Chasing Tone - Guitar Podcast About Gear, Effects, Amps and Tone

Wampler Pedals
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Welcome to the Chasing Tone Podcast! Join Brian Wampler, Blake Wyland, Richard Oliver, and a variety of special guests as they dive into the world of guitars, pedals, amps, and other guitar gear. From answering your burning questions to discussing bands, gigs, and the latest trends in the guitar world, we cover it all. Expect plenty of off-topic banter and a behind-the-scenes look at our work at Wampler Pedals. If you enjoy guitar podcasts that feel like hanging out with your musician friends, you'll love Chasing Tone.

  1. 2d ago

    634 - Marcus King melting faces, the great acoustic guitar rabbit hole, and Ola Englund's Pedalhead preview

    Brian, Blake, and Richard are back for Episode 634 of the Chasing Tone Podcast - Marcus King melting faces, the great acoustic guitar rabbit hole, and Ola Englund's Pedalhead preview Brian's hair may have entered a new era, so naturally the guys workshop his new mullet before anyone's allowed near a guitar. Once they get there, Richard is buzzing about Atomic Habitz at the Newport Jazz Festival - how could you not love Marcus King ripping through Funkadelic's "Red Hot Mama?" Turns out the kids really are gonna be alright.  Then it's down the acoustic rabbit hole: jangly Taylors, warm Gibsons, giant SJ-200s, and why buying an acoustic is a far more personal affair than grabbing a Strat online - though Richard's happy with his Acoustasonic Jazzmaster for now. His new, rockier, punkier band has also left him with an actual blister on his picking finger from blasting Green Day's "Basket Case" at 170-plus BPM, which of course means a proper chat about Helter Skelter, Ringo's blisters, and whether that little band from the UK ever amounted to much. Gear-wise, Ola Englund's tasty preview of the Pedalhead has everyone chomping at the bit, the new ToneX board gets a bigger screen, and there is Bullshine talk. Richard also somehow bends his high E clean over the pickup, and the eternal "how many guitars do you take to a gig" debate rages on. Brian gives us his signature hotdog eating impersonation.  The demented Tele, your custard is our pudding, 50p Oreos, Stevie Wonder, Shotguns fired...it's all in this week's Chasing Tone! We are on Patreon now too! Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/chasingtonepodcast) Courses and DIY mods: https://www.bluesguitarmethod.com https://www.betterguitartone.com https://www.wamplerdiy.com https://www.guitarpedalcourse.com Check out Oliver Effects: https://oliverfx.co.uk Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@chasingtonepodcast Find us at: https://www.wamplerpedals.com/ https://www.instagram.com/WamplerPedals/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/wamplerfanpage/ Support the show

  2. Sep 2

    633 - Nashville Bound: Boot Scootin' Boogie, Musical Deepfakes, and Eternal Glitter

    Brian, Blake, and Richard are back for Episode 633 of the Chasing Tone Podcast - Nashville Bound: Brooks and Dunn, Musical Deepfakes and Eternal Glitter   Brian is Nashville-bound to record his debut album, hang out at a Brooks and Dunn rehearsal, but the big question is whether he can get through it without kicking over another microphone (like he did with Brad Paisley). Before he sets off, the guys get into AI deepfakes, after a friend cloned Brian into saying unspeakable things about country music. That leads into discussion of a new guitar innovation - a guitar with an integrated fold-out kickstand - clever engineering, or a solution in search of a problem? Richard then confesses that he let Gemini set up ten presets on his floor modeler and came away a little shaken by how good the results were, which reopens the big question of whether outsourcing your tone quietly kills the fun of chasing it. The guys look at accessible guitars with Braille-friendly controls, Brian shows off a fake Marshall he insists on calling a "farshall," and Richard makes the case for the seatbelt guitar strap that 100% needs to exist. Also Brian is plagued by eternal glitter that still haunts his garage six years on. Pedal Coin, the Tupac case, GTA 6, cowboy boots on Broadway, Married with Children reruns, the windiest gig ever played...it's all in this week's Chasing Tone! We are on Patreon now too! Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/chasingtonepodcast) Courses and DIY mods: https://www.bluesguitarmethod.com https://www.betterguitartone.com https://www.wamplerdiy.com https://www.guitarpedalcourse.com Check out Oliver Effects: https://oliverfx.co.uk Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@chasingtonepodcast Find us at: https://www.wamplerpedals.com/ https://www.instagram.com/WamplerPedals/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/wamplerfanpage/ Support the show

