Friedman Brown Eye Overdrive Pedal

Comments about Friedman Brown Eye Overdrive Pedal:

This pedal just roars! I was running a Fulltone OCD for the last year or so and I was always trying to get more out of it in terms of that hot-rodded Marshall bite. I had a Maxon OD 808 in front of the OCD to give it a little more, even threw in a Maxon Compressor in front of all that. The sound was there but I knew I could do better. Enter the world of the BE-OD! This things just kills! All the knobs are usable, I especially love the tight knob. It works very well in conjunction with the bass knob, you can go from a looser heavy crunch to something real tight for faster palm mute stuff. I have it powered @ 18V. Being that it's called the BE-"OD", I assumed it was going to be just that, WRONG! This is a full fledged distortion pedal! I have the internal gain knob at 9:30 rather than the stock setting of 12 o clock and there is a ton of gain still. I have the main gain knob @ 12:30 and it's Brownsound on steroids.Even with the gain ALL the way down it's Thin Lizzy's "Jailbreak" all day with harmonics all over the place. My fingers are sore as I type this review, I haven't played my axe this much in a long time, the BE-OD has inspired me.

Comments about Friedman Brown Eye Overdrive Pedal:

Friedman "brown eye" overdrive.. I have not heard a pedal sound this amp-like, ever. And not just any amp but a roaring hot rodded Marshall jcm800. Just put it in front of a super clean tube amp and rock out. This is a special pedal.. I would also like to add that the Guitar Center and the crew in Hobart Indiana are awesome at what they do. Thank you guys :)

Comments about Friedman Brown Eye Overdrive Pedal:

Great sounding pedal I have many distortion and overdrive pedals and this one is has it dialed in ! It has tons of gain , I turned down the trim pot to 9:30- 10 :00 from the factory setting , and the gain dial is a lot more friendly / usable . If you have a decent amp this will turn it into a beast , it was a perfect match for my 2204 with no effects loop was thinking of modding it (loop and gain mod) now I don't need to ! thanks Friedman it has great dynamics and touch and feel , glassy , sag , etc... well worth it get one you'll be happy you did !

Comments about Friedman Brown Eye Overdrive Pedal:

It's amazing there isn't a clone of this pedal yet, at least not one I could find. Picked it up on sale over the weekend, and I am quite impressed. Basically it's like the best Marshall-in-a-box I've come across. The controls give you some tonal variety, but still maintains a JCM800 kinda sound like a real Marshall or Friedman amp. Soundwise, it rivals the classic channel of my JCM2000 DSL100... which is great for home-volume practice situations. If unable to use an actual 100 watt halfstack, this pedal will get that sound with a Blues Jr, or even a solidstate amp. I use it with my Boss Katana 50, and the sound floors me. This is the only Overdrive I can seriously recommend in that price range.

Service and delivery comments:

Great service and price at the local Guitar Center.

Comments about Friedman Brown Eye Overdrive Pedal:

Pro musicician for over 40 years and I have had at least 2 dozen OD and Distortion pedals. This is the by and far the best ever. The amount of gain and tonal characteristics of this pedal make it a must have for any player. Look no further and buy it with confidence. Totally Killer Tone!

Comments about Friedman Brown Eye Overdrive Pedal:

This pedal sounded so good that I went out and bought a Friedman amp and matching cabinet. This pedal is worth the money if you can't afford the amp.

Comments about Friedman Brown Eye Overdrive Pedal:

I've never heard a pedal like this.....it turns any amp in to a $3000 amp....KILLER SOUND

Comments about Friedman Brown Eye Overdrive Pedal:

Just dont forget to turn down the internal gaun knob. A noise gate pedal quiets it all up.

Comments about Friedman Brown Eye Overdrive Pedal:

I find this to be a great pedal on its own but in a band situation at least until now it doesn't cut through the mix. I am still tweeting it. I will say this , it has a lot of gain . I had to bring down the gain trim pot that is inside the pedal to be able to cut down on the compression. I love it so far just need to find a sweet spot so it cuts through the mix with a loud bass player and a second guitarist

Comments about Friedman Brown Eye Overdrive Pedal:

i would sleep with this pedal, and do terrible, terrible, things to its slots, but it would definitely void the amazing 3 year warranty you get with this bad mother. the harmonic structure of the gain is beautiful and it instantly turns any amp into a tone monster.

Comments about Friedman Brown Eye Overdrive Pedal:

This is the sound you are looking for. Good for a little boost or to praise the dark lord.

