill, why? They're great yes but they're obscenely priced. The big dude even looked embarrassed to say what it would cost.
Cause of Jerry Cantrell
Haha so true. "uhhh...yesss...I think it's gonna be 38 - 99." *purses lips* *crickets* xD
I noticed that. He didn't want to say the price. Not MSRP at Namm,No way. Where else!?
I think when you consider the design development time, the custom transformers and implementation and the meticulous construction, these prices aren’t so bad. I mean, you get a world-beating product at the end of it that, with care, will outlive the buyer.
These are not amps you buy to hop on a hype train and then sell on Reverb a year later. These are tanks with lifetime warranties. How many $1000 cheap chinese amps do people buy in their lifetime? Sure, some Friedman’s are 4k, but that’s 4 cheap chinese amps. These are buy once for life amps.
Next on the agenda please: Bill Kelliher Sig MINI 20w amp.
Butterslax. I just like saying that word. Butterslax Butterslax Butterslax. It rolls off the tongue and leaves you with a pleasant sensation for having said it. Butterslax
These prices today are just way out of line! I'm quite sold on these Friedmans. I'm still a Bogner fan if I had to choose.
These amps are huge money grab, there's nothing in these worth four grand.
I agree with that! Same goes for a 5000 PRS!
They blow away Bogners..
And Bogners are in the same price range, so why even complain about price?
This amp really nails that tone that every person hears in their head. Bravo!
+LuckyLicks thats a daring statement.
Hmm ..the tone that many have been searching for.. Ok? :)
Been excited ever since I heard Bill was making a signature amp with Friedman. Great sounding amps already and Mastodons music has an awesome gain sounds but still remains immense clarity. These both factors combined I just knew it would be great. And it is. Just not the price tag :d
That has seriously has to be one of the best amps I've ever heard
The voicing on this amp is amazing.
Bill is a classy guy
PS - uh Bill...."Clean" is a Roland Jazz Chorus. Clean is a Twin Reverb on 3, Clean is Jim Hall or Joe Pass. Clean is Albert Lee or Chet Atkins. Clean is NOT a high-gain distortion channel that's a less fizzy than the other high-gain distortion channel What he wants is "clear distortion" - I can totally relate to that - you don't want mud and you want chord voicings to work with distortion. But that is not the same as a clean channel, at least not in my lexicon. For $4K I'd want an amp that can produce any sound ever recorded by an electric guitar and I do not expect it to be "simple". I expect there to be adequate controls to shape the sound that's in my head and control it in a live situation. A Mesa-Boogie Mk V gets it right IMO. I think that's the amp he's dissing for having 'too many knobs".
That may be one of the best amps I've ever heard!!
Woah, that price is insane. Could get a fractal and a new guitar with world class speakers too.
But then you’d have a fractal.
@@cardbored_ 🥁
I'd like a small low wattage version, with just a few nasty Bill Kelliher gain voicings with the same styling. That along with a smaller Phil X version too! ; )
this is where I would be hanging out for sure
I'd buy this in a second...if I could afford it. Bill and I have the exact same definition of what "clean channel" means!
These guys both act like they've never seen this amp before XD
Now that you mention it and I thought about it you are right!!! Lol
+Garrett Kniffen i watched another video from namm and the friedman rep basically said it was the first time the amp was in public could be the first time bill even played with the final version
Nice, a demonstration that's shows the capabilities of the equipment beyond just three cords and 2 minutes of shredding.
Those Amps are pretty impressive for Metal!
$3899 That leaves out any non pro musician :-(
+hawg427 Why? Because you can't save $4K? I did that when I was 15 yrs old - I think you could do it if you tried. Most "pro musicians" are working paycheck to paycheck- so I'd think someone with a "day job" might be more likely to afford a $4000 amp than some guy playing in the travelling off-Broadway pit orchestra for "Cats" making $500/week. That kind of gig is what being a "pro musician" is about for the vast majority - not headlining arenas.
+Tioga Fretworks I just play at my house & not for money. I guess I could save the money but to be honest I personally don't hear $3800 coming out of that amp. Friedman makes other great amps at half that price :-) To each his own I guess :-) Have a good one.
+hawg427 that's an cool outlook. Save up bro! Once you get a part time job you'll hopefully get some crazy gear in no time :D
+Watta Mugen I've been retired for 4 years :-) LOL I just pay cash for all my gear. I don't pay retail, usually get a 15-20% discount when I order something. 8 guitars and 5 amps and 1 Kemper later I'm all set. LOL I'll sell what I don't play for several months.
No need to buy this anyway, you can get a very good sounding amp for much less money than this.
Killer amp!
+Jacob Caburian Kelliher amp!
