tonymckenziecom | 4 years ago

This is just about the worst brand new guitar tube amp I ever bought! Don't assume that the brand name or resellers ensure quality as this amp shows they don't. This video is from personal buying experience.

NOTE I DECIDED TO STOP THE POSTS ON THIS VIDEO BECAUSE I DO NOT HAVE THE TIME TO SIT HERE REPLYING TO EVERY ONE - AND SOME ARE NASTY, AGGRESSIVE, THREATENING AND MORE. DO THANK THEM FOR THE POSTS BEING STOPPED. However, they have been started again recently - for now.

So, I decided to take a look at the Friedman Jerry Cantrell JJ Jnr amplifier that was selling for about £1450.00 (about $1900). I wanted to see what the 'fuss' was all about and to show my viewers on my YouTube channel how 'great' this amp was... clearly I believed all the talk and hype from the maker, the dealer and even others online at that time - as indeed you might!

So I bought a JJ Junior from a purportedly reputable authorized reseller in the UK (Peach Guitars) and the amp duly arrived. I plugged it in and while the tones were reasonable, the switch to get that Jerry Cantrell tone seemed like it did little or nothing to the tone. It was one of the primary reasons for buying the amp... right? In any case I decided to review the amp.

This video is the result. It is a completely true video showing what I received from the reseller and how the guitar amplifier was supplied from Freedman eventually to me. As I worked through the video I thought that this was a reasonable amp (but the switch was ineffective) until I took a closer look at what they had supplied - particularly inside the jj jr unit.

Internally it was very clear that the amp (although brand new) had clearly been worked on and botched or messed with somehow. I have never seen ANY new amp supplied like this. Ever!

I had also previously asked Peach guitars about the switch that was pretty useless as it hardly changed the tone of the Friedman jj amp - and I described the results I was getting to them - their response was that 'it is working correctly'. That was disconcerting right from the off even before I decided to review this amp internally.

Ultimately this amp was returned to the reseller and I was shocked how it could firstly either leave Friedman in this condition, or worse, that somehow the reseller had been involved inside the amp for repairs on a brand new amp? I don't know which, but for me it was clearly a situation that I disliked intensely.

This video shows the amp before I plugged it in on camera, but had played it and checked with Peach Guitars about the hardly working switch. I even gave the amp a 'score' but of course that was negated to zero later. Of course, when I saw the botch inside I stopped the review and returned the product forthwith. Bearing in mind the amp was 'signed' by Mr. Friedman I think that says a lot. Maybe he's blind.

This amplifier, the maker and/or the reseller are the epitome of why I open equipment for review and always show inside and outside of the product - for exactly these sort of reasons.

Learn from my experience and be careful what you buy, without paying attention to brand names and/or reseller reputation too much because there is absolutely no doubt in this case that this amplifier had little or no quality checks OR that the amp was intentionally sent out looking like a pigs ear.

This amplifier was bought by me and paid for personally. The video shows what I was confronted with and all I can advise is that if you ever get a similar situation then send the thing back for a full refund. I have wondered exactly where that amp is today? I have bought from Peach Guitars on a number of occasions and I have only had a single issue on one amp that was clearance and they did fix that one (it was a failure of component and promptly fixed) - it's why I went back to Peach Guitars to buy this amp. But would I want some sort of 'fix' for this amp? and brand new? no thanks - it's not what I bought.

I considered showing this video for some time, but in the end it all boiled down to showing potential customers about quality and service and hopefully this video will help guys to look a little closer when they buy any type of equipment whether for guitar playing or anything else and to assume nothing.

The video is slightly jumpy early on in the recording, but still watchable and that stops after just a short way in to the review.

Don't bother to try and convince me that somehow either the reseller or maker were 'not to blame' as one or the other or both were clearly selling a botched brand new amp. Best of luck with that. Be aggressive or rude and I'll simply delete your comments.

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