Michael James Romeo was born on March 6, 1968 and is an American guitarist. Romeo is the founding member of the progressive metal group Symphony X who formed in 1994 in New Jersey. Alongside Michael Pinnella, Romeo has appeared on every Symphony X record.
Michael Romeo’s musical life began at the age of ten when he started piano and clarinet lessons. In his mid-teens, Romeo was introduced to the band ‘KISS’, the impact was almost immediate, Romeo purchased a cheap acoustic guitar at a garage sale and never looked back.
Romeo credits many of the big name metal bands from the 70’s and 80’s; such as ‘Led Zeppelin’, ‘Iron Maiden’ and ‘Black Sabbath’ for his inspiration in his younger days. Romeo also admits to having been influenced by the styles and techniques of legendary neoclassical guitarists Randy Rhoads. Yngwie Malmsteen, and Uli Jon Roth. Romeo has proven to be a highly influential guitarist himself, with thousands of guitarist all around the world including Dragonforces Herman Li, listing Romeo among their favorite guitarists.
Starting 2005, Romeo has used his new custom model guitar, Caparison Dellinger II – Michael Romeo Custom, which was used on Symphony X latest album, Paradise Lost. Since the beginning of his professional career, Romeo has also used ESP M-II Deluxe guitars with EMG Active pickups and Fender Stratocasters to play live and record other albums from the band.
For studio amplification, Romeo uses an ‘Engl Fireball’ and an ‘Engl SE E670’ the latter is used strictly for recording purposes. Live, Romeo makes use of both the ‘Engl Fireball’ and ‘Engi Powerball’ models. There are also several photographs in circulation that show Romeo also using other amplifiers from brands such as ‘Marshall’ and ‘Madison’. Romeo has also played around with a ‘Mesa Triaxis’ and ‘Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier’ for recording.