Fryette Ultra Lead II

Good at building amps. Bad at doing business. That's my guess.

Yup. There’s no denying they make some really cool shit. The Power Stations in particular are extremely cool. But I’ll never buy a damn thing from them.

Dave Friedman is a bit of a pompous ass at times in his public persona, but he DOES answer support issues.
 
Steve himself will tell you that he's an asshole. As best I can assess from my vantage, Steve and crew are really nice to those they like and they will ignore you / treat you badly if you happen to get on their bad list. Getting on the bad list is easy to do and might simply involve sending an email on the wrong day.

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Thought this was a Neural thread for a second :pickle
 
Veery interesting

Oprah Winfrey Judging You GIF
 
Steve himself will tell you that he's an asshole. As best I can assess from my vantage, Steve and crew are really nice to those they like and they will ignore you / treat you badly if you happen to get on their bad list. Getting on the bad list is easy to do and might simply involve sending an email on the wrong day.

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I could accept that kind of ego if their amps didn't fucking die all the time. :rofl
 
In case someone thinks I'm a Fryette hater based on the comments in this thread; the truth is quite the opposite. Here are the Fryette / VHT products that I currently own:

Sig:X
Power Load
Power Station
GP/DI
GP3
2/90/2
Valvulator 1
Fatbottom 4x12 straight
Fatbottom 4x12 angled
Fatbottom 2x12
 
I'd say fitting a multi-channel 120 watt all tube amp into a 2U box is...not a trivial task. I'm guessing this is back to the olden days where the thing is as deep as it is wide, and likely dense as a MFer.
It's going to be pretty crowded. So as much as I like the 2u aspect on a "form factor level" (barf); I can see the concern. Especially from a company that doesn't answer support emails but puts cocky crap on the circuit board
 
I'd say fitting a multi-channel 120 watt all tube amp into a 2U box is...not a trivial task. I'm guessing this is back to the olden days where the thing is as deep as it is wide, and likely dense as a MFer.

Deep and dense are still 2u. The power amp in a 2u format is old hat. Adding a bunch of preamp tubes could be done by making it an inch deeper...or less. I think you guys are making a huge mountain out of a molehill that was crossed decades ago. I don't get it, but what we think doesn't matter considering they seem to have already overcome the challenges.
 
Deep and dense are still 2u. The power amp in a 2u format is old hat. Adding a bunch of preamp tubes could be done by making it an inch deeper...or less. I think you guys are making a huge mountain out of a molehill that was crossed decades ago. I don't get it, but what we think doesn't matter considering they seem to have already overcome the challenges.
Being a common dude is old hat. So is being a millionaire. Why don't you commoners just be millionaires.

Of course it's possible and totally doable. But anyone that's ever poked around in a Synergy-type system; Boogie Studio Pre, looked at the above gut shots of other Fryette power amps, and not thought "huh, 3U definitely would have made their lives a loooooooot easier" is as overconfident as Mr. Fryette himself.
 
:rolleyes:Ahh, so it's an emotional distaste for Steve not an actual technical concern. In that case never mind, it simply can't be done and they will all break within a week.
 
:rolleyes:Ahh, so it's an emotional distaste for Steve not an actual technical concern. In that case never mind, it simply can't be done and they will all break within a week.
It's not a concern; it's actually giving props to the technical skill required to pull that off. I mean, not many folks are gonna look at this and think "yup, let's do it in a 2U chassis":

1768934491904.png
 
Yeah, no one would put switchable rectification and 3 rectifier tubes in a small rack unit, but there is a big difference between a triple rectifier and the Fryette power amp. I don't see it as any big engineering challenge, and I am sure Steve did not either.
 
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