Friedman BE-OD users here?

[Basauri]

I recently bought this highly acclaimed pedal in order to get my hot rodded Marshall tones in a box when playing through any other amp. The idea is: guitar, pedal, any amp in clean channel...yep, thats my tone.
This pedal sounds close to my amp, punches like a real amp and cleans nicely when rolling down the volumen on the guitar, very amp like. I can get what I was looking for... but there´s something...I don´t get it.
Out of the box, this pedal sounds amazing, "yeah, sounds GOOD". But after a while you start tweaking with the knobs... and few changes. Or maybe I don´t know how to dial it properly.
Even with gain at 0, this pedal breaks nicely, but breaks, no clean. I setted the internal gain trimpot at 9 oclock, that`s only a quarter of its capability, and still too much gain. I have to say that this gain is a good and usable gain, from 0 to max. Cool tones... well, one cool tone with more or less grain. Its one and only sound.
With bass and treble knobs, you know, can equalize that, adds bass or adds treble. I mean, thres this "base" sound and you add more bass and treble, the sound is the same.
Tight and Presence knobs... I don´t get it. I really cannot dial them right. Presence don`t act like a mid knob, is a very high mids knob, so close to treble that I don´t get its usability. And the tight knob, goes from punchier but muffled to cleaner but thinner. Intermediate position doesn`t get the best of both sides, in fact is none of them. nowhere land.

Experiences here with this pedal? Any advices on how to use it properly?

Thanks!

 

[László]

I'm not a fan of the Friedman amp sound -- not that it's bad, it's just a bit too "arena rock" for my taste. I get into other things; the first thing I thought when I heard the BE-OD was "has that gain structure I'm not crazy about."

So for me, its proper use would be as trade bait for a pedal I liked!

Seriously, though, have you tried the Xotic BB, a pedal that is very Marshall sounding, but has a more useful range of gain?

 

[andy474x]

I have one... I share your feelings on it. I would say it's good, but I don't know if it lives up to the hype of being the end-all OD pedal. I also find it to have an excessive amount of gain, and wish it had a mid/low-mid control in addition to what's there. I think I set my internal trim to 9-10 o'clock, and about 1 o'clock on the external gain is the max for me, beyond that I don't hear a difference, it's just a ton of gain vs. a ton of gain. And, yes, there aren't many low drive crunch tones available because the gain is just balls to the wall all the time.

When it comes to the EQ controls, the way I think of them is that the treble and presence controls are there to fine tune the high end, so the tone has definition and bite without being piercing. The higher the bass is turned up, the higher you may want the tight knob turned up as well - at least that's how I use it. TBH I don't hear a huge difference between low bass, low tight, and high bass, high tight - I would trade one of those controls for a mid control.

It's a pedal that aims to get one basic tone, I'm also with you on that. I wish it had less gain, and the option for more mid content to fill out the sound. It's still on my board, because I like it enough to use it, and I'm not loaded enough to try every drive out there The way I really want to "try" them that is. It's hard to know how something will work with your own rig, and then you want to spend some time with it to really form an opinion... pedals. Pedals everywhere. I do very much like how tweakable the high end is. I'm not in a huge rush to get rid of mine, but I think something will take its place eventually. Maybe that BB

 

[Basauri]

I´ll check that BB. And the MXR SuperBadass, the pedal that put me in this "oh, there are a marshall-in-a-box pedals" hunt that ended feeding the hype about the friedman.
The thing is, as I said before, I like the sound of this pedal but is not tweakable. For example, if I´m in the mood of a metal jam, I cannot scoop the mids and have fun for a while; if I want some sad blues, I cannot dial it to get creamy crunchy tones, I can roll down the volume in my guitar and have cleaner tone, but not overdrived.
This pedal could be a one-knob pedal and be the same as it is with 6. Good pedal, but...

 

[drawshot]

I´ll check that BB. And the MXR SuperBadass, the pedal that put me in this "oh, there are a marshall-in-a-box pedals" hunt that ended feeding the hype about the friedman.
The thing is, as I said before, I like the sound of this pedal but is not tweakable. For example, if I´m in the mood of a metal jam, I cannot scoop the mids and have fun for a while; if I want some sad blues, I cannot dial it to get creamy crunchy tones, I can roll down the volume in my guitar and have cleaner tone, but not overdrived.
This pedal could be a one-knob pedal and be the same as it is with 6. Good pedal, but...

