Friedman Dirty Shirley 1 Channel Mini 20W Head

I tried several of the small Friedman heads. The saggy distortion in the Dirty Shirley is exactly what I was looking for. I originally was shopping for the studio vintage for that similar tone, but the very usable master volume on the Friedman put it over the top. This amp really cleans up with the guitar's volume knob and is very touch sensitive.

Worth every penny, try a few others before the MDS. Nothing came close.Incredible amp. The clean headroom is more than some 50 watt heads I've own. The gain can take you anywhere you want to go. Even at high gain levels with the guitars volume rolled back it cleans up incredibly. By far the best investment I have made since playing guitar for 35 years.

When it comes to TONE, you will never go wrong when choosing the Friedman amps. And when it comes to construction, you're in a good place.This is a killer one, with great ACDC, Led Zeppelin and other oldschool tones from the Rock history. I use my 2x12" cabinet (loaded with Greenback and Vintage30) and also my 1x12" (Creamback75) and there is no regret in that. Sounds great in these cabs. I also have a Smallbox and bought the Mini DS for small gigs. Actually there is a difference between these 2 amps: The Smallbox is a bit more tight and modern tone comparing to the DS. To be a perfect product, I would just need a boost (for solos) and a reverb! LOL

Was really expecting this amp to be strictly a classic rock amp, in line with AC/DC, Zeppelin. While it nails those two, it can do so much more. 1st, those of you familiar with 20 watt amps know they can lack low end and sound small. Somehow, this amp is different. Im not sure how he did it, but Dave made this amp sound HUGE. Has a big low end without getting flubby. The 3 position gain switch is awesome. I own a 1989 JCM 800 2204, and I would say the gain on that amp lies somewhere between the lowest gain setting (middle position) and the medium gain setting (bottom position) Put the gain around noon, switch over to your neck pickup, turn your guitar volume down to about half, and you have beautiful chimey cleans, even with the toggle switch in the highest gain setting. Switch to the bridge, guitar volume all the way up and the gain around 3 o'clock, and you have a hard Rock machine. Need those metal tones, throw an overdrive in front (I use a cheap MXR), set the gain to just a smidge to barely add a slight boost, and you've got thick muted palm chug. And that REALLY works with this amp given the incredible low end. LOVE THIS AMP

Simply the real deal. Very dynamic amp, covers a lot of tones in a small amp platform. You would not believe the bottom end that this amp delivers. Dave Friedman rocks the amp world once again!