German based musician Thomas Blog has been prominent in the German and international music scene for quite some years. In 1997 he was awarded “Best German Rock-Pop guitarist. In 2004, on the 50th birthday of the Fender Stratocaster, Thomas was crowned the “Strat King of Europe” when he won a European wide competition.
He’s been responsible for jingles (f.e. the top German sports show “Das Aktuelle Sportstudio” (ZDF), film and TV series soundtracks (“Die Oase” (The oasis), a big city eco- thriller, “Hart an der Grenze” (On the edge), both by ARD). He as well played with international greats like Stewart Copeland, Don Airey, Mel Gaynor, Percy Sledge, Bobby Kimball or Hazel O’ Connor, German acts like Purple Schulz, actor/singer Uwe Ochsenknecht, the Rainbirds, Bastiaan Ragas, No Angels, Planet Claire or Tic Tac Toe. With Tic Tac Toe, Thomas played to over 100,000 people when his band was the support act for a Michael Jackson tour.
Thomas has released 4 Studio CDs: “The Beauty of Simplicity”, “Electric Gallery” , “21st century guitar” and Soul & Pepper”- poppy catchy melodies meet here the typical raunchy, bluesy rocking sound of his Stratocaster.
Thomas was a sound designer for Hughes and Kettner for 27 years, which gave him the knowledge and drive to create his own products. In 2014 he founded his own company BluGuitar releasing his award winning first amplifier: the BluGuitar AMP1. Thomas has since followed up with the ‘Mercury and ‘Iridium’ versions of the BluGuitar Amp1 and is currently perfecting the AmpX.
Australian Musician editor Greg Phillips recently interviewed digital amp genius Thomas Blug (BluGuitar) as part of NAMM’s Oral History Project. NAMM has kindly granted us permission to create an Australian Musician edit.
BluGuitar products are distributed in Australia by EGM.net.au
NAMM Oral History Project: https://www.namm.org/library/oral-history