Justin started playing guitar in 1999, and progressed to many more instruments in the following years including drums, bass, keys, and more. He’s a freelancer around Chicago playing in local bands, teaching guitar, and playing Musician’s Union shows. At zZounds, he’s often on camera as the host of Gear Wire, product demo specialist, and audio/mixing engineer. Off-camera, Justin is a burgeoning vinyl hunter and amateur astronomer.
Is the Lauten Audio LA-220 the Most Affordable Workhorse FET Condenser?
This is not hyperbole: every recording engineer prizes their large-diaphragm condensers. Why, you ask? When you’ve found “the one,” you use it on almost everything. In comes Lauten Audio. Whether it’s a cream-of-the-crop professional model, or an extremely affordable budget mic, Lauten specializes in high-quality microphones. The Lauten Audio LA-220 occupies the “Goldilocks zone” between […]
Radial EXTC Stereo: A Tool for Creating Truly Unique Sounds
The new Radial EXTC Stereo is an update to the older EXTC model with — you guessed it — stereo functionality! For all the fellow engineers out there, this is truly a game changer when it comes to signal processing. After all, two is better than one, eh? So, What Does the EXTC Stereo Do? […]
Big Little Victories
Victory amplifiers are some of my favorites as of late. Most amps can’t beat their versatility, raw tone, and ease of use. When the UK brand began releasing compact pedal versions of their amps I knew I had to try them, and they did not disappoint. If you’re curious about the differences (and similarities) of […]
Legends: Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead bloomed from the counterculture scene in the late ’60s in San Francisco, California. There is no other time nor place that could conceive of such a band. A few images come to mind when thinking about the band: long concerts, tie dye, and Deadheads. While each of those are integral, the biggest thing […]
Iron Maiden: Top 5 Harmonies
Iron Maiden isn’t your average metal band – it’s a state of mind. It’s that perfect blend of attitude, bravado, and expressiveness that coalesce into one behemoth sound. And what a sound it is! It’s immediately recognizable, infinitely singable, and so good that it’s nearly impossible not to whip out your air guitar and shred […]
Legends of Tone: Fuzz
From soaring David Gilmour guitar solos to saturated and raw Jack White rhythms, fuzz pedals have moved into the lexicon of nearly every modern player. An effect that by nature is hostile, unwieldy and a whole lot of fun, the modern fuzz pedal plays into our fascination with the unknown. Endless sustain, wonderful feedback and […]
Top 5 Eddie Van Halen Solos
If you had to name just a few guitar players who reinvented the electric guitar, nay, created a whole new school of guitar itself, then Eddie Van Halen would be an obvious choice. Instantly recognizable, his style and sound became forever synonymous with shred guitar as we know it today. Some even say that without […]
Legends of Tone: Radiohead Part 2
Radiohead, the behemoth rock band of legend, carried so much content for us to represent in our first Legends of Tone feature that we literally couldn’t boil it down into just one video successfully. Instead, we decided to go with an extra-special, unprecedented sequel: Legends of Tone Radiohead: PART TWO! Our first video focused on […]
Orange TremLord 30 Demo
At first glance, Orange’s latest amp appears to be just like a typical 30-watt Orange combo – but that couldn’t be more wrong. What sets the TremLord 30 apart from the usual Orange flavor is the addition of an actual 12AT7 tube-driven, two-spring reverb tank. Couple that with the independently foot switchable, 12AX7 driven dual […]
