Naylor / Naked / Budda .... anything else?

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I've owned about 6 Naylor Superdrive 60 heads and 1 early Naylor Superdrive 60 combo. I also had a Naylor Duel 100 with a bunch of factory mods on it. I also had that Electraverb 60 Tri-Tone Custom that sat on Reverb for several years (It sucked). On top of all of that, I had Friedman mod a '79 JMP 2203 with the APC mod which is what Billy mainly used.

The APC mod/Naked are geared toward downtuned stuff. Billy plays everything 1 and a half steps down in C#. The Naked is a bit rougher around the edges and A LOT more aggressive than the Naylors. It isn't as smooth as the Naylor circuits. The clean channel on it is the same thing that comes in the Naylor Duel series. It's clean, and there is nothing special about it.

The Naylors are smoother, like you're all describing in the previous posts. A Bogner Ecstasy 101B is in the same ballpark, but the Naylor is cleaner, leaner and a tad more raw sounding in the upper-mids and top.

The last time I spoke to Dave King, there was about an 11 month wait on any of the Naylor models. Friedman never should have discontinued the Naked.
 
tonedover said:
precisely. and that song is in E or D# depending on what tab you look at (i play it in D#), yet the circuit has become a fav of drop / lower tuning players as well.

there are a LOT of tones rattling around in my head, but that one, its one i can never seem to find in any of the many amps ive bought. super open in the mids yet compressed in the highs and lows. great and unique tone!
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Judith is in C#
 
tonedover said:
Looking for folks with experience with this general tonal ballpark - the infamous A Perfect Circle Naylor-based metal tone.

Its "the sound" i hear in my head, and my income this year is in such a way to go after it. So i know about the Friedman Naked, the Naylor Duel60 and supposedly the Budda Superdrive series all having this tonal ballpark.

Are there other options out there I should be aware of?

Does anyone have a spec list of the Friedman Naked Custom Shop menu options for this amp?

Any pros of the Naylor over the Friedman? What about the Budda series? is this the "budget" option and how close is it?

Info and experience welcome!
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See if you can track down "fusionbear" over at The Gear Page. His name is Carl Espinoza, and he lives out in California. He is pretty good at building Naylor circuits. He quit doing mods and stuff a while back, but I do see some activity here and there on his end. He does great work when he does build things. He knows the SD60 circuit, and he could possibly build you something in the area if he is willing to do it.
 
Dale B said:
See if you can track down "fusionbear" over at The Gear Page. His name is Carl Espinoza, and he lives out in California. He is pretty good at building Naylor circuits. He quit doing mods and stuff a while back, but I do see some activity here and there on his end. He does great work when he does build things. He knows the SD60 circuit, and he could possibly build you something in the area if he is willing to do it.
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Thank you for this - i have PM’d w him before on other topics but didnt know he was a builder. Appreciate the tip! Edit - he isnt currently building anymore
 
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Just a thought; but if you grabbed any Naylor SD or Duel you could run pre out (fx send) to a JMP/JCM with a loops return. If the SD wasn’t close enough
 
Fordman65 said:
Being the Friedman fanboy that I am, I checked in with Dave 6mo ago about getting in on the list for a Naked Mk2. Unfortunately I was too late. List was full and not taking new orders. Will probably check in again early next year.
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Same thing happened when I tried as well
 
tonedover said:
Thank you for this - i have PM’d w him before on other topics but didnt know he was a builder. Appreciate the tip! Edit - he isnt currently building anymore
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I didn't think he was. I would love for him to turn something I have into a SD100, but that's the nature of the beast sometimes.

The best thing to do is email Dave King at Naylor, put down a deposit and wait the 11 months or so.
 
Racerxrated said:
Just a thought; but if you grabbed any Naylor SD or Duel you could run pre out (fx send) to a JMP/JCM with a loops return. If the SD wasn’t close enough
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You could probably get just as close by putting some type of EQ in the loop and boosting a few frequencies here and there. The highs aren't as smooth on the Naked, and the overall tone is just kind of grating compared to the Naylors. You can tell the DNA is there, but it's kind of hopped up a bit. The overall amount of gain is about the same or just a touch more. It's nothing major.

