Marty Friedman with his Jackson signature model, the double-EMF-humbucker MF-1.
Over a career that spans almost four decades, Marty Friedman made his mark as a guitar hero with his playing on Megadeth's iconic albums, including the classics Rust in Peace and Countdown to Extinction, and as the co-founder of Cacophony—a shred-metal duo with Jason Becker (whose career was tragically cut short after he was diagnosed with ALS). But there's a whole 'nother side of Friedman that many might not be aware of. In the Land of the Rising Sun, where he's lived since 2003, Friedman is a huge television personality who has appeared on over 700 TV shows. In fact, Friedman has even been dubbed "the Ryan Seacrest of Japan."
Essentially, Friedman is having his cake and eating it, too. He's still a guitarist par excellence, and his latest release, Tokyo Jukebox 3, features exciting instrumental arrangements of popular hits from Japanese idol culture. To put this rather strange marriage of influences in context for a Western perspective, it would be akin to someone like Steve Vai covering Backstreet Boys hits. "Nothing wrong with being strange [laughs]," says Friedman. "But yeah, that's a very good American analogy. I'd love to hear Steve Vai cover a Backstreet Boys song. Those Backstreet Boys songs are absolutely wonderfully crafted pieces of music, and Steve Vai is an absolutely wonderful guitarist, so to hear him play those kinds of great pieces of pop music, his interpretation, would be of very high interest to me. If you notice, the music that I chose is very well crafted in the first place, and then I totally destroy it and build it back up from the beginning, keeping the essence of what I like about it very much intact."
Tokyo Jukebox 3 is the third in Friedman's Tokyo Jukebox series, which showcases his affinity for J-Pop. "In Japanese pop music, there's absolutely no genre laws at all," he explains. "You might have a totally sappy ballad right next to a totally dark, gruesome heavy metal song, and then a real cheerful disco-type song, all within the same artist. I like that freedom and the lack of stigma to a particular genre. In American music, it's either heavy metal, pop, dance music, R&B, or hip-hop. The genres might collaborate but they don't really collaborate in the mainstream very much. The other thing I like about Japanese music, as compared to American music, is the melody is top priority—it takes an even higher priority than the abilities of the singer! In America, many times in mainstream music, a vocalist is a super-vocalist, and you wouldn't even want to attempt to try to sing like that because you'd just be making a fool of yourself. You don't have people dancing around the house trying to sing like Adele, because she's too amazing of a singer. But in Japanese music, it's the magic of the voice, not the technique of the voice, so anybody can sing the song. It's kind of doable."
The recording of Tokyo Jukebox 3 began in January 2020, and Friedman had hoped to release it by May. Then the pandemic hit. This setback turned out to be a blessing in disguise. "I was like, 'Oh yes, I can always find something to polish up, something to throw out and replace with something better,'" recalls Friedman. "When I'm actually playing and recording, it's hard to really listen objectively, but after you've done a few mixes of something, you listen to it while you're jogging and you hear things that are just not there when you have your instrument in your hands. Just because you played something that is difficult or maybe feels like a big achievement doesn't mean listening to it is any good at all. The proof is in the listening—when you listen back to it, do you get chills or not?"
"The other thing I like about Japanese music, as compared to American music, is the melody is top priority."
Friedman was appointed a Japan Heritage Ambassador by the country's government in 2017 and has played the opening ceremony of the annual Tokyo Marathon since. In an unofficial capacity as ambassador, his albums like Tokyo Jukebox 3 serve to bridge a cultural gap. "I think it might be a way to introduce [my fans] to certain Japanese artists and songs that I like," he says. "By the time I'm done with my arrangements of the songs, they just sound like my music anyway. It's kind of all through my filter, so even if you don't know the origin of the song, you could listen to it on face value as just another one of my songs. If they hear it and if they like it, they might be interested in the origin of it."
