Changes in the Wind

photo credit: @WyldeAudio

What is going on? The other day I posted here about Zakk Wylde and Wylde Audio his new guitar and amp company. They are posting new pics on their twitter page everyday so I grabbed this interesting pic they are calling the Odin. There is also a new pic of a Flying V. We still don't know the whole story. Is this a whole new company? Is Father Wylde doing with Epiphone and Gibson what Mr. Van Halen is doing with Fender and the EVH brand? This remains to be seen but I'm still kind of excited about it. Especially that they are doing an amp. I love a great sounding 800 head.



Next I get an email from Carvin Guitars about some high end re-branding. Here is the Press release.

"Carvin Corporation announces the formation of a new and separate company, Kiesel Guitars / Carvin Guitars, which will take control of the guitar and bass manufacturing and sales of all instruments and related parts and accessories, effective Feb 1, 2015. Kiesel Guitars / Carvin Guitars owners Mark Kiesel and Jeff Kiesel formed this new company so they can focus exclusively on the advancement of instruments. Mark Kiesel has led the guitar and bass division of Carvin since 1970 and will continue to lead the new company as president. Jeff Kiesel brings industry leading designs and advancements in construction and quality to the Custom Shop. The instruments will continue to be produced in the USA at the same facility. 

Carvin Corporation's focus will now be exclusively on our passion for pro audio and instrument amplifiers under the brands Carvin Audio and Carvin Amplifiers. We will continue to provide our customers with industry leading products and customer support. Carvin Corporation will continue to design and manufacture its products in San Diego, California, USA with its team of top engineers and staff of musicians under the direction of the Kiesel family; Carson, Joel and Kristen."

So now it seems you'll be able to order a Carvin Guitar or a higher end Kiesel Guitar with more complexity and better woods and finishes. hmmm ok, not sure I see the point of it but really not a big deal. The founder of Carvin was Lowell Kiesel, and Mark and Jeff Kiesel have run the Carvin Custom Guitar shop for many years. Carvin pro audio and Guitar Amps will still be Carvin. Ok got it, if you want a really nice Carvin you order a Kiesel. (And Jeff Kiesel has been doing some cool looking stuff lately).

Anything else confusing out there? Well here is a pic of Dave Navarro playing a copy of the David Gilmour Black Strat!!! That's not his normal gear!

If I pickup on any more interesting stories this week from NAMM 2015 I'll be sure to talk about them here or at least retweet them at @ADHDguitarist so follow me there.

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!

Finding Tonal Magic in Similarities

Most of us have more than one guitar hero. Focusing on trying to get that one sound is a lot of fun, and helps teach you what works and what doesn't. There is something impressive about nailing a sound and a style of a great artist and every step you take towards achieving those tones is an accomplishment. The question many people have is "why do you want to sound like that guy, don't you want to be yourself?" The answer is "because he's great" and striving towards greatness has never been a bad thing. I've heard a lot of Hendrix clones, a lot of Stevie Ray Vaughan clones, a lot of Eddie Van Halen clones, a lot of Zakk Wylde clones, and a lot of David Gilmour clones. But is Eric Johnson a Hendrix clone? Nope Eric sounds like Eric despite having very similar equipment and being very influenced by Hendrix. It's easy to find the differences but I've found that focusing on similarities helps you find tonal magic.

There is a reason this works!