I just picked up a new MXR Super Badass pedal...and I'm VERY impressed with it. Haven't had too much time to play around with the settings, but a couple dial turns while goofing off showed me that this thing has range.

I was tossing around the idea of the BE-OD pedal, but figured I'd try the MXR first, at half the price of the Friedman.

I can now say...I'll own an MXR for as long as mine lasts...and as long as they still make them available. The SBA pedal has everything I'd ever want in a distortion box.

 

[Basauri]

I just picked up a new MXR Super Badass pedal...and I'm VERY impressed with it. Haven't had too much time to play around with the settings, but a couple dial turns while goofing off showed me that this thing has range.

I was tossing around the idea of the BE-OD pedal, but figured I'd try the MXR first, at half the price of the Friedman.

I can now say...I'll own an MXR for as long as mine lasts...and as long as they still make them available. The SBA pedal has everything I'd ever want in a distortion box.

Is it noisy? One of the things that leaned me to a "boutique" pedal, was that the MXR was called noisy when cranking the gain.

 

[dkilpatrick]

I tried out the BE-OD and had the same observations.
Too much gain that couldn't really be dialed back. Luckily it was only borrowed, so I didn't throw down the cash for it.
I ended up with a JHS Andy Timmons pedal on my board instead.

 

[László]

For many, many (oh hell I'm old, let's add another 'many') years, I was a guitar > cable > amp guy. But for the past 15 years I've used a decent amount of pedals as tone shapers, and tried bunches of 'em.

I learned that pedals need to match up well with the amp being used, as well as playing style. It's all trial and error; there aren't many pedals that work well with all the 'basic' amp styles, and the proliferation of amps and pedals complicates matters further.

Long story short, I've gone back to the now-classic OCD, because it's fairly fat sounding, has a useful range of gain, works well with the 3 different-sounding amps I use, and cuts well in a mix. But more often than not, I'll just use a clean boost pedal for a tone that doesn't color the signal as much when I want to push the front end of the amp a bit. I get more of the amp tone I went for in the first place.

 

[drawshot]

Is it noisy? One of the things that leaned me to a "boutique" pedal, was that the MXR was called noisy when cranking the gain.

I don't find it noisy...but I've only put about 20 minutes of play through it. I tried two of the examples that are in the manual it came with...and both sounded awesome, to me.

I'm certain a better-trained ear would be able to offer a far more accurate description than I...but what I DO know is that the pedal kicks out the sound I was hoping for. To me, it's as close to the sound in my head that I've ever come...and I'll call that a 'win.'

 

[BrianC]

I have what I would call great amps. For me the Friedman BE is THE be all end all amp, if I was willing to spend that $$$. The BE pedal IS THAT GREAT, as it can take any amp set to clean and make it roar like the BE 100
IF THAT IS THE TONE YOU ARE AFTER.

It has internal trim pots to dial down the gain or raise it. Mine is at the stock setting and I run it at a hair past 9:00. I am considering playing with the pot and turning it down a bit.

 

[drdoom8793]

I think if the Friedman sound is what you're after, you'll enjoy. It's a little more gain than what I want out of a pedal. If I want that much gain, I usually crank it on my amp.

My one complaint with this pedal is that the power supply plug is mounted to the internal board, not the chassis of the pedal itself. I foresee either a bunch of warranty returns to fix this problem, or a bunch of broken Friedman pedals and Friedman releasing a V2 with this problem corrected.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

Isn't there a saying.... "If it has too much gain, you're too old!" HAHAHHAHA

(Just kidding)

 

[László]

Isn't there a saying.... "If it has too much gain, you're too old!" HAHAHHAHA

(Just kidding)

Yeah, well...how long have they been playing Metal? 45 years or so?

I figure if it has too much gain, it has too much gain.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

Yeah, well I guess there's that. Reminds me of that video of Van Halen at some trade show... It's being interviewed and showing the guy riffs, etc. The first couple times he stops, he mutes quickly. Then he shows the guy something else and forgets to mute or roll the volume down. He stops playing and the amp just lets out a loud feedback.... He quickly mutes it, laughs, and says "That's what happens when you play with as much gain as I do. Most guys can't handle it." And the the interviewer asks him some questions and he explains how differently you have to play when you use that much gain, how you have to palm mute the strings you aren't playing etc., and how you have to stay on top of it at all times or it will get away from you and just be noise.

Anyway, as usual, I was just joking.