Friedman Pink Taco 20-Watt Hand-Wired Head Black

When I ordered this amp, I was looking for something that had a different sound than my Orange AD30. Something versatile, that had the ability to give me tighter gains but still clean up nicely. Being that it is hand-wired and Friedman's reputation were also huge selling points. Once I ordered it, I began to read every review of this head I could find; and immediately got freaked out that perhaps this wasn't going to be as versatile as I hoped and, perhaps, to 'metally' for my tastes. A lot of comments out there that the PT-20 was a 'One-trick Pony'. That you cannot get good cleans out of it....and so on and so forth. However, when I received and got a chance to give it a rip, all those fears quickly melted away. It is simply AWESOME! The 2016 models now come with a 3-way gain selector, like the Friedman Dirty Shirley Mini, which offers a wide array of amazing tones. This amp can do it all and well! Using your guitar volume control, you can get awesome, sparkling cleans without a monstrous disparity in volume when you crank it back to gain. I've always been at least a dual channel guy, using the footswitch to go from gain to clean and vice-versa. However, I'm finding the guitar volume control to be just as easy and a lot easier to adjust the tone! Then, there is the effects loop! Truly transparent. I've had Marshall, Bogner and other amps with effects loops that I never used because I just didn't like them. The effects loop on the PT-20 is fantastic! All of my modulation and time-based effects sound great through the loop and are infinitely more responsive. Which takes me to the text piece. This amp takes effects like a champ! Love the tones I'm getting from single-coils on my Strats and Tele, as well as from the humbuckers in my Les Paul. I just could not be happier with this purchase! What a phenomenal amp.

This is hands down the sweetest amp I've played. I own a Hiwatt DR-103 It has that warm powerful tight bottom end that EL 34 tubes deliver. If I turn the master volume up past 50% it begins to tear a hole in the time space fabric and chaos creatures start to enter our reality. Thankfully Dave Friedman has brought us the Pink Taco PT-20. I can get that Hiwatt cranked sound, neigh even better than Hiwatt cranked sound at a volume level that doesn't endanger reality as we know it. With the 2016 models there has been an addition of a "3 way gain structure switch" I've just sent my 2015 model back to have this added. (for an extremely reasonable price I might add) I did get some quality time playing with the 2016 model at a local music retailer. It adds two new dimensions to the amplifier. My only minor complaint about the PT-20 was with high output pickups, you really had to dial back the volume to get it to clean up. One of the new gain structure functions dials back the gain so it cleans up with SD blackouts running into it. The other gain structure... Well it's a beautiful sound too. My recommendation is to go try one and hear how it sounds. The effects loop is near well perfect. If your worried about 20 watts not being enough to keep up with the other kids in the band, don't. While it's not the Hiwatt Lead 100 wall of sound unless you are playing a stadium this amplifier has got your back. I have been running two separate 1 x 12 cabinets. One with a a Jenen P12N (8 ohm) and the other with a Jensen Blackbird (8 ohm). This is my gigging rig and it has been plenty enough for the small to mid sized venues I've played. Even outdoors it delivered enough sound to keep up with everyone else. In my studio I like to run it through the 4 x 12 cab that the Hiwatt usually runs and it pushes it effortlessly. There are a lot of good "small" amps out there now. I know I tried a lot of them in my search for an amplifier to keep my aging back from faltering, This is the best!

This fulfills all my requirements as a Plexi clone. 20 watts is plenty loud enough for all but the biggest stages. Master volume keeps the sound levels under control for recording. Great build quality!

Have been playing for 30+ years and have tried more amps than I care to even remember. Add me to the list of believers when it comes to the Friedman Pink Taco. I actually found a used one at Guitar Center Online for a price I couldn't beat. However when it arrived, it was making some type of crackling sound for the first few seconds which would go away once the tubes heated up. The tone coming out of the amp however was great enough to stop me in my tracks and make me seriously consider how I was going to go about having this fixed/repaired. Took the amp to somebody who is knowledgeable in building amps as well as servicing them here in NJ, Andy Fuchs. He told me that whoever had owned it previously had done some biasing that made the amp run extremely too hot which in turn fried the EL84 power tubes. He replaced the EL84 power tubes and re-biased the amp to run in the proper range that it was designed to run in. He told me that it is one of the best built amps he has ever seen. Coming from him that means alot. Talk about some of the best tone you will ever get out of an amp-WOW!! Finally an amp that you can plug straight into without having to bog it down with all types of effects. However if you did want to use some effects within the effects loop, this amp absolutely loves pedals. Best part of this amp is that it doesn't require endless tweaking to find a great tone. It pretty much gives you great tone at any setting you dial in. It really is that easy to find your tone. Just like some of the other reviewers said, making use of your guitar's volume knob to clean up the sound will go a long way in the flavor and variety of tones that are able to be achieved. You definitely won't hear any muddy, blanket over speaker type tone or flubbiness coming out of this amp. Can't say enough good things about it. If you're serious about your tone and are done compromising on it, go and check it out for yourself.

It is really hard to find words to describe how great this amp sounds. You have to experience it for yourself. What I Like is its simple, one channel that sounds incredible, crank it and adjust guitar volume to taste, every sound is there, clean to extreme. I did put a Sovtek 5751 {SRV Tube} tube in V1 to increase the clean headroom, worked great, but did not change the sound, which is over the top badsass tone!

I'm a pro guitar player. I've played just about anything and everything out there. Friedman's are as good as it gets. Just MIND NUMBINGLY STUPIDLY GOOD. All I can say is wow. My tone fanatic band mate commented that it sounded like how a produced polished guitar track sounds on a recording. I agree with that. Its unreal. If you are curious, the cleans are very good. Couldnt find demos that showed this, but the cleans are very nice when the volume is rolled off. I dont hear a single thing about it id change. Its like the sound ive always wanted to hear, but have never heard.