Runt-20 1x12 inch 20-watt Tube Combo Amp Review

Getting Gain Channel Clean

For those worried about not having EQ on the clean channel. While the cleand channel is pristine and set to it's neutral center switch position so you can use your pedal EQ's etc, the gain channel also can be set clean and gives a nice warm punchy clean sound by turning gain down to 1-2, scooping the mids almost totally out, increasing the bass to 8-9, treble up to 9-10 , presence… read more to taste. I bought a brand new Fender Strat Ultra from Sweetwater and set the amp to the above settings and I get a warm full bodied clean sound with pristine clarity and excellent dynamics and touch response that sounds very jazz/blues like. This amp is so versatile. See the photo I uploaded of these settings. This amp is an ' In yer face' every tone you could ever want once you figure out how to set it up. I traded in my Marshall DSL40 & VOXAC15 at Sweetwater's Gear Exchange for a store credit to use towards buying this amp and the Runt20 Combo covers all bases for the tones I use IE: 'all genre's' with a quality I've never experienced before having had many amps from all the major brands since the 1970,s. The Overdrive/distortion of course is Nirvana = Outstanding. .

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Swiss Army Knife of Tone

While typically "do everything" amps tend not to do anything especially well, this little beast has the added virtue of actually producing inspiring, addicting tones along with its versatility. It's loud enough to play small gigs with, but still sounds great at bedroom volumes. It produces a range of drive tones, yet the one-knob clean channel is far from an afterthought -- making… read more sounds somewhere between Vox and Fender and providing tons of headroom. At first, the fact that you really need to crank the clean channel to get it to break up (the clean channel has no master volume) seems confusing given the small size of the amp, but then once you play it, it makes perfect sense. The clean channel is just that -- bags of clean headroom even at loud volumes. But what about those overdriven Fender tones? Use the gain channel and roll off the guitar volume. Also, a three position bright switch allows you to shape the clean tone to suit the guitar or your style. The gain channel is what Friedman is famous for and with good reason. While chugging metal riffing likely will need a pedal (and who really plays modern metal and owns no pedals?), everything short of Djent-y riffing is already in the box. With boost and gain switches set for maximum drive and the gain knob full on, the amp produces a rich, fat modded Marshall sound that will satisfy your soul. Back off a little and you have perfect 70s rock tone. Back off a little more and you're in SRV territory. Back off the guitar volume -- even at high gain settings -- and you have a nice, driven clean tone. Even with the gain cranked, the amp never covers up the guitar. Your instrument's character always shines through. The amp is equally sensitive to your input: how hard you pick, the guitar volume, guitar tone controls. Bass is tight and punchy. Highs are never fizzy or buzzy. I'd start the tone knobs a few hours shy of 12 o'clock and work from there. There's a lot of flexibility in tone shaping here. Even so, it's hard to produce a bad tone. And of course it takes pedals beautifully. You probably will not want to cover over the lovely gain tone with a lot of pedal distortion, however. A nice transparent overdrive is all that's needed to produce nice liquid lead tones while preserving the sound of the amp and guitar. The cab-emulated DI out with dummy load is the icing on the cake. While I did have a twinge of fear when I pulled out the speaker lead the first time, being able to record the amp silently is so useful for a home studio -- even more so when paired with a great cab emulation (including on/off axis mic switch). With the DI into an interface, the amp sounds like a mic'd up cab without the fuss. The build quality is to be expected at this price point and doesn't disappoint. The knobs are all reassuringly smooth and well weighted to allow for precise settings. The switches click solidly and feel ready for years of use. The cab seems over-engineered and beefy. It's not light for it's small size at 41 lbs., but then any lighter and you'd probably start to worry about build quality. And it looks the part also. It's not a cheap amp (although much less expensive than many boutique amps, including many other Friedmans) and while part of that is down to use of PCBs, the true guide for price really is value, not some arbitrary standard. The point is that it sounds like a boutique amp and is built like one. Given the price and features, for me, the Runt is the pick of the litter (I can't have been the first to make that pun, can I?)

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Get yourself something *real nice*, Clark

Do yourself a favor.... stop buying and flipping cheap amps (like I did) and get yourself a Friedman. The Runt is a beautiful combination of thick and sparkly cleans (equal or better to a Fender to my imperfect ears), and the classic crunch and hot gain of a Marshall, but tuned slightly sweeter (shall I say less harsh than some Marshall amps I've played). This thing is just dialed… read more in perfectly right out of the box. Yes, it lacks reverb or tremolo, but you won't miss reverb when you fire this thing up — it is a tone machine!!!. I imagine that people prefer the head/cab option, but I went the combo route to save money, not to mention portability (which I have now mentioned). The combo might sound slightly boxy but not offensively so. This is a solidly built Rock machine that somehow gives you both beautiful cleans and ripping gain. Best amp I've ever owned.

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Holy Hell!!

Have been looking for a compliment to my Fender 68 CDR, which is a great amp but a pretty specific flavor. I wanted something lower wattage that really rocks and has a great range of drive sounds. So I made the mistake of assuming that the "entry level" Friedman would lack something in comparison to its big brothers. I"m seriously freaking amazed at this little amp. The clean… read more channel is really nice, and takes pedals very well. It"s super balanced and detailed and gets really loud if necessary. Single coils sound great and it loves my EP boost. Where this amp kills you is the drive channel. I"ve not played anything that is this responsive and dynamic. Simple EQ, classic to blistering drive, and a beautiful stock speaker all work really well here. You really can get a huge variety of great tones just using your volume and tone knobs. There is legit nowhere in the drive levels that don"t sound great and it responds amazingly well to playing dynamics too. Just freakishly good. If you want a chimey clean, maybe look elsewhere. But for a small and effective rock and roll machine, I"m not sure you can do better. Try one if you can

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Another Great Friedman Amp

What a great little amp from Friedman. Do not get deceived by being a 20-Watt Amp. This "little" amp delivers tone like some of its much bigger siblings, like the BE-100. As a matter of fact, this amp is extremely loud! If you want to practice and have it a bedroom volumes though; it can be easily setup to almost whisper level volume and still sound great! Clean channel provides… read more crystal clear cleans. The dirty channel delivers a great range of distortion all the way up to Metal; with the characteristic thumping of low frequencies that Friedman amps are well known for. Metallica's level of gain ala "Master of Puppets" era easily achieved with this amp. Chugging riffs sound so massively given the very responsive and tight low end. Just based on tone, this is a great introduction to Friedman tone. On top of all of that you also have a cab-simulated XLR output.

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