I've had the same experience with the OX Box and the WAZA Tube Amp Expander. For me the PS-100 was far superior sounding and sounds the closest to the actual amps without coloring them. The others reamp the tube amps through solid state power amps unlike the Fryette Power Station.

I'm probably preaching to the choir that I have found the Fryette Powerstation to be the greatest tube amp accessory. I just attenuate my guitar volume and put a mic on the cab which seems to work fine. I have wondered about the Fryette PL-IR or some sort of IR solution to go with it, but honestly I dont spend a ton of time recording so it it works. I also wonder about the Boss Waza Tube Amp Expander. That seems like an insanely powerful piece of gear, but the rumors about the load being unsafe made me nervous.

Interesting take. I've got the OX box and stomp as well as the captor x, boss TAE and a powerstation and I still greatly prefer the ox box. To my ears, nothing comes close to sounding "right" the way the ox box and stomp do. For me personally, it's the best product on the market because of how well it works on stage and for me, that's the most important aspect of any product. The TAE has more flexibility on stage and midi controllable effects/amp channel switching is neat but being limited to a single IR doesn't deliver the sound I want and the effects aren't really very good. With the box, I run one output to the PA that comes into my IEM's and run the headphone output into an FRFR behind me on stage for some stage sound and this way, I can control the volume of that FRFR with the headphone output and not mess with the signal volume going to the PA. The Boss TAE can do this also which is nice. The reverb from the box is always on for me and I use a 2 button switch to toggle delay on/off and the other switch to toggle compressor that doesn't do any actual compression but just boosts the output level for solos. It's a pain to drag to shows though because I have a pelican case for it and it's one more thing to drag out. I can't tell much of a difference between the Box and my power station in terms of feel with the reactive load but I think one amazing trick the boss TAE has is the variable reactive load controls. They make a huge difference and I've got several videos where I run different devices into both the TAE and the power station to compare and contrast the sound between the two when using my Splawn 4x12. This week though, I got a Mark VII and have been messing around with different ways of running that DI since it has the built in reactive load and plan on doing a video showing it with the ox stomp, the built in cab clone and, what I'm most excited about, just running the raw DI output from the amp into my quad cortex which does effects and IR loading similar to how you're using the Axe FX III. To not only have the great sound of a tube amp on stage but also not having to drag another big case of gear from the car is really nice and that was one of the big selling points for me of the Mark VII. I agree on many other points with the OX box though. More effects would have been nice, midi would have been nice, Combo connectors on the back to use 1/4" or XLR should have been an easy no brainer, giving us the really great sounding chorus/modulation effects should have been broken out to it's own section like the reverb and delay and let us use a 3 button switch to facilitate switching chorus on/off, more cab options would be nice but I think the V30 marshall cab is perfect so not a huge deal, a line in for modelers would have been nice (yeah I know there's technically an RCA line in on the inside of the unit you can rig up to work but at this price point, I shouldn't have to), loading your own UA effects would have been incredible... I agree strongly there... One other observation I've noticed is that even if you have the speaker volume knob all the way up on the box, it's still attenuating the sound a little bit.

The walled garden is also why I have avoided all UA products including the Apollo interface. Also not being able to load IRs is a deal breaker.

Hey Mike, great explanation of your reasoning, which is similar for why I stayed away from the Ox box and will probably move away from the Ox Stomp at some point (that I currently pair with my PS-2A) to an IR loader unit. What could be really interesting is if UA released their cab simulation as a plugin for their interfaces and maintained that offering with updates etc which would play well with their real-time monitoring with DSP approach but looks unlikely. Just another thing. I am not sure if your usage of "Bypass Mode" is accurate. Bypass switch when at bypass should connect the amp directly to the cab without the load, ie bypassing the PS completely. I think you mean a state when the device is "off" but in "operation mode" where you won't get any sound out of cabs (because the amp side is off) but the unit is in operation where the reactive load gets the amp signal down to line level, and into your Axe Fx.

Can’t you just use it as a load box by bypassing the cabs and mics and going line out direct into the Fractal? I agree with you about UA not supporting this thing. I’m pretty satisfied with the sounds I’ve been getting out of my Ox, but was thinking about just using it as a load into my AxeFx III to hear what that sounds like. I think you can also run one line out with a cab sim for monitoring and the other line out direct for recording a raw track, then use cab sim plugins in a DAW. Lots of ways to experiment. If using it as a load adds too much color though, that’s a different story.

And since this video was made, Gibson is re-issuing the 2c+ 😂😂😂 This video aged perfectly.

I think I would put Fender above Boogie is the amp world, they made the amp which started Marshall and Boogie off. I suspect Randall Smith had been acting as an administrator in the business for some time and he wasn’t adding value.

How can I make my AFD100 sounds more alive do I really need an EQ pedal?

Hey I’m the guy off reverb about the mark 3++ what is your other platforms

9 times out of 10 I preferred the Friedman. I’ve had similar results A/Bing a BE-100 Deluxe and a Helios 100: Tighter, punchier, and smoother on the former and more raw and nastier in the high mids (bordering on harsh with the gain turned down in B2) and spongier low end on the latter.

A lot like Leo Fender- he could have just reproduced classic Fender designs at Music Man and G&L (though after Leo passed the new G&L owners did just that), but he never did (the ASAT was the closest to that, and it was pushed into production by Dale Hyatt using Leo's new pickups in a Tele shaped body). These kinds of designers are motivated/obsessed by the idea of progress and innovation and see obsession with profit as abhorrent! Going back to old designs runs against the grain of these people too

The IIC+ has being reissued recently , the IIC+ sounds awesome , warm valve tone . Thanks for demo . A mixture of Danzig , Stone Temple Pilots , Sex Pistols & More .