After having owned both, the Naylor stuff is better for me. If you want it to sound aggressive, run it through an oversized Mesa 4x12 with V30's. If you want the darker Naylor vibe, the Naylor speakers do that well. If you want something different, speakers are your friend.

If I could sell my Mesa Mark 3 Blue Stripe and my CAA OD100 Classic Plus, I would just buy a few Naylors and call it a day. Also, if you're scared of not having a clean channel, pick up an AxeFx and run the 4 cable method. Speaking of that, Cliff has been asked a million times over about modeling one, and he hasn't done it yet.
 
Also, I don't post as much here as I used to, but I try to lurk around once a week or so when I'm not running around in the field or stuck in the Gulf of Mexico for a month at a time. I've done a lot and experienced a lot with Naylors and the Naked/APC stuff. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.
 
Hey @tonedover -- we were chatting in PMs over on TGP. I own two Friedman Naked amps plus about 15 other amps.

So there are a few different versions of the Friedman Naked.

The "standard" Naked Mk I is two channels: a simple clean (volume knob and bright switch only) and the Naked channel. I own one of these from 2012. It had a SAT switch added by Dave at some point for extra compression and gain at lower volumes.

The "standard" Naked Mk II is two channels: clean (volume, bright, treble, bass) and the Naked channel.

Those are the two "base" models; however, there are a lot of other ones floating around out there whether from the Friedman Custom Shop or Friedman-modded Marshalls from way back in the day. The second one I own is one of these.
So the second one I own is a Naked Mk II Custom, which has 2.5 channels: clean (volume, bright, treble, bass), Naked channel, and Naked+ channel (like HBE but on the Naked channel). It also has a voicing switch (moves the mids and bass depth resonance around a little) and a SAT switch.

The Naked is -- no pun in intended -- a pretty bare bones amp. It doesn't have a ton of features but they all have effects loops. They are EXTREMELY loud because they don't have much, if any, negative feedback in the circuit. That's also what gives them their signature sound: loud, dirty, and wild. The most important control on the amp is unusual: the presence knob. Because there is little or no negative feedback and a Presence control inherently adds some negative feedback to the circuit, it makes the amp sound very different depending on how you set it. If you keep it low, it sounds more like an old Marshall. When you turn it up past six or so, the amp gets sharp and gainy and very aggressive. Moving the presence control small amounts in the 6-10 band results in very large changes to the amp's sound and feel.

If you like the Naked sound, then one amp I'd suggest you check out is the Carstens Grace.

I feel like the Grace has a lot in common with the Naked; at least with the headroom control all the way at zero. It gives that huge, open, ripping, tearing, clawing, wild sound that the Naked has. (Mostly due to very little negative feedback in the circuit.) The presence control also operates very similarly to the Naked in that the control doesn't do too much until higher levels, but then the change is huge. It goes from more vintage and laid back to very sharp, modern, and aggressive. The Naked is the same way. To be clear, I'm not saying the Grace sounds exactly like the Naked -- they're definitely two different things -- but they can have a similar kind of huge, wild, ripping sound to them. It's interesting to me that I was independently attracted to both amps and that both are my favorites out of all the amps I own.
 
The tones on Mer De Noms had tons of effects, and was massively overdubbed.
Not discounting Naylor or the Naked, love em. Gonna take more than an amp to get those sounds.
Naylor is better than Budda, had em both at the same time.
Really want to try the Naked.
 
hellzington said:
Hey @tonedover -- we were chatting in PMs over on TGP. I own two Friedman Naked amps plus about 15 other amps.

So there are a few different versions of the Friedman Naked.

The "standard" Naked Mk I is two channels: a simple clean (volume knob and bright switch only) and the Naked channel. I own one of these from 2012. It had a SAT switch added by Dave at some point for extra compression and gain at lower volumes.

The "standard" Naked Mk II is two channels: clean (volume, bright, treble, bass) and the Naked channel.