$3,899.00 wow! How many takers? For $4K I'd want an amp that can produce any sound ever recorded by an electric guitar and I do not expect it to be "simple". I expect there to be adequate controls to shape the sound that's in my head and control it in a live situation. A Mesa-Boogie Mk V gets it right IMO. I think that's the amp he's dissing for having 'too many knobs".
guitaristinseattle The reason it's expensive is a because it was hand wired by a human being with an extensive background in electronics. All of the Marshall hand wired reissue heads are around 3k too. Mesa Boogie's are slightly less because that's all they do is hand wire, so the production is slightly easier for them. I had a Mark V and it wasn't that great. I sold it and bought a DSL40, which completely blows the Mesa away in the tone department IMHO.
Sounds really good.
Holy !!!!! damn that sounds awesome!!
I'd be fine with a Marshall for 1500.
so spinal tap... 'heavy' clean channel
Buy a Jcm800 and a 5150, blend them and you have the same for half the price ... :/
You can find a jcm for 1000 bucks and a 5150 for like 750 to 1000. GC has a 5150 combo for 400$ right now
there goes my college fund
and when its time to make a new album he plugs in a good old marshall
Think he uses a combination of a lot of amps
nope hes solid on the friedman has been for a while now
brents more split between the orange and the marshall jcm800
gorgeous axe !!
3899.00 !! talk about breakin it off in ya!!
The grill cloth is awesome! Classic!
this is probably the best sounding amp i wish i had 4000 dollars tho:(
Second hand Cantrell sig, if anything. That's a lot of cash!! Friedman is great stuff. The trend here with the likes of Morgan as well, too pricey.
Defo suits bills style though.
I mean... you cannot play a $15000 Les Paul with a line6 Spider III, right?
Thanks alot FRIEDMAN. Now I want one. Also...why does Friedman Amps have the font and style of the very first Marshall made? Dont know back story,just thought when I 1st saw them that they were Marshall copies. Now,I know better. Great Amps,but dont have 4grand right now.
Basically he could've simply asked for an amp with no clean channel and three gains, lo med hi. This has no clean channel, nothing wrong with it but his calibration to clean all rests on the idea that he wants the 'not-clean' channel gainy.
I was watching other videos about Friedman amps, they are nice and chunky, BUT! what is this overly compressed tone? I'm not talking about YT compression but a kind of compression on the mids mainly, it is so audible and exaggerated. It was also present on the BE100 as well. Very compressed and the tone stack was not really offering a wide range. It might be good for some EVH stuff but where is that Marshal rawness here? Marshals usually have way more hair on the mid area while the amps is not as compressed as these. Friedmans seem to be too smooth for my taste...
+konnektlive That trait seems to be the point. It gives you the opportunity to bring your mids back up without losing the bottom tightness, something that caused the mid cut I started using in the 70's. Also remember that it is not supposed to sound good in your face all alone. It is meant to be on a stage fighting for space...something totally different. In fact, Trace Davis at Voodoo once said something like...if you are playing at home our amps might not be for you, they are for a professional guitarist...or something similar. I have tiny amps and a 180 watt rack mount power amp and stuff in between...all work differently in different situations.
+TheDogpa Sire, I'm a professional session guitarist for more than 20 years. And I know how the tone should be to cut through the mix. I think what you are saying is exactly opposite of what the mid should be. Marshals or Boogies cut through the mix (1971 plexi or jcm800 half cranked or Mesa Mark V, Lonestar, etc...) because they are NOT out of the box overly compressed unless one make them compressed with either eq, OD pedals or more push against the preamps section. The high mid area is present up to your face and though as you said the tone probably is not pleasant in one's basement, but in the mix and on the stage its just the magical recipe to win!
Friedman (maybe with the exception of dirty shirley which I tried couple of days ago) amps are very smooth in the high mid and there are no rawness in the tone. The dynamic range is good enough for some genres but in general its too squished and compressed. Its like they added another pre-gain stage with compression (like what a ProCo Rat or OCD does to your tone). I know its fun to have such heavy saturated tone out of the box, especially for kids and new comers but exactly for the pro musicians (not only metal guys) these amps are overly compressed. Maybe there are some hidden settings somewhere that can be changed to reduce the squishy/compression but I am not aware of them.
I have tried almost all of the Friedman amps in a shop near me and unfortunately I was right about the compression. For instance, on the BE100, try to lower the gain on 10-12 o'clock, use a medium output humbucker pickups (LP traditional with 57s for instance) and you will realize that you can not ever get a nice bluesy tone out of it. If you increase the gain you will get go to the EVH tone area which is great, but lower than that... there is not enough Sag, not enough juicy fluid tone that remains after the initial attacks.
