New Friedman product out soon

[GuitarBilly]

At yesterday's Tone Talk episode, Dave mentioned there is a new product coming out this month and hinted that it could be the analog preamp/DI solution he's been working on for a while..
If true, this product has my full attention. I've been interested in analog DI gear for a long time and an all-in-one DI pedal from Friedman would be awesome.

Has anyone heard rumors about it?

[greatmutah]

News to me but given Dave’s attention to detail and tone, I’d be interested to see how it runs out.

[Heath]

I wonder if it will be a tube preamp or more similar to their pedal range. Either way I am interested, but the idea of a tube preamp with DI abilities excites me. My current go-to live rig is a heavily modded ADA MP1 into a Mooer Radar for IR and Poweramp simulation. It sounds great but a smaller pedal-sized option would be great.

[GuitarBilly]

He said it's tube driven. I doubt it will be rackmount though. Probably something along the lines of the Two Notes Revolt. But with the Friedman tone.


That rig is really cool. I had something similar with the ENGL 530 and Palmer.

[Marc G]

I haven't heard anything about this either but I'm definitely interested..... my band has been getting calls about stripped down acoustic gigs and I tend to bring a small head and my Captor X and play my electric which is cool.... but if I can just use a preamp pedal... I'm down for that as well.... I was thinking about getting the Strymon Iridium, but I can't say it sounds any better than my current set up

[Heath]

He said it's tube driven. I doubt it will be rackmount though. Probably something along the lines of the Two Notes Revolt. But with the Friedman tone.
That rig is really cool. I had something similar with the ENGL 530 and Palmer.

I am definitely interested then! The Friedman tone in a tube pedal format would be perfect with the Halo delay as an all in one setup.

Your E530 setup actually inspired the ADA rig. That picture is from when I first got it completed, the old ADA MIDI controller finally killed over and I replaced it and have added a few other pedals for fringe effects. I have thought about going to an HX Effects to act as my effects and MIDI controller for the setup, but the Friedman solution seems like a better plan.

[GuitarBilly]

I have to say the Bluguitar setup I have now is doing a great job, both with DI and driving a 4x12. I did have to add an external EQ for the DI out since it sounded a bit harsh on its own but I have it dialed in now.

But I love the Friedman tone and I'm excited about this. Also, the Runt had an analog DI out that was actually really good, so I know Dave has that side of the equation figured out too.

Dave said he was finalizing the product demo videos this week so it should come out anytime now. It's not a prototype or anything, the product ready to go.

[Heath]

I have their mic-no-mo box I use with my PRS MT15 and a reactive load. I wish it had a steeper high-end roll-off but it is still a good sounding box for certain. I haven't used a live speaker cab on stage since 2018. It's all been direct solutions with tube amps/preamps or the helix. We have our own PA and monitor setup so its consistent sound all the time and I can always count on what I have in the house sounds like what I want it to.

[***1776***]

I thought this was about the new Jake E Lee 20 watt

Not sure how he does it but his 20 watters do sound FANTASTIC and the clips of the JEL sound great so far, i think the amp is so new that its backordered in most places

Dave always has something brewing lol

[GuitarBilly]

I have their mic-no-mo box I use with my PRS MT15 and a reactive load. I wish it had a steeper high-end roll-off but it is still a good sounding box for certain. I haven't used a live speaker cab on stage since 2018. It's all been direct solutions with tube amps/preamps or the helix. We have our own PA and monitor setup so its consistent sound all the time and I can always count on what I have in the house sounds like what I want it to.

Yeah I'm using a cab on stage but I still go direct to the FOH. I found that devices like the Palmer and the Mic No Mo are really unbeatable for consistency and sound quality in a live mix.
I think a lot of people try them in a home/studio scenario and they're really not optimal for that because they need the volume and size of the live PA to work properly.

Also, one of the best tools I've found to use in conjunction with analog speaker emulators is this pedal:




This is like a vintage mixer channel strip on a pedal format and when added after the Palmer or Mic No Mo, lets you fine tune the high end and midrange to take away any harshness and keep the sound even moreconsistent from one venue to another, since some PAs are dialed in differently. Super easy to do on the fly adjustments. And it has a XLR out so it's the perfect post cab emulation DI.

[GuitarBilly]

I thought this was about the new Jake E Lee 20 watt

Not sure how he does it but his 20 watters do sound FANTASTIC and the clips of the JEL sound great so far, i think the amp is so new that its backordered in most places

Dave always has something brewing lol

I'm REALLY tempted to buy the mini JEL. He mentioned he's going to do a limited run with black tolex so I'm kind of waiting on that

[Zozobra]

Haha, yes that red tolex is an acquired taste to say the least.

[Heath]

Yeah I'm using a cab on stage but I still go direct to the FOH. I found that devices like the Palmer and the Mic No Mo are really unbeatable for consistency and sound quality in a live mix.
I think a lot of people try them in a home/studio scenario and they're really not optimal for that because they need the volume and size of the live PA to work properly.

