Queensryche guitarist Michael “Whip” Wilton will be performing shows promoting his new Whip Ale beer, playing various northwestern watering holes carrying the beer and showcasing his various projects. Included in the performances will be some of his more memorable tunes from over the years and rare insights explaining his gear which includes a Krank Nineteen80 amp and Jr. cabs. The first of these events will be Feb 26th at Hell’s Kitchen in Tacoma, WA. More appearances to be announced!

For years players have modded their older amps trying to achieve some of the great classic and hard rock tones heard on countless platinum albums during the late 70’s and on through the ’80’s. With the Nineteen80 all the tricks, bells and whistles of the day are already in the amp, giving players a ton of tonal options. Powered by two 6550 power tubes, this two channel 80W head has a sweet midrange roar through it’s matching 13-ply baltic birch 4×12 cab loaded with premium Eminence Governor speakers. You’ll find all the standard Krank features with a 3-band eq, presence, gain. sweep, and volume on the Krank channel, volume, treble and bass on the Clean channel, ohm selector and worldwide voltage switch. But new to a Krank is a tube-driven, footswitchable active effects loop with individual level controls for both the send and return of the loop. And because the loop levels can be controlled an added bonus is you can use the loop as a footswitchable lead boost even without any effects in the loop!

• Two channel, footswitchable 80W head
• Preamp five 12AX7 tubes, power section two Sovtek 6550 tubes
• Separate volume and eq sections per channel
• Footswitchable tube-driven active effects loop, gain, sweep control on Krank channel
• Global presence control, worldwide voltage use, ohm selector, footswitch

SOUND SAMPLES
Coming soon!

VIDEO:
Michael “Whip” Wilton of Queensryche performing at Krank’s booth at the 2010 Winter NAMM Show. Whip performed a medley of Queensryche favorites as well as some solo jams demonstrating the Nineteen80 head! MXR Carbon Copy in the loop.

Steve Brown of Trixter soloing on the Nineteen80 (Boss delay in the loop)

Michael Wilton talking about the Nineteen80 at NAMM 2010

Michael Wilton, the legendary Queensryche guitarist, recently joined forces with Krank Amps, using both the Rev+ and cab as well as being the first artist to get his hands on the much anticipated Nineteen80 head and cab, both available the end of July to consumers. And Michael has also left his own imprint on the amp, helping the Krank development team out by lending his thoughts and expertise to the amps’ effects loop.

The loop went through various revisions, each time having Michael tell the team what he liked/didn’t like and helped chief designer Tony Dow and Product Development coordinator Chris Catero push the loop in a grander direction. Eventually the amp ended up with an active, tube-driven effects loop that is on/off footswitchable with the Send and Return levels being individually controlled. And another happy byproduct of the work done on the loop is that with the footswitchable functionality and the ability to control gain levels the loop can be used as another channel “lead” boost, even without effects in! Much thanks to Michael for all his help!!!!

The Krank team caught up with Michael on a recent tour stop of the band’s “American Soldier” tour. The show is an absolute must see for Queensryche fans with the band playing suites of not only their new album but also from the classic “Rage For Order” and “Empire” albums!

For more on Michael check out his Krank artist profile at:
krankamps.com/artists/michael-wilton-queensryche-838

Pictured below with Michael l-r is chief designer Tony Dow, head tech Patrick Flanagan and artist relations director Chris Catero.

GEAR USED: Rev+, Nineteen80, Rev Cab, Nineteen80 Cab, Rev Jr. Cabs

Michael Wilton, born February 23, 1962 in San Francisco, California.
At the age of 8, I inherited a bass from my uncle, who died tragically in a motorcycle accident in San Leandro, CA. My parents then relocated to Bellevue, Washington where I acquired a nylon acoustic from an aunt and began listening to my father’s vast record collection. My early influences were The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Mountain, The Allman Brothers, Bob Dylan, Lou Reed and the San Francisco scene. Having a love for the bass I learned the notes and a few scales and began emulating some of my favorite tunes. I figured out how to hook into my father’s receiver and get a really distorted fuzzy sound. I began to learn some Mountain songs and played until I blew up my father’s speakers; he was not amused. So I convinced my parents to UPS my uncle’s Fender Bassman and speaker cabinet. That became my amp all the way through high school.

While in junior high school I sent away for a mail order Les Paul copy and a fuzz box. I also bought a guitar book and began learning the basics. I began playing bass in some garage bands and soon took over the guitar position because I could play Zeppelin tunes. In high school, I started to listen to hard rock; bands like Judas Priest, UFO, Iron Maiden, and Van Halen and began practicing a minimum of 2 hours a day. Then, I met Chris DeGarmo and the two of us played in several garage bands, most notably Joker and Crossfire.
After high school, I attended the Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle where my studies included jazz and classical music, and where I learned to appreciate ethnic and improvisational music. Chris and I then met Scott Rockenfield and Eddie Jackson, and began collaborating on original music as well as some heavy cover tunes. We played some parties and roller rinks with different singers calling ourselves The Mob, but was not satisfied with that direction. We then met Geoff Tate, and asked if he would be interested in recording a demo of some original tunes. In the late summer of 1982 we recorded four songs during the graveyard hours at Triad Studios in Redmond, WA. We played the tape for the owner of Easy Street Records and agreed to have the tape sent to various sources. A magazine in the UK called Kerrang! gave us a great review and the phone calls started coming. We decided to press a small amount of EPs on our own label, called 206 Records. We then signed a deal with Harris Management, quit our day jobs and changed the name of the band to Queensrÿche. The rest is just a work in progress…

For more info on Michael check out:
http://queensryche.com
http://michaelwilton.com
http://soulbender.com
http://myspace.com/michaelwilton
http://myspace.com/soulbender
http://myspace.com/queensryche
http://myspace.com/whipwear

To hear Michael’s music click the links below:
MUSIC:
“Three Towers” – Soulbender

VIDEO:
Michael Wilton at the Krank booth, NAMM 2010

Michael Wilton interview, NAMM 2010