+konnektlive To each their own mate. Sounds amazing to my ears.
konnektlive
Probably the worst amp IMO is a Marshall. In the 80's everyone ditched them because they sucked. Posers today just copy the latest star, and have no ear. The inability of a Marshall to work anywhere but on a huge stage...sometimes, created the boutique industry. You could not give away a Marshall in '85! Anyone playing them had to mod them as...remember...they sucked! Once places like plexi palace and a few others figured out that when the caps and other junk parts wore out or drifted they sometimes sounded good, then everyone made clones that worked...even Marshall has copied the circuits...because originally, they were trash. Friedman makes stuff for the stage, based on the circuits figured out from a stock, useless Marshall...and fixed. Remember, in a studio you have an engineer (oops, no more!) who made the Marshalls sound OK. A good engineer can even make a junk, terrible little supro toy sound good, but they don't in person. Of course, there are actually people that like the sound of a Fender Deluxe, so there is obviously no accounting for taste...mine, yours, or the rest. One person's awesome amp is an ice-pick of noise to another, and that is just fine by me. Sag, compresion, gain, etc., are all subjective. Your nice bluesy tone may sound like a fender to me...which all suck, even my 1958 410 tweed bassman...or not, as others think it is the grail. I have one and beg to differ....and everyone who has heard mine thinks it is the best ever...go figure. I will sell it soon and get something that sounds like an amp to ME. So try a Friedman on a stage in a room with 10,000 people and let me know if it works for you in the situation and in the style it was made for, or not...it's youtube so bitching is fine...LOL!
+TheDogpa If Marshall amps were ditched during the 1980s, then why were they in so many backlines and so many rows of them on stages? Lots of music videos from the 1980s are filled with Marshall amps. From what I've seen, old Marshalls were getting modified in the '80s so they could get more distortion & voicing like a Mesa/Boogie, rather than just buy a Mesa/Boogie.
The amp is available now, or soon to be available? "Yes..."
that friedman does high gain marshall better than ANY amp they've made in the last 15 years. i'd pay 4k for it.
Friedman amps won't be around for too long looking at how big Daves got over the years!
I'll keep my 70's JMP for less than half the price and is still worth what i paid. I'm partial to the old school stuff/designs this amp has too many knobs!! 3 channels is obscene use your volume knob. I guess its different style than i play but i can get any sound i want with my vol/tone knobs because i use good pickups, good electronics, and a great amp. 4k for an amp that will be worth 2 as soon as its out of the box is sick. I like the buxom betty id be nice if he built a jtm 45 oh but then id just buy a real one. Theres no substitute for cranking a tube amp and letting it do its natural thing.
+Toni Paradise Agreed, dude
+Toni Paradise Why would you spend $4k on a solid state amp that sounds good but nothing spectacular, when you could spend half that on an old tube amp and have wayyyyy better tones IMO
Put in mind also that marshalls are the originals, without Marshall there would never be a friedman
it went on to be called the butterslax
I love Mastadon and Bill Kelliher... But I don't understand this signature amp. Bill uses AxeFX live (and he sounds great) so what's the point of an incredible sounding amp like this?
+Cosmocalypse making money
Too many knobs...exactly!!
What's the riff around 5:30?
fmbighair black tongue from the album the hunter
Butter slacks, eh? Alright then.
What is the actual price difference ratio of gear vs wages compared to the 70s and 80s? Is stuff really more expensive than that? Yeah to a young kid it is a lot, but sometimes cheap chinese made stuff while good quality might not be the best thing. Is it really better to have people able to afford 25 cheaper foreign made guitars/amps vs just a few more expensive american made ones?
I really like this amp but for 4k I could never justify spending 4k on amp. The cab is 1500. You could get a decent guitar, amp, cab and a ton of guitar lessons for 4k and come out sounding better.
the only thing i remember is Dave can we take this amp to 11?
Meh, just buy a Marshall head with a Green amp and you can get way more bang for your buck, then buy a used car to go on tour.
How many of these were made? I heard 400 but was told 500 units in total....
Is it just me or this a 2 channel amp in the vid that is different from the production model?
sounds great but have you heard victory amps there great to
I wish Dave would sit down lol
that grill cloth is worth the 4k
What cab is that through? I saw on their website they had a few different 4x12s.
If I had that kind of money I'd go ahead and put a extra grand with it and buy a Wizard Metal amp.
namm coke or hangover... LOL
Ppl moan and complain about the price of these "botique" hand wired amps.
Lets stop for a reality check. In 1970, a 100 watt Marshall Super Lead (A plexi) was $680. Thats $4280 in 'todays' money. The price of a 100 watt top-of-the-line rock amp has gone down in 48 years.