The Strat Masters
Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, David Gilmour, Eric Johnson, Richie Kotzen and Yngwie Malmsteen. They all sound quite different and yet there are similarities in their tones. We'll start with the obvious one the Strat! Ok so Richie plays a tele but he also plays a strat at times. Strats are very versatile and easy to modify to your liking. Amp wise there seems to be two trains of thought here a crunchy, overdriven Marshall type amp or a clean amp with pedals but those pedals often sound like a crunchy old Marshall. David Gilmour and Eric Johnson are both known for using a BK Butler Tube Driver into a clean amp but compare those tones to a JTM45 and you'll start to hear similarities. Eric Johnson's setup is very Hendrix influenced as was Stevie Ray Vaughan's and David Gilmour's in the early days. If your using a lot of clean tones you may want to go with the clean fendery tones and pedals for your crunch and lead tones but if your mainly using crunch tones you can also clean up with your volume knob and then push it for leads. Once again focus on the similarities and you'll start to find magic. I find setting up for a nice crunchy Marshall tone with just a bit of gain a great place to start. Start with your EQ knobs at 12 o'clock and then add or take away depending on what you hear. All of these players will use their volume knob a lot to change the sound so dialing in your sound with the volume around 6 or 7 instead of on 10 will open up a lot of options. Another similarity is pickups, with the exception of Yngwie they all use weaker vintage voiced pickups. Yngwie uses a hotter more modern style pickup but you can also use an overdrive to get that type of sound if you prefer to use more vintage sounds most of the time. All of these guys use modulation to add a swirly effect. David Gilmour started with a Univibe, changed to a Phaser, then Flanger, then Chorus but he uses them all the same way. I was a chorus player for a long time but lately I've really gotten into phasers. These days I use chorus for subtle effects and the phaser for wilder craziness. With each of these players their style of playing is what creates their sound more than gear.

Hard Rock Heroes
My favorite rock guitar players have always been guys like Van Halen, Zakk Wylde, Jerry Cantrell, and Metallica. All hard rock players playing through high gain amps with few simple effects. Most of the time we focus on the differences between the sounds of these players but when I focused on the similarities I found tonal magic. I was able to dial in a JCM800 or a Dual Rectifier to cover all of these guys best sounds. The formula was simple. A slightly hotter bridge humbucker like an EMG81 or a Seymour Duncan JB, a high gain amp with most of the knobs past 12 o'clock, an overdrive pedal to push it for solos, chorus for thickening, delay and wah. If I needed ACDC crunch I could roll back the volume on the guitar. If I needed more cut I would use a TS9 type overdrive to push the amp and give a little more mids. Some people will get hung up on the guitar bridge and while it's an important part of your sound and playing style I've found that in heavier rock sounds it's not as important. I can mimic all of these players sounds with a floating floyd type bridge or fixed bridge as long as I'm using the above formula.

My point here is that it's easy to listen for differences but when you start listening for similarities you can often find something that works great for you. Find the similarities in the setups with your favorite artist and you'll be one step closer to finding your own voice.

Zakk Wylde Gear Guide

ADHD's Gear Guides at any Budget. I'm a firm believer that the tone comes from the hands. If your trying to achieve a certain guitar hero's tone it's not enough to have the chops but you've got to get down their style of attack with your picking hand as well. That said every step you take toward finding the right gear is often very inspiring and WILL get you closer to “that” sound. I'm going to break these down into Guitars, Pickups, Pedals and Amps.

Zakk Wylde Gear Guide

Zakk Wylde is one of the biggest guitar heroes in the world. His Les Paul through a Marshall on steroids approach takes the classic rock-n-roll formula and turns it up to 10. He has always kept a Keep It Simple Stupid attitude to gear every since his early days in the late 80's with Ozzy. A Les Paul, loaded with EMG's, and a handful of pedals into a Marshall JCM800 is the backbone of his sound. Zakk is famous for shredding pentatonics and pitch harmonics, but he is more than capable of playing everything from bluegrass to piano ballads to Al Di Meola style fusion.

Guitars – Zakk Wylde has a lot of different guitars, Gibson Flying V's and ZV's, Dean Razorbacks, and a few others. But he is most known for wielding the Bulleye Les Paul. According to legend it was originally cream but he didn't want people to think he was trying to be another Randy Rhoads so he asked someone to paint it with a vertigo spiral. When it came back it had a bulleye on it and it was time for his first photo shoot with Ozzy. Zakk just rolled with it joking that the bullseye would give the haters in the audience something to aim for.

NOTE: Zakk Wylde has started Wylde Audio and the Gibson/Epiphone models are discontinued.

Wylde Audio Odin Grail- While Wylde Audio has a plethora of offerings the Odin Grail has that famous Bullseye that the man made legendary. Some people don't like the tweaked shape on this guitar but if it doesn't throw you then rock on.   

