Interviews 1
Gibson CEO James Curleigh on Running an Iconic Brand
This year at Summer NAMM, the zZounds Crew got the chance to speak with James “JC” Curleigh, the recently appointed CEO of Gibson Brands. In our video interview, above, you can hear Curleigh’s vision for the future of Gibson guitars, and his thoughts on running a globally recognized brand. Of course, JC has experience on […]
Greg Koch and Rick Vito on Their Signature Reverend Models
As the manufacturers of some of the most original and lively guitar designs out there, the Midwest’s Reverend Guitars teamed up with Greg Koch and Rick Vito to create their own signature guitars. Dripping with vintage style and modern high-performance features, these instruments were made to give your playing that extra edge. Both Greg and […]
Neon Vines’ Music Gear Picks
Multi-instrumentalist Neon Vines climbed into the electronic music production scene in early 2018, poised to outgrow her singer-songwriter roots. In just a few short months, she began to amass a dedicated fanbase on YouTube and Instagram — and an ever-expanding collection of high-tech music-making tools like the ROLI Seaboard, Ableton Push, and Akai MPC X. […]
Fender Tone Master Amps: The Cutting Edge of Timeless Tone
If Fender’s new Tone Master Twin and Deluxe Reverb amps only sounded exactly like their tube counterparts, it wouldn’t be enough. That’s because Fender engineers designed these amps to behave exactly the same, too. Three years of hard work designing, programming and engineering has resulted in two amps with circuit topologies that replicate the same […]
Fender Pedals: Behind The Design
At this year’s Summer NAMM show, Stan Cotey, Fender’s Vice President of Product Development, looked at 21 pedals lined up in a neat row inside the Fender booth and smiled. None of these existed about 20 months prior, and designing them was a labor of love. Fender wanted a new line of pedals that set […]
Interview with Adrian Thorpe of Thorpy FX
Housed in distinctly rugged metal bodies, there’s no mistaking the look of Thorpy FX pedals. Their formidable design and tone is the brainchild of Adrian Thorpe, the company’s founder and a pedal designer since the early 2000s. We had a chat with Adrian to talk about the history of his pedals, his background as an […]
An Interview with John Petrucci
The standout guitarist in a band of accomplished Berklee College musicians, John Petrucci is renowned for his masterful guitar playing. For much of his 30-year career in Dream Theater, Petrucci has trusted Ernie Ball Music Man with crafting his series of articulate, versatile and beautiful signature instruments. The crown jewel of this collection, the Majesty, […]
Behind The Design: Fender American Acoustasonic Telecaster
At first glance, the American Acoustasonic Telecaster doesn’t look like an acoustic guitar. It doesn’t look like a traditional Tele, either. That’s because it’s neither…but it does take a little of both, mixing traditional acoustic resonance with electric feel and digital modeling to make something new… But, it doesn’t look like one of those futuristic, […]
Brent Hinds On His Signature Orange Amp
Deep within a secret mountainous facility underneath a waterfall, Orange designed the Brent Hinds Terror amp head in collaboration with the Mastodon guitarist himself…or so Brent says. This 15-watt beast boasts two foostwitchable channels — “Natural,” with just a single volume control that spans from glassy cleans to harmonically rich overdrive, and the “Dirty” channel, […]
