framus cobra or dragon

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nighttrain69

nighttrain69

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i was hoping to get some insight into both of these amps,from anyone who has owned 1 or both of them ,what they liked what they didnt,which one is more mid heavy ,which one is more bass heavy,,ive listened to clips but you dont get the true sound,,,thanks fellows
 
I had the Cobra and modded the lead channel for dragon specs for a while
the dragon is slightly less satured and a lot more bass heavy (way too much)
lower mids are impossible to dial out
besides that, they still sounds extremely similar, since they have exactly the same gain structure (SLO gain stages with a different tonestack) and the same power amp section
they even have the same boards
don't be fooled with the "the dragon sounds like a hot rodded marshall"
that's only cause it looks like a laney vh100r, but it has the same circuit of the cobra, only tweaked for more low mids (the opposite of a british voicing)

both have perfect clean channels, the Cobra being a Fender Bassman clone and the Dragon being apparently Vox based (the only 'british' thing about this amp)

I wouldn't say they are versatile amps, since the clean channel is CLEAN and the drive channels sound very punchy even in lower gain settings
I which it had a true crunch channel
 
I own a Cobra, never even seen a Dragon in person. The Cobra is the most brutal amp I've ever had. It has tons of saturation on the lead channel and the clean channel is really good. The thing with the cobra, more than any other amp I've had, is that the EQ section is very sensitive. If you turn a knob just a little, it makes a big difference. As far as the mids, it's all in the "notch" switch. With the notch on it has a scooped sound that is super heavy and would be great for recording, but it also gets lost in the mix very easily too. If you turn the notch off you get a TON of mids and it pretty much kills any fuzz left in the sound. In this setting it's very crunchy and cuts through pretty easy.

Two other things about the Cobra, it likes the Cobra cab vastly over anything else and it's also a noisy amp. I would suggest a noise suppressor with it.
 
I also owned the Cobra in the past.
I liked it. Super heavy metal amp.
Great clean channel.
It was hard for me to dial in anything in between that sounded "rock".......

so out the door it went...... :D

Would like to check out a Dragon one of these days....
 
I've never owned either, but played them both side by side, I thought the Dragon was a little more subdued gain wise than the Cobra. I actually liked it more. I like Mark III boogies and the Dragon seemed a little similar to the MKIII's lead channel. The Cobra has more gain than I think anyone would ever need. Like mailman said, it's a metal amp for sure....more like "ultrametal" amp.
 
RJF":1xkr0saz said:
I own a Cobra, never even seen a Dragon in person. The Cobra is the most brutal amp I've ever had. It has tons of saturation on the lead channel and the clean channel is really good. The thing with the cobra, more than any other amp I've had, is that the EQ section is very sensitive. If you turn a knob just a little, it makes a big difference. As far as the mids, it's all in the "notch" switch. With the notch on it has a scooped sound that is super heavy and would be great for recording, but it also gets lost in the mix very easily too. If you turn the notch off you get a TON of mids and it pretty much kills any fuzz left in the sound. In this setting it's very crunchy and cuts through pretty easy.

Two other things about the Cobra, it likes the Cobra cab vastly over anything else and it's also a noisy amp. I would suggest a noise suppressor with it.
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I've also owned a Cobra and I totally agree with every word printed above. :thumbsup: The notch switch is pretty much useless for playing in a band situation. You really don't need or want a scooped sound with this amp because it has such huge balls on the low end that you don't need to scoop it to get it to sound brutal. Without the notch switch engaged, it cuts like a hot knife through butter.
 
RJF":9jipdz54 said:
I own a Cobra, never even seen a Dragon in person. The Cobra is the most brutal amp I've ever had. It has tons of saturation on the lead channel and the clean channel is really good. The thing with the cobra, more than any other amp I've had, is that the EQ section is very sensitive. If you turn a knob just a little, it makes a big difference. As far as the mids, it's all in the "notch" switch. With the notch on it has a scooped sound that is super heavy and would be great for recording, but it also gets lost in the mix very easily too. If you turn the notch off you get a TON of mids and it pretty much kills any fuzz left in the sound. In this setting it's very crunchy and cuts through pretty easy.

Two other things about the Cobra, it likes the Cobra cab vastly over anything else and it's also a noisy amp. I would suggest a noise suppressor with it.
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I was a Framus dealer for a couple years and played on the amps a lot. The quote above nails it exactly.
 
The dragon I played is the only amp that sounded "fizzy" to me.
 
thats what i thought ,the cobra had extreme amounts of gain,where the dragon was a little more controled a lots of bass ,plus it sounded at least thru clips you can dial it back a little more and make it more versatile, does anyone know whichs cabs or speakers they like the best i currently have the smaller boogie cab (the metal grill one) and im going to pick up a cab to compliment the new head.
 
nighttrain69":xuz8iguy said:
thats what i thought ,the cobra had extreme amounts of gain,where the dragon was a little more controled a lots of bass ,plus it sounded at least thru clips you can dial it back a little more and make it more versatile, does anyone know whichs cabs or speakers they like the best i currently have the smaller boogie cab (the metal grill one) and im going to pick up a cab to compliment the new head.
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Again..... the Framus Cobra cab is the one to use with this head. It just sounds the best on that cab. The Cobra is a picky head when it comes to cabs, even my new german version Diezel cab with 100's doesn't work as well as the Cobra cab.