Gibson Zakk Wylde Les Paul- There have been different versions that Zakk has played over the years but this is the guitar everyone associates with him. It's a Les Paul custom with a maple cap and neck, ebony fretboard, and EMG pickups. And of course the Bulleye graphic.

Epiphone Zakk Wylde LesPaul- The import version of Zakk's iconic “Grail” is a great deal. It's better built than the typical Epi Paul, and already loaded with EMG's. If your shopping used there are some great deals but makes sure the EMG's are the 81-85 set as the HZ set won't get you the same sound.

PRS SE Tremonti- At first it might seem odd to include this model in the budget offerings but the PRS SE line has some of the best built budget models in the business. Couple that with already hot humbuckers and a similar control layout, if your looking for something other than the “bullseye” you can't go wrong with these.

Pickups- EMG's have a unique, modern sound and if you want that Zakk Wylde tone the EMG 81-85 set there isn't much else to choose from. But don't think they are just for metal, a lot of country guys use them and even tone guru David Gilmour was a fan for many years. EMG's use a preamp that acts as a buffer to drive your guitar signal down long cables. I always have at least one guitar with EMG's in it for a smooth modern metal sound.

EMG Zakk Wylde Set- If your loading a Les Paul with EMG's this is the set your going to need. It comes with replacement parts for all the electronics and quick connects for everything. You can drop this in almost any dual humbucker mahogany bodied guitar and get the Zakk sound.

Seymour Duncan Blackouts- Not exactly the same sound as the EMG's SD's Blackouts have been a big hit with the metal community. They have a more open sound and wider frequency response but the preamp is very much the same. If EMG's weren't exactly what you were looking for but you still want that modern sound try these.

Pedals- Zakk Wylde's choice of pedals hasn't changed that much over the years. In the early days it was Wah, Vibe, Drive, Chorus. Recently he's toyed with a few other pedals but it's still basically the same.

Dunlop Zakk Wylde Crybaby- This pedal has become a favorite of players everywhere, based on the Hendrix wah, it has a thick sound that cuts through the live mix and no extra knobs to distract from your playing.

Dunlop Hendrix Crybaby- A favorite wah of many players the Hendrix Crybaby is what Zakk used for years before his signature wah pedal. A great choice for players wanting to accent their leads.

MXRZW44 Berzerker Overdrive- an overdrive with less of a mid hump than a tube screamer. Zakk uses this to push his JCM800's from crunchy into screaming distortion.

Boss SD1 Overdrive- Before the ZW44 this was the main stay on Zakk's board, they are cheap and work great to cut through the mix.

Dunlop Rotovibe- Not exactly a UniVibe or a Phaser but a useful replacement for both on a cramped pedalboard. Sounds get thick and swirly when engaged. Vibe purist won't like it but it's an underrated pedal IMO.

MXRZW90 Wylde Phase- I talked about what surprising fun this pedal is in my review. Zakk has been using the EVH Phase 90 in the modern setting but his signature pedal is the same thing without the toggle switch. I use it for Phaser and Vibe-ish sounds and it can be bought for cheap when they go on sale. This is my “make it sound cool” pedal.

MXRZW38 Black Label Chorus- Zakk uses Chorus to thicken up sounds almost like a doubler. Give it a lot of width but keep the speed down. It also adds a sparkle to the sound making Zakk's signature pitch harmonics easier.

Boss CH1 Super Chorus- As with some of his other pedals this is what Zakk used before MXR started putting his name on everything. It's a favorite of a lot of players. 

SuhrRiot- If you'd rather play though a clean low watt amp like a Fender Hotrod this pedal sounds very similar to an over driven JCM800. It's my personal favorite 800 in a box pedal.

In the last few years Zakk has also been experimenting with the MXR EVH Flanger and MXR Carbon Copy as well as the Boss Octave pedal.

Amps- Despite a few early adds with a different manufacturer Zakk has always used Marshall JCM800's. But a word of caution, these amps have to be cranked and according to long time BLS guitarist Nick Catanese  “most people sound like ACDC when they play though them, you have to really hit the strings hard”. They also tend to sound different from each other so don't judge them all by one experience.

