Riff Tone

Sugar (Clean Version)

System Of A Down

Guitarmetal1990s

Original Gear

GuitarIbanez Iceman (IC300 or similar, as used by Daron Malakian in early SOAD era)

AmpPeavey 5150 II (studio recording, as used on debut album era)

PickupsStock Ibanez humbuckers (likely Powersound or V7/V8, ceramic magnet, high output)

Amp Settings

gain8

bass6

mid5.5

treble6.5

reverb0

presence6

Effects & Signal Chain

No effects used for this tone

Notes

Studio recording for 'Sugar' (1998). Daron Malakian ran guitar straight into the Peavey 5150 II head, no pedals for distortion, using amp gain. No evidence of additional pedals or effects in the riff section. Pickup and amp confirmed by multiple forum and rig sources for this era.

Tone Character(10)

tight and percussiveaggressive palm mutingsaturated high-gainchunky low endarticulate attackclear note separationdry, unprocessed soundmodern metal crunchfocused midrangeminimal ambience

Difficulty

The riff requires tight, aggressive palm muting and fast alternate picking at a high tempo, but does not involve advanced lead techniques or complex chord voicings.

Sources

System Of A Down Pedal?System of a Down's Daron Malakian Rig Rundown - Premier Guitar

This tone has been researched 6 times by the community

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