Two flavors of classic British tones from a boutique icon.
For over 20 years, Dave Friedman has been a gear guru to the stars, designing rigs and modifying amplifiers for the likes of Eddie Van Halen, Jerry Cantrell, Guns N' Roses and more. When Friedman began building his own amps, he gleaned inspiration from high-powered British tone machines of yesteryear that have become the defacto sound of rock.
Developed by Brainworx, the Friedman Amps Plug-In Collection for UAD-2 hardware and Apollo interfaces features two stunning emulations of Friedman's high-end, boutique masterpieces, each with its own take on god-like British tube tone — the BE-100 for the ultimate "hot-rodded" Plexi-style amp, and the Dirty Shirley DS-40 for dynamic clean tones and powerful, punchy crunch:
The Friedman BE‑100 — Modding a Classic
The Friedman BE-100 amplifier is the result of years of experience Friedman amassed performing tone mods on his various clients' 1959 Marshall plexis. The BE-100 amplifier plug-in for UAD-2 and Apollo interfaces expertly captures Friedman's jaw-dropping evolution to the classic plexi DNA — but with smoother treble, tighter bass response, and increased gain capabilities for more sonic versatility.
Old School Cool — The Friedman Dirty Shirley DS-40
Taking its cue from Marshall's earliest production amp — the venerable JTM45 — Friedman's dual 6L6-based Dirty Shirley DS-40 amplifier is renowned for its rich, bell-like clean tones, ultra-dynamic cleanish tones, and ability to conjure more aggressive textures while retaining musical touch sensitivity. The Friedman DS-40 Amplifier plug-in for UAD-2 and Apollo interfaces perfectly captures the DS-40's regal raunch as well its clean tone complexities, making it a slam dunk classic rock amp that can also deliver blues, jazz, and country tones with ease.
Over 60 High-End Recording Chains
Both the Friedman BE-100 and DS-40 plug-ins offer an onboard FX Rack feature that gives you potent tone sculpting ability — adjust lows and highs with Tight and Smooth filters, create crushing rhythm tracks by artfully tweaking the onboard noise gate, or enhance solos with a chewy, host-syncable, lo-fi delay. You can also use the FX Rack's Recording Chains feature to audition your tones through 66 different signal paths, featuring various speaker cabinets, high-end mics, preamps, and EQ emulations.
Brainworx bx_tuner
With the Friedman Amplifier Plug-In Collection, you'll also receive Brainworx's bx_tuner plug-in — an intuitive, easy-to-use, chromatic tuner that can be inserted into a channel or bus to keep your tracks sounding their best. The bx_tuner offers spot-on chromatic tuning with a couple of clever additions. Dim mode offers tuning with sound, albeit at a reduced level, while a Ballistics feature lets you customize the action of the tuning LEDs and how fast they track pitch changes. Everyone needs to be in tune. The bx_tuner allows you to do it elegantly and accurately within your workstation.
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Reviewed By Faydit [all]
January 2nd, 2024
Version reviewed: 1.3 on Windows
The BE-100 is not really my taste, as the basic sounds differ for me too much from a real Marshall. It simply does not "nail the tone".
The DS-40 I like, sounds to me like some sort of Hot-Rod-JTM45. Nice if you are looking for typical AC/DC or ZZ Top tones. On the other hand, it maybe already offers too much gain in comparison with a real JTM45.
Nice Blues-Rock to Hard-Rock amp. A Metal amp it is not.
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