YouTube, in a video from Kyuss’ 1995 Bizarre
Festival performance in Germany.
seems to be his four vintage VT-40’s linked
together by a Little Labs distro box.
Homme continued to use his Kyuss amp and
cab setup into the early days of Queens of
the Stone Age, but as his new band’s sound
developed, so did his rig. His tone during
this era is noticeably less seismic, with the
massive low end present on the final Kyuss
record seemingly having been reigned in a
bit. Not coincidentally, this is also about the
time Homme began relying on vintage
Ampeg combos, most notably the 60-watt,
4x10 VT-40 combo, which he said was the
first amplifier he ever owned. The VT-40 is
Ampeg’s variation on the Fender Super
Reverb concept, and it is known for its
warm, fat clean tones and thunderous
volume. Though he typically uses a variety
of small amps and cabs these days, including
vintage Gibsons, Silvertones, and Supros,
the backbone of Homme’s current live rig
PEDALS AND EFFECTS
Now for everyone’s favorite part, the pedals!
While in Kyuss, at least, Homme actually
used very little in the way of pedals. A
common misconception is that he used an
Electro-Harmonix Big Muff to get his thick
low-end grind, but in reality his tone was
primarily derived from his guitar and amp
setup, and tremendous amounts of volume.
It has been reported that he used a Boss
SD-1 to push the amp for solos and other,
higher gain sounds, and he definitely used a
wah-wah with some regularity, which was
likely a standard issue Dunlop Cry Baby.
Some modulation sounds are present on
Kyuss albums as well, but at least a handful
of these were created in the studio using
unorthodox recording methods. Engineer
Joe Barresi has stated that some of the
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