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.
Midlake – The Trials of Van Occupanther
I couldn’t wait to write about Midlake’s The Trials of Van Occupanther this month because the absolute perfect time to listen to this album is right now. The days have shrunk and gone dark, life is being drained from the trees as we know it and a chill is creeping in, a harbinger of a […]
Orange Micro Dark Demo
We stacked an Orange Micro Dark on top of a Rockerverb MKIII head on top of a PPC412 cab. It looked cute. Then, Justin plugged in a 2015 PRS McCarty into it and started riffing. It blew us away. 20 watts shouldn’t sound this loud. People outside the room couldn’t believe the sound was coming from […]
New Gear Report: Silvertone 633E & TC Electronic Bodyrez
Silvertone 633E Reissue If looking at this guitar doesn’t incite a strong urge to pick it up and start strumming “The Boxer” or “Behind Blue Eyes,” you may need to rethink your musical tastes. As part of Silvertone’s new line of acoustic reissues, the 633E is in fact a classic mid-’60s Silvertone Sovereign reborn. It retains […]
An Interview With Carl Gershon
Carl Gershon is a New York-based singer-songwriter, and if you ask him, music reached a few peaks in the mid-’80s. “I think it was a time when production technique — when the analog studio, and analog production kind of hit its peak before digital took over; and it was also the time where, as a musician, you […]
Martin Jam + a Pair of D-28 Demos
We’ve been lucky to have several Martin guitars in the zZounds office lately, and needless to say, they’ve been fun to have around. In the video above, zZounds Lead Guitarist Justin picked up a Martin OO-15M and jammed with Social Media Coordinator Robbie on a Custom D-28 Buyer’s Choice. Then Justin went solo with the two D-28s, exploring the sonic […]
Daily Lyrical Product
“How can I ever find peace/When I let my mind over-analyze things/Should be more focused on the present/Life can be a hater, please enjoy it while it’s pleasant,” Lamar “JusLove” Smith raps on “Everything,” a track that shines light on Grown’s steady balancing of life’s everyday struggles and joys. Smith and his partner Nate “Illuminate Mics” Marshall form Daily Lyrical Product, […]
New Gear Report: Novation Circuit
If you visited Novation’s website in the past couple of weeks, you may have seen a teaser image like this: Well, Oct. 1 is here, and so is Circuit. What is Circuit? The literal answer is a comprehensive grid-based synth, drum machine and groovebox all in one. Novation sees it as the answer to musician’s eternal […]
New Gear Report: Moog Mother-32
Moog’s latest synth, the fully-analog, semi-modular Mother-32, is here! Ideal for synth neophytes, the Mother-32 requires no patching, but has that functionality if desired. Its 32-step sequencer can be instantly shifted in octaves or steps, and there are a slew of tonal and rhythmic adjustments to make via the low- and high-pass ladder filters, attack, decay, pulse […]
Shootout: Walrus Audio Voyager, Mayflower, Iron Horse and Jupiter
Intrigued by Walrus Audio’s lineup of overdrive and distortion pedals, but don’t know which is right for you? We recently conducted a shootout between four of the Oklahoma-based boutique pedal-crafters’ finest: the Voyager Preamp Overdrive, Mayflower Overdrive, Iron Horse Distortion, and Jupiter Fuzz. Check them out in the video above to hear their varying shades of […]
