Tech21 goes digital😲 Marty Friedman Signature Sansamp

[Lysander]

So, apparently the new Marty Friedman signature pedal is digital - which, unless i'm crazy, is a first ever for Tech21.

I'm pretty sure it sounds great, but abandoning their analog modelling tech feels wrong somehow I always loved Sansamp DI tones.

Just as the original SansAmp was a personal mission to encapsulate tube amplifier sounds in a compact, portable pedal, Barta has long been on a quest to do the same in the digital domain. Never one to jump on a bandwagon, Barta wouldn’t “go digital” until he found a way to replicate the dynamics, responsiveness and fluidity of its analog counterpart.

After many years, Barta “cracked the code.” This happened to coincide with the opportunity to collaborate with Marty Friedman. The result is the Marty Friedman Signature SansAmp.

Marty Friedman Signature SansAmp

An iconic guitarist who eloquently serves up enchanting and tearful melodies, as well as complicated notes that make your head spin, Marty Friedman surprisingly likes to keep his arsenal quite simple. The goal for Tech 21 was to embody his tone in a neat, compact, plug-and-play footprint...

www.tech21nyc.com

 

[Jkist7]

Yeah I am eagerly awaiting literally anything further on it than that product page. Been following it for awhile. Nothing so far.

I am a big Marty fan though, so hopefully its good.

 

[Lysander]

Only clips i could find come from people covering NAMM 2025.

 

[Blix]

Apparently the designer hasn't tried modellers since the 90's judging by how he describes them here.

UNDER THE HOOD: CRACKING THE CODE​

As a staunch proponent of analog, Andrew Barta has never had the desire to venture into digital designs. The inventor of the SansAmp tube amplifier emulation technology, which debuted in 1989, Barta has remained loyal to the analog domain. That is, until now.

According to Barta, “To me, the main drawback of a digital modeler is the feel and the sound quality. It lacks dynamics and responsiveness. It sounds one-dimensional and it isn’t touch-sensitive, so the nuances of your playing style get lost. It limits your ability to change the tone by using your volume knob, picking lighter or harder. No matter how hard you hit the strings, the result is mostly the same. There’s no headroom and it doesn’t breathe. You are forced go to a different patch for a different tone. Ultimately, you have to conform to the device and play in a different way. So your artistic expression suffers. Artists have told me it’s like being in a cage. You have to wrestle harder to squeeze out the results and their fingers get really tired.

“Whatever device you’re using, be it an amp or SansAmp or modeler, it’s really a part of your instrument. Your instrument actually consists of the entire signal chain, not just the guitar. Digital is just a numeric translation and isn’t capable of preserving the individual personality of the guitar you use. The output is pretty much the same whether it’s a Fender or Gibson or Ric.”

Just as the original SansAmp was a personal mission to encapsulate tube amplifier sounds in a compact, portable pedal, Barta has long been on a quest to do the same in the digital domain. Never one to jump on a bandwagon, Barta wouldn’t “go digital” until he found a way to replicate the dynamics, responsiveness and fluidity of its analog counterpart.

After many years, Barta “cracked the code.” This happened to coincide with the opportunity to collaborate with Marty Friedman. The result is the Marty Friedman Signature SansAmp.

 

[holoholo]

 

[norminal]

According to Barta, “To me, the main drawback of a digital modeler is the feel and the sound quality. It lacks dynamics and responsiveness. It sounds one-dimensional and it isn’t touch-sensitive, so the nuances of your playing style get lost. It limits your ability to change the tone by using your volume knob, picking lighter or harder. No matter how hard you hit the strings, the result is mostly the same. There’s no headroom and it doesn’t breathe. You are forced go to a different patch for a different tone. Ultimately, you have to conform to the device and play in a different way. So your artistic expression suffers. Artists have told me it’s like being in a cage. You have to wrestle harder to squeeze out the results and their fingers get really tired.

 

[la szum]

I bet he runs it in 4CM with his Engl Signature Inferno Amp.

 

[la szum]

View attachment 39316

Yeah..... that kind of makes me scratch my head and wonder if that quote was from 2004.

 

[pipelineaudio]

It’s like hearing paul reed smith talk about tonewood

 

[BenIfin]

It’s like hearing paul reed smith talk about tonewood

... or Paul Reed Smith talking about the "new" [original] PRS Tuning Peg Design and Shape that was so good, it was ignored for 40 years, but now makes the guitar more focused and resonant :)

why .... Why.... WHY OH LORD were we deprived for so long when the answer was there all along .............