The Future of Guitar Amps Looks a Lot Like the Past (Dave Friedman, Friedman Amplification)

Welcome to Products of Music, a podcast sharing inside stories and expert insights on product innovation in music technology.

In this episode, host Adam Wakeling speaks with Dave Friedman, founder of Friedman Amplification, about his approach to product development at the company; the analog versus digital debate; and what the future of boutique amps looks like.

View on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSmHFXvpvXw

To learn more about Friedman Amplification, visit: https://friedmanamplification.com/ 

00:00 Preview

01:24 Intro

02:25 Dave's founder journey

06:15 Developing amp building skills

08:20 The key to creating a company

13:10 Option paralysis in digital modeling

15:13 The lack of unique guitar tones today

20:23 How Dave finds new product ideas

23:16 Unsuccessful product releases

24:25 Biggest Friedman product success

29:10 The difficulty with US tariffs

33:35 Early lessons learned

38:10 Digital detoxing/experience of analog

41:45 How buyer expectations have changed

44:10 When to expand the product range

45:50 Some insights for entrepreneurs

48:40 A few quick-fire questions

51:15 Why the amp naming convention?

54:14 Friedman takes on other amps?

55:05 New Vox-style Friedman amp

56:00 How Dave adds his unique touch to vintage amps

56:55 Outro

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