FRIENDO

The Hijacker Electrical Friendo is a studio focused 7-Stage Silicon Booster primarily for the electric guitar. 

Its minimalist overall aesthetic inspiration lies wholly with the Coen Brothers film adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy novel No Country for Old Men and in particular, the tracking unit used in the film by the assassin Anton Chigurgh. It has been built to resemble the original screen-used prop with as much accuracy as could be allowed.  

Within its exterior-in-tribute lies a dual-circuit design where your guitars signal can pass through a switchable studio-grade silicon buffering circuit and then into the primary boosting circuit. The primary boosting circuit begins with 7 different switchable input capacitors that alter the frequency response before hitting the single silicon NPN BC549 silicon transistor and the internal factory bias and output volume controls. 

The minimalist aesthetics of the Friendo bleed into a minimalist interface featuring a single 7-stage external rotary control for the frequency response of your choosing. The Friendo also features multiple internal trimming and switching controls to further expand its flexibility. These complete controls are as follows:

UNTITLED - 7-step external rotary control. Allows the user to cascade through 7 different input capacitor values for the Boosting circuit. These 7 stages allow for near complete sonic coverage for your frequency boosting purposes from FULL RANGE to HIGH FREQ with various useful stages in between. The positions and their corresponding input capacitor values are as follows from left to right on the rotary controls throw. 

STAGE 1:  4.7nF - FULL RANGE - All available frequencies pass through. 

STAGE 2:  6.8nF - BASS - Only Bass signals pass through.

STAGE 3:   10nF - LOW-MIDDLE - All frequencies except for BASS pass through. 

STAGE 4:    22nF - MIDDLE - All frequencies except for LOW-MIDDLE and BASS pass through.

STAGE 5:    47nF - RANGEMASTER V1 - Only UPPER MIDS, TREBLE, AND UPPER TREBLE frequencies pass through. This is the same value as used on the earliest production vintage Dallas Rangemasters. 

STAGE 6:    68nF - RANGEMASTER V2 - ONLY TREBLE AND UPPER TREBLE frequencies pass through. This is the same value as used on later vintage Dallas Rangemaster circuit revisions. 

STAGE 7:  150nF - HIGH FREQ. - Only the UPPER-TREBLE frequencies pass through. 

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BUFFER BYPASS - Internal 2PDT switch. This hidden switch on the top left of the circuit board allows for the studio-grade buffering circuit that precedes the Friendo boosting circuit to be bypassed completely. With the amp-top design of the Friendo, this buffer serves useful when engaged to recover loss and condition your signal as it will likely be at the end of a length of audio cable that is long enough to experience symptoms of sonic loss and detriment.


BOOSTER CIRCUIT BIAS - Internal trim potentiometer control. This small circular trim potentiometer controls the voltage bias going into the collector of the Booster circuits lone Silicon Transistor. It is factory tuned at ‘(David) Main’s’ voltage of 6.66 volts. It is tuned in conjunction with the circuits master volume internal slider control (to the immediate right on the circuit board). 

BOOSTER VOLUME - Internal slider potentiometer control. This small slider potentiometer controls the overall output volume of the Friendo. It is factory set to be at the physical halfway point of the slider’s throw, or at 5 out of 10 as far as reaching the full potential of the sliders throw. It is tuned at this point in conjunction with the Treble boosting BIAS control immediately to the physical left on the circuit board. With this BIAS control tuned at 6.66 volts at the VOLUME sliders halfway point, this allows for satisfying and harmonically rich frequency boosting with a subtle boost in output volume with a low and tolerable noise floor. 

VU METER SENSITIVITY - Internal trim potentiometer. This small grey rectangular trim potentiometer to the bottom middle-left of the circuit board controls the sensitivity of the VU meter circuit. This VU meter serves only a cosmetic function in measuring the input attack velocity of notes played into the Friendo. 

Other features include...

-Hand cut and populated vintage perforated-board style construction. No Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) are at all utilized in the Friendo. 

-BC549 Silicon Transistor in the Buffer and Boosting Circuits

-WIMA MKP & FKP Polyester Film Capacitors in the Buffer and Boosting circuits. 

-Rubycon & Nichicon radial Electrolytic Capacitors in the Buffer and Boosting circuits. 

-Ohmite 5% 1/4w Carbon Film Resistors

-Genuine ALPHA SR2611F 1-Pole 12 Position Rotary Switch 

-15.5mm Eagle Plastic Devices 'Omnibot' plastic control knob

-Stage-friendly 5mm Green diffused indicator LED

-Attack Velocity VU Meter*

-Telescoping Antenna**

-External Cliff brand 2.1mm external nut power jack (powered via a 9V center negative barrel tipped supply (not included). 

-Genuine Switchcraft 1/4" enclosed stereo (112bx) and mono audio jacks (111x)

-Nikkai NKK 3PDT Toggle Switch w/ matching Nikkai NKK white arrow switch tip. 

-Genuine Hammond 1590S die-cast aluminum enclosure.

-Drilling, powder coating and rear plate silkscreening by OBSCURA MFG. 

-True Bypass wiring for all circuits. When the Friendo is OFF with its internal buffering circuit disengaged, it's as if it doesn't exist within your signal path resulting in zero noise or interference. 

-Coaxial Shielded wire utilized on all necessary long-length Input and Output signal lines. 

-Limited lifetime warranty for as long as it takes for your Friendo to outlive you.

-Packaged in an attractive nondescript black handled suitcase box resembling the cash suitcase used in the film with in depth instructional & warranty itinerary. 

-Each and every Hijacker Electrical Friendo is handmade, wired and tested in the United States of America.

-Limited to /25 A-Stock units only worldwide. Ever. 

-First batch ships immediately November 7th 2025

$277.99 with free shipping and handling directing through hijackerelectrical.com

*Utilizes surplus VU meters that match the exact diameter specifications to the ones used for the prop in the film. Due to this, some meters used on the FRIENDO may experience very nominal surface use or wear but nothing constituting B-stock status. 

** Telescoping antenna does not serve any utility function and is strictly for aesthetic purpose. 

***Power via 9V battery requires external battery snap adapter.