Also, one of the best tools I've found to use in conjunction with analog speaker emulators is this pedal:




This is like a vintage mixer channel strip on a pedal format and when added after the Palmer or Mic No Mo, lets you fine tune the high end and midrange to take away any harshness and keep the sound even moreconsistent from one venue to another, since some PAs are dialed in differently. Super easy to do on the fly adjustments. And it has a XLR out so it's the perfect post cab emulation DI.

I haven't had a chance to play with the palmer stuff, outside of their Sansamp-like pedal which sounded pretty good. I have been interested in the Q Strip as I am a huge fan of everything Tech 21 makes. Up until I picked up the Mooer Radar, I was using the trusty old Xotic EP Booster after the direct solution to warm it up. The mooer loaded with York Audio IRs has negated the need for the EP though. When I use the tube amps now, I am running Amp>>Reactive Load>>Radar IR>> Direct box.

[overdrivenel34s]

IN 5 days it will be revealed unless leaked sooner.

[GuitarBilly]

Nice!!!! I'm looking forward to seeing this one.

[Heath]

Same here! If this is the right features in the right price range, I am all in.

[Chris Z]

Billy, which Runt did you have? I never had a Marshall, but my next amp will be a Runt 50.

[GuitarBilly]

Billy, which Runt did you have? I never had a Marshall, but my next amp will be a Runt 50.

I had the 50. Awesome amp. I have nothing negative to say about it. It's a relatively small and light amp, both channels are great, the master volume is perfect, great loop, even the DI out sounded really good. I really regret selling it and probably will buy another at some point.

[Chris Z]

Billy, which Runt did you have? I never had a Marshall, but my next amp will be a Runt 50.

I had the 50. Awesome amp. I have nothing negative to say about it. It's a relatively small and light amp, both channels are great, the master volume is perfect, great loop, even the DI out sounded really good. I really regret selling it and probably will buy another at some point.

How would you compare it to a DSL? I'm looking for a medium gain amp that sounds good with od pedals. Nothing saturated or compressed like a 5150.

[GuitarBilly]

Billy, which Runt did you have? I never had a Marshall, but my next amp will be a Runt 50.

I had the 50. Awesome amp. I have nothing negative to say about it. It's a relatively small and light amp, both channels are great, the master volume is perfect, great loop, even the DI out sounded really good. I really regret selling it and probably will buy another at some point.

How would you compare it to a DSL? I'm looking for a medium gain amp that sounds good with od pedals. Nothing saturated or compressed like a 5150.

Well. That's the thing. The DSL is very close. Specially at lower gain settings.

For my tone, I used to have the Friedman set around 5 on the higher gain (boost) mode. In the DSL, that is equivalent to the gain at 3 on the lower gain mode (Red 1). So the DSL is capable of a lot more gain than the Friedman, but I just didn't need it.
But at the end of the day, for a hard rock tone, I got the 2 amps sounding nearly the same. I'd say the DSL has a bit of an edge with the 100w power section. Not in terms of volume, both amps are definitely loud enough for every situation but the DSL just sounds larger.

The Friedman is an easier amp to dial. All knobs on 5 gets a great rock sound. The DSL takes some learning. I set the EQ and gain on the DSL very low, between 1 and 3 depending on the guitar and cab. Then turn the volume up. It sounds great like that.

So at the end of the day, I sold the Runt because I was getting basically the same tone out of the DSL at half the price and with twice the power. But I regret selling the Friedman, because it was a great amp in its own right.

Also, for the DSL, I'd avoid the current model "HR". I tried one and didn't like it at all. It could've been user error since it has a lot more features and options but idk. I like the "H" version the best. And the JCM2000s are great too.

[overdrivenel34s]

Billy, which Runt did you have? I never had a Marshall, but my next amp will be a Runt 50.

I had the 50. Awesome amp. I have nothing negative to say about it. It's a relatively small and light amp, both channels are great, the master volume is perfect, great loop, even the DI out sounded really good. I really regret selling it and probably will buy another at some point.

I tried a runt 50 once at Vegas GC years back and it sounded killer. Tried some badass guitar through it too (including a duesenberg starplayer for example)

[Marc G]

Sweetwater and Andertons have their videos up

for some reason I can't get the damn things to imbed lol

[Zozobra]

Sweetwater and Andertons have their videos up

for some reason I can't get the damn things to imbed lol

Delete everything from the ? Onwards

[Marc G]

Delete everything from the ? Onwards

cheers.... it's been a while lol

[linthat22]

Sweetwater and Andertons have their videos up

for some reason I can't get the damn things to imbed lol

Delete everything from the ? Onwards

I noticed in the Sweetwater video, the dude has one of those orange stereo patch cables running from the unit. I have those too, which means this piece has to be good!

Honestly though, this thing sounds pretty damn good! Thank you for posting the clips!