Marshall JCM800 Reissue- With guys like Kerry King and Zakk Wylde playing 800's the demand for these forced Marshall to reissue the popular amp. Couple it with your favorite overdrive pedal and this is the sound of 80's shred.

Marshall DLS Reissue-This reissue is a great mid priced amp, that sounds great at lower volumes and has a bit more gain than the JCM800. It's a great amp, don't over look it. 

The JCM800 tone on a budget is difficult, The Suhr Riot and other Marshall in a box pedals are close. Another option is amp modelers, which seem to be getting better every couple of years. Still there is nothing quite the same as the feeling of standing in front of a great sounding JCM800 half stack.

Obviously there are a lot of alternatives out there but these are a great place to start your tone search. 

ADHD thoughts on Clones and Forgeries

Clones vs Forgeries

 It's no secret that a lot of pedal makers have taken Tube Screamer circuits and changed out certain components to achieve a similar, but different sound. They've done the same with Big Muff circuits, Fuzz Face circuits and a host of others. This is taking an idea and adding something that they felt is lacking in the original design or using better components and trying to create a better version of it. It's fun and creative and a lot of pedal builders seem to start off this way, as more and more people become aware of what they are doing. Analogman and Keeley both offer their version of the tweaked Tube Screamer with slightly different sounds than the current reissue. So, if you buy a current reissue TS-9 and would like it sound slightly different you can do the research and send it to someone to tweak.

For the purpose of this discussion I'm going to refer to clones as something where they have copied a circuit often using cheaper components, but are naming it differently and the pedal looks very different than the original. I've talked about the Joyo Ultimate Drive which is a clone of the Fulltone OCD. The parts are cheaper, the battery door doesn't close and I wouldn't expect it to stand up on the road like a Fulltone. I've also read that some of the Joyo pedal clones are closer in sound quality than others.

A forgery on the other hand is made to look identical and may or may not be sold to an unsuspecting buyer as an original. The forgery often uses inferior components and it may sound similar, but is rarely as good the real thing. Once again, I wouldn't expect it hold up if your thinking of touring with it. 

But I know the argument

Several years ago I worked for an artist supply store where we sold a brand of airbrush that was very expensive, at one point one of our sales reps brought us another airbrush that was identical for less than a third of the price. As it turns out, the more expensive brand was having this company build their product for them and now the manufacturer was re-branding it under another name and undercutting them. A lot of our artists were thrilled to have a high quality airbrush for $60 instead of paying the premium price of almost $200.

With a little bit of research you can find instructions for building fuzz pedals for $25 in parts. So, if a pedal builder is doing this and selling it $200 I can see where people would be upset. Visual Sound is a company who make no bones about the fact that their pedals are built overseas, they make a very good sounding and durable product at an affordable price. Most companies buy at least some of their parts overseas because they are not manufactured in the USA.  MXR and EHX both use overseas parts, but do their final assembly and quality testing in the US. Both are very affordable. 

What to look out for

So what about the forgeries? I read a sad story the other day from a dealer who said that a guy brought in his new guitar for a setup. He had just bought what he thought was used, but good condition Gibson Zakk Wylde Bullseye signature guitar off of eBay. It was a fake. This guy had spent a great deal of hard earned money on this guitar and it was not a very well built guitar. These new forgery pedals have the logos and looks and possibly the similar sounds, but are not built well. If you got a great deal on a used Wampler Triple Wreck on eBay only to get it and realize it's not as good as the one your friend has would you be upset? Or worse, if you got one and didn't have one to compare it to and it broke or didn't sound good would you then trash Wampler to your friends? Then talk about what a piece of junk it was? Now, you're hurting an honest guy who has worked hard to build a great business. You might even like the real product. Do you see where this goes? No where good. Nothing good comes of it. Something else I would like to add is that I believe that this happens in the Vintage guitar market more than people would like to admit. If someone can fake a guitar that sells for 30,000 dollars for under $1200 I'm pretty sure someone is doing it. 

It comes down to: know your product, know your supplier, know the return policy, and if a deal looks to good to be true, it probably is. I'd like to add that while we hear a lot of about these awful Chinese companies who are ripping off companies, I think that there are a lot good companies in China who are trying to better their quality and make an honest living. 

