The Friedman of its day...?

Babones

stickyfiddle said:

Divided by 13? Still around but it's been a long time since I saw anyone use one.

Jamie Hince has being using one in his set up for a few years now.

Lew

Yep! I think most new brands have got a limited window to flog the emperors new Plexi before they get replaced by the next fotm.

Maybe if Fender and Marshall didn't dilute their stock with cheap and gimmicky shit their new amps would hold more prestige.

£3k for a soggy JCM800 and £2k for a David Dickinson who hid the mids signature. Why not!

StuartMac290

I didn't hear that about the Peavey-made Buddas dipping in quality, I only remember people saying the new ones were just the same. That's disappointing if true.

I only ever heard one model of the 65 Amps line, which was the Soho HP, but in all honesty it was mediocre beyond belief - so much so that I once borrowed another identical head on appro to see if mine was running ok - it sounded identical. It also had the worst ghost notes I've ever experienced in an amp, which they admitted was a design issue.

The Bad Cat Black Cat is a far, far better amp doing a similar thing.

Actually, are Bad Cat another example? Some of the best amps made today, rarely hyped at all now. Used they are absolute bargains.

DougCoda

darcym said:

is this partly because most of these brands are now sucking in one way or another.

The Buddha amp is an example, 2 years after the Peavey buyout didn't a load of parts change and the quality control go through the floor ? there was a period of time where every owner complained they broke all the time. (I'm not saying this is true now). The customer service on peavey products was rubbish, on products they didn't really know about as they bought it from another company was even worse. 

Soldano - what are they doing now thats new or interesting, or what are they doing now that solidifies their position (I don't know - I'm asking) all you hear about them is a.) how good the old models are b.) how hard they are to get

65 amps - these are great great amps, but they had problems delivering amps at one point and they are not really available other than peach's stock in the UK, as they are not available, they don't get shouted about.

Look at Two Rock - they made fantastic amps that no-one had a problem paying for, they want under the premier builders guild who made them unreliable with cheaper parts and quality control, I remember Toneworld actually dropped them as a brand as they where getting so many failures, then in an effort to cut the costs more they cut the range down to basically 3 amps, and are trying to rebuild what they did.

Companies get a good name, get a buzz, get a hype, then it seems they kill it themselves by either selling out to someone who kills it for them, or by failing to deliver on their product/customer service.

The ones that maintain the hype or grow seem to be the ones that just do business well, Friedman is an example, they have a small range, the quality of the range is excellent, they are available to customers should they want them, they seem to work well with dealers and their customer service is great. 

Got to correct you on Two Rock, the amps were exactly the same after they became part of PBG, same parts, built by the same people in the same place..Tone World didn't drop the line, Tone World had their own unfortunate problems that meant buying new stock was difficult..

The range has been slimmed down and quite frankly it had become a cumbersome beast, way too big with too many different power options and new models were being introduced too quickly in my opinion, they've got it down to a core line now, like Tone King and its much more manageable.

It was a massive selling line in the UK from 2010-1012,quite possibly the Lazy J or Friedman of its day... the original Studio Pro is an excellent and very reliable amp, one of my all time favorites..

As with guitars one day we like a certain tone and the next we're searching for something different, blackface clean one day, ef86 sizzle and crunch the next so quite a lot of flipping is inevitably going to occur and long may it continue!

darcym

DougCoda said:

darcym said:

is this partly because most of these brands are now sucking in one way or another.

The Buddha amp is an example, 2 years after the Peavey buyout didn't a load of parts change and the quality control go through the floor ? there was a period of time where every owner complained they broke all the time. (I'm not saying this is true now). The customer service on peavey products was rubbish, on products they didn't really know about as they bought it from another company was even worse. 

Soldano - what are they doing now thats new or interesting, or what are they doing now that solidifies their position (I don't know - I'm asking) all you hear about them is a.) how good the old models are b.) how hard they are to get

65 amps - these are great great amps, but they had problems delivering amps at one point and they are not really available other than peach's stock in the UK, as they are not available, they don't get shouted about.

