The Honeymoon Is Over...

  • Thread starter Thread starter SFW
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Yep, that’s the problem with the BE… sounds great on its own but Dave essentially takes the teeth away from a Marshall. All that grit and sometimes peaking frequencies of some amps is exactly what makes them sit perfectly in a band. It seems like some of the newer designs he’s doing are leaning back towards having some of that bite back though.
 
fek said:
Several touring pro's use and love the BE's, and other Friedman variants, so there is something right with that formula. I still want to try a Smallbox and Runt because I hear that they have a bit more of that Marshally high mids thing but have not come across one yet to do so. The JJ Jr I had sounded pretty good on it's own but still lacked that cuT.
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I'm not saying that the amp wouldn't work for some people. I've seen several touring acts with them and they sounded great. But for my hands and the rest of me gear, it just lacked cut. I am more than willing to adjust gear and settings, but I don't feel like I should have to start from square one to make an amp work for me. Especially not in this price range. I know that there are several guys on this forum that make them sound killer. I'm just not in that group. lol.
 
when you watch a band, that soundguy could be bumping little 1-2k, cutting some 250-500 and the lows, not to mention the eq of mic, placement, board, PA system, and the poor acoustics of almost all venues. watching a band is not a great reflection of what any piece of gear actually sounds like. I've literally seen bands sound great with a boss katana but when I had that amp it was a total fizzy piece of shit. BE is definitely a dark amp, thats the main complaint they have always gotten. yeah, sometimes it sounds great, but in other settings, nope. they do take EQ really well without getting too peaky like some amps do.
 
SFW said:
Well, tonight my brief love affair with the BE-100 Deluxe came to an end. After having it for a little over a week and twisting knobs at the house, I took it to band practice this evening. No matter what knob I twisted or switch I flipped, I could not get the amp to sit correctly in the mix. Which is saying something as I'm the only guitar player. On paper, this should be my ultimate amp. In use, it was not what I was after. It is a seriously well-built amp. Just not the amp for me. Which is more than a little disappointing. Maybe I've just lived in Splawn land too long...lol! I missed the upper aggression of the Splawn. And the cut. The crazy think to me is that my go to profile on my Kemper is the BE-50 Deluxe. But then I supposed that a Kemper profile is more than just the amp. I was so excided about using the BE-100 at our show this weekend... on well. Anyway, thanks to all who assisted with this journey.

Thankfully I am still within my return window at Sweetwater.
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That's what holds me back from the Friedman's as well. I don't really like the Synergy BE and that's enough to tell me it isn't for me. I loved Friedman's Brahma model which he tried to get as close to what Lynch was hearing from his PLexi's. It is stiffer, aggressive, less squishy, and cuts like a good Marshall. So he has that sound in him, it just isn't THE sound of his line. Splawns are one of the amps that seem to take that Marshall grind " further". I can see why you liked them. No shame in not loving the Friedman sound.

On the cheap, you could maybe get a Syn-1 and then the Plexi module. Designed by Dave, I think that will have the cut. Or like the rest of us, 2204 boosted baby. That's my jam,
 
Maybe you should look into the new Splawns, maybe Scott can tweak the clean channel and mod a Quickrod to sound like your old Splawn, he should now the differences in the circuits to get you what you want. What transformers manufacturer is he using now since Classictone went out of business?

Just throwing it out there.:unsure::dunno:

P.S. I 'm sorry the BE100 didn't work out!
 
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braintheory said:
For uppermid aggression I’d just use a ‘70’s SuperLead or 2203/4 with the right boost or mod and call it a day. Nothing else I’ve tried yet brings aggressive uppermids like them. IMHO they smoke any of the Splawn’s I’ve played, including even the earliest QR’s I’ve played & 2018 QR I tried
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You are 100% right about that. About 3 years ago I finally plugged into a proper recapped/retubed 79 JMP and it was an absolute monster. Kind of made current gen amps sound like toys TBH. All those other vintage ones I’ve went to hunt down and try from CL sellers were all worn out and weak. Did not want to spend the money they fetch on something I have to still pay to get back up to spec. At this point it would be an investment piece for me but I don’t want to go down that road. I like to play my amps and loud.

I have to disagree with the Splawn comments though. They are still very capable of ripping your balls off.
 
