Introducing Wylde Audio

What in Odin's name is going on?!?!?  A friend of mine noticed in Gibson's roll out at the end of last year that the Zakk Wylde Signature Les Paul seemed to be no more. I've also noticed that recently Epiphone has pulled any Zakk Wylde guitars as well. I just looked at all the big box retailers to find that there are NO Zakk Wylde Signature guitars!!! How can one of the most iconic guitarist in the business not have a signature guitar? Apparently Mr. Zakk Wylde has pulled some partners together to introduce Wylde Audio.

photo credit:@WyldeAudio

There are some guys out there that don't seem to like Zakk's larger than life persona or his blazing riffs and low end pitch harmonics. But I've seen this guy play piano parts on his acoustic (that was a mind blowing and mind expanding moment for me). He can play Al Di Meola style jazz fusion, he can easily cover the greats like Randy Rhoads and Jake E Lee as we all saw with his former employer and friend Ozzy Osborne. Oh yeah and he can chicken pick country riffs till the cows come home. But blazing riffs and low end pitch harmonics is where the money is at for Zakk and why fix what ain't broke. Personally I've always dug Zakk's playing. I love that he respects other guitar players playing. And that he is actively always working at getting better. 

Meeting Zakk Wylde pre-viking-beard

I've gotten to meet the guy on several occasions and he was always very cool and laid back. This is a pic of me meeting the boss man around '97. It was after the criminally underrated Book of Shadows album and before Black Label Society. In fact he told me at this meeting that "everyone keeps asking me when I'm gonna do some real heavy stuff, so that's what I'm working on next, this stuff is going to blow everyone away". Since then I've seen him play live several times with the crowds getting bigger and crazier every time. 

So what's Wylde Audio all about? I don't know exactly. I'm hoping it's Zakk's version of the EVH line. Quality amps and instruments at mostly reasonable prices with a few USA models to keep the gear snobs happy. There's not a lot of information yet but there is a sign up page at www.wyldeaudio.com and also a twitter page that has a few pics on it. So make sure you check them out. In the mean time it looks like I'll be changing the ADHD Zakk Wylde Gear Guide soon!