Look at Two Rock - they made fantastic amps that no-one had a problem paying for, they want under the premier builders guild who made them unreliable with cheaper parts and quality control, I remember Toneworld actually dropped them as a brand as they where getting so many failures, then in an effort to cut the costs more they cut the range down to basically 3 amps, and are trying to rebuild what they did.

Companies get a good name, get a buzz, get a hype, then it seems they kill it themselves by either selling out to someone who kills it for them, or by failing to deliver on their product/customer service.

The ones that maintain the hype or grow seem to be the ones that just do business well, Friedman is an example, they have a small range, the quality of the range is excellent, they are available to customers should they want them, they seem to work well with dealers and their customer service is great. 

Got to correct you on Two Rock, the amps were exactly the same after they became part of PBG, same parts, built by the same people in the same place..Tone World didn't drop the line, Tone World had their own unfortunate problems that meant buying new stock was difficult..

The range has been slimmed down and quite frankly it had become a cumbersome beast, way too big with too many different power options and new models were being introduced too quickly in my opinion, they've got it down to a core line now, like Tone King and its much more manageable.

It was a massive selling line in the UK from 2010-1012,quite possibly the Lazy J or Friedman of its day... the original Studio Pro is an excellent and very reliable amp, one of my all time favorites..

As with guitars one day we like a certain tone and the next we're searching for something different, blackface clean one day, ef86 sizzle and crunch the next so quite a lot of flipping is inevitably going to occur and long may it continue!

So Chad from Two Rock (after he left) said they where different and they did seem to break more, but I appreciate seems isn't fact, Toneworld told me to my face they dropped the line due to the amount of problems/failures they where having after I asked for one to be ordered in when they didn't have stock and where just selling off what they had, which at the time seemed legit as it was a long way before their collapse and they where getting other new brands in and phasing out the two rocks, Bill also stopped building after they buy out from the PGB and only filled his contractual obligations, again - coming from Ex-Two-Rock staff, maybe they are playing a game. 

darcym

stumbled across this looking for the chad online interview http://www.proguitar.de/ProGuitar.de/Two_Rock_Translation.html

which seems to back a little what I was seeing and what I'd been told, but again, it's just another companies opinion

DougCoda

Pro Guitar were dropped as a dealer...and sold their stock to Thomann...why? I can't guess...well I can..

Tone World were trying to get amps from me at the time, we supplied them with at least one but we didn't have enough stock to help them out..they were selling well and we didn't have enough spare stock..they wanted more of these unreliable amps...why would that be?

Chad left last year...2015...he designed a lot of the modern Two Rock Amps...people come and go in companies...he's doing his own thing now and I hear the amps are awesome...if he gets into a position  to supply dealers outside the US we'll be there..

If you want to know what's going on please don't rely on internet rumours..I'll happily tell you if you give me a call or email..

   Doug

Aidanspaghetti

Friedman actually designed the preamp of the Budda Superdrive (45 iirc).

darcym

DougCoda said:

Pro Guitar were dropped as a dealer...and sold their stock to Thomann...why? I can't guess...well I can..

Tone World were trying to get amps from me at the time, we supplied them with at least one but we didn't have enough stock to help them out..they were selling well and we didn't have enough spare stock..they wanted more of these unreliable amps...why would that be?

Chad left last year...2015...he designed a lot of the modern Two Rock Amps...people come and go in companies...he's doing his own thing now and I hear the amps are awesome...if he gets into a position  to supply dealers outside the US we'll be there..

If you want to know what's going on please don't rely on internet rumours..I'll happily tell you if you give me a call or email..

   Doug

now that is a GREAT response and attitude.

andyoz

Aidanspaghetti said:

Friedman actually designed the preamp of the Budda Superdrive (45 iirc).

Jeez that boy gets around...

SunDevil

Pro Guitar - shitty stick etc..

I had Ron telling me the amp I'd bought from him didn't come with a foot switch, whilst the guy who built it was cc'd on the thread and disagreeing with him

He also told me that his in-house brand 'Gladius' outplayed a genuine Trainwreck Express (..again, according to its custodian, he'd never plugged into the Express in question) - got some stones, that one!

..and yes, he got dropped by the above builder too