As Much As I Love Zakk…

I was so stoked when I heard he was making his own line, I automatically assumed we’d be getting a straight up LPC with a different headstock shape….then the condom reservoir tips came out and all my excitement left the building and hasn’t returned since.
 
Scary part is that this is the best looking thing I've seen with a Wylde audio logo on it. This thing ugly as can be, but it could be worse, it could be a different Wylde audio guitar...
 
I have to agree - all of the Wylde Audio guitars are ugly as hell to me and I have no idea as to how they would play. At my age I would never rock anything like that anyway though. Obviously (to use his favorite word), he is just selling this crap to make a living. He probably doesn't even record with these guitars LOL. I loved Zakk when he was in his prime but I feel like he pushes out too much content these days and there is so much mediocrity in his music in the last 10 years. I lost interest. I still think he is a killer player but like everyone - he got old.
 
legend71 said:
I have to agree - all of the Wylde Audio guitars are ugly as hell to me and I have no idea as to how they would play. At my age I would never rock anything like that anyway though. Obviously (to use his favorite word), he is just selling this crap to make a living. He probably doesn't even record with these guitars LOL. I loved Zakk when he was in his prime but I feel like he pushes out too much content these days and there is so much mediocrity in his music in the last 10 years. I lost interest. I still think he is a killer player but like everyone - he got old.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was on a huge Zakk binge last month after putting an 81/85 in my Edwards, went through all the eras and my cut off point was right after the 2nd or 3rd BLS album. He’s very much like Petrucci to me in that their most on-fire playing was in their first decade of their career. Not sure if that’s a hunger thing from someone trying to prove themselves or they just got comfortable resting on the thing they know entertains people, but both lost the thing that made them special to me.

I’m not a fan of noodling. I love Vai, but going to a live show where he does 2-4 minutes of noodling between songs, I start dozing off. It’s exactly why I walked out of a Zakk Wylde “acoustic” show a few years back. I watched 3 songs and bailed. He plugged into his fucking pedalboard with an acoustic and used distortion and wah all over the fucking place, just mindlessly shredding. If I wanted to hear that I’d stay at home and pull out a metronome because it’s got the same entertainment value to me.

2:59 here, it was like this for 5 fucking minutes in between songs. (same show)


But damn that motherfucker can still deliver his old shit just fine. More distortion these days than I’d prefer for him, his NMT tone was fucking PERFECT.


More comparing to Petrucci, while Petrucci can still play his old shit just fine, he can play it ‘better’ than back in the day and that’s what kind of made it lose it’s spark, like on the original recordings he was pushing himself and 20 years later it’s so easy for him it’s just muscle memory. The feel ain’t the same.
 
  • Love
Reactions: Geo
RevDrucifer said:
Yeah, I was on a huge Zakk binge last month after putting an 81/85 in my Edwards, went through all the eras and my cut off point was right after the 2nd or 3rd BLS album. He’s very much like Petrucci to me in that their most on-fire playing was in their first decade of their career. Not sure if that’s a hunger thing from someone trying to prove themselves or they just got comfortable resting on the thing they know entertains people, but both lost the thing that made them special to me.

I’m not a fan of noodling. I love Vai, but going to a live show where he does 2-4 minutes of noodling between songs, I start dozing off. It’s exactly why I walked out of a Zakk Wylde “acoustic” show a few years back. I watched 3 songs and bailed. He plugged into his fucking pedalboard with an acoustic and used distortion and wah all over the fucking place, just mindlessly shredding. If I wanted to hear that I’d stay at home and pull out a metronome because it’s got the same entertainment value to me.

2:59 here, it was like this for 5 fucking minutes in between songs. (same show)


But damn that motherfucker can still deliver his old shit just fine. More distortion these days than I’d prefer for him, his NMT tone was fucking PERFECT.


More comparing to Petrucci, while Petrucci can still play his old shit just fine, he can play it ‘better’ than back in the day and that’s what kind of made it lose it’s spark, like on the original recordings he was pushing himself and 20 years later it’s so easy for him it’s just muscle memory. The feel ain’t the same.
Click to expand...

That stripped back acoustic with some pedals worked for me in that clip. Seems like it might have reigned him in a little and he was playing more selectively. But I get it..these guys don't have endless licks in the bank. Honestly Vai bores me pretty quick for that reason. Zakk bored me years ago with Ozzy, he simply overplayed every damn song and played way too many squealies.
 
While we are talking about his guitar abominations , what happened to his amps? Those at least looked solid, good 80p's with 6550 glass. I don't think manufacturing ever got off the ground given that there are enough jcm800 clones out there i guess
 
Kapo_Polenton said:
While we are talking about his guitar abominations , what happened to his amps? Those at least looked solid, good 80p's with 6550 glass. I don't think manufacturing ever got off the ground given that there are enough jcm800 clones out there i guess
Click to expand...
During the Zakk Sabbath tour a few years back he had fake Wylde audio heads sitting on top of the JCMs he was plugged into
 
RevDrucifer said:
Yeah, I was on a huge Zakk binge last month after putting an 81/85 in my Edwards, went through all the eras and my cut off point was right after the 2nd or 3rd BLS album. He’s very much like Petrucci to me in that their most on-fire playing was in their first decade of their career. Not sure if that’s a hunger thing from someone trying to prove themselves or they just got comfortable resting on the thing they know entertains people, but both lost the thing that made them special to me.

I’m not a fan of noodling. I love Vai, but going to a live show where he does 2-4 minutes of noodling between songs, I start dozing off. It’s exactly why I walked out of a Zakk Wylde “acoustic” show a few years back. I watched 3 songs and bailed. He plugged into his fucking pedalboard with an acoustic and used distortion and wah all over the fucking place, just mindlessly shredding. If I wanted to hear that I’d stay at home and pull out a metronome because it’s got the same entertainment value to me.

2:59 here, it was like this for 5 fucking minutes in between songs. (same show)


But damn that motherfucker can still deliver his old shit just fine. More distortion these days than I’d prefer for him, his NMT tone was fucking PERFECT.


More comparing to Petrucci, while Petrucci can still play his old shit just fine, he can play it ‘better’ than back in the day and that’s what kind of made it lose it’s spark, like on the original recordings he was pushing himself and 20 years later it’s so easy for him it’s just muscle memory. The feel ain’t the same.
Click to expand...

Your post is right on point and no one could have said this better. I agree with you totally. There was a time when I loved the noodling but I was young then and shiny things appealed to me ha. Great post!!!
 
This is the Zakk we need
1678719732177.jpeg
 
It looks similar to the Zemaitis guitars that I see occasionally.

Wylde's audience is very different from the people that buy those guitars so I can't imagine what he was thinking with that design.
 
Zakk had an arsenal of the coolest Les Pauls ever. The classic Grail, the Red Bullseye, the Rebel, the Mirror Bullseye, Stormin' Norman. I thought it was worrisome when he started playing those goofy splittail and coffin guitars, but he righted the ship and picked up that badass Pelham Blue bullseye. I saw him wail the fuck out of that thing in 2012.

The Wylde Audio thing isn't my jam. It's kinda like when Eddie jumped from Kramer to Ernie Ball, and now the guy who was always rocking some beat to shit striped up beater was playing a fancy quilt top Tele looking thing.

When I think of Zakk I think of him swinging a 10 pound Les Paul around by a chain, it's the visual of something as classic and upper class as a Les Paul being dragged into the mud and the blood and the beer and turning into a greasy metal machine. Now Zakk just plays normal metal guitars.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top