Of course, as an ambassador of heritage, Friedman does have more responsibilities than just being a figurehead. He was commissioned by the Japanese government to compose the "Japan Heritage Official Theme Song," which he performed with the Tokyo Philharmonic. This composition—which features a cello solo that Friedman wrote for his wife, Hiyori Okuda—appears on Tokyo Jukebox 3 and was quite an undertaking. "I had to write for a 70- to 80-piece orchestra, and I wanted to come up with something that was kind of everyday Japanese. A lot of times when foreigners try to compose a piece of music that sounds Japanese, they come up with something that sounds like what's in the background of a sushi restaurant or martial arts movies," says Friedman. "I just prayed that the people who asked me to compose it weren't going to turn it down and say, 'Okay, we need a Japanese person to do this. You have no idea what you're doing. Let's scrap it.'"
TIDBIT: Friedman says the photo shoot for his latest album's cover was "a huge undertaking. It was done with so much energy, love, and expertise. There were just so many experts on the scene—the kimono expert, the kabuki makeup expert, regular makeup expert, hair expert, photography expert, graphic designer expert, all in the same room doing this thing."
But composing the piece was only the beginning. After it was completed, Friedman had an even more daunting task: He had to play the song in front of Japanese-government officials. "That was nerve-racking, man," admits Friedman. "It's nothing like playing for record company people. With record company people all you do is turn the volume up in the studio and anything sounds great. But this is different—the government people were there with their suits! Luckily, everybody liked it."
When we spoke, I mentioned the composition's pungent but beautiful and ear-catching bends. "Pungent is a great word," says Friedman. "I'm going to use that from now on. I find that, not only with bending but with any note that you have, especially since I play so many melodies, you have to come up with interesting ways to interpret them. If you're always interpreting them with the same kind of phrasing all the time, all melodies would get redundant. I like to have hundreds of options to approach things and it seems like when I do bends, people respond to them. They notice them more than a lot of the other things that I might put more attention to. That might be a thing that sticks out and is quite pungent [laughs]. It stinks. It really has an aroma, good or bad. I tend to do that and that's one of the things that people pick up on."
Marty Friedman's Gear
Friedman played a variety of Jackson guitars during his tenure with Megadeth, including the Randy Rhoads model in this 1992 photo.
Photo by Frank Forcino/Frank White Agency
Guitars
- Jackson MF-1 with two EMG MF (Marty Friedman Signature) humbuckers
Amps
- ENGL Marty Friedman Inferno E766 (100-watts)
- ENGL 4x12 cabinets
Strings and Picks
- D'Addario NYXL (.010–.046)
- Dunlop 1 mm
Effects
- Boss ES-8 Effects Switching System
- Boss CH-1 Super Chorus
- Boss DD-500 Digital Delay
- Maxon AF-9 Auto Filter
- Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer
- MXR M135 Smart Gate
- MXR Phase 90
- MXR M87 Bass Compressor
"The Perfect World," the sole vocal track on Tokyo Jukebox 3, is a "self cover" and was actually originally released in 2018 as the theme song for the Netflix anime series B: The Beginning. The song went straight to the top of the charts, and then took an unexpected detour. "It was one of those music business things that happens, and when it happened it was a drag," says Friedman. "Between myself, Netflix, and the creators of that anime, the song took a year in production to get to where it was just right. Then all the stars aligned, and it was perfect—it hit No. 1 on the iTunes chart the day it came out, and everybody was just fantastically happy. The very next day, there was a shakedown at the record label and the team working on my record was all gone. There was a whole new staff and whole new plans for everything, and all promotion for the record was completely shelved. So, I really felt like there was unfinished business with that song. It was almost like a revenge version."
The latest version of Friedman's signature model Jackson has the same MF-1 appointments but comes with a prismatic purple mirror finish.
Photo by Susumu Miyawaki
The cover image for Tokyo Jukebox 3 features Friedman in kabuki makeup, decked out in a traditional Japanese Kimono. "It came out like one of these wonderful album covers from the '70s," says Friedman. "I'm just really proud of that cover." Now, in advance of any pitchfork-wielding wokesters ready for their next "cultural appropriation" hit piece, Friedman is quick to point out that the album cover was the brainchild of a Japanese crew, and has been very well received in Japan. "They love it—it was their idea," he recalls. "It was the product of many meetings with the best graphic designers in Japan. It was a huge project, a huge undertaking. It was done with so much energy, love, and expertise. There were just so many experts on the scene—the kimono expert, the kabuki makeup expert, regular makeup expert, hair expert, photography expert, graphic designer expert, all in the same room doing this thing."