Sometimes things just don't work. Sounds like this is the case. At least you can return it which is good.
I had the BE-50 and it was a nice amp but I didn't like it as much live.

Now I have the SSv2. i've used it in 2 larger gigs and a bunch of rehearsals thus far. It is fantastic and was exactly what I was looking for all along.
 
braintheory said:
For uppermid aggression I’d just use a ‘70’s SuperLead or 2203/4 with the right boost or mod and call it a day. Nothing else I’ve tried yet brings aggressive uppermids like them. IMHO they smoke any of the Splawn’s I’ve played, including even the earliest QR’s I’ve played & 2018 QR I tried
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What’s your favorite boost with 2203 .
 
PurityS.L.G said:
You are 100% right about that. About 3 years ago I finally plugged into a proper recapped/retubed 79 JMP and it was an absolute monster. Kind of made current gen amps sound like toys TBH. All those other vintage ones I’ve went to hunt down and try from CL sellers were all worn out and weak. Did not want to spend the money they fetch on something I have to still pay to get back up to spec. At this point it would be an investment piece for me but I don’t want to go down that road. I like to play my amps and loud.

I have to disagree with the Splawn comments though. They are still very capable of ripping your balls off.
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That’s exactly my experience with good Marshall’s and other vintage amps vs most of these current filtered/neutered sounding amps. I’ve never had any issues with my old Marshall’s

Splawn’s can sound pretty good on their own, but vs a good vintage Marshall and other great amps they IME had just as much (if not more) of that effect of making the Splawn’s sound like toys. Ymmv. I also can’t stand anymore that quacky/off sounding midrange they have. It bothers me the way very bright or harsh sounds bother other guy’s ears
 
when I was on my amp search 2 years ago I went through
Freidmans:
Runt 50
BE -100
Dirty Shirley
Suhr:
PT-15IR
Bogner:
3534
Soldano:
Slo 30
Marshall:
JVM210H(modded)
SC20
Landry:
LS30
the JVM was the amp I had to begin with so I used that as a baseline, modded with a negative feedback pot and gain reduction.
I was also looking to go smaller and lighter but still wanted EL34's.
Friedmans all sounded too smooth to me I was looking for that "kerrang" you get from a 2203, none of them had it
Suhr - the other guitarist in the band I'm playing with ended up with one, still too smooth for what I was hearing in my head.
Slo-30............. just didn't care for it
Bogner: too dark and again no "Kerrang"
Landry:
I really wanted this to work , a great platform plenty loud, still....... didn't have it
Marshall SC20:
now this did have it but cranked up it felt and sounded small to me , (almost won)
Splawn SuperSportEl34
I immediately heard what I was looking for, . I bought a used one off of another forum , but it kept blowing fuses and luckily the seller was super cool and I sent it back, but while it was up and running, I loved what I heard so much , I had Scott make me a fully loaded with with both speaker outs and the solo boost (mine may be the only one out there that has it , he said no one has ever asked for that), mid cut / new/old, it's loaded. nos mullard, rfts in it with JJ EL34 II's in the power section and it just kills.
I'd love to get a Mark IV B to compliment it but it really has done well by me gigging it the last 20 or so months I've owned it.
So "I get it" to the OP 4 grand is a lot of money to spend and not love it
 
Many folks prefer to have more of the Marshall rawness, krang and bite than what Friedman amps typically offer.
The Splawn Comp 50 I got to play certainly cuts through great.
The MOAB mod by @RedPlated offers up plenty of gain and versatility like the Friedmans, but retains the punch and bite of the Marshall.
 
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braintheory said:
The Klon without a doubt, but they’re ridiculously priced these days
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I'd say just about anything. I've got a KLON clone and a good ol TS-808. Similar to what Lynch has been doing with his original Klon and TS pedals. They just work. Klon types keep the top end and fill out the bottom somewhat. I like that.

Honourable mention to BOSS OD-1, SD-1.
 
LP Freak said:
Sounds to me it was more the price tag than the tone. I’ve never had a problem with my Friedman cutting through live. If you do you’re doing something wrong. Here’s mine. Seems to be cutting fine to me..

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Good pipes on your vocalist. Nice to see.
 
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