The Friedman Plex is a Friedman amplifier. Close alternatives include the Strymon Iridium and the Friedman IR-D. It pairs well with the Browne Amplification Gritador and the Analog Man King of Tone.
Friedman Plex
Friedman · amplifier
The Friedman Plex is a hand-wired all-tube guitar amplifier from Friedman Amplification, Los Angeles, designed as a faithful recreation of the legendary 1960s Marshall Super Lead Plexi amplifier circuit. The Plex delivers the classic British Plexi tone — warm, open clean, naturally compressing crunch as pushed, and singing high-gain at full volume — in a Friedman boutique hand-wired chassis. Suited to players who want authentic vintage Plexi character with modern reliability and Friedman build quality.
What stands out
“Players who want authentic vintage 1960s British amp tone — warm, musical crunch and singing sustain at high volumes — in a reliably built modern chassis find the Friedman Plex a premium choice”
— from the community notes
“Best paired with period-appropriate cabinets and vintage-style speakers to fully reveal the Plexi character”
— from the reviews
“The Plex character rewards cranked playing and pairs well with vintage-style speakers”
— from the community notes
“and singing high-gain at full volume”
— from the listing
“designed as a faithful recreation of the legendary 1960s marshall super lead plexi amplifier circuit”
— from the listing
- singing
- british
- crunch
- plexi character
- full
- lead
- open
- vintage
Good for
- Live
- Studio
Genres the Friedman Plex is commonly used in
- Rock
- Blues Rock
cited
Inferred from shared tonal signals, not a stated genre tag.
Pedals that stack with the Friedman Plex
Browne Amplification Gritador
Browne Amplification
32% matchpushes an already-dirty tonePushes an already-dirty tone harder and tightens it up. (crunchy → mid-forward)
Stack the Plex's singing, plexi-voiced British crunch with the Gritador's own asymmetrical TS-style clipping for two distinct shades of dirt.
Goes in front of the amp
Analog Man King of Tone
Analog Man
30% matchpushes an already-dirty tonePushes an already-dirty tone harder and tightens it up. (crunchy → clean boost)
The Plex's singing, plexi-voiced British crunch gives the King of Tone's transparent boost a saturated amp voice to push into.
Goes in front of the amp
Catalinbread RAH
Catalinbread
30% matchpushes an already-dirty tonePushes an already-dirty tone harder and tightens it up. (crunchy → mid-forward)
Catalinbread RAH pushes a crunchy tone toward mid-forward
Goes in front of the amp
Origin Effects MAGMA57 Amp Vibrato & Drive
Origin Effects
17% matchsits in the right chain slotPlaced for where it does its job cleanly in the chain, not for a tonal interaction with the anchor. (high gain → modulated)
Into Friedman Plex, Origin Effects MAGMA57 Amp Vibrato & Drive is right at home: it's built around Marshall-style amps
Goes in front of the amp
MXR Dyna Comp
MXR
17% matchshapes the dynamic responseShapes how the tone responds to picking dynamics rather than its frequency or gain.
MXR Dyna Comp leans toward bright, and that's a real, usable character to pair with
Goes in front of the amp
Catalinbread Dirty Little Secret Deluxe
Catalinbread
14% matchInto Friedman Plex, Catalinbread Dirty Little Secret Deluxe is right at home: it's built around Marshall-style amps — goes in the amp's FX loop (or last, into a clean amp)
Sits in the amp's effects loop
Electro-Harmonix XO Deluxe Memory Man
Electro-Harmonix
11% matchsits in the right chain slotPlaced for where it does its job cleanly in the chain, not for a tonal interaction with the anchor. (high gain → modulated)
Keep Friedman Plex's sustaining voice out front: Electro-Harmonix XO Deluxe Memory Man goes in Friedman Plex's effects loop so its analog warmth voice doesn't muddy it — goes in the amp's FX loop (or last, into a clean amp)
Sits in the amp's effects loop
Browne Amplification Ethane
Browne Amplification
tonal matchGoes in front of the amp
Friedman Plex leans into Marshall-style amps, precisely the platform Browne Amplification Ethane wants
Alternatives
Strymon Iridium
Strymon
72% similarityStrymon Iridium recreates this amp's tone in pedal form
Friedman IR-D
Friedman
72% similarityFriedman IR-D recreates this amp's tone in pedal form
Soldano SLO
Soldano
72% similaritySoldano SLO recreates this amp's tone in pedal form
Friedman IR-J Jake E. Lee Preamp
Friedman
72% similarityFriedman IR-J Jake E. Lee Preamp recreates this amp's tone in pedal form
Marshall JMP 1959 Super Lead 100-Watt
Marshall
64% similarityShared character: volume, crunch, full
Rivera Bonehead
Rivera
54% similarityShared character: volume, crunch, high gain settings
Bogner Helios JB45
Bogner
54% similarityShared character: volume, singing, crunch
ENGL Special Edition E670
Engl
52% similarityShared character: volume, crunch, high gain settings
Hiwatt Custom 20/40 'Studio/Stage' Head
Hiwatt
47% similaritySimilar voicing: sustaining, crunchy
Suhr SL-15
Suhr
46% similarityShared character: crunch, vintage charm, clean
Blackstar HT Club 50 MKIII 2-Ch 50-Watt Tube
Blackstar
45% similarityShared character: crunch, high gain settings, clean
Suhr PF100 Peter Frampton
Suhr
44% similarityShared character: singing, clean, lead
See all alternatives to the Friedman Plex (cheaper + boutique) →
Questions people ask
What are good alternatives to the Friedman Plex?+
The closest matches in character are the Strymon Iridium, the Friedman IR-D, the Soldano SLO.
What pairs well with the Friedman Plex?+
Strong matches from rig and tone-complementarity evidence: Browne Amplification Gritador, Analog Man King of Tone, Catalinbread RAH — Stack the Plex's singing, plexi-voiced British crunch with the Gritador's own asymmetrical TS-style clipping for two distinct shades of dirt..