Daron Malakian (SOAD)
"Daron is well-known for playing his Ibanez Iceman IC400, with custom graphics done by his father, Vartan Malakian. His father also did custom graphics on the 1978 Iceman, as well as making the horned bridge replacing the stopbar. The guitar was popular in the 1970s and 1980s, and he is fronting its comeback. All of the Icemans that he plays on stage have a one-of-a-kind finish and can not be found in retail, although there was a limited edition Iceman with graphics by 'Vartan Malakian' sold on eBay. He plays through 2 Marshall Bluesbreaker amps linked together to a Marshall double stack, uses Jim Dunlop Custom-made .88mm Triangle plectrums and Ernie Ball "Skinny Top Heavy Bottom" guitar strings. Daron now uses a Gibson SG onstage in most of System of a Down's recent live shows. He can be seen with his Gibson SGLes Paul 61' Reissue in the music videos for System of a Down's "B.Y.O.B," with tailpiece in Question!, and he is seen playing his cream-colored SG in the video for "Hypnotize." When they started out, he played a black hardtail Stratocaster which can be seen in the video War?. From System of a Down's formation, up until their third album, Steal This Album!, Daron used Drop C (from sixth string to first, C, G, C, F, A, D) tuning on his guitars. On the band's double album "Mezmerize/Hypnotize", Daron changed to Drop Db (from sixth string to first, Db, Ab, Db, Gb, Bb, Eb) tuning. (except for the tracks "Dreaming", a half step down, and "Question!", a half step up) He gave the reason for the change in tuning as to give the new songs "more kick". While in the studio Daron relies on a baritone guitar, A Les Paul Standard, a Jackson Randy Rhoads flying V, and a slew of other guitars. His amps have mostly been a Marshall super lead but has been seen with Mesa/Boogie's before.He also owns a Fulltone CLYDE Wah pedal(Seen in various live videos) and a Planet Waves pedal tuner (seen in a behind the scenes video...)"