Marty Friedman on Black Sabbath's "Into the Void" - Hooked
The former Megadeth lead guitarist and shredmeister remembers being dumbstruck by Master of Reality's imposing sound.
As both a guitar god of the highest order and a mega-celeb TV star in Japan, Friedman still refuses to simply rest on his laurels. "I always say the best thing is the thing I haven't done yet," he confesses. "I'm trying to raise the bar on my own work, so it's like a personal best kind of thing. I'm really proud of the most recent video I did for 'Makenaide.'" That particular video features a super tearjerker ending with Jason Becker, in the center of a massive Zoom collage of over 120 people from Friedman's Facebook fan group, holding a sign that reads "Never Give Up On Yourself."
Bach, Sarasate and "Japan Heritage Official Theme Song" - Marty Friedman / Gen Ohta / OEK
Marty Friedman is one of the few electric guitarists that has the experience and technical ability to successfully perform with a full orchestra—a task fraught with an endless array of potential landmines. Here, he performs the music of Bach and Pablo Sarasate in addition to his own composition, "Japan Heritage Official Theme Song," on which he imbues the uplifting melody with some pungent yet beautiful bends. He's accompanied by the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa in this April 2021 performance.
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Diamond Pedals Dark Cloud
True to the Diamond design ethos of our dBBD’s hybrid analog architecture, Dark Cloud unlocks a new frontier in delay technology which was once deemed unobtainable by standard BBD circuit.
Powered by an embedded system, the Dark Cloud seamlessly blends input and output signals, crafting Tape, Harmonic, and Reverse delays with the organic warmth of analog companding and the meticulous precision of digital control.
Where analog warmth meets digital precision, the Dark Cloud redefines delay effects to create a pedal like no other
As long as humans have been creating art, they have also been inventing new tools for expressing that art. From the paintbrush to the synthesizer, new technologies have driven paradigm shifts, providing artists with fresh creative avenues. Technology drives the art, as they say.
That’s certainly been the case with Line 6’s DL4 Delay Modeler. Originally conceived as a humble digital delay, the Big Green Monster has created a niche of its own, serving as ground zero for entire new genres of indie and experimental music. Since its release 25 years ago, the DL4 has enhanced the creative palettes of artists ranging from Joe Perry, Mike Campbell, Dave Grohl, and Joe Satriani to Bill Frisell, Thom Yorke, and Ed O’Brien.
Nearly a quarter century later, Line 6 has introduced the DL4 MkII. The updated version features a smaller footprint, as well as increased delay time, sampling and recording via built-in micro-SD card reader, MIDI functionality, and a host of new effects algorithms from Line 6’s legendary HX family of amp and effects processors.
Inauspicious Beginnings
In the late 1990s, fresh from making a disruptive splash with their eye-catching POD amp modeler, the fledgling startup Line 6 set their sights on creating a series of pedals that would further extend their reach into digital emulations of effects. Plans called for the DM4 distortion modeler, the MM4 modulation modeler, the FM4 filter modeler, and the DL4 delay modeler.
The DL4 would include models of classic delays like the Echoplex and Roland Space Echo, as well as Line 6’s own innovative delay algorithms. But it was the DL4’s other features that would pique the interest of adventurous musicians, including a first-of-its-kind tap-tempo function and, of course, its now-legendary looper.
Jeorge Tripps was running his own boutique pedal company, Way Huge, when he was invited to consult with Line 6 on modeling vintage pedals. A few months into the project he was offered a position with the company. “Line 6 was like college for me,” Tripps recounts. “I had worked on things on my own, but developing a product with a team was really an education. Ideas are easy, but bringing a product to fruition as a team was a whole different experience.”
The team comprised the cream of the Line 6 brain trust, including co-founders Michel Doidic and Marcus Ryle, as well as product developers Greg Westall, Jeff Slingluff, and Patrick O’Connor, engineers Nigel Redmon and Kevin Duca, industrial designer Lucien Tu, and numerous other contributors. As Tripps observes, the input of those different perspectives was critical to the project.