Bogner sounds more wide open. Great sounding amp! Both are great amps, but Bogner is the one.

"I decided to make a quick video". Proceeds to make one 25 mins long lol.

I just discovered this channel, I really like this but it would be way better if you worked on the audio.

Where are these even for sale yet?

I'm curious about how the reissue 2c will compare. I got away from boogie years ago because I felt like my mark 3 was all preamp and could never get the power stage cooking or sounding right. I would love to try them again. Are they a mostly preamp kind of amp?

Now that the IIC reissue is upon us, it makes this a much more interesting discussion and I'm sure once your reissue arrives and we can hear it compared to the OG, the real question will start to be whether buyers feel like it's still worth that $3700 price tag vs the VII. I feel like MOST players probably (if only choosing between the two) would probably be better suited with the VII because of the extra flexibility the 3 channels offers, the cab clone, IR loader, built in load box, Midi, etc. It's a LOT of amp and justifies the price tag. I've owned a couple of studio preamps and I feel like they were every bit of the MK IIC magic but I felt like I was restricted and compromising with them because I couldn't have the clean sound I wanted AND the gain sound I wanted. I had to crank the clean to cascade more gain into the lead channel and that was ultimately why I ended up selling them (also because the second one I got for $700 was a new old stock unit that had never been played and a guy on reverb offered me $2500 for it 🤑)

I am going to state for the record that the mojo is NOT in the transformers...I had a studio pre amp...with little tiny dinky transformers and it had ALL the esa mojo when paired with a decent power amp...and that didnt have to be mesa to make it as good as a 2c+ (in fact Petrucci used a Quad for his most famous recordings....little dinky transformer and I believe while he DID use a mesa power amp it WAS NOT used in triode but pentode for more power...so there is half the Mark 2c+ myths gone right there...triode and the transformers being the be all and end all!!!) THE ORIGINAL 2C+ circuit was simple and dead clean of ANY extras...open one and you will see,,,NONE of the clutter of later Marks)

Great playing in love the videos, dude. Hey what guitar pick and gauge do you like to use?

Would running both of them at the same time be the perfect amp?

Need to dial a little more bass and turn down the treble on the bogner

They're listed on Sweetwater for $3599 ... and i have the cash now! 👍 wheeew" and to think i was just ready to buy a friedman plex 50 or Randall KH103. MkIIc+ any day... absolutely any day!!

great job

Called it. Nailed it. Randall was fired.

They're already here, it's official as of today.

once mike leaves, good service will be a thing of the past. that is fact.

you can reproduce whatever you want, but Randall KNOWS you can't reproduce an amp that was made with the parts from the parts that were made back then. those parts are gone. you will be a fool to buy a IIc+ re issue because the only thing that will be the same is the name, it wont even be close to the original, but guys will buy them thinking they will be the exact same amp but you will be wrong. SORRY.

You nailed it. Didn't expect a iiC+ that quickly, though.

The only thing I can say, if Randall left because of Gibsons push just to make money. Man, much respect for him. I remember going into the Hollywoods Mesa store, I was still in high school, and would go and hang out after school. That sweet tube smell. Finally saved enough money to buy a Mesa single rectifier combo. That was good old day. And now I'm looking forward meeting Mr. Freidman when I take my amp for service.

Yes yiu are correct, i recently spoke to David, and yes he told me, I can take me mesas to him. Few minutes away.

Just got preorder email… nearly 4k for the 2C+. Get bent Gibson/Mesa

vote forfriedman

Bogner has that perfect mix of a Marshall and Mesa MARK tone that is sooo good. The JBE sounds great, but I would take the Bogner any day. Thanks for the vid.

I really appreciate you talking about the feel of the amps. Its such an important thing which you don't get from the sound alone.

friedman sounds really good, snorkler sounds near perfect

Man what an amp! Great playing too! What would be the closest stock Friedman amp that you can buy that would get sounds close to it? BE100? I can see why you’ll never sell that one…that’s a special amp!

Do you know what value bright cap Dave used on the BE/HBE channels?

Mike you nailed it. I posted a video JT modded recto video back this past spring and spend days working on it. Bought a new 4k cameras, lenses, FCPx LED lights and tons of post production. Even had the man himself John Tokarski that modded the amp speak about the mod. Was very proud of it and figured it would catapult my channel. Wah, wah….not so much. Flew like a lead balloon. Haven’t made a “pro” video simce because it was the opposite of fun with zero reward. My amature iPhone videos get more views than it ever did. I guess because it looked to “sponsored” I don’t know. Maybe it was too long or boring. No idea but it didn’t get very many views.

where can i get one. omg

i cant find this amp anywhere to buy. any ideas??

Snorkler FTW. Not even close to my ears.

My guess is that the micro-tilt needs loosening; a simple, less than 5 minute fix.

Once you hear that the Man In the Box chords are the same as Kiss’ Calling Dr. Love, you can’t unhear it

Snorkler for me. So clear.

Snorkler sounds clearer to my ears and mpre percussive, with a more dynamic feel. I'd like to try iy along with my Helios Eclipse

Mike , what the other Friedman Marshall you have in the background?

I imagine the bogner sounding really big and punchy with a bit darker thicker guitar. Kind of. Just something I imagine hearing inside my head that would sound very sweet 💪🏻🙏🏻🔮

Man, that Snorkler really has me researching on getting one….