How does a head this small sound so huge?

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Dave Friedman’s amp design career stretches back over twenty-five years, during which he’s been a jealously-guarded secret for many of the world’s top players, including legends like Eddie Van Halen and Steve Stevens, alongside contemporary wizards like George Pajon Jr. and the astonishing Doug Rappoport to name a few. There was a time when Friedman’s legendary amp tuning and building skills were only available to guitarists who had achieved a certain degree ofnotoriety; happily, his supercharged vintage Marshallinspired signature tones are available to us all today, with a generously large and varied catalogue including heads and combos and pedals, not to mention a new range of guitars co-designed with the legendary Grover Jackson in the pipeline.

Friedman’s flagship is the infamous ‘Brown Eye Deluxe’, an all-valve head with eye-watering tones and a price-tag to match that puts it out of reach for most of us. However, there’s hope in the shape of the new BE- Mini, a solid-state design which shares DNA with Friedman’s coveted BE-OD pedal, as well as being inspired by the Brown Eye Deluxe’s lead channel. At roughly a quarter of the size of a regular amp head and weighing in at just under 2KG, the BE-Mini looks almost toy-like, but inside its immaculately trimmed cabinet there’s a veritable volcano of overdriven lead tone waiting to be unleashed through a thirty-watt class D output stage. Hooked up to the right cabinet, that’s plenty of power for practice, recording and live gigs too, when they return.