“Most of us were also players, and that made a difference. You can create a product that’s great from an engineer’s perspective, but when you put it the hands of an artist, they might see something completely different in it.”
Keep It Simple
Simplicity was part of the design goal of the DL4. “The idea was to create a digital pedal with analog functionality,” explains Tripps, adding that he had limited input into the design. “Much of it was already planned out by the time I joined the project. The industrial design was there. I had to figure out how to map functions to the existing hardware.”
The interface was straightforward: a 16-position mode selector knob, five knobs to adjust parameters, and four analog-style footswitches: Record/Overdub, Play/Stop, Play Once, and 1/2 Speed/Reverse. It was Tripps who suggested the fourth button be used for tap-tempo function.
The DL4 also incorporated stereo outputs, which was something of a last-minute addition. “When the DL4 first came out, very few guitarists were playing stereo rigs,” Tripps reports. “We put it in there just because it was cheap and easy to implement. Only after it was out for a while did people start discovering it.”
Tripps also played a key role in promoting the looper, which was in some ways almost an afterthought. Of course, looping itself was nothing new. The Echoplex and other tape-based delays had been around for decades. But analog delays were expensive and unwieldy for live work, and the early digital pedals didn’t have a lot of memory—certainly not enough for looping.
In fact, it was digital’s limitations that contributed to another of the DL4’s characteristic sonic features. “Technically, we couldn’t get quite 15 seconds of loop time; it was like 14 and change,” Tripps recalls. “So we decided to take that remaining few hundred milliseconds of delay time and run that through the looper.”
A Slow Build
Despite Line 6’s aggressive advertising, the DL4 and its siblings were not an immediate hit. “People didn’t really know what it was at first,” says Tripps. “It didn’t really explode until a handful of people started doing stuff with it.” Slowly and steadily, artists as varied as Dimebag Darryl, Ed O’Brien, The Edge, and Thom Yorke started squeezing whole new sonic landscapes from the diminutive box.
Minus the Bear’s David Knudson made the DL4 an integral part of the band’s sound. “At first I was mesmerized by the rad stereo sounds. Playing in a hardcore/metal band at the time, in the beginning I was using one half-stack amp. At some point down the line, I realized that as the only guitar player I should get another half-stack for the other side of the stage. Once I plugged in the DL4 to each half-stack and found the Ping Pong delay, my mind was instantly blown. The melodic guitar parts had never sounded so huge and epic. It was the beginning of an epic journey to discover what all the delays were about.”
For Joff Oddie of indie rockers Wolf Alice, the experience was equally liberating. “I actually don’t think I’d even used a delay pedal before and it blew my mind. There were sounds that I expected, and then other settings like the Sweep delay and reverse sounds, which to me sounded so otherworldly yet at the same time organic. I never gave my manager the pedal back. I hope he doesn’t read this.”
As Knudson notes, it was many years later and a happy accident in the studio that led to his discovering the DL4’s looping function. “We were recording some demos after our first LP came out and I think out of boredom I played a little tapping lead into the looper. That song would become “Fine +2 Points,” which features a re-triggered loop section in the bridge that really opened the door for me. After that little successful experiment, for our next record, Menos El Oso, I was in full-on loop and sampler mode. I realized that with multiple DL4s I could emulate some of my favorite cut-up and glitchy sounds coming out of artists like Four Tet, DJ Shadow, Caribou, and other early EDM pioneers. The one-shot function allowed me to re-trigger samples and create riffs that sounded like they should have originated on an MPC. Eight of the 11 songs on that record have sampled riffs and re-defined what guitar playing meant for me.”
Of course, looping was only part of the DL4’s broader appeal, which also offered sounds and tactile control previously unavailable on most effects pedals. “I loved how cranking the feedback knob made it go crazy,” opines Oddie, “how the time knob sounded when you wiggled it and the delays pitch shifted. Part of its charm is how incredibly tactile it is.”
“I’ve yet to find another sampler pedal that works as well as the DL4,” adds Knudson. “It’s super easy to use and so straightforward that it’s perfect for the live setting. I don’t want a bank of digital menus to scroll through, and the fact that it can get everything I need done with four buttons is perfect. If it were any more complicated I don’t think it would have been nearly as successful as it has become.”
