GEAR USED: Chadwick, Nineteen80, Rev Cab, Nineteen80 cab, Rev 2×12 cab

This 28-year-old Nashville native has over a decade’s worth of professional guitar work under his belt. Playing locally in rock and heavy metal bands since the age of 15, Driver began cutting his teeth in clubs and basements around Music City. By 17, he was an official road-dog, playing several radio tours across the nation with a country artist on RCA Records.

The fall of 2000 saw Driver in Tempe, Arizona at Arizona State University. Far removed from the verdant and laid back surroundings of the South, Driver found desert dwelling to be a welcome change and embraced his new locale. Over the next five years, an English Literature degree rode shotgun with a full on rock n’ roll way of life. In 2001, Driver co-founded Fallguy, a multi-faceted metal/hardcore outfit with moderate regional success (including two invitations to South-by-South West (SXSW), and opening slots for such heavy metal juggernauts as Hatebreed and Lamb of God). It was the Fallguy experience that sculpted Driver’s DIY attitude and thick skin needed to deal with the ruthless realities of life on the road.

Reading great novels, writing bad essays, cutting endless tracks, gigging around the southwest, all while maintaining a rigorous collegiate social life and getting into a healthy amount of trouble wasn’t enough for Driver at 22. In 2004, Driver joined the original crew of the fledgling Krank Amplification (an LLC based in Tempe specializing in high gain boutique guitar amps) stuffing chassis and cabinets full of tubes and speakers. Among Krank’s roster was the late “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott (legendary guitarist for Pantera). Already a hero of Driver’s, Dime also became a mentor to the aspiring guitar player. Driver’s time at Krank afforded him opportunities to mingle and jam with the “Guitar World” elite, and further cemented his fate as a professional musician.

In May of 2005, the diploma finally came and Driver returned to Nashville. He immediately started working at his father’s publishing company, Jody Williams Music, as catalog manager and song plugger. After a few months of hiring demo players and conducting pitch meetings, Driver was tapped by Eric Church, the highly celebrated rock infused writer/artist signed by Capitol Records, to play guitar in his road band. Also at that time, Driver’s father, Jody Williams, accepted the position of Vice President of writer and publisher relations at BMI Nashville. It was then that Driver took on both the responsibilities of running a full roster publishing company as well as being Eric’s “country-core” sideman.

About the time that the Jody Williams Music catalog sold, Driver’s road schedule was getting frantic. The Eric Church Band (or the ECB) toured relentlessly for the next five years, unleashing their rock-fueled performances to packed houses nationwide, and leaving sweat and whiskey-soaked stages in their wake. Tours with country chart toppers such as Brad Paisley and Rascal Flatts, wild 100+ degree festivals with renegade southern rock giants like Hank Jr. and Lynyrd Skynyrd, and opening sold out arena shows for Rock n’ Roll Hall of Famer, Bob Seger have molded Driver into the seasoned pro that he has become.

Recently, Driver contributed numerous guitar tracks to Eric’s album “Carolina” (Capital 2009), and penned a cut on the album with Eric as a co-writer. In September 2008, Driver married his love, Lacey. They reside in Nashville.

Check out more on Driver at:
www.ericchurch.com
www.myspace.com/ericchurch
www.myspace.com/driveroftheericchurchband

VIDEO:

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

Finally the long awaited Nineteen80 head and cab will be available the second week of November and you can preorder it now!

The Ninteen80 has been our most anticipated new product and is arriving just in time to make it on that holiday wish list! The head ($1299 street price) and cab ($799 street price) will come standard with the black grill cloth, the tan and pepper will be an upgrade option ($35 for the head, $75 for the cab).

Call your local dealer to get on the preorder list or preorder online at the Krank webstore!

KRANK GEAR USED: Nineteen80, Nineteen80 Cab, Rev Cab, Chadwick

Mike Krompass (Mike K.) is an Canadian born songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist based in Los Angeles and Nashville. Most recently, Krompass’ has been in the studio Collaborating on David Archuleta’s upcoming record . Krompass’ music has been featured in television shows and major motion picture soundtracks & 13 different WB television shows syndicated worldwide. These shows include: Extra, Celebrity Justice, Elimidate, The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Ellen, The Sharon Osbourne Show, Judge Mathis, Street Smarts, High School Reunion, Charmed, Slam Ball, Steve Harvey’s Big Time, TBS Movie Extra, and many more.. Mike K. has been featured on many television shows such as: The Late Show with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Saturday Night Live, The Rosie O’Donnell Show, The Oscar Awards, Top of the Pops, and many others. Krompass has worked with chart-topping artists David Archuleta , Nelly Furtado, Natasha Beddingfield, Aly and AJ, Edwin ,Chris Kirkpatrick, Hayden Panettiere. Mike has also worked as a session guitar player for years on many releases.

Check out more on Mike at:
www.myspace.com/mikek
www.facebook.com/mikekmusic

VIDEO:

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.

Here’s a sneak peak at the newest Krank amps in the family, the highly anticipated Nineteen80 series!

Remember those awesome tones heard on so many classic albums of the early ’80’s? And how about all the mods done on the amps that paved the way for the high gain sounds of today? The Nineteen80 is a tip of the hat to all that! Yep that’s right, you’re seeing grill cloth, binding and chickenhead knobs on a Krank. Killer vintage looks make this amp a unique offering in the Krank line. But it’s once you fire one up that you really see what this amp is all about.

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!

The Nineteen80 series of amps will be available in the full size 80W head and 4×12 cab as well as in the Jr. versions in both 20W and 50W with 1×12’s in the same construction and speakers as the 4×12. And all versions will be available in both black and tan/pepper grill cloth.

Be looking for the Nineteen80 to be on the market the end of July/early August!

Here’s the head in black grill cloth without binding:

Here’s the first half stack at the Krank shop, in the tan/pepper:

UPDATED: 7-8-09
Here’s a little teaser of the lead tone on the amp courtesy of our producer friend Chuck Alkazian!
Nineteen80 lead tone example by producer Chuck Alkazian

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

KRANK GEAR USED: Rev Jr. Pro, Nineteen80. Rev Jr. Cab, Nineteen80 cab, Krankshaft, Distortus Maximus

To check out more on Patrick go to:
www.kelticcowboys.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Keltic-Cowboys/115066514582