Alright you Jake E Lee fanboys, you got your wish..

  • Thread starter Thread starter napalmdeath
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CarlF said:
People are noting the amp sounds better in the demos where the amp is plugged into a cab OTHER than the matching 1X12. That G12M-65 Creamback will only enhance any possible fizz.
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I have (2) Friedman Vintage 112's with the M-65's. Last thing I would call them is fizzy. Like any speaker, they can be bright when new, but I didn't really experience them as overly harsh new, either. They're great cabs/speakers.
 
EL84 amps to me are like a having a underpowered 4 cylinder turbo sports car ...sure its fun and all but in the end it will always get destroyed in every way by the Supercharged V8 .

I'm sure it sounds good but why Friedman didn't just make the 100 watt version a regular production amp is strange to me as that possibly would of been something I would throw my money down on but the EL84 version gets a hard pass from me.
 
I wouldn’t write it off till trying one. I’m not a Friedman fan in general and not sure about this one, but some EL84 amps can sound surprisingly big for what they are and can have in some ways a more complex tone with their own distinct flavor vs other tubes IME (so not worse in every way). I’m guessing like others said it might be more the transformers than the tubes making many EL84 amps less powerful or robust sounding, but who knows. That said, I wish it was at least a 4 powertube EL84 amp, but maybe that’ll happen later on
 
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braintheory said:
I wouldn’t write it off till trying one. I’m not a Friedman fan in general and not sure about this one, but some EL84 amps can sound surprisingly big for what they are and can have in some ways a more complex tone with their own distinct flavor vs other tubes IME (so not worse in every way). I’m guessing like others said it might be more the transformers than the tubes making many EL84 amps less powerful or robust sounding, but who knows. That said, I wish it was at least a 4 powertube EL84 amp, but maybe that’ll happen later on
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I wasn't sold on EL84s until I heard the JJ Jr. in person and then bought one. Then I heard the PT2 V2 and bought that. They do metal and chug and sounds badass. I've used mine at band practice instead of my 5150-III and really close in tone.

The Jake E. Lee seems to add things I wanted from the other two. More 80s than modern, less crisp and bright than my V2 and seems badass.
 
romanianreaper said:
I wasn't sold on EL84s until I heard the JJ Jr. in person and then bought one. Then I heard the PT2 V2 and bought that. They do metal and chug and sounds badass. I've used mine at band practice instead of my 5150-III and really close in tone.

The Jake E. Lee seems to add things I wanted from the other two. More 80s than modern, less crisp and bright than my V2 and seems badass.
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Yeah the one that surprised me was the Dover 20. Very big, tight and punchy for a 20w EL84 amp, although I didn’t keep it. My ‘63 Vox AC30TB, Alessandro English and Xits Piper 30 are also big, robust sounding EL84 amps for the wattage and don’t lose headroom at volume anymore than my other amps would when pushed to that point. I’ve got a JEL 20 myself coming tomorrow and can return it if it doesn’t sound good vs my other amps (which will probably be the case)
 
espquade said:
EL84 amps to me are like a having a underpowered 4 cylinder turbo sports car ...sure it’s fun and all but in the end it will always get destroyed in every way by the Supercharged V8 .
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Lol great analogy, I used to think the same until I had my Orange OR15 modded with a depth control and mercury iron. It sounds huge. When I compared it to my old Monomyth Origin 50 it sounded just as beefy, I couldn’t tell a difference between the el84’s and el34’s.
 
acidvoodoo said:
Lol great analogy, I used to think the same until I had my Orange OR15 modded with a depth control and mercury iron. It sounds huge. When I compared it to my old Monomyth Origin 50 it sounded just as beefy, I couldn’t tell a difference between the el84’s and el34’s.
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That’s another reason I suspect it’s more the transformers than the tubes. I noticed my bigger sounding EL84 amps are also heavier in weight. EL84’s IME have a really good character/flavor that is distinctive to them. I remember the OR15 also being one the better low watt high gain amps. I’m curious myself to try the new OR30
 
braintheory said:
That’s another reason I suspect it’s more the transformers than the tubes. I noticed my bigger sounding EL84 amps are also heavier in weight. EL84’s IME have a really good character/flavor that is distinctive to them. I remember the OR15 also being one the better low watt high gain amps. I’m curious myself to try the new OR30
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That new OR30 sounds like a great amp from the demos.
 
I returned my JEL20. I actually liked a bunch of things about it (might even be my favorite Friedman), but like other Friedman’s it was a bit bland for my taste and very smooth sounding (no teeth or growl) despite being actually very bright and up front sounding (in a good way). I quite liked its openness, uppermid presence and surprisingly good punch for what it is, but vs some of the amps I’m lucky to have I couldn’t really find a reason to keep it. Still I think one of the better lunchbox amps I’ve tried if that’s what one needs or just good Marshall-y amp for the price imo
 
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