Those are the two "base" models; however, there are a lot of other ones floating around out there whether from the Friedman Custom Shop or Friedman-modded Marshalls from way back in the day. The second one I own is one of these.
So the second one I own is a Naked Mk II Custom, which has 2.5 channels: clean (volume, bright, treble, bass), Naked channel, and Naked+ channel (like HBE but on the Naked channel). It also has a voicing switch (moves the mids and bass depth resonance around a little) and a SAT switch.

The Naked is -- no pun in intended -- a pretty bare bones amp. It doesn't have a ton of features but they all have effects loops. They are EXTREMELY loud because they don't have much, if any, negative feedback in the circuit. That's also what gives them their signature sound: loud, dirty, and wild. The most important control on the amp is unusual: the presence knob. Because there is little or no negative feedback and a Presence control inherently adds some negative feedback to the circuit, it makes the amp sound very different depending on how you set it. If you keep it low, it sounds more like an old Marshall. When you turn it up past six or so, the amp gets sharp and gainy and very aggressive. Moving the presence control small amounts in the 6-10 band results in very large changes to the amp's sound and feel.

If you like the Naked sound, then one amp I'd suggest you check out is the Carstens Grace.

I feel like the Grace has a lot in common with the Naked; at least with the headroom control all the way at zero. It gives that huge, open, ripping, tearing, clawing, wild sound that the Naked has. (Mostly due to very little negative feedback in the circuit.) The presence control also operates very similarly to the Naked in that the control doesn't do too much until higher levels, but then the change is huge. It goes from more vintage and laid back to very sharp, modern, and aggressive. The Naked is the same way. To be clear, I'm not saying the Grace sounds exactly like the Naked -- they're definitely two different things -- but they can have a similar kind of huge, wild, ripping sound to them. It's interesting to me that I was independently attracted to both amps and that both are my favorites out of all the amps I own.
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Hey thanks brother - really have appreciated your PMs and posts on the topic - incredibly helpful considering the lack of documentation on these ($$) amps. This is the first ive heard of the Grace as well so ill have to give those a look-see…. Its occurred to me that the 100w of the Naked is huge overkill for my home recording purposes and maybe i should just stick w the 38w Naylor option. Lol - it aint so much a matter of price either, moreso dreading having a 100w albatross that i dont even end up liking lol

Ive been down the past few days w Covid (my first time - that shit is no joke) so apologies for not responding sooner
 
Dale B said:
You could probably get just as close by putting some type of EQ in the loop and boosting a few frequencies here and there. The highs aren't as smooth on the Naked, and the overall tone is just kind of grating compared to the Naylors. You can tell the DNA is there, but it's kind of hopped up a bit. The overall amount of gain is about the same or just a touch more. It's nothing major.

After having owned both, the Naylor stuff is better for me. If you want it to sound aggressive, run it through an oversized Mesa 4x12 with V30's. If you want the darker Naylor vibe, the Naylor speakers do that well. If you want something different, speakers are your friend.

If I could sell my Mesa Mark 3 Blue Stripe and my CAA OD100 Classic Plus, I would just buy a few Naylors and call it a day. Also, if you're scared of not having a clean channel, pick up an AxeFx and run the 4 cable method. Speaking of that, Cliff has been asked a million times over about modeling one, and he hasn't done it yet.
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One thing I would add, one of the best tones I got out of the first Naylor I had (1995 SD60) was into a home brew 212 with the universally hated G12M70s. I think they date from 1983, and are 8 ohm. It was a really dark and chewy tone, more so than the Mesa OS I had.
 
Not trying to necro a thread but I just happened to create a video on this topic that might be helpful for anyone still looking for opinions on this:

 
This a tone everybody loves but does not grab me . It’s bad and I can it’s good. Just something don’t get me excited . I’ve tried
 
The sd60 is a killer amp, they also made some 30-38w models that are very good as long as you find the original Michigan build. Naylor is so underrated
 
The Budda and Naylor preamps are very very similar and both had a lot of Friedman input to them.

The SD30 is a dark amp. The SD45 is darker than a Marshall but not dark per-say. Never run the SD80 but I’m told it’s a beast!

The Rockett Tim Pierce is based on the Naylor60.
 
The SD60 is one of those rare amps that sounds incredible at low volume. I’ve never tried a Budda so can’t say whether that is the same.
 
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