The Tone Lounge Podcast

In this episode, Frank and Jonathan are looking back at what happened in the last 3 months since they recorded the previous episode of the Tone Lounge Podcast. They talk about some current trends, some NAMM Show impressions, simplifying gear setups and how to silence your singlecoil guitar. If you're currently looking to purchase new gear and you're situated in Europe, we would appreciate...

In this episode, Frank and Jonathan are talking with Steve Dennis, Founder and CEO of FX Pedal Planet Online, who started his journey with a pedal-related Facebook group and later started his own pedal retail business, which has seen very positive growth, despite the ongoing downtrends in the MI industry. He explains his view on the state of the industry, his business philosophy and talks about so...

In this episode, Frank and Jonathan have the pleasure to Dave Friedman, founder, designer and CEO at Friedman Amplification. They talk about his early years in the business, when he started to learn his craft and where, how he started Friedman Amps (and under which initial name), plus some stories of artists he worked with, modding or making amps for them or building their entire rig, so they can...

In this episode, Frank and Jonathan are talking about what went down at Guitar Summit this year, they're diving into why (probably) the recent lawsuit between Behringer and Bill Finnegan was settled and talk about the guitar innovator Ken Parker, who passed away at age 73.If you are currently looking for gear and would like to support us making the podcast, consider making your purchase at Tho...

We were lucky enough to organise a meeting with the amazing guitarist Philip Sayce during our visit at  @guitarsummit  2025 last weekend. Philip Sayce is a Welsh-born Canadian guitar player and band leader, who has played with artists like Jeff Healey and Melissa Etheridge (just to name a few) and gained a reputation for his expressive and soulful playing. You can tell what his influences are by l...

In this episode, Frank and Jonathan are talking about Guitar Summit 2025, which is taking place this weekend. They are looking at the event's schedule, its history, attending artists and many other things. Frank is also going to attend the show and will shoot lots of footage for the channel. If you are currently looking for gear and would like to support us making the podcast, consider making...

In this episode, Frank and Jonathan are looking at a few recent product releases, some of them definitely in the ballpark of "WTF"!They also talk about Sting being sued by his former bandmates and finally draw the two lucky winners of the pedal giveaway! If you are currently looking for gear and would like to support us making the podcast, consider making your purchase at Thomann through the follo...

In this episode, Frank and Jonathan get together again after taking a little summer break and share some insights on what they've been doing, reflect a little on their last episode with Danish Pete and also talk about some current projects and quests. If you are currently looking for gear and would like to support us making the podcast, consider making your purchase at Thomann through the followin...

In this episode, Frank and Jonathan have the great pleasure to chat with "Danish Pete" who is arguably one of the most prominent faces in Guitar Youtube land. He recently took a step back from his work with the Anderton's video team to reflect, refresh and look for new ways to create content and interact with people. Pete is going to tell us what he likes about being an influencer and why he alway...

In this episode, Frank and Jonathan are looking at some recent product releases, they talk about two major European MI retailers going out of business and they also discuss the heated controversy around social media guitarist Giacomo Turra, who built his social media career by copying other musician's arrangements without giving either credit or royalties...and it gets much worse! If you are curre...

In this episode, Frank and Jonathan have the pleasure to talk to Scott Marquart from Stringjoy LLC. Stringjoy makes very high-quality guitar strings and have gained quite a reputation over the years. They talk about the company's beginnings and how they slowly scaled up the business. Guitar strings are such a daily thing and no one seems to be looking deeper into what it takes to manufacture t...

In this episode, Frank and Jonathan have the pleasure to talk to Emilee Capogni, a California-based content creator who is mostly known for her bass guitar related content on Instagram and has gained a great reputation over the past years. They talk about her history in music, education, playing in bands, NAMM shows, how to deal with social media and its negative sides and much more. If you are cu...

