Just tested out a new Friedman BE100, thoughts

[Mats A]

Is this a Friedman modded Marshall? The other amp?

[Herbvis]

Baes on all comments on Friedman I imagine they would be more like a boosted jmp but still vintage sounding somwhat....

This is basically what I have. It's a 1959 4 hole JMP turned into a 2 hole JMP with an extra gain stage. I can not read who did the mod, but it was done in the early 90's, and the amp came out of Detroit. Not sure if Egnater did it. If I recall the initials were different. I should take a picture of the initials and see if anyone recognizes. I know several players that would like the same mod if I can find out who did it.

Did you ever post any pics? I always love seeing a good amp mod

[Herbvis]

How about a "Dirty Sanchez" amp?

I always thought the name Dirty Sanchez sounded more on the classy side

[John 14:6]

I was able to find a couple videos with Marshall .vs Friedman. The videos both show illustrate what I experienced also. One of the videos is the JVM so you can hear basically what I did.

I think the difference between the JMV and Friedman BE is night and day. Plus there is the way the Friedman feels under your fingers. I have owned a JVM amd now own a Friedman Smallbox which is a slightly more vintage sounding Friedman BE channel. The Friedman beats any amp I have ever owned. This includes my many Marshalls. To my ears the amps in the video do not sound remotely close to each other outside of both of them having an "80's rock tone" dialed in. Each amp has their own thing going on. I might change the transformers and add a choke to my DSL40CST.

[Marker]

From those videos I prefered the DSL, than the BE than the JVM HJS.
The DSL seems to have more bite an attack and is also brighter - thinks I search for on an amp. The oposite is the JVM HJS: darker, more compressed and a less definition. In between it's the BE, darker than a DSL and really doesn't stands out to me.

This is all pretty subjective, everyone likes different stuff, there's no better or worse and nobody else's opinion is better than your own; don't rest till you find the amp(s) you love and sound like you and then stick with it.

[Anitoli]

JVM is wave soldered, mass produced, over engineered and can be sterile sounding.

Wave Soldering as a technique is not necessarily inferior to hand soldering, it's actually more consistent. The issues with wave soldering can be directly attributed to ROHS compliance. Lead free solder SUCKS! And this is what Marshall has to use to meet environmental regulations. If Marshall could use 60/40 solder in the wave machines you would see a lot of the solder issues associated with these disappear.

[Torshalla]

The Friedman was better than the jvm in my opinion, the jvm sounded a bit sterile compared to it...

However I feel the dsl was as much alive sounding as the friedman... Just brighter and less compressed... In a way the difference reminds me a bit of the differents betwen the afd and 34 modes on the afd100...
I just liked both...

[Beandust]

I have owned a jvm410h, and a jvm 100h, I sold both because the sound was very non marahall.It was a very muddy distortion with very little notearly articulation.I have owned 2 jcm800, a 50 and 100 watt, a jcm 30th anny model with 3 channels,was a great sounding amp.the jvm is no match for those marshall sounds stock.modded maybe,don't know.usually buy amps and keep them if they work for me.the jvm.has great features with the memory and amount of gain stages.it's a production amp I did not bonding with.I heard a be100 and thought when I heard it it was the marshall sound with more gain and a tighter sound.bought it.anyone who says this amp is anything like a jvm hasn't heard it in their own environment with a good cab.this amp is expensive but it produces a sound of its own,nothing similar to a jvm.the tone stack and the gsin structure do not sound remotely close.I think people who say they got a better deal with a jvm don't want to spend 3700 bucks.I can assure you I didn't want to.its an amp that produces great rock sounds with a good guitar.comparing to a jvm is like comparing a mesa boogie to a marshall..yes the friedman has a similar gsin structure as a marshall.the clarity and note production,effects loop,sat switch and the bass on the friedman are something jvm amps can't produce..there is no resonance knob on a be100 and the bass will rattle your teeth.so.please don't compare these amps because you played one for 10 minutes thru a cheap cabinet.come on and just except you don't like the price

[Mats A]

I´ve never had a chance to try a Friedman BE100. Many talk of it as a modded Marshall Plexi type amp. But from clips i´ve heard it sounds much more gainy and modern and nothing like a Plexi at all. But you really need to play it to get the feel of it.