NAD Friedman BE100 Deluxe

Jonathanthomas83

Fuck sake, behave. I want this now. When does it end!

andy1839

Jonathanthomas83 said:

Fuck sake, behave. I want this now. When does it end!

Trust your feelings.

You need one of these. 

  

Fortheloveofguitar

andy1839 said:

Jonathanthomas83 said:

Fuck sake, behave. I want this now. When does it end!

Trust your feelings.

You need one of these. 

  

+1

I avoided Friedman for a long long time as I don’t do ‘the next best thing’ hype that was around a while back 

Only recently decided that they may be offering what I was looking for in a Marshall so thought I’d take a gamble and it’s awesome 

Fortheloveofguitar

This Friedman master volume really is great. Wife and son in bed so had the volume on 0.5 and it’s still sounds great even at night time volume. Really surprised 

andy1839

Fortheloveofguitar said:

This Friedman master volume really is great. Wife and son in bed so had the volume on 0.5 and it’s still sounds great even at night time volume. Really surprised 

It's great isn't it!

I'm hoping it's not some sick joke and theres a a Kemper and solid state power amp in there!

Jonathanthomas83

Awesome stuff fellas.

So how close does it actually get to the Jerry Cantrell head? I know it's been alluded to above, but would like to hear some more thoughts, if possible? Many thanks.

Pablocrackers

Jonathanthomas83 said:

Awesome stuff fellas.

So how close does it actually get to the Jerry Cantrell head? I know it's been alluded to above, but would like to hear some more thoughts, if possible? Many thanks.

Pretty much the same mate with the 100 dlx you have a frequency switch which changes the frequency of the thump dial, shift that to its lowest voice and dial back you can get it basically the same as the JJ mode in hbe setting which is the same mod Dave does on the be circuit to make it the JJ mode

Fortheloveofguitar

I’m only in the 50 club so I need a 100 now lol 

There’s so much gain available on the HBE channel it’s crazy 

WiresDreamDisasters

I'm too scared to try a Friedman. Don't think the wallet can take it!

Fortheloveofguitar

When the seller personally delivered my Bogner Ecstasy yesterday I invited him in to have a go on the Friedman as he’d never played one either 

As soon as he struck the first power chord in BE mode his face lit up. Wow!

Jonathanthomas83

Pablocrackers said:

Jonathanthomas83 said:

Awesome stuff fellas.

So how close does it actually get to the Jerry Cantrell head? I know it's been alluded to above, but would like to hear some more thoughts, if possible? Many thanks.

Pretty much the same mate with the 100 dlx you have a frequency switch which changes the frequency of the thump dial, shift that to its lowest voice and dial back you can get it basically the same as the JJ mode in hbe setting which is the same mod Dave does on the be circuit to make it the JJ mode

That's great, thanks man! Fook sake, you're making me want one! How are you enjoying yours fella? 

Pablocrackers

Jonathanthomas83 said:

Pablocrackers said:

Jonathanthomas83 said:

Awesome stuff fellas.

So how close does it actually get to the Jerry Cantrell head? I know it's been alluded to above, but would like to hear some more thoughts, if possible? Many thanks.

Pretty much the same mate with the 100 dlx you have a frequency switch which changes the frequency of the thump dial, shift that to its lowest voice and dial back you can get it basically the same as the JJ mode in hbe setting which is the same mod Dave does on the be circuit to make it the JJ mode

That's great, thanks man! Fook sake, you're making me want one! How are you enjoying yours fella? 

Its perfect for me love it, bloody expensive had to trade in my Les paul custom towards it but i do think you get what you pay for and if its Marshall flavour you love as i do you dont get better imo the amp will do everything from classic rock to full bore heavy gain nice plexi clean as well if you want it, it wont do Fender style clean tho, the amp has alot of tricks you can do to change up the 3 channels

andy1839

WiresDreamDisasters said:

I'm too scared to try a Friedman. Don't think the wallet can take it!

For the stuff you play mate, I think you'd absolutely love this.

The youtube vids certainly don't do it any justice at all.

@Pablocrackers what cab/speakers are you playing it through?

Jonathanthomas83

Pablocrackers said:

Jonathanthomas83 said:

Pablocrackers said:

Jonathanthomas83 said:

Awesome stuff fellas.

So how close does it actually get to the Jerry Cantrell head? I know it's been alluded to above, but would like to hear some more thoughts, if possible? Many thanks.

Pretty much the same mate with the 100 dlx you have a frequency switch which changes the frequency of the thump dial, shift that to its lowest voice and dial back you can get it basically the same as the JJ mode in hbe setting which is the same mod Dave does on the be circuit to make it the JJ mode

That's great, thanks man! Fook sake, you're making me want one! How are you enjoying yours fella? 

