Friedman BE-Mini

Friedman Amplification is known for its boutique hot-rod all-valve amp tone, so what can this affordable solid-state alternative bring to the party?

With nearly three decades of industry experience, amp designer Dave Friedman has the reputation as the ‘go-to amp guy’ for many top players (including Steve Stevens and Eddie Van Halen) and is no longer an underground phenomenon. As well as his range of highly coveted USA-made heads and pedals, he has his own brand of guitars designed in partnership with the legendary Grover Jackson.

Friedman’s speciality is the ‘hot-rodded Marshall’ tone, a product of his own ears and sonic taste rather than a reproduction of any particular circuit, which just happens to click with many of today’s top players. While most of Friedman’s amp range is valve, this new solid-state design is inspired by the all-valve Brown Eye 50 head and the BE-OD pedal, the BE-Mini. But can this pint-size head with its very affordable price tag (relatively speaking), really produce the same sonic magic as an all-valve, top-of the range Friedman?

Looking more like an immaculately finished scale model rather than the real thing, the BE-Mini is roughly a quarter of the size of a regular head. It weighs just a

FRIEDMAN BE-MINI HEAD £299 WHAT IS IT? Desktop-sized 30-watt solid-state head, inspired by Friedman’s BE-OD overdrive pedal and the ‘Brown Eye’ channel from Friedman’s coveted all-valve heads