Comments about Friedman Brown Eye Overdrive Pedal:

Very, very few ODs have gotten velcro'd to any of my boards within the first hour. Almost none. This one went on my main board immediately. I love my JVM combo but hate loading it out after a 4 hour bar gig. I have a modified Blues Jr that's much kinder on an old man's back and let's be honest - cover band setlists cover a lot of other ground so with everything into the mixer I don't need the JVMs full capability. But I needed that thick, intense drive for about 6 songs a night. The BJr tends to fart out with high gain and bass heavy ODs but the bass tone on this is responsive enough to cut that. I'm not saying it nails "brown" but I'm not saying it doesn't. It doesn't get as "fizzy" in my BJr as the 5150 I traded in did.
I havent really figured out the external gain knob yet. It saturates some I suppose but the magic was the internal gain control. I backed it off a bit and fell in love. My guitar volume knob does exactly what I expect it to - almost pristine. But dime the guitar and you are in business.

Comments about Friedman Brown Eye Overdrive Pedal:

It's gonna be hard to justify adding more pedals to the collection; they all seem to pale in comparison to this. Running it into my Boss Katana, I'm blown away by how I'm getting that hot-rodded JCM800 kind of sound. This is great for getting the Les Paul/Marshall sound without irritating the neighbors. I can't wait ti see how this does in my JCM200 DSL100 as a boost.

The only negative thing aboit this pedal is the power jack is mounted to the board inside the pedal, and not independent of the board. Generally I mount my pedals into a pedalboard so I don't forsee there being a problem for me personally, but this may become an issue down the road for others.

This is the only overdrive I can honestly say is worth the price. This amd the EH Soul Food have become my go-to overdrive pedals.

Comments about Friedman Brown Eye Overdrive Pedal:

I first heard this pedal ran through the clean channel of a very rare Randall RGT100ES head. And my jaw dropped at how well this pedal sounds. It is literally like having a $200 portable amp in a pedal form. Keep in mind, this isn't a over drive pedal, but the pedal form of the Friedman BE-100's overdrive gain channel. It nails the modded marshall tone to the T, all well having a crazy amount of gain on tap and with retaining clarity and note definition.

Service and delivery comments:

I just purchased my own at Guitar Center of Lakeland, FL. Service by the manager and the sales rep was very satisfying

Comments about Friedman Brown Eye Overdrive Pedal:

THE tone you've been looking for. Clarity, responsiveness and versatility. This pedal has become my amp. Stop reading reviews and get it.

Comments about Friedman Brown Eye Overdrive Pedal:

I'm a pretty simple guitar player. I'm a trumpet player by profession and trade but guitar has always been a fun hobby to dabble in (and dream to tour with). Other effects are fun to tinker with but I'm all about a great warm amp and some killer over drive pedals. I really liked (and I know how it sounds) the "solo/lead" distortion on the Crate FX120. However the clean tone was very bland (solid state amp). I couldn't have one without the other so it's been rough. I bought a Vox AC15 and fell in love with the tubes and sound. Next I had both my DS-1 and MD-2 Modded to increase the sound quality. Both had improvements but still weren't quite there. I asked some former GC associates who worked with the products (I had worked operations) for some recommendations based on what I felt was missing from these pedals that would work with my amp. I was then directed to the Friedman Brown eye. It was love at first chord. I read that you could adjust the internal gain but have yet to tinker with that. I haven't felt the need yet. I've used it with my Epi LP Custom with Invader bridge and burstbucker neck, Epi ES339 with Dirty Fingers bridge and 57 Classic+ neck, stock Fender Jaguar Special, Stock MIM Fender Tele, and my Squier Strat with EMG-HZ Single Coils and they all sound amazing with the pedal and amp combo. This will very likely be the last distortion/over drive pedal I ever need to buy.

Comments about Friedman Brown Eye Overdrive Pedal:

Sounds great.

Comments about Friedman Brown Eye Overdrive Pedal:

Gain for days. The best od pedal I have ever played. I used it with my Classic 30, Classic 50 and JTM 45. The notes will just sing.

Comments about Friedman Brown Eye Overdrive Pedal:

This thing is absolutely amazing !!! I foresee this pedal becoming a legend, for all of your tube amp lovers you have got to get this pedal.my personal Holy Grail of tone in a pedal. This will inspire your playing. I give this pedal a 5 out of 5 but actually it is a perfect 10

Comments about Friedman Brown Eye Overdrive Pedal:

Only had the pedal for 2 days, 1st impression awesome pedal for rock n roll! The gain straight outta the box is a ton, I would say that is the only drawback that it offers too much gain even at lower settings. I have not yet tried to dial it back using the trim pot and find for me that leaving the gain between 9-12 o clock is perfect. I am running it into the clean channel on an older JCM 2000 DSL, not the new ones, and I have to say that the tone coming out of it is amazing, it sounds like a hot rodded ripping Marshall, I have heard demos of the BE 100, never played one and to me they sound similar in tone. I would highly recommend this pedal, I would give 5 stars but because I think it is strictly for hot lead/rhythm rock guitars it is bit limited. I was able to dial in a good tone in about 10 seconds, it is not a pedal you need to fuss with to get good sounds out of, probably on any setting it will sound great.