Know your product

A Few Things to Think About

A few companies like Lava Cable and VFE pedals make every effort they can to buy quality parts from US manufactures. This of course creates more jobs in the US, but you may have to pay a higher price. It should be noted that both Lava Cable and VFE have more affordable options in their lines that are priced at similar price points to their overseas competitors.

Having a pedal won't make you a better player. I really do believe that the sound of your guitar and amp is the most important thing. If you're not happy with that sound you probably won't be happy when you add in a pedal. If you like to learn and research stuff, there is a lot you can learn about building circuits so can you build a pedal that sounds the way you want. 

I've read a lot of interviews with smaller builders and they often talk about tolerances in electronics. They may specify a certain value in an electronic component but when they receive their shipment they often find that they have to test and sort each little component one by one to find the ones that actually are within acceptable limits. 

 Something else to think about is that if your not supporting the creative people who are creating and designing these products they won't keep doing it if they aren't making a living. They will be forced to go do something else. Most of these guys aren't making a fortune, they are creating a business that supports their families and sometimes a handful of other people. 

I think that there is a market for most of these different types of builders. Whether they are tweaking a circuit, building a clone, or trying to come up with something completely original. If their goal is to provide affordable quality options for real world musicians that is a worthy goal. If their goal is to only buy parts for their products from their home country, whatever that country is, I think that is awesome and patriotic. I personally would like to see more transparency from companies, I appreciate what Visual Sound does, as well as companies like MXR and Wampler and Analogman. But I drawn the line at forgery. 

The Marshall ShredMaster review

Back in January I stumbled across a killer find at a Flea Market. An original Marshall ShredMaster. I talked about the great deal I got here. This legendary pedal is pretty amazing but it wasn't exactly what I expected. For being called a ShredMaster this thing doesn't have a ton of gain on tap. I don't use a ton of gain when I play so this being on the low end of the high gain spectrum is fine with me. Back when JCM800's came out they were considered very high gain but compared to today's high gain monsters like Diezel, Engl or even the new 5150 III (which is fantastic IMO) it sounds pretty classic rock. But if you crank it up and hit it with a boost like a Tube Screamer or similar and it sings all day long.  The ShredMaster is the same way. Some of the more famous users of this pedal are Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead, and Kevin Sheilds from My Bloody Valentine.

My original Marshall ShredMaster!

The pedal is in remarkable shape for something that is over twenty years old and get's stepped on. When I first got the pedal the pots were a little scratchy. I checked with my tech guru that I use and he told me to order some DeoxIT, which cleans, protects and lubricates without using any overly harsh solvents that could hurt the circuit. Once that was taken care of I spent some time checking out all of the classic sounds in this pedal. You can nail easily JCM 800 sounds as well as hot rodded Plexi sounds with this thing. Early Van Halen? check, Zakk Wylde sounds? easy, ACDC? all day long! Honestly it's probably the original Marshall in a box. Compared to a Suhr Riot there is no where near as much gain but tone wise it's in the same family. One thing I'm not crazy about is the lack of volume in it. I keep the volume knob around two o'clock for unity. That's not a lot of front end boost. In fact I keep almost all of the knobs past twelve o'clock almost all of the time. But that's really not a deal breaker. My favorite feature is the contour knob. You can get great scoop sounds, which make it sound really heavy, or bring the mids back up for a ton of presence. I really don't know if it uses a buffer or not but the sound is very full, there doesn't seem to be any tone sucking going on but I'm pretty sure it's not true bypass so if that's important to you you may may want to skip this one.

 If your thinking you'd like to try a ShredMaster they seem to always have a couple over on Ebay. I've been checking Ebay for the last few months and have seen these pedals go for anywhere from $140-$200. Another option these days is that there are several pedal makers who are making clones of this pedal. A clone isn't always a direct copy. Often pedal makers change parts of the circuit or values to enhance a pedal if they think they can improve the sound. That's why there are so many Tube Screamer variations that all sound a bit different. If your wanting something in the same family but with more gain the Suhr Riot is pretty amazing. And the Visual Sound Jekyll & Hyde is a Tube Screamer and ShredMaster in one unit, which seems like a match made in heaven. I haven't tried one yet but I've been impressed with the sound quality and build of their other pedals and the Jekyll & Hyde is one of their best selling products. So that is worth checking out too. I was going to add some clips to this but that will have to wait until a couple of other things come into play. Very exciting stuff happening behind the scenes here, get ready for more.

