Photos by Christian Bertrand / Shutterstock.com
phase and flange-like tones on Blues for the
Red Sun were created by an assistant
engineer who stood in front of Homme’s
cabinets swinging a Shure SM57 in circles
over his head. I desperately want this story
to be true, and it may very well be, but it
may also be one of those notorious tidbits of
misinformation that the Homme camp has
become known for, so perhaps we
should take it with a grain of salt.
Moving on to Queens of the Stone Age,
Them Crooked Vultures, and the current
Homme tone era, pedals have become a
much larger element of the sound. Just as
his guitar and amp collection expanded
when Kyuss ended, so did his pedalboard.
Word on the street is that there are a few
stompbox secrets that Homme still keeps
closely guarded, but for the most part, his
pedalboard is stocked with fairly common
effects from Boss, Dunlop, Fulltone, MXR,
Electro-Harmonix, Moog, and other major
makers. Highlights include a few unusual
and/or vintage items, like a Univox SuperFuzz, Fuzzrocious Oh See Demon, Lovetone
Meatball, Morley Power Wah, and the
luscious, tube-powered S.I.B. Echodrive
delay. Interesting noisemakers include an
EHX POG and &72֖7&