Like most legends, the DL4 has spawned a host of imitators. Looping and sampling have become powerful tools for guitarists and other musicians, and while the DL4 may not have been the first, it’s largely seen as the big daddy of the art form.
“The DL4 didn’t really break any new ground, yet it was a major leap,” observes Tripps. “It didn’t improve on existing delays as much as it created a whole new instrument. It put a lot of power on the floor for guitarists, along with a really intuitive interface. Almost by accident, it made looping accessible for live performance.”
It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly 25 years since the DL4 made its debut. Technology has obviously come a long way since then, and Line 6 has recently unveiled a new commemorative 25th Anniversary edition of the iconic pedal. The Mk II version adds to the legend without taking away the features that made it what it is. “The MkII just improves upon an already great pedal,” Knudson observes. “Honestly, one of the best things is just the smaller footprint on the pedalboard. As we know, boards are increasingly becoming competitive as to how much stuff you can squeeze on there! But I love the additional delays and reverbs. The classics are obviously my go-to choices, but I love how it has evolved and elevated with current trends with guitarists but still stayed true to form in what made it so wonderful in the first place.”
The quiet impact of the DL4 is something no one would have foreseen. Much like a band making a record, all the best laid plans won’t predict the public’s response. Will it thud like a tree in an empty forest, or be gone tomorrow like a flash in the pan? Like a hit single, only time will tell if it has the staying power to become a legend. As Tripps concludes, “It was the right combination of great minds, great ideas, and great execution, at the right time.”
Celebrating 10 years of Revv & 5 years since the release of the G2, Revv is debuting V2 circuit revisions of the G2, G3, & G4, implementing new designs for more tone in 3 little pedals, in a limited edition colorway.
The Revv Amplification 5th Anniversary G-Series V2 Lineup features:
- 3 Fresh Flavors of Boutique Canadian Tone - G-Series pedals are sonic recreations of 3 of Revv’s boutique amp channels used by Nashville session stars & metal touring artists alike.
- The Standard, Redefined - V2 circuit revisions are based on the Generator 120 MK3 Rev. B & incorporate new design elements for the most tube-like response & tone ever.
- Limited Edition - Exclusive new colorway featuring a black enclosure w/ custom graphics, embossed Revv badge, & color-coded knobs.
- Find Your Sound - The G2 is a powerful & versatile overdrive capable of everything from touch-sensitive boost to organic vintage stack tones, taken from Revv’s Green Channel.
- High Gain Clarity - The G3 utilizes Revv’s legendary Purple Channel, a tight & responsive high gain tone perfect for drop tuning & cutting through any mix.
- Fat Solo Tones - The G4 is based on Revv’s thick & saturated Red Channel, the ideal sound for chewy crunch, modern rock wall of sound, & liquid sustaining solos.
- Made in Canada - 100% analog circuit w/ top jacks, true bypass, & 2 year warranty.
Revv’s G-Series pedals have a street price of $229 & can be ordered immediately through many fine dealers worldwide.
For more information, please visit revvamplification.com.
Revv G3 Purple Channel Preamp/Overdrive/Distortion Pedal - Anniversary Edition
Huge shocker incoming: Zach Broyles made a Tube Screamer. The Mythos Envy Pro Overdrive is Zach’s take on the green apple of his eye, with some special tweaks including increased output, more drive sounds, and a low-end boost option. Does this mean he can clear out his collection of TS-9s? Of course not.
This time on Dipped in Tone, Rhett and Zach welcome Tyler Bryant, the Texas-bred and Nashville-based rocker who has made waves with his band the Shakedown, who Rhett credits as one of his favorite groups. Bryant, it turns out, is a TS-head himself, having learned to love the pedal thanks to its being found everywhere in Texas guitar circles.Bryant shares how he scraped together a band after dropping out of high school and moving to Nashville, including the rigors of 15-hour drives for 30-minute sets in a trusty Ford Expedition. He’s lived the dream (or nightmare, depending on the day) and has the wisdom to show it.
Throughout the chat, the gang covers modeling amps and why modern rock bands still need amps on stage; the ins and outs of recording-gear rabbit holes and getting great sounds; and the differences between American and European audiences. Tune in to hear it all.