In this episode, Frank and Jonathan have the pleasure to talk to Ryan Colgan, who is also known as "The Tone Geek" and runs a website called thetonegeek.com, which is an amazing resource for all things related to John Mayer and his gear collection. Ryan talks about why he started to get obsessed with this topic and also why he decided to share his knowledge. His site also runs a shop, where he sel...

In this episode, Frank and Jonathan talk about gear youtubers and their pricing & how it affects which companies can be effective with marketing via Youtube. They also take a moment to appreciate that Behringer continues to not give a sh** about naming their copy of a pedal exactly like the original. If you are currently looking for gear and would like to support us making the podcast, conside...

In this episode, Frank and Jonathan explore the differences between some of the original pedal inventors and what builders in this day and age are coming up with. They also talk about the endless copy/repeat behavior of some companies, how others try to hide the fact that they just modded an original unit and why digital is way harder to clone. If you are currently looking for gear and would like...

In this guest episode, Frank and Jonathan talk to Roman from Shnobel Tone whose Daily Driver has gained a lot of overdrive pedal fans since its first release in early 2020. Although the pedal market has been even more saturated since the pandemic, Shnobel Tone has seen constant growth and managed to keep making pedals the traditional way. If you are currently looking for gear and would like to sup...

In this episode, Frank and Jonathan talk about the current state of the MI industry, only this time they also pull hard numbers out of two Music Trades issues that take a look at 2023 international MI business and the Q2 trend of the US market. If you are currently looking for gear and would like to support us making the podcast, consider making your purchase at Thomann through the following affil...

In this very first news episode, Frank and Jonathan talk about the bankruptcy of Fernandes Guitars, the new Nano Cortex from Neural DSP, more expensive Gibson limited editions and if it really matters where guitars are made. If you are currently looking for gear and would like to support us making the podcast, consider making your purchase at Thomann through the following affiliate links: https://...

After a long summer break (and due to lots of changes), Frank and Jonathan are back with another episode of the Tone Lounge Podcast. They're catching up on what happened in the meantime and give some insights on the plans for future episodes. If you are currently looking for gear and would like to support us making the podcast, consider making your purchase at Thomann through the following affilia...

In this episode, Frank and Jonathan are talking with Henning Pauly aka HP42, who is a long-standing gear Youtuber, who has been doing this since 2012. He is also very open and honest about controversial topics, has been transparent about the ways of the MI industry and likes cracking jokes, whenever he can. If you are currently looking for gear and would like to support us making the podcast, cons...

In this episode, Frank and Jonathan talk about some recent news items, among them is the new Marshall Celestion 100, the Jeff Beck Tribute Les Paul and how Brexit affects small guitar builders in the UK with their EU and international sales. Then they take one of the viewer suggestions from Antoine, who wanted to get their take on pedalboard versus a modeler, such as the FM9, Helix or Neural DSP Q...

In this episode, Frank and Jonathan talk about the history and the current state of the Marshall brand, also due to a recent interview with their new CEO, Jeremy de Maillard. They take a trip down history lane, explore the beginnings and talk in depth about why the company is not at the forefront of the amp market anymore. If you are currently looking for gear and would like to support us making t...

In this episode, Frank and Jonathan talk about an ongoing topic around gear youtubers and honesty. Ryan Bruce (aka Fluff) and Henning Pauly have recently released videos about that. Ryan removed his video after the comment section heated up with lots of negative feedback. Where does the lack of trust come from? Why are many gear youtubers always being attacked by viewers? We're trying to find...

In this episode, Frank and Jonathan look at some recent releases, but mainly speak about the current state of MI retail, especially taking into account that Sam Ash Music has recently files for Chapter 11 and will close all of their stores after being in business for 100 years. How did that happen? How many more industry giants are going away in the near future? Things aren't great right now!...

DISCLAIMER: Thanks to Riverside we had a lot of technical issues with the editing of this video. Small parts of the conversation are missing, but we tried out best to make it work for you. In this episode, Frank and Jonathan go over some current news out of the MI industry, such as new gear releases and interesting statements from influential CEOs of large retailer chains. :) If you are currently...