{"id":34970,"date":"2025-07-31T13:01:06","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T13:01:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/34970\/"},"modified":"2025-07-31T13:01:06","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T13:01:06","slug":"why-daron-malakian-swears-by-his-friedman-modded-marshall-but-not-the-stock-ones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/34970\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Daron Malakian swears by his Friedman-modded Marshall but not the stock ones"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let it be known that Daron Malakian isn\u2019t the biggest fan of Marshall<\/a> amps, at least, not until they\u2019ve been through the hands of amp guru Dave Friedman.<\/p>\n

Known for crafting some of the most unmistakable tones in modern metal \u2013 from the jagged riffs of System of a Down<\/a> to the layered grittiness of Scars on Broadway \u2013 the guitarist has never been content to stick with stock.<\/p>\n

His go-to amp? A trusted Marshall, yes, but one with the custom touch of Friedman\u2019s mods.<\/p>\n

As Malakian\u2019s reveals in the latest episode of Ultimate Guitar\u2019s On the Record podcast, his tone on Scar\u2019s new album Addicted to the Violence continues that tradition: vintage guitars, carefully sculpted layers, and amps tailored to go well beyond their original designs.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the Mesmerize and Hypnotize albums, and on every Scars record, I\u2019ve used a 1962 SG<\/a> Standard that I have, and I think it\u2019s a 1968 Gibson ES-335<\/a> that I have, and I layer those to make my heavy tone,\u201d he says. \u201cSo I\u2019ve stuck with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI used the same Marshall that I had on the Mesmerized and Hypnotized records and all the Scars records, but I also used Friedman\u2019s on this, and I layered the Marshall and Friedman together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFriedman actually modded that Marshall, too, so in a way, you can say they\u2019re all Friedmans<\/a>,\u201d the guitarist adds.<\/p>\n

Asked about the mod itself, Malakian explains: \u201cYeah, it\u2019s a gain mod just to make it more chuggy and heavy. But his amps kind of have that already. I\u2019m trying to remember the model I have, I think it\u2019s a B.E. It\u2019s the black one with the brown lights. So his kind of has that Marshall tone that I like out of the modded Marshall.\u201d<\/p>\n

What makes the Friedman amps stand out, according to Malakian, is their versatility compared to the Marshalls.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are just a few more options on his amps than there are on the Marshalls. The Marshall is kind of a one-trick pony,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Watch the full interview below.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Daron Malakian recently reflected on System Of A Down\u2019s 2006 hiatus, revealing he wasn\u2019t exactly behind the idea<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen System took the hiatus, it was difficult for me at first because that\u2019s not really what I wanted,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Let it be known that Daron Malakian isn\u2019t the biggest fan of Marshall amps, at least, not until…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34971,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[31963,4624,64,63,134,136],"class_list":["post-34970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-amplifiers","tag-artist","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}