What is the riff Bill is playing aside from "Asleep in the Deep"?
Black Tongue.
+jMOPS1993 Thanks man! I was drawing a serious blank on that one!
+Michael Croom sure thing bud.
oh ya. Get his signature Lace pickups along with the amp ( You realize every guitar affects the voicing of every amp...
Tone is in the fingers baby
What is a 'butterslax'? Is that some kind of laxative based on butter?
Also I always thought Mastodon were Poms!
+DMSProduktions Atlanta, Georgia.
David Oakes
I see! Right on! Thanks Dave!
But does it go to 11 ?
hey man, you play for PRIMATE?
How about that guitar?
"I think most musicians, like myself at least...want...."
Translation: I want.
This is the typical boutique builder who (incorrectly) believes the majority of musicians like/want the same things they like/want. If they're right - they hit the ball out of the park. If they're wrong, they'll still be paying for their trip to NAMM 2016 in 2026 ;-)
Handmade in America? Yep it's going to cost. That is the reality of the way things are these days. We don't have to like it but local companies have to be able to support themselves. Would you rather he put cheap china made parts in there instead? Won't sound the same. While we are on the subject, were is the outcry for custom shop les pauls being lowered in price? They're often twice the cost of this amp nowadays! Just sayin'. This is a larger economic problem and shouldn't be blamed on the amp maker who clearly puts out a quality product. Now Gibson. There's a maker that is in no way NOT being greedy from the cost it takes to make these instruments, to the cost they are selling to the customers. Boom shots fired! I said it!
+BrothuhV84 you can stick china parts with the correct values in there and it will sound the same
@@RorysIrishTour you tell me it's a great amp..okay ,I'll pay. You tell me you used a few Chinese parts. No way!
nice guitar
Mastodon is only the greatest metal band out there now, bar none!
Everyone's the "greatest" in jesus's eyes...... Muster up some humility for your fellow man, if you can, "27sevenSToFo."
I love my people and I AM PROUD. :)
whats the finish called on his guitar ?
such a pitty only his signature models have it.
Funny that they are based on marshalls which make them a copy nd people still buy it with those insane prices, for 4000$ i would get a marshall jtm45 and a jmp head
Did he say his name was ass water....????
for that spend 1400$ & get fractal audio ax8 & get 225 amps.....ridiculously OVERPRICED
+Damon Stewart And sound like unlively shit.
Nothing can beat a real Amp, NOTHING.
yerushalaimnehereset man....have you heard the fractal or kempler or helix stuff??!. I still love "real" amps but for that you could get a 5150iii or mesa roadking,Marshall jvm satriani..... With change for a cab.Typical "modern" American(I'm American by the way) marketing, SELL A GOOD PRODUCT FOR astronomical PRICES then DOG OUT OVERSEAS COMPANIES FOR SELLING "JUST AS GOOD IF NOT BETTER " AFFORDABLE PRODUCTS...... wake up & smell the coffee. Great guitarist...... overpriced amp
+Damon Stewart he said nothing could beat a real amp. you cant argue with that.
Where's da Cat?
14 knobs is simple ?!?!?!
the guy that makes the amps mr.Friedman always breaths so heavy >_
Maybe because he's a greedy hungry sob. I would never pay 4 grand for a amp.. I could buy and axfx with a foot switch and a decent cabinet for that amount.
Dan Hahn his amps are really good but unless you are touring professionally i could name amps half the price that would smoke this amp hughes ad kettner,bogner,marshall
lolol able to spit out all the stats and what not. then asked about price and suddenly has a brain fart
The amp looks kinda funny. Its too short. The lip on top is very thin. I like the look of other Friedman amps...this one looks long and short.
Bass at 10 -_-' ?!!
it has GAIN KNOB CONTROL !!!
Sounds awesome. To bad it cost almost 4,000 dollars
That is NOT a "heavy clean" tone.... its crunchy, not clean at all. If that is the "clean tone" then there is NO clean in the amp. @2:22
Bill Kelliher wants more gain and Phil X wants less.
way too expensive and what's really sad as I live in California and when you walk into the Guitar Centers and the Friedman amps sit there because they are too expensive and a very acquired taste so to speak.
Clean. :D Ok.
How does Bill magically not have tunnels anymore..?
Tunnels? You mean gauges or plugs? Lol if so they have a surgical procedure where they cut the excess lobe off and sew the rest together.
He just called that a clean channel. Hahaha, wow. Not even, guy.
way to expensive!! I'd rather get a jcm 800 or a triple rec....
Guys are bitching about the cost but ffs MF and sweet water have installment plans...
Lol yea 300+ a month? No thanks that's what I pay for my car..