Friedman BE-OD Reviews

Great tones, decent quality

First the good stuff, this pedal gives great tones, it has a ton of gain but that can be dialled with the internal pot.

It boost the signal quite a bit, so there is a noticeable volume increase if the volume is left at 12 o'clock.

Not bad per say but a bit underwhelming for the price point of this pedal is the packaging/quality, both are a few notches below what Wampler and other manufacturers do, from the painting, the housing and even the pouch.

The switch is also very loud.

The sound is great so I wouldn't be put off the negatives.

Really is hard to fault

Probably my most expensive pedal, but having seen so many reviews I took a leap of faith and this really is quite a pedal.

Firstly it is not overdrive, unless you are heavily overdriving your amp with a significant boost, we are well into the territory of distortion.

On the standard setting, there is way too much drive for me, don't get me wrong I play very heavy rock and I was already pushing it at 10 o'clock. So, the trim adjust inside the pedal is VERY useful as this can tailor it to your preference. I now have mine set to 9 o'clock and it takes me from substantial overdrive to all out distortion without going extreme.

The tight and presence knobs really allow you to 'match' this pedal to your rig perfectly.

Soundwise .... it is without fault. You have a cranked Marshall (since a Friedman is essentially a 'tuned to near perfection' Marshall) through pretty much any amp. Even at very high distortion (with my trim setting) the guitar still retains it's character and the pedal is great fun.

For light to medium distortion my OCD beats anything dead, but entering into distortion none of my other pedals come close to the sound of the Friedman BE-OD.

Only one start lost on quality, concerning the case. My OCD feels like it will take a tank running over it, this also goes for my Digitech and TC pedals, whereas for this price, I would have expected more 'beef' to the casing, it feels like thin aluminium.

But as I say, sound wide ..... I am very happy.

The DRIVE Pedal.

Everything you need from a drive pedal is here. The best amp like pedal ever. Recomended.

Great sounding pedal !

I'm using this pedal into slightly crunchy tube amp and works great. It gives me that modded Marshall tones with big range of adjustments. In my case I turned down the internal gain pot to about 9 o'clock because with factory set to 12 it was too much for me but with a clean amp it should be okay, The build quality is also very good but for that price a would expect more robust construction ,especially for the power supply jack which is mounted to PCB and not to chassis.

high gain madness

Probably the best high gain pedal i have ever bought, with all the different tone controls, you can really hone in you're sound.

Friedman BE-OD

I bought this after seeing the Pete Thorn YouTube demo videos- didn't even try one live before purchasing! I already own a couple of Boogie heads, and a profusion of Wampler pedals. They are all fantastic. However, I have to say, this has more than earned its place on the board ? it can do just a bit of hair on the note through to full throttle tear your head off. However, I was sold when I dialled in a beautiful 'One of these nights' Felder type tone- on my Strat. It is built like a brick ? though be warned, it doesn't take a battery, so factor that in to your power supply. Thoroughly thoroughly recommended ? in the overpopulated world of distortion pedals, that black and gold lineage reeks class!

Pros: tone build feel

Cons: maybe useful to have the facility to power it by battery for small gigs