MXR ZW-90 Wylde Phase Review

I picked up the MXR ZW-90 Wylde Phase a couple of months ago. I've never played with a phaser before, even though a lot of my heroes used them. David Gilmour and Eddie Van Halen are two that come to mind. This pedal is a lot of fun, and is stupidly simple to use and get a good sound out of. It's one knob and one switch, and unless you put it in crazy mode it sounds great. While modulations typically lie between distortions and delays, I like this pedal before my dirt. After the dirt pedals, seems to accentuate the phase and make it harsher. But before makes it a bit more subtle and more like a UniVibe type effect, a UniVibe if you don't know is a type of phaser. On top of that there are quite a few "boutique" manufacturers who are making Vibe type pedals using a modified Phase 90 circuit. More on that later.

The first thing I did was try it at 9 O'clock. It was fairly subtle, just a hint of modulation, adding a little bite to solos and chords, think Eruption. When I ramped it up to 11 o'clock and switched to a clean sound I got a pretty good Pink Floyd "Breathe". This is where I think this pedal starts to shine, for faster songs and longer bends I like to kick it up to around 1 o'clock. Anything past this goes into crazy mode. I'm sure someone is using this but it gets a bit much for me. One thing I'm not crazy about is that if your playing through a warm clean sound that is on the edge of breakup, the mid range on this pedal is so pronounced it will kick you into dirtville. Big hard rock and metal distortion? no problem. But cleans? hmmm you might need to play with your settings. OR...

If your handy with a soldering gun, or know someone who is, just look up Phase 90 mods on Google. Seriously, these sound pretty easy. There are apparently several simple mods that people use to get the more subtle sounding "script logo" effect. There are also some "univibe mods" that sound great. Remember I mentioned that there are some boutique builders using modified phase 90 circuits? Seriously, Google is your friend. As of right now I'm not going to attempt any of these, mainly because my pedal is still under warranty and it sounds great. I might try to do the famous R28 mod after the warranty runs out but I haven't decided yet. As of right now it's my go to pedal when I need things to sound cooler.

So why did I choose the Zakk Wylde signature Phase 90? Honestly, I got a good deal on it. It was cheaper than the standard at the time. I've read that the ZW-90 is the standard Phase 90 with a different paint job and I assume that's true. A quick search on the internet will turn up a lot of guys who like the "Script Logo" Phase 90 much better. It is, by comparison, a somewhat more subtle effect. But the guys at Dulop/MXR have said that a lot of people like the more pronounced version of the pedal better and apparently Zakk does too. So it seems there are multiple versions of this same pedal and a quick jump to YouTube will turn up quite a few comparison videos. If you choose the more subtle Script Logo version you may find it works better between your dirt and delays, let your ears decide. I've met Zakk, and he's a great guy. Despite his crazy larger than life image, he's very down to earth and is a much better musician than some people give him credit for. If your in the market for a new modulation and want something simple but versatile, check out a MXR Phase 90 or watch for a good deal and grab the MXR ZW-90 Wylde Phase .


This review was completely unsolicited, I received no compensation for it and all views and opinions are my own.

Bringing Metal to the Children

Not sure what this book is about. But when Zakk Wylde tells a story, it's pretty funny. I've been a fan of Zakk's since the No More Tears album and have had the chance to meet him twice. He's a really nice guy, despite his tough guy biker image, who likes to boil things down and follow the "Keep it Simple" and "If it Ain't Broke" philosophys in life. I was bummed when he left Ozzy but thats Ozzy's decision. For now he keeps on churning out Black Label Society records and touring like there is nothing left to do. I'm sure whatever the book is about it will be one of the more entertaining reads this year.