Wilco get experimental with ZT Lunchbox amps

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Alt-rock heroes draft in micro-amps for Sonic Sound Fest

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These tiny boxes give out 200 watts of power.
These tiny boxes give out 200 watts of power.

ZT Lunchbox amp and extension cab

Nels Cline and Jeff Tweedy of Chicago alt-rockers Wilco © Kelly A. Swift/Retna Ltd./Corbis

Here at MusicRadar we love our alt-rock, we love cutting-edge gear and we love compact, space-saving solutions; but it's only on very rare occasions that we get to combine our affection for all three.

Well, today is one of those occasions. Indie-rock heroes Wilco have revealed that they are to use ZT Amplifiers' Lunchbox amps to provide sound for their Solid Sound Festival in Massachusetts next month.

Released in 2009 the Lunchbox amps are tiny-but-noisy, ultra-compact, high-output amps designed to give guitarist enough power to play decent sized gigs while being small enough to carry around with the minimum of hassle.

The Chicago-based band's frontman Jeff Tweedy and guitarist Nels Cline are both big supporters of these micro-amps and have asked ZT to supply a number of the amps to power the Wilco-curated festival this August.

The Solid Sound Festival will feature performances from Wilco along with appearances from all Wilco members' side-project and many other music, comedy and art performers.

However, the exhibit that sounds most intriguing to us is Nels Cline's Sonic Sound Stompbox Station, an interactive installation allowing festival goers to experiment with a cacophony of stompboxes.

"The ZT amps will be in the centre of as many as five circles of effects pedals for amplification," explains Cline, "pedals which the participant/concert-goer can manipulate and which basically play each other."

The festival will run between 13-15th of August at the MASS MoCA contemporary art museum in North Adams, Massachusetts. For more info visit their official site.

To read more on the Lunchbox amp series visit ZT Amplifiers.

Si Truss

I'm the Managing Editor of Music Technology at MusicRadar and former Editor-in-Chief of Future Music, Computer Music and Electronic Musician. I've been messing around with music tech in various forms for over two decades. I've also spent the last 10 years forgetting how to play guitar. Find me in the chillout room at raves complaining that it's past my bedtime.