Fryette Pitbull 50 CL? - NAD!!

TX6Strings

TX6Strings

Well-known member
So what’s the consensus on these? I have an opportunity to pick one up locally at a good price. The YT vids are hit and miss. Sounds like the cleans are nice but i’m
Not sure of the gain channel. Does it have enough to pull off hard rock and metal? I don’t do much down tune Dejent type stuff.

Well I meet up with the guy and not only picked up the amp but traded my Friedman cab for his Mesa OS. She needed a little clean up and will probably need new tubes but it sounds awesome!

Here’s pic next to my MKIV rig.
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Hands down my favorite Fryette I ever owned. I used it in a down tuned deathcore band and it handled the gain no problem. Some great rock and roll overdrive in there too
 
The only thing I remember about guys recommending them long ago is; try to find one with the GEQ.
Killer amps though regardless.
 
I’ve owned 2 of them and though they are gone, still one of my favorite high gain amps. My advice is to play it first. It has a different vibe. Dry and crispy sounding and doesn’t work too well with many of the common speakers. Excellent master and doesn’t change much from whisper to stage volume.
 
I have a 50CL but instead of a graphic EQ, it has an EF86 tube powered spring reverb.

I think the cleans are always a sacrifice on it, since both channels are effectively identical, but thanks to the switches and more/less gain thing you can clean one of them up (and on the 50, you can have it so the red channel uses the tube rectifier but the green channel uses the SS, which is cool). I also had a PIttbull 45 and played a 50/ST a bunch and those have more dedicated clean channels which are superb, so I suspect the UL/Classic (which I've never had) are great for that too.

Seriously one of my all time favorite amps, if not my favorite amp for "my" tone. There's just something really cool and unique about it that really speaks to me every single time I play it. I would love to have one with the GEQ someday for even more tweakability.

The only thing about mine that I find interesting is that the boost function does not add much gain, and I am usually running the gain maxed already (which is part of it, since the bright cap is effectively "off" with the gain set that high). With the gain maxed, it's still nice and tight, but it's very dark, so I have to run the treble/presence up a lot. I'm not complaining, I love the sound, but definitely one of those "tweak with your ears, not your eyes" kind of things. It's also why I suspect the GEQ would be great for me, since I could bring it just a little more hair if I wanted to.

Of course, rolling the gain back a little makes it sound less congested, and then I can throw in a boost to get some of the punchy palm mutes back. I really like it both ways, and since both channels are the same I also can set one up "amp only" and another where I expect to turn on the boost, same gain level, different texture. Love it.

If I had one critique, for an amp I otherwise can't say enough good things about, is that the spring reverb in mind has a fairly short tail and is a little bit "reflective" for my taste. It's great for adding just a touch of ambience, but if I mix it a bit more, it's a little too busy sounding for me. I could probably swap the tank for a longer decay version if I cared enough, but if I were going to use the reverb on a clean-ish setting and I needed a deeper verb, I'd want to use a pedal for now.

Enjoy that amp - really killer.
 
I owned a VHT CLX for about 2 years. It was a great amp that was more versatile than it gets credit for. It was definitely a cleaner gain (not quite as saturated as other modern high gain amps). It definitely helped me improve my timing and playing as it exposed my weaknesses. They're similar to the CL just had three channels instead of two.
 
I used to own a Pitbull 45 1x12 combo amp in British racing green vinyl. Great sounding amp and yes, the overdrive isn't as saturated and isn't forgiving if you are using overdrive to cover up for bad playing or technique. The overdrive channel sounded clear and articulate like a Hi-Watt amp. I really liked the clean channel and how I can push it to overdrive on its own. Very Vox sounding when set up like that.
 
Hamer95USA said:
I used to own a Pitbull 45 1x12 combo amp in British racing green vinyl. Great sounding amp and yes, the overdrive isn't as saturated and isn't forgiving if you are using overdrive to cover up for bad playing or technique. The overdrive channel sounded clear and articulate like a Hi-Watt amp. I really liked the clean channel and how I can push it to overdrive on its own. Very Vox sounding when set up like that.
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I've a Pittbull 50/12 combo and it sounds like you've described. The gain channel is not an high gain channell but It sounds very beautifull, clear in a good way and the amp always cuts trough the band mix.
 
Techdeth said:
Idk about that . I asked Steve when will an ultra lead 2 come out he said it’s out . It’s called deliverance. I swear
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I recently saw Fryette posted a new pcb design showing the iconic punk boy that resembles like Dave Friedman lol ... i supposed that the mk2 in the making...
 
50/CL is killer. The clean isn’t fantastic but it’s not really supposed to be on this amp. Amazing high gain tones. Metal with a boost pedal.
 
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