  3. Aug 28

    632 - Brian gets attacked by a country legend, bats in the belfry, and a sad farewell

    Brian, Blake, and Richard are back for Episode 632 of the Chasing Tone Podcast - Brian gets attacked by a country legend, bats in the belfry, and a sad farewell Blake returns from the Fretboard Summit in Chicago which may have become his favorite city. He has a suprise but very welcome Chris Martin history lesson and a Mexican-Japanese omakase he can't stop thinking about, which somehow leads to skateboard-wheel pedal toppers and the world's longest string. Then Brian takes one on the forehead when a Garth Brooks water bottle finds its mark from twenty feet. The guys also pause as news breaks about the passing of Dolly Parton which genuinely shocks the guys and they struggle for words. Richard shares a couple of goosebump moments including an out-of-the-blue call from a guitarist who played on the first Bowie single he ever bought, and a lovely tale of David Gilmour personally helping hunt for lost gear at an eclipse-watching party. There's plenty more to get through, too. Richard reckons he has bats living in his chimney, JHS have shrunk the Andy Timmons into a curious new mini enclosure, and King Gizzard have turned up with an amp destroyer of a pedal. The guys also tease a Friedman release. Brian's Yoghurt Factory, The World's shortest string, Weeks versus days, RIP Frank Beard, Mini pedals...it's all in this week's Chasing Tone! We are on Patreon now too! Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/chasingtonepodcast) Courses and DIY mods: https://www.bluesguitarmethod.com https://www.betterguitartone.com https://www.wamplerdiy.com https://www.guitarpedalcourse.com Check out Oliver Effects: https://oliverfx.co.uk Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@chasingtonepodcast Find us at: https://www.wamplerpedals.com/ https://www.instagram.com/WamplerPedals/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/wamplerfanpage/ Support the show

  4. Aug 20

    631 - The cheat code for tonechasers and Brian gets heated and drops an f-bomb

    Brian and Richard are back for Episode 631 of the Chasing Tone Podcast - The cheat code for tonechasers and Brian get's heated and drops an f-bomb With Blake away eating pizza at the Fretboard Summit, Brian and Richard are left holding the baby, and swear they won't open with AI...yeah, right....Richard professes that a possibly-AI peppered piano playlist pervaded his daughter's wedding (say that after a couple of ales), and Brian floats a theory about record labels, capitalism and the Dark Side of the Pop Tart.  From the enshittification of everything to personalized audio recommendations, the guys land on the big question: if a machine just hands you Gilmour's tone from a single prompt, have you cheated the whole game? This somehow turns into a conversation about Brian's very specific coffee tastes. Brian also swears as he becomes heated and blows a gasket.  Richard shares a genuine "they're using my stuff" moment as his Fuzz pedal gets complements from a band that Richard covers in his own band and he also discovers a piece of hardware that Brian needs to own. The Illuminati, self-leveling frets, a Bass VI worth selling a kidney for, and the reason Brian should never set up his own guitar...it's all in this week's Chasing Tone! We are on Patreon now too! Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/chasingtonepodcast) Courses and DIY mods: https://www.bluesguitarmethod.com https://www.betterguitartone.com https://www.wamplerdiy.com https://www.guitarpedalcourse.com Check out Oliver Effects: https://oliverfx.co.uk Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@chasingtonepodcast Find us at: https://www.wamplerpedals.com/ https://www.instagram.com/WamplerPedals/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/wamplerfanpage/ Support the show

  5. Aug 13

    630 - Why do some people fake playing guitar, AI stupidity, and That Pedal Show made us do it