Its perfect for me love it, bloody expensive had to trade in my Les paul custom towards it but i do think you get what you pay for and if its Marshall flavour you love as i do you dont get better imo the amp will do everything from classic rock to full bore heavy gain nice plexi clean as well if you want it, it wont do Fender style clean tho, the amp has alot of tricks you can do to change up the 3 channels

Thank you mate, it sounds like a massive amp with many tricks up its sleeve. The Plexi thing interests me too, may be able to sell on my Marshall if it ticks that box. Quality stuff! 

Congrats and enjoy your new purchase, fella! :-)

i_b_tulloch

Can someone who owns a BE100 deluxe describe the range of lower gain sounds it can get now that it has lots more controls e.g. gain structure switch?

I had a BE100 around 2015 and it was great, but it almost felt like it went from clean to higher gain really well, but the BE channel at lower gains felt a little choked. I mean it worked ok, but when you cranked the gain past a certain point it just came alive. Now that the clean channel is Smallbox Plexi, and it has so many more controls, including gain structure switch, it seems it should pretty much do all gain levels well.

As an example, can you set it up to have a really loose response, with lots of low end, and almost get into JTM45/Dirty Shirley territory? 

I appreciate the DS has a lot more going on e.g. tube rectifier, different power tubes etc, but it must be able to get in the ballpark?

Also, can someone post a link where it describes what the new controls do? Can you set it up so that it can still get that nice compressed feeling/sound of the older BEs?

It does seem this amp is a home run. 

i_b_tulloch

@Pablocrackers @ColWilkie ;

andy1839

i_b_tulloch said:

Can someone who owns a BE100 deluxe describe the range of lower gain sounds it can get now that it has lots more controls e.g. gain structure switch?

I had a BE100 around 2015 and it was great, but it almost felt like it went from clean to higher gain really well, but the BE channel at lower gains felt a little choked. I mean it worked ok, but when you cranked the gain past a certain point it just came alive. Now that the clean channel is Smallbox Plexi, and it has so many more controls, including gain structure switch, it seems it should pretty much do all gain levels well.

As an example, can you set it up to have a really loose response, with lots of low end, and almost get into JTM45/Dirty Shirley territory? 

I appreciate the DS has a lot more going on e.g. tube rectifier, different power tubes etc, but it must be able to get in the ballpark?

Also, can someone post a link where it describes what the new controls do? Can you set it up so that it can still get that nice compressed feeling/sound of the older BEs?

It does seem this amp is a home run. 

I'm still loving mine. 
I'm using it with my pedalboard and switching system and am getting mid gain drive sounds from a pair of decent pedals. 

The Smallbox channel goes from clean to AC/DC crunch, sounds massive, has that chewy grind that people love the Smallbox for.
I've actually got a Smallbox too and prefer the SB channel on the Deluxe.

The global gain and voicing works on the SB channel on the Deluxe as well as the BE/HBE channels.
They do the higher gain compressed stuff with the SAT switch on. But off its its got a great tone as well.

Choosing the lowest gain voicing and turning the gain down in the BE channel get you a nice lower gain bluesey tone.

There's loads of scope for tone shaping, but I think you'll find what you need with the frequency and thump controls for low end. 

andy1839

@i_b_tulloch have you seen the demo Rabea does of it?
Goes through all the settings and switches.

i_b_tulloch

@andy1839 yes I have seen that one, does give a lot of info, but if I remember correctly he doesn’t stay on the lower gain structure switch in BE or HBE mode long. 

I guess I’m looking to understand how the amp works for low gain, like setting it up in the lowest gain structure position, then setting Plexi channel cleanest, then getting a nice transition into BE and HBE. Then when setup like that, play with the other controls, response etc, to see how close it can get to the Dirty Shirley low gain territory. I would be using it with a strat, with some delay and verb, so more blues and rock. The older BE was a little stiffer (relative to at higher gain, not a stiff amp) in the lower BE channel gain settings. 

andy1839

i_b_tulloch said:

@andy1839 yes I have seen that one, does give a lot of info, but if I remember correctly he doesn’t stay on the lower gain structure switch in BE or HBE mode long. 

I guess I’m looking to understand how the amp works for low gain, like setting it up in the lowest gain structure position, then setting Plexi channel cleanest, then getting a nice transition into BE and HBE. Then when setup like that, play with the other controls, response etc, to see how close it can get to the Dirty Shirley low gain territory. I would be using it with a strat, with some delay and verb, so more blues and rock. The older BE was a little stiffer (relative to at higher gain, not a stiff amp) in the lower BE channel gain settings. 

You could always use a DS pedal on the clean channel if you're using pedals already if that's the tone you're after. 
But it's really got lots of shaping available.
The plexi channel with the fat switch in and gain about two thirds up, with a strat you can lose yourself for hours. 

Shame you're so far away, I could have chucked it into the garden and you'd have been welcome to pop over and see if it's for you.