I wouldn't recommend the Mesa cab, wasn't impressed with my bigger recto cab under the Cobra. It doesn't take to V30's very well, mainly due to how much mids are in the tone with the notch off. It really likes the greenbacks that come in the Cobra cab.
 
the Dragon has a vox clean,2203 crunch (more gain) and slo lead

cobra has bassman, and SLO lead not sure of crunch.


a properly setup and dialed in Dragon DOES sound hot rod brittish on the crunch, lead is like an SLO and clean can get gnarly, crunch can get mild to insane and lead is insane to more than 11.


if you keep the mids to about 1 oclock and the lows at 9 oclock or less the low mids back off a bit from there. it's a modern amp but, can get SOME vintage tones. I can get some hella plexi tones, AC and 800 to slo tones.

Cobra is brighter and more agressively voiced but, basicaly the same amp.
 
well i have a cobra modified Framus Dragon for sale right now if you're interested. buyer pays shipping but i can include FS and a spare set of tubes.
 
I own a cobra modified dragon (cobra specs/dragon chassis) and a V3 Dragon. i like the dragon better. yes you can easily dial out the low mids and extra lows. the EQ's very responsive and easy to work.

click my signature ascend to abyss to hear a straight recording NO POST PRODUCTION of a Framus unmodified dragon.

i also have some cobra clips with no post eq or other confusion.

my framus cobra modified dragon's tight as hell.

these are HOME recordings at low volume with no doctoring so it's very much what you hear is what's really there.

my stock dragon can do moderately old school clean and classic rock to extreme death metal all in the amp. you just have to know how to work it.

the older dragon (v3 and earlier) sound and feel better to me but the newer models are great for turning into cobras:D
 
To me the the Cobra has an extreme amount of low end, a sub low bass frequency if you will, it likes to be pushed, for high gain at volume it is a very punchy, chest beater, in your face amp.
 
McGarnagle":1bzb7svl said:
The dragon I played is the only amp that sounded "fizzy" to me.
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i own both. my cobra's for sale.

my Dragon is an earlier model too though. i've noticed the older hand made models sound and feel better and do not have the fizz everyone complains about whereas the cobra does have a weird high end fizz that's hard to dial out.

i like them both but i prefer the V3 and older model dragons. they have a more Marshally tone but on steroids.

There's ZERO fiz in my Dragon. all it needs is a proper bias. I just coached another Dragon user through "defizzing" his newer model.
 
I much prefer the Dragon. the cobra's great for chugging but that's about it.

the Dragon can do much more and still do the chug you just have to know how to EQ and bias an amp.

as for the cab questions mentioned: the cab itself isn't the concern it's the speaker compliment and wether it's closed back, oversized or standard sized.

they sounds best (dragon) with V30's to my ears in a standard size 4x12 where cobras sound best with greenbacks in the same cab style/config.
 
I've owned both, didn't like either of them. They sound "bleh" at best.
The Cobra's channel volume needs to be pushed in order for some of the fizz to disappear. The notch switch is laughable
Both were built very cheaply, seemed like cardboard boxes to me. Every time I played one, I was fearing smoke and fire :thumbsdown:
 
Business":2r5kf8fl said:
I've owned both, didn't like either of them. They sound "bleh" at best.
The Cobra's channel volume needs to be pushed in order for some of the fizz to disappear. The notch switch is laughable
Both were built very cheaply, seemed like cardboard boxes to me. Every time I played one, I was fearing smoke and fire :thumbsdown:
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Quoted for truth. Framus = :thumbsdown:

I had a Dragon for a night and it quit working at 100%. I opened up the amp and a low and behold a transistor (or something like that) fell out onto the floor. I located the spot on the board where it came off. I soldered it back on. It was an amazing feat as I am horrible with a solder gun. The amp started working again so I guess I did something right for once. Next day I returned it to the guy I traded locally and got the amp I traded away back (disaster averted). It was a shame cause it actually sounded killer versus the Cobra.

The Cobra (purshased new) & I didn't get along at all. I'm all for sensitive controls, but my God man what a pain in the ass. It also started doing some funky stuff. Turned out to be a preamp tube. I sold it very soon afterwards.

I'd been warned of their build quality by someone I trust but I didn't listen. :lol: :LOL: I should probably pay more attention to what she says.
 
I had a Cobra for a few years. I loved it! The clean channel is nice and punchy, but this amp is all about high gain. As others have said, don't bother trying to do something less than balls to the wall. I would describe it as having the biggest, meanest low end of any head, like a bass guitar is playing in unison with you, and tight as hell! It does have a fizz to it, the trick is to back off the gain as much as possible. Harmonics are very rich and lush. It's a little noisy, but not more so than other high gain amps I have. Its biggest limitation is that it's a one trick pony. It's one of the best high gain heads for recording in my opinion. Not versatile enough for a one amp rig. Its sweet spot is very loud. At low master volume it sounds like crap and you'll get frustrated and want to throw it away.
 
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