    Brian, Blake, and Richard are back for Episode 630 of the Chasing Tone Podcast - Why do some people fake playing guitar, AI stupidity, and That Pedal Show made us do it The heat is on, Brian may or may not have melted into a puddle of tiny miniature Brians, and the guys are wrestling with the big question: is AI going to save music or just set the whole planet on fire a bit faster? In gear terms it all loops back to captures: NAM A2 models are coming to affordable floor modelers, which is wonderful news...just please don't buy a boutique pedal, capture it, and send it back. It's on the street... Richard unveils his new guiding philosophy, the Rule of Tens - everything makes you ten times less than you hoped and takes ten times longer than you feared - survives his very first return with all the grace of a wounded schoolboy, and reminds everyone that this industry is pure, unglamorous hustle. Meanwhile Keeley has dropped a new tube-based pedal - and yes, it sold out before Blake could get his wallet out. Elsewhere, it is not a great week to own a YouTube channel. Friend of the show Henning Pauly got hacked and watched his entire channel vanish into a live crypto webinar, which sparks a proper rant about why the platforms that hand out shiny silver plaques cannot be bothered to protect the creators who earn them... And then there is the D'Addario AI debacle: after denying it, then producing receipts, they have now admitted the guitars in that video were faked with Suno. Skynet 3000, Justice for HP42, Tube-Based Vapes, Richard's Withered Plums, Buy It, Capture It, Send It Back...it's all in this week's Chasing Tone! We are on Patreon now too! Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/chasingtonepodcast) Courses and DIY mods: https://www.bluesguitarmethod.com https://www.betterguitartone.com https://www.wamplerdiy.com https://www.guitarpedalcourse.com Check out Oliver Effects: https://oliverfx.co.uk Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@chasingtonepodcast Find us at: https://www.wamplerpedals.com/ https://www.instagram.com/WamplerPedals/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/wamplerfanpage/ Support the show

  6. Aug 5

    629 - Oh, it's just another Tube Screamer, and do vintage parts make a difference or do we just want to believe in magic?

    Brian, Blake, and Richard are back for Episode 629 of the Chasing Tone Podcast - Oh, it's just another Tube Screamer, and do vintage parts make a difference or do we just want to believe in magic? Blake opens up with a traffic report before the guys jump into a most luciferous episode about pedal schematic similarities. The guys somehow manage a full ten minutes on nothing but pedals and schematics before anyone checks they're on the right podcast. Brian explains how one humble skeleton - your 808, your OD-1, your DOD 250 - can be filtered into a fuzz, a distortion or very nearly anything in the dirt realm, while Richard tinkers with pedal number two for Oliver FX.  This leads straight to the vintage-versus-modern-components hill Richard is prepared to die on, well maybe, a cautionary tale about the '69(ish) fuzz face he sold for peanuts, and exactly why germanium is still a nightmare to build with.  It was Blake's birthday, which somehow means two boxes of Katz's pastrami, a proposed rebrand to Chasing Food, and a heartfelt happy birthday from Brian that lands with the opposite of the intended effect. Trigger warning - he does a Marilyn Monroe impersonation. The D'Addario AI saga finally gets a verdict, Richard coins the snark reflex, and NAM turns up everywhere... Random string packs, the great vinyl-versus-CD debate, desk maxing, a fill-it-yourself color-changing guitar, and one very unlucky arrested guitarist...it's all in this week's Chasing Tone! We are on Patreon now too! Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/chasingtonepodcast) Courses and DIY mods: https://www.bluesguitarmethod.com https://www.betterguitartone.com https://www.wamplerdiy.com https://www.guitarpedalcourse.com Check out Oliver Effects: https://oliverfx.co.uk Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@chasingtonepodcast Find us at: https://www.wamplerpedals.com/ https://www.instagram.com/WamplerPedals/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/wamplerfanpage/ Support the show

