Ryan ‘Fluff’ Bruce Gets Nostalgic in New ‘Peavey Monitor’ Podcast Episode

For gearheads who enjoy a good story, Peavey Electronics® presents a new episode of the “Peavey Monitor” podcast featuring Ryan “Fluff” Bruce. On this episode, the Seattle-based YouTuber, producer, and self-declared “super-nerdy guitar player” geeks out with podcast host Fred Poole, General Manager of North American Sales and Product Development at Peavey Electronics. For fans of all things relating to amps, guitars, and pedals, this is one episode that can’t be missed.

Peavey Electronics continues to put working musicians at the heart of both new products Powered by Peavey™ and new content. Episode 2 captures that focus, as Fluff is both a gear guru and lead guitarist of the newly signed heavy metal band Dragged Under (Mascot Label Group). When he’s not shredding with the best amp/speaker configurations on earth, Fluff enjoys talking up new products and time-tested solutions on his YouTube channel, “Riffs, Beards and Gear.” The concept behind the channel is simple, according to Fluff: educate and have fun while doing it. The channel now consists of several different segments, such as the ever-popular FAQ Monday series, Beard Files, Riff Wars, Vlogs, Cool Gear Alerts and more. He has gained hundreds of thousands of subscribers and followers on YouTube and Instagram, driving millions of views.

Fluff admits that his social media platform grew into something much larger than he could have ever expected. About a decade ago, he recorded a YouTube video as an experiment to see how far he could push his learning experience in the home recording world. Shortly after, while perusing a guitar forum online, he encountered guitarists who were arguing about different microphones without actually owning them. Of course Fluff actually owned the mics, so he recorded and shared a comparison video. To his amazement, the video quickly garnered 100 views. Seeing an opportunity to leverage his greatest passions, Fluff launched into the world of YouTube product reviews. He learned how to properly shoot, edit, and record video, all while tracking audio and honing his guitar skills. His authentic personality and sense of humor complement his high-quality productions, making the content addicting for the audience.

Meanwhile Fluff’s subject knowledge has earned the attention of the industry elite, recently culminating in an invitation to join Tom Morello’s Guitar Revolution camp as a course instructor in social media. For Fluff, it’s been quite the journey for a kid who started out in garage bands with a setup of six Peavey Rage® amps and a splitter his dad built.

In another story, Fluff recounts the first time he heard a Peavey combo amp at a music shop where he took guitar lessons. “It was the greatest sound I’d ever heard in my life,” he recalled. “Everyone was huddled around this combo, and they couldn’t believe how much gain this amplifier had.”

During the episode, Fred Poole supports Fluff’s product chronology with engineering know-how, including an explanation of the proprietary design behind the amp that eventually evolved into the Peavey 6505 Series. Both Fred and Fluff agree that the 6505 is the driving force behind the greatest metal albums.

Fred and Fluff discuss other recent Peavey innovations, like the next-evolution invective™.120 head. For Fluff, the invective presented the sonic bridge between old and new. It has the classic tonal characteristics of the legendary Peavey metal amps but with modern features, like a noise gate, along with a nice boost and clean channel. He’s also a big fan of the invective.MH Mini Amp Head, which packs plenty of gain in a gig-friendly format.

“Peavey is still making gear for the working musician. That’s been our philosophy forever,” Fred added. “We try to pay attention to the people out there who are gigging musicians. We’re always mindful of making great gear at a reasonable price.”

The interview wraps up with Fluff turning the tables and asking Fred for a preview of upcoming Peavey gear. Definitely don’t miss this episode for some behind-the-scenes teasers.

“Peavey Monitor” is available on most podcast platforms. To access the podcast, visit your preferred listening channel or https://anchor.fm/peavey.