Zakk Wylde Leaves Gibson and Marshall to Start His Own Company, Wylde Audio

A whole lotta siqq shit comes outta the annual NAMM convention, but you don’t expect a whole lot of big surprises. Like, yeah, Ibanez are definitely gonna unveil some sweet new models and endorsements, but they’re probably not gonna unveil a guitar that also acts as a smartphone and portable shower. Obviously that’s a dumb example, but hopefully you get my meaning.

So this is big, big news, AND it’s surprising: Gear Gods reports that after, like, a gajillion years of being endorsed by Gibson and Marshall, Zakk Wylde has launched his own company, Wylde Audio, “which will build his own line of guitars, amps, and anything else related to music and sound production.”

Kind of amazingly, Wylde is one of only two metal musicians I can think of who have ever tried something like this — the other being Intronaut’s Sacha Dunable. I love Intronaut and Sacha, and recognize that his company is quite different from Wylde Audio (all Dunable Guitars are custom jobs made by Sacha himself), but Zakk is obviously far more well-known than Sacha. It’ll be interesting to see a) if the company ends up being profitable, and b) if it starts a trend of other guitar heroes striking out on their own. This isn’t something that just any metal guitarist could attempt, but for big names like Zakk that have a built-in cult of worshippers, it could be viable.

Gear Gods caught up Wylde during the convention and got him to discuss Wylde Audio and offer up a preview of the goods. Check it out below. And don’t forget to head over to Gear Gods for more great coverage of NAMM 2015!