  7. Jul 29

    628 - AI ad scandals, Hot pink Les Pauls, and silent camping confessions

    Brian, Blake, and Richard are back for Episode 628 of the Chasing Tone Podcast - AI ad scandals, Hot pink Les Pauls, and silent camping confessions   A big manufacturer may have landed themselves in hot water by allegedly using AI-generated music in an ad, and the guys weigh in on whether they actually did or whether the internet jumped the gun. This leads to a broader conversation about the commoditization of creative work - from vinyl to Kindle to AI - and Richard makes a bold prediction about the future value of software. He is probably wrong as he is a raging buffoon.  The Billy Joe Armstrong Les Paul Jr has arrived in what Richard insists is hot pink and Brian would quite like to turn into a Les Paul Standard. Richard has been rediscovering his P90 Telecaster and is loving life in drop tuning, while Blake claims ownership of Drop Q. The guys take a nostalgic trip through spirit duplicators, Spy vs Spy, Outrun soundtracks, and the lost art of the music fanzine before debating whether Brian should launch a Bob Ross-style breadboarding channel.   Brian confesses to watching silent camping videos before bed, Blake likes horror movies, and Richard watches people paint. The G-Wagon business death indicator is established as peer-reviewed science, and the golden rule of luxury cars is laid down: if you can't afford two, you can't afford one. Unless it's pedals, in which case borrow money and buy three. Spirit Duplicators, The Ecosystem Trap, Happy Little Op Amps, Shlinkedin Shminkedin, Out Run... it's all in this week's Chasing Tone! We are on Patreon now too! Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/chasingtonepodcast) Courses and DIY mods: https://www.bluesguitarmethod.com https://www.betterguitartone.com https://www.wamplerdiy.com https://www.guitarpedalcourse.com Check out Oliver Effects: https://oliverfx.co.uk Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@chasingtonepodcast Find us at: https://www.wamplerpedals.com/ https://www.instagram.com/WamplerPedals/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/wamplerfanpage/ Support the show

  8. Jul 22

    627 - Experimental backing tracks, Fender vs the entire planet, and robot rock stars

    Brian, Blake, and Richard are back for Episode 627 of the Chasing Tone Podcast - Experimental backing tracks, Fender vs the entire planet, and robot rock stars Brian has been experimenting in his secret laboratory and reveals that AI-generated backing tracks are getting scarily good. The guys explore how far this technology has come and their conclusions may surprise you. This leads to a deep and heartfelt conversation about why playing music matters, why it can never truly be replaced by technology, and whether robot rock stars performing on stage could actually become a thing. There are also some sad farewells to Jennifer Finch of L7 and Wayne Charvel, who both passed away. Brian has been renovating his studio with LED-lit pedal shelves and proper sound panels, and he has some new Bigler pickups to try. Meanwhile, the Fender legal saga has somehow gotten even worse - they're now going after Thomann, Yamaha, and an Australian secondhand guitar retailer. The guys are genuinely baffled and discuss whether Fender have managed to pull off the most spectacular act of brand self-destruction in guitar history. Richard has a PRS-shaped solution. The Rolling Stones have a new album out and Richard highly recommends it, Anthrax have a cracking new single, and the World Cup halftime show featured Madonna flanked by two footballing legends dressed as Teletubbies. Richard reveals that an Iron Maiden guitarist was fired for listening to the Eagles on the tour bus, and the guys debate the merits of mystery pedal boxes. Headstock Socks, The Defenderiser, Eastern European Clown Music, Brad Womp, Breaking the Fourth Wind...it's all in this week's Chasing Tone! We are on Patreon now too! Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/chasingtonepodcast) Courses and DIY mods: https://www.bluesguitarmethod.com https://www.betterguitartone.com https://www.wamplerdiy.com https://www.guitarpedalcourse.com Check out Oliver Effects: https://oliverfx.co.uk Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@chasingtonepodcast Find us at: https://www.wamplerpedals.com/ https://www.instagram.com/WamplerPedals/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/wamplerfanpage/ Support the show

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About

Welcome to the Chasing Tone Podcast! Join Brian Wampler, Blake Wyland, Richard Oliver, and a variety of special guests as they dive into the world of guitars, pedals, amps, and other guitar gear. From answering your burning questions to discussing bands, gigs, and the latest trends in the guitar world, we cover it all. Expect plenty of off-topic banter and a behind-the-scenes look at our work at Wampler Pedals. If you enjoy guitar podcasts that feel like hanging out with your musician friends, you'll love Chasing Tone.

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