Tornado of Souls Amp Settings

Original Gear

Guitar

Black USA Jackson Kelly (Marty Friedman's main Megadeth-era guitar — either the 1985 #2 San Dimas or the 1990 #1, serial J5781; both configured identically. Friedman's manager's certificate of authenticity for J5781 explicitly states: 'This is the guitar Marty used when he recorded the Tornado of Souls solo.')

Pickups

Seymour Duncan JB (SH-4 / TB-4 trembucker variant) — single bridge pickup, no neck pickup. Seymour Duncan's official 2024 Dave Mustaine 'Thrash Factor' release reaffirms the JB family of pickups defined the Rust in Peace guitar sound for both players. (bridge)

Amplifier

Bogner Triple Giant preamp (#11/25) into a VHT 2150 power amp

Channel

High-gain lead channel of the Triple Giant

Tuning

E standard (no capo), key of B minor

Pickup Selector

bridge

Strings

0.010-0.046 — Friedman's longstanding gauge. Per his D'Addario artist-page quote (daddario.com/artists/guitar/marty_friedman): 'I've used D'Addario strings since 1991. They have never let me down, despite nonstop touring and recording… Every single guitar recorded on my albums was strung up with D'Addario strings, and only D'Addario strings.' (D'Addario relationship began 1991, so for the 1990 RIP tracking he likely used another brand at the same gauge — the Reverb listing for his 1985 Kelly notes it was set up with 'Friedman-preferred 10-46 strings.')

Recorded at Rumbo Recorders, Canoga Park, CA (March–June 1990). Producer Mike Clink, engineer Micajah Ryan, assisted by Andy Udoff; mixed by Max Norman at One On One Recorders. Mike Clink primarily oversaw Friedman's guitar tracking during the first half of the sessions while Dave Mustaine was in rehab. Cabinets were Marshall 4x12s loaded with a mix of Celestion Vintage 30s, G12T-75s and 25-watt Greenbacks, close-miked with Shure SM57 and Sennheiser MD421 on/off-axis (community-corroborated period setup). Wikipedia's Marty Friedman gear list explicitly notes 'Bogner Triple Giant #11/25 (Rust in Peace album and tour).' Note: the often-mentioned Soldano SLO-100 belongs to the Countdown to Extinction era (1992), not Rust in Peace.

Amp Settings

Playing Technique

Mostly economy / upstroke-led alternate picking (Friedman is famous for favoring upstrokes where most players downpick). Wide finger-vibrato, exaggerated bends well past pitch, hybrid-picked arpeggios, and exotic-scale phrasing (B natural minor with Hirajoshi / Phrygian-dominant inflections). Solo is largely 16th-note based; the song's tempo is 194 BPM in 4/4 (per GetSongBPM: 'The song Tornado Of Souls by Megadeth has a tempo of 194 beats per minute (BPM) on Rust in Peace').