Does anyone know what pedal Josh Homme uses for the solo sound in "little sister"?

Howdy!

Look in this very same forum for a thread on QOTSA's gear.

Josh isn't known for straying from his usual set-up. I explain everything he uses in the other thread.

-Dave Nailling

I think the other guitarist plays the solo and it sounds like an octave pedal or ring modulator.

In what thread?

Howdy!

quote:

Originally posted by NJlo:
In what thread?

Um, the one about Queens of the Stone Age. It's in this sub-forum. Maybe on the 2nd or 3rd page.

Josh looks to be using the same amps as mentioned in that thread. However, he has retired his Ovation Ultra GPs.

-Dave Nailling

quote:

Originally posted by Dave Nailling:
Howdy!

quote:

Originally posted by NJlo:
In what thread?

Um, the one about Queens of the Stone Age. It's in this sub-forum. Maybe on the 2nd or 3rd page.

Josh looks to be using the same amps as mentioned in that thread. However, he has retired his Ovation Ultra GPs.

-Dave Nailling

Yeah, I saw them a week ago here in Austin, and was an amazing show. He didn't play his ultras at all. He was playing his new Maton guitars, an epihone dot, and this other guitar that was cool as hell but I don't know what it was. I didn't get a chance to look at his pedal board, but I know he uses the Boos OD-1 and the SIB Echodrive for sure.

Howdy!

DAMMIT!

I was there, too! I should've bought you a beer!

I was at the DKNY party show, too. Cool to see them play in an old airplane hangar.

-Dave Nailling

Ahhhhh Man, Dave!!! Yeah man, I really wanted to see the DKNY showcase...

I guess you moved to Austin huh?

I'd swear that there is a fuzz or octave on Little Sister. Does anyone know for sure if QOTSA uses a fuzz or octave on this song? A Big Muff or Proctavia or some kind of Fulltone fuzz/octave pedal must be present on the studio track.

I bought the "deluxe" version CD
there's a DVD inside, a '30 min film made during the recording session
damn, i just saw a whammy or wah of some sort,effect-wise

i like a lot this album, although i was not a QOTSA fan before, actually i've listened only once to Songs... and found it a bit interesting but a lot more boring, maybe because of DG drums...

There is an octive effect on "Little Sister" for the lead guitar. I first thought it was an Ampeg Scrambler. But it could be a Tycobrah Octavia or a Dan Armstrong Green Ringer.
Most likely a Srambler. As they seem obcessed with good ol' Ampeg stuff like the greatest amp ever the VT-40!!!!

O-Yeah!

I forgot. I just read an interview with Billy Gibons from ZZ Top. He was in on the sessons for the new album Lullabyes. He said he walked in and never seen so many different guitars, amps, gizmos and effects in his life. He said he did so many tracks with so many different guitars, effects, amps etc. that he does not even remember what was used on the stuff that was kept.
So it could be anything.
Adding to that old post. VT-40's get kind of dirty at about 3/4 volume level. And that in Ampeg talk is F'n loud!!! 60 watts in Ampeg speak is like 150 in Marshall. If you put a overdrive in front of that it gets sounding like a real clean Big Muff Pi. I can't do that with my VT-40's (top mount and front). Way to loud for clubs. I get the same tone with a Baja Tech Custom "Da MOAF". It's one of the cleanest modded Big Muff Pi I have owned and it gets real nasty!!!

Argggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

heh, i have the same issue with my vt-22. by the time it breaks up, i'm tearing people's faces off.

not that it would make THAT much of a difference, but is it pull out the two inner OR outer tubes and half the impedence? in order to make it 50w?

I'm not sure. I use those Yellow Jackets in my top mount VT-40. They say they half the output watts from 60 to 30 but I think it sounds more like around 40 or a bit more. It's still crazy loud. I use a modded VOX 847 into a Baja Tech Custom Da MOAF into the amp. We do that song off their first album "Regular John" and I nail that tone to the F'n "T". I bet Homme will move over to a setup like that once he starts getting the constant ring in his ears!!!
I've listened to that lead in "Little Sister" some more and I'm pretty sure it's an Ampeg Srambler running into a compressor of some sort maybe a Da Squeezer.

well, i know taking the tubes out and halfing the impedence really only results in a barely noticeable 3db change.

but i was just told that you can use a pedal with a volume pot in the ext. jack to act as a master volume on a vt-22 (while the "regular" volume knob acts as a drive or pregain knob...wwhatever). my friend is pretty reliable, but i'll check it out when i go home.

Yes you can put a volume pot pedal in the ext. jack. I've tied it and it does not sound that great. It sound like the front face's with the master volume. On my front face VT-40 I run the master full and dial in my volume on chanel 1 or 2.
That way it's just like the top mounts in tone. Using the master volume governs out the tubes and you don't get that full 'real-deal' tube overdrived tone. In my ears it kind of sounds fizzeled sounding.
To get that super clean BMP sort of vibe Homme cranks those things past that 3/4 volume range. Then pushes it with a overdrive pedal. Looking at his stage setup my guess would be that he's using the VT-22 as a slave to the VT-40's just using the power amp section. He used a simular setup in Kyuss with the Tubeworks acting as the power amp. The difference is in Kyuss he used the Ampeg 8x10 bass cabs in addition to get that way low crunch. It sounds like in QOTSA he wanted a more rock type tone and left off the 8x10 cabs.
Also whats cool about the VT's is those rocker switches. To get that tone those come into heavy play. I listened to his tone when he's playing clean. He got those rocker switches set to the Rolling Stone's Exile tone. I called it the Fend-Shall. In the VT's hand book it shows you how to dial in Fender or Marshall tones using the rocker switches. I found that tone off the Stones Exile on Main Street was kind of a combo of both making it a Fend-Shall.
When you set it up like that, crank it to 3/4 or past and put a OD-1 in front of it you get this Big Muff sort of tone that's real clean.
If you play in clubs or have neighbors it's sort of hard to do this...
I set mine to Fend-Shall and run the amp at a little over 1/4. That's just enough to get the tube vibe happening. (Remember it's a VT-40 not the VT-22, the 22 would be murder at this volume). Then I used a real clean BMP modded clone, (Baja Tech Custom "Da MOAF"). This nails it at a more neighborly volume level.

cool...what would be those rocker settings your talking about?

No problem. If your looking at the front (top) the input rocker is set all the way to the left (channel one or two). The treble rocker is set all the way to the right. The mid-range rocker set all the way to the left.
Now the manual says to set the treble, mid, bass controls a certain way. But to get that QOTSA tone it really depends on what kind of pickups your using. I would recommend just dialing in what sounds the best.
I have been listening to that "Little Sister" track some more. I noticed that the octave effect is very clean and like the guy earlier almost ring-mod'ish. I think you could really nail this effect with a Dan Armstrong Green Ringer. It's an octave up (with some very cool ring mod effects) that's clean (without a fuzz built in). If you setup your rig with this in front of an overdrive pedal into the VT-40 cranked you should be able to nail it to the T.

cool, thanks. i'm picking up the master volume knob and a head sleeve for the chassis (so the vt-22 can be carried around without killing myself) next weekend, so i'll give it a shot then...

quote:

Originally posted by shale:
well, i know taking the tubes out and halfing the impedence really only results in a barely noticeable 3db change.

but i was just told that you can use a pedal with a volume pot in the ext. jack to act as a master volume on a vt-22 (while the "regular" volume knob acts as a drive or pregain knob...wwhatever). my friend is pretty reliable, but i'll check it out when i go home.

How about one of 'em attenuators? like a THD hotplate or a marshall power brake?