NAD Friedman BE100 Deluxe

andy1839

So, I've tried a couple of Friedman amps, and my Buxom Betty is my current amp of choice for gigging.

I fancied something a bit different and have heard only good things about the BE100 and BE50 Deluxe, almost bought a BE50 a couple of times too, but really wanted a gain on the clean channel.

Since I heard the BE100 Deluxe was announced I thought it would be the ideal amp. 
Thankfully I wasn't wrong.  This time...



Good demos abound on YT:

Jonathanthomas83

Jealous! Congrats

andy1839

Jonathanthomas83 said:

Jealous! Congrats

Ta! I was missing a ridiculously OTT amp after selling my Matchless, and have been loving the sounds of the big Friedman amps.

When I watched the Guitar Paradiso episode with Mick and Pete where they were playing the Betty and BE100 I thought between those two amps there's everything I could ever want from an amp.

I just wanted it to have that extra channel.

sgosden

These look crazy awesome and super overkill for everything which instantly makes them cooler. 
Hope you've got some understanding neighbours!

andy1839

sgosden said:

These look crazy awesome and super overkill for everything which instantly makes them cooler. 
Hope you've got some understanding neighbours!

Well I've had it five minutes and it could already be going back.


One of the EL34 valves is completely smashed, glass everywhere.
No sign of damage to the box or amp.

Oh well, it's not like I took the day off work to have a full day playing it...

  

Guitar Guitar have been superb and are swapping the amp for another new one. 

So NAD might be in a few more days.

Gorgeous looking thing though!

sgosden

that's true heart break right there

Fortheloveofguitar

Man so sorry to hear that. NAD should be fun all the way 

pleased they’ve sorted it and new one on the way 

andy1839

sgosden said:

that's true heart break right there

Fortheloveofguitar said:

Man so sorry to hear that. NAD should be fun all the way 

pleased they’ve sorted it and new one on the way 

New one coming tomorrow!

Just a little more waiting to do.

It better be amazing!!!

andy1839

Best amp I've ever heard.

Bar none.

Pablocrackers

Collecting mine today! Cant wait

andy1839

Pablocrackers said:

Collecting mine today! Cant wait

Grats mate, I cant see you being disappointed at all.

It's really incredible, the master volume on it is amazing. It sounds killer at less than talking volume, great touch response, cleans up beautifully even when on the highest gain settings.

All of the YouTube videos I've seen don't really cover the differences that all the switches do. 
They change the sounds so much. 
The gain structure and voicing ones  change the amp completely.

The lowest gain setting reminds me a lot of my Bluesbreaker, but better.

The clean channel is great too, the fat and bright switches make such a difference. 

Overall I'm really impressed.  
I haven't even plugged anything into the fx loop yet either, and for me, I've always had some reverb or delay on the go.

It's one of those amps that really flatters your playing, mmmm lovely chewy distorty goodness.

Fortheloveofguitar

Great news that this one arrived ok. Have a great weekend playing it hard 

andy1839

Fortheloveofguitar said:

Great news that this one arrived ok. Have a great weekend playing it hard 

You too bud!!

Pablocrackers

Yep love it, exactly what i was hoping for and more. The smallbox was my favourite Friedman but i sold it to put towards this for the extra features and heavy gain now this is perfect for me i could spend all day on the plexi channel alone a 100w Smallbox channel ftw!!! And the shaping with the low end resonance you can get it to sound like the JJ 100 its win win! The buxom betty clean is really nice but i hardly play clean but with a bit of roll off on channel one and its clean with gain on 10!! Im stoked!
enjoy man

andy1839

Pablocrackers said:

Yep love it, exactly what i was hoping for and more. The smallbox was my favourite Friedman but i sold it to put towards this for the extra features and heavy gain now this is perfect for me i could spend all day on the plexi channel alone a 100w Smallbox channel ftw!!! And the shaping with the low end resonance you can get it to sound like the JJ 100 its win win! The buxom betty clean is really nice but i hardly play clean but with a bit of roll off on channel one and its clean with gain on 10!! Im stoked!
enjoy man

I'm happy you're enjoying yours too. 
Been running some fx through the loop and trying some drive and boost pedals into the front end. 
So far it's really impressive. 

I spoke to Dave Friedman yesterday and he said you can pull the two outer power valves and drop the impedance a notch to lower it to 50w with no damage or issues. 

Fortheloveofguitar

I love the three option gain setting on my BE-50 so I assuming the 100 has the same and if so what setting are you using?

I’m a high gain freak but I’m finding the low and medium setting is enough for me on the BE channel. 

Pablocrackers

Depends on the song but with the 100 because it has the lower gain plexi channel you kinda dont need the cut on the be unless you wanna make it sound very similar to the plexi channel so i would run it in the full gain position myself and have the gain dial about 1 oclock
The gain cut switches are great tho easily change the structure without touching any dials

andy1839

Fortheloveofguitar said:

I love the three option gain setting on my BE-50 so I assuming the 100 has the same and if so what setting are you using?

I’m a high gain freak but I’m finding the low and medium setting is enough for me on the BE channel. 

I've got it in the centre which I think is the highest gain, that's suiting what I'm playing at the moment.

I'll be having a good go on the other settings tomorrow.   

Or I might be getting confused with the voicing switch!

Fortheloveofguitar

I’ve just been on the Friedman website and now understand the difference between the 100 and 50 models. The 100 looks great especially with the small box plexi channel instead of the clean 

I don’t actually need clean but to be honest the BE channel alone is enough for me 

andy1839

Fortheloveofguitar said:

I’ve just been on the Friedman website and now understand the difference between the 100 and 50 models. The 100 looks great especially with the small box plexi channel instead of the clean 

I don’t actually breed clean but to be honest the BE channel alone is enough for me 

The first line of that last paragraph gave me a proper laugh.

  

Fortheloveofguitar

andy1839 said:

Fortheloveofguitar said:

I’ve just been on the Friedman website and now understand the difference between the 100 and 50 models. The 100 looks great especially with the small box plexi channel instead of the clean 

I don’t actually breed clean but to be honest the BE channel alone is enough for me 

The first line of that last paragraph gave me a proper laugh.

  

Haha bloody phone. Corrected now