Who Is Brad?
• Brad King—also known by his username King Guitar—was a key figure behind Rig-Talk and Tone Merchants. Around 2011, Cameron Amps was relaunched in collaboration with him, aiming to manufacture Mark Cameron’s custom-designed amps through professional channels.
⸻
His Involvement and the Falling Out
• Initial optimism (2011
Brad intended to bring Mark’s amp designs to market while handling production and finances. He emphasized transparency and firm control over manufacturing, with Mark approving prototypes but not physically handling amps or money.
• Public accountability (2013
Brad issued a public apology on the forums, calling the experience “the single biggest mistake I have ever made in the guitar business,” and admitted the project had veered off course. He pledged to fulfill backorders and work with trusted partners (like George Metropolis, Dave Friedman, and RJM) to get the delayed CCV amps built.
⸻
The Legal and Financial Turmoil
• Business breakdown: A key dispute arose around Mark’s insistence on keeping his “secret sauce” modifications—even concealing schematic details—while Brad wanted full access to create consistent PCB-based production. This fundamental disconnect caused the partnership to collapse.
• Financial loss: Brad reportedly lost over $20,000 trying to make the project viable.
⸻
Community Opinion on Brad’s Role
• Criticism: On Rig-Talk, community sentiment was mixed. One user questioned Brad’s honesty, saying, “Brad wasn’t telling the truth.”
• Frustration: A particularly scathing post summed up the outcome:
“Brad and co. made a deal with Mark… part of the profit would pay the 14 fucked. Mark vanished as usual… Brad and co. sold some amps and never sent a dime… In the end, we are the still fucked 14.”
• Broader take: While some appreciated Brad’s transparency and attempts to fix things, others saw him as either an enabler of repeated disappointment or simply caught in the fallout of Mark’s failures.
⸻
Summary: Brad’s Journey Through the Cameron Amp Debacle
In short, Brad King took what seemed like a principled and structured approach to bring Cameron’s designs to wider production—but the underlying clashes with Mark Cameron’s secrecy and unfulfilled obligations led to a breakdown. He ended up publicly owning the failure and trying with partners to make good, but ultimately, many people were left waiting.
Let me know if you’d like to explore related threads—like how Dave Friedman or George Metropolis were involved—or dig deeper into what happened to the unresolved orders.
Absolutely — Dave Friedman and George Metropoulos (often referred to as “George” on the forums) were both pulled into the Cameron/Brad saga in different ways, usually to stabilize things when Mark Cameron’s side went sideways. Here’s how they fit in:
⸻
🎛 Dave Friedman (Friedman Amps / Rack Systems)
• The Fixer Role:
When the Cameron/Brad relaunch started crumbling, Dave was one of the builders tapped to actually build the CCV amps that customers had paid for but never received.
• Brad’s 2013 public apology explicitly mentioned bringing Dave (along with George and RJM) in to handle final builds so that people could get their amps.
• Dave had credibility because of his reputation at Rack Systems and his already proven Friedman amp line.
• Why Dave?
• Mark Cameron had a long history of disappearing, leaving partial schematics, or insisting on “secret sauce” tweaks. Dave was seen as someone who could both reverse-engineer Mark’s designs and make them real, stable products.
• In many forum discussions, users describe Dave as having done much of the heavy lifting to try to “clean up” the mess.
• Community Perception:
People generally viewed Dave as a reliable adult in the room. He didn’t cause the problem but was asked to salvage it. His later success with Friedman Amps only reinforced the idea that he could do what Cameron couldn’t: make boutique Marshall-inspired amps at scale without drama.
⸻
🎛 George Metropoulos (Metropoulos Amplification)
• Technical Muscle:
George was brought in for his deep Marshall circuit knowledge and credibility in boutique builds. Like Dave, he was asked to help finish and deliver amps that were hanging in limbo.
• Specifically, George’s shop was mentioned as being involved in producing CCVs under Brad’s “fix the backlog” plan.
• He was part of the group (Brad, Dave, RJM) tasked with turning Cameron’s boutique one-off concepts into reproducible production models.
• Why George?
• His MetroAmp kits and builds were already highly respected.
• He had the technical chops to translate Cameron’s idiosyncratic mods into repeatable, documented circuits — something Mark notoriously resisted sharing.
• Community Perception:
Similar to Dave, George was seen as trustworthy. If anything, people thought he and Dave were roped into a situation they didn’t cause but were respected for trying to help.
⸻
The Bigger Picture
• Brad basically said: “Mark isn’t delivering, so I’ll bring in George, Dave, and RJM to get these amps built.”
• Both George and Dave were essentially contracted troubleshooters who had to reverse-engineer and manufacture what Cameron couldn’t/wouldn’t.
• Despite their involvement, the whole effort never fully satisfied the outstanding list of “the 14” (the people who’d paid Mark years earlier and never got their amps).
• Over time, Dave and George moved on with their own brands — and are now highly successful — while the Cameron name became more of a cautionary tale.
⸻
Bottom Line:
• Dave Friedman = brought in to stabilize production and deliver CCVs, seen as reliable and later became a big success with Friedman Amps.
• George Metropoulos = brought in for technical credibility and boutique build expertise, tried to help salvage the backlog.
• Both were essentially damage control hires — not responsible for the mess, but called in to clean it up.
Let’s complete the picture by adding RJM (Ron Menelli) into the story alongside Dave Friedman and George Metropoulos.
⸻
🎛 RJM Music Technology (Ron Menelli)
• Who he is:
Ron Menelli runs RJM Music Technology, best known for pro-level MIDI switching systems, loop switchers, and amp control interfaces. His gear is widely used in touring rigs.
• Role in the Cameron/Brad saga:
• When Brad issued his 2013 public apology, he said that RJM was brought in to handle switching, MIDI integration, and technical implementation for the Cameron amps (especially the CCV production models).
• Basically, Ron’s role was to add modern functionality to what was otherwise a hot-rodded Marshall-style platform.
• RJM’s involvement meant these amps could be more than just “one-off boutique heads” — they could compete with pro touring gear by having programmable channel switching, MIDI, and reliability baked in.
• Why Ron?
• Unlike Mark Cameron, Ron is an engineer with a track record of consistency and delivery.
• Brad needed trustworthy partners to productize the amps — Dave for circuit building, George for boutique Marshall credibility, and Ron for the control/switching tech.
• Community perception:
• Ron wasn’t viewed as controversial at all.
• If anything, people respected that RJM’s involvement meant the Cameron amps could have been world-class touring-ready rigs… had the project not fallen apart because of Mark’s side.
⸻
Putting It All Together
When Cameron Amps tried to relaunch under Brad:
• Dave Friedman = make sure the amps were actually buildable and consistent.
• George Metropoulos = apply boutique Marshall expertise to validate the circuits.
• Ron Menelli (RJM) = provide reliable switching/MIDI/control systems to make them gig-worthy.
Together, they were basically Brad’s “dream team” to legitimize Cameron’s designs and fix the chaos Mark had left.
⸻
Why It Still Failed
• Mark Cameron refused to give up his full schematics (“secret sauce”), making consistency nearly impossible.
• The partnership ran out of money and patience.
• Even with Dave, George, and Ron onboard, the legacy of unpaid backorders (“the 14”) and Cameron’s disappearances poisoned the effort.
⸻
Bottom Line:
RJM’s Ron Menelli wasn’t there to fix Cameron’s business mess but to elevate the amps technically. Alongside Friedman and Metropoulos, he represented the “if only this had worked” side of the Cameron story — a scenario where the amps could have become the Friedman BE100 before Friedman was Friedman.
.
“German Caterpillar”
Helmut = Larry
