Skip to content

Tempest Amp Distortion

Based On
Friedman® BE-OD
Effect Type
Amp-Like Distortion
Build Difficulty
Intermediate
Project Summary
A pedal recreation of the Friedman® BE-100 and Dirty Shirley amplifiers.
Tempest Amp Distortion printed circuit board

Printed Circuit Board

What's included?
PCB only. Build instructions and parts list can be viewed or downloaded from this page.

$12.50

In stock

Complete Kit

Not yet available.
Kits are developed based on interest, so if you’d like to see one for this project, let us know.
Request Kit
230 people are interested.

Project overview

The Tempest Amp Distortion is a combination of the Friedman® BE-OD and Dirty Shirley pedals, two very similar circuits that were designed to emulate high-gain amplifiers.

It’s not a true amp emulator of the sort that replace the tubes with JFETs, as Runoffgroove is famous for. Instead, it’s fully driven by op-amps, but very carefully designed in a way to mimic the response and character of a Friedman amplifier. And by all accounts it has succeeded, quickly becoming one of the most revered “amp in a box” pedals on the scene today.

The original Friedman BE-OD is missing a midrange control, while the Dirty Shirley has a midrange control but converts the Tight knob into a toggle switch. The Tempest project combines these together, preserving the midrange control while also leaving the Tight control as a knob instead of a switch, for a total of seven knobs.