bob hopkins

Currently I design products for a new company called ZT Amplifiers in Berkeley. ZT is a startup that develops and markets guitar amplifiers for the exploding Chinese music culture, and anybody else that wants a extremely cool, really small and insanely loud guitar amp......................................I grew up in Chicago and Cleveland and started playing guitar at 8 years old, trying to emulate his idol Mark Farner of Grand Funk, much to his parents dismay. Managing to graduate from high school he then miraculously got a degree in Industrial Design at Univ. of Cincinnati....................................I played in bands from jr. high thru college. He finally started recording his songs after moving to Mississippi (the deep deep south) to work as the sole industrial designer for a large pro audio manufacturer. Robodrum was born when he bought a Yamaha RX-5 and an Emu SP1200, since no decent drummers were available that were interested in playing twisted music uncommon in that neck of the woods. Eventually a drummer came on board and the power trio Robodrum played many smoky dive bars in central Mississippi. 4 track demos still exist of all the songs written in the fertile 1990 – 1995 period. One other positive aspect of his little southern detour (8 years) was that he soaked up Mississippi delta blues thru osmosis, which did wonders for his guitar playing.................................................Fort unately, I got fired from his job in Mississippi in ‘95, and landed an Industrial Design gig at a cool hifi speaker manufacturer in Benicia, CA called NHT. Bob played in a few bands in the SF bay area right from the start. Continuing to improve his recording chops, he produced his first full length record for the band Mobius Donut.......................................Among other current projects, plays guitar and writes songs with The Particles, an Oakland based rock band.........................................Gear list (lust): Ibanez RG 2228 Prestige 8 string Ibanez S and RG Series 7 strings 1957 Reissue (US Made) Fender Stratocaster Peavey (Frankenstein) Adrian Vandenburg model with custom boob motif headstock Mesa Triaxis Preamp Peavey Classic 50/50 tube power amp TC Electronics G Major Tone Tubby 412 cab with hemp cones Marshall JCM 800 412 Slant cab Jack Daniels and Snyders of Hanover Hard PretzelsAmp heads I also have: Line 6 Duoverb, Peavey 5150 ll, Kustom ’73 Coup