Brown Eye and
Naked Amplifiers
RACK SYSTEMS
PRODUCT REVIEW
BY JORDAN WAGNER
For many guitarists, the name Dave Friedman
doesn’t have the cachet of, say, Eddie Van
Halen or Jerry Cantrell. Yet without Friedman’s
helping hand, Van Halen and Cantrell—as well
as a host of other guitar heroes—wouldn’t
sound as good as they do onstage or in the
studio. Through his company, Rack Systems,
Friedman has been building, modding, and
repairing gear for some of the world’s biggest
stars for the past 25 years. Rack Systems specializes in high-grade, roadworthy switching
systems and large rackmount rigs. Friedman’s
innovative designs have made him legendary
in the world of professional touring musicians,
and the meticulous construction of his Rack
Systems gear has earned him a loyal clientele.
One of Friedman’s services is modifying amps,
and his extensive experience in this area has not
only helped him create great rigs for top players, it has also led him to develop a brand-new
series of production amplifiers that are available
exclusively through Tone Merchants. This is a
first for Friedman, who is normally accustomed
to working with major acts on a one-on-one
basis. In the past, having Friedman build or mod
an amp for you required a level of notoriety, but
now his sonic wizardry is available to everyday
players in the form of two models.
The first, the Brown Eye, is a 100-watt high-gain monster. The second, the Naked, is
actually a reissue of a highly sought-after
amp Friedman built 10 years ago for one of
rock’s premier guitarists. Recently, I got the
opportunity to dig into both of these heads,
and I can report that each is a stunning example of electric guitar amplification.
Brown Eye
At first glance, the Brown Eye head could easily
be mistaken for a modded, late-’60s plexi (and
its nameplate reads “Friedman”). Visually and
sonically, the Brown Eye is firmly rooted in the
tried-and-true Marshall Super Lead of yesteryear, with a very aggressive voicing, plexiglass
panels, and a large head box. But Friedman
takes these influential traits a step further with
a handful of available options you can add to
the standard production circuit. Our review unit
arrived with all options installed. Boasting a
ferocious growl, this handmade amp is the ultimate expression of what Friedman likes to hear.
The Brown Eye’s front panel will be familiar
to anyone who has played a Super Lead.
The controls consist of a 3-band EQ (Treble,
Middle, Bass), dual volume knobs (Volume I
and Volume II), and a single Presence control.
Like the venerable Marshall Super Lead, the
amp sports four inputs. However, our review
unit swaps two of these input jacks for a pair
of knobs labeled Clean and Gain. Friedman
calls this option the Simple Clean Channel
mod, and it gives the Brown Eye two inde-
pendent channels. Using these knobs, you
can set clean and overdrive levels and then
toggle between them with a footswitch.
Volume I and Volume II function as indepen-
dent master volumes in this scenario, which
is really cool because it allows you to set
two separate volume settings if you want to
kick in a boost for a solo or bring the volume
down with a simple foot stomp.
Each of the Brown Eye’s two inputs has its own
voicing—but they’re not simply high- and low-gain versions of the same circuit, as you’d find
on stock ’60s Marshalls. Friedman calls these
inputs “Brown Eye” and, ahem, “Hairy Brown
Eye.” Both are hotter than a vintage-style circuit, with Hairy offering the hottest signal.
Brown Sounds
Using a dual-button footswitch, I was able
to easily move between a raging high-gain
tone, a smooth-and-loud clean sound, and
a volume-boosted iteration of the high gain
channel. The Brown Eye’s clean tone blew my
mind. If you’ve ever played through a healthy,
late-’60s Marshall, you’ll know what I’m talking about, because there really is nothing
else quite like that clean tone. Few of us are
lucky enough to own a vintage Super Lead,
so it’s exciting to know that these huge, biting sounds are available in a new amp. Being
able to switch between high-gain and huge
clean timbres is a real treat.
PREMIER GUITAR SEPTEMBER 2010 149
Compared to its companion, the Hairy input
has a slight gain boost, yet when I plugged
a 1978 Gibson Les Paul Custom into this
input, I noticed more of a difference in feel
than tone. The added saturation made it a
little more difficult to coax dynamics out of
