Mason has played guitar since age 14 and has remained a charmingly amateurish musician ever since. Mason joined zZounds in 2014 and serves as editor of the zZounds Blog, as well as Accessories Merchandiser. Prior to zZounds, he earned a degree in journalism and worked as a newspaper editor and freelance writer. When not writing or editing for zZounds, you can find him playing his Strat, hosting bar trivia, and chasing his toddler around the house.
Take a moment to think about the most important piece of gear in your rig or studio. Maybe it’s your most powerful, most capable, or most expensive piece of gear. But what happens when the strap comes off your vintage guitar and all its sweet, inherent mojo falls from your shoulder to make contact with […]
EarthQuaker Devices’ newest pedal, the Aqueduct Vibrato, is a pitch-shifting enigma that just emerged from the watery depths, sending the High Council of Tone into a frenzy. Are its intentions good or evil? Are its eight modes of vibrato meant to bring peace to the Planet Ohio, or to destroy it from within and defile […]
The FreqOut Natural Feedback Creator is another entry in DigiTech’s legacy of creating pedals fueled by some truly next-level inspiration. The FreqOut replicates the sound of feedback created by playing your guitar or bass close to a blaring amp. And it doesn’t just give you one tonality but seven, letting you cherry-pick the frequency of your […]
Packed with eleven reverb modes, an internal tails switch and powerful hidden parameters, the Electro-Harmonix Oceans 11 is a “Swiss army knife” of reverb. We’re putting this pedal through its paces by showcasing its spaciest, shimmering sounds in this Top Tones video. Peep the Fender Player Jaguar we’re using as well — its unique pickup […]
In Beat Connection, we explore modern and vintage dance styles the only way we know how…by providing you a musical starting point to help you create that beat. In this collection, we’re highlighting Beat Connection posts that detail the fundamental foundations of beatmaking, elemental topics like rhythm, pitch and structure. Check them out below and […]
If money were no object, what is one piece of gear you’d buy? This is the question we asked for the first installment of Talking Shop, the series in which we ask zZounds staffers questions about gear and all things music. Check out our team’s answers below, and feel free to comment on what your […]
Effective placement and use of microphones is essential for an audio engineer, whether they work in a professional studio or at home. Keeping an open mind about using different mic types and being willing to experiment with different techniques during a session can yield inspiring results. Here are our top posts detailing different mic types, […]
Gibson just announced the 2018 Billie Joe Armstrong Signature Les Paul Junior, a new take on the classic single-coil model often associated with the Green Day frontman. With a single ’57 Classic humbucker, master volume and tone controls, and wraparound tailpiece all atop a slab body, this is a stripped-down rocker meant to be a […]
What’s more American than sippin’ on sweet tea on a summer day? If you answered grabbing a Player Series HH Telecaster, plugging into a versatile OD/Distortion combo pedal and wailing from sea to shining sea with tones as majestic as purple mountains and as tasty as freedom fries, you’ve got us there. Thankfully, we experienced […]