Even if Josh uses a huge pedalboard nowadays (which is normal when you have a discography as varied as QOTSA), it's great to hear you prove every time that his sound is primarily amp-based.
i’m a dope loaded late teen, as soon as i started doing bong rips welcome to sky valley just showed up on my record player. kyuss, sleep and fu manchu are the holy trinity for me
Dude, the amp tone is spot on, but what’s most impressive to me is your fingers move like Josh’s. The guitar moves episode you can really see how he moves his fingers for vibrato and stuff like that. You nailed that. Super duper impressive.
It was about time you got this amp and made this video. Literally, it’s the only one on youtube explaining how to get this tone so we can finally understand it. You’re a genius
Sweet! Omg, come on now, you got all the pieces for like a triple rig with this, the Ampeg and the little peavey bandit or what it was. We need to hear it!
The Peavey that Josh used wasn’t anywhere as good as a bandit. Supposedly a much cheaper, smaller watt decade is Josh’s secret weapon. Since then the price of what used be a $40 used amp costs about 10x’s more. I feel bad for someone who buys at the inflated price because not too good an amp. Actually the price that this amp commands is the problem. I mean solid state Peavey amps do not sound radically different, just that wattage differs & size of speaker differs for the most part. Saying comparing apples to apples, I mean Peavey with digital effects built in or a twin speaker model will sound different.
I actually bought a couple old beat up ones recently for a good price, going to have someone fix them up a bit. They sound fantastic! Not just for a kyuss/qotsa tone but I get a bit of a doomy sleep kind of tone on my high output bridge pickup
The old Tube Works stuff is great, the amps are damn near indestructible. I’ve got a mid ‘90s TD-752 combo I bought about 20 years ago that’s seen a fair amount of abuse and still works beautifully, other than cleaning the pots and jacks a few times I haven’t had to do a thing to it over the years.
@@saddestchord7622 They’re very different amps. The TD-752’s dirt channel is essentially a Tube Driver pedal with a normal solid state power amp, whereas the RT-2100’s is based on the higher-gain Real Tube pedal and has their “MosValve” system that puts a tube (either a 12ax7 or 12au7, I forget) at the power amp’s input stage.
It does have sort of a green Russian vibe to me, so I could see why someone might think Josh used a muff in the Kyuss days. This has something special going on at the front end of the note though, almost like the attack is slightly cleaner or something. I'm sure he has some kind of muff variant now, but in the early days he was super averse to using anything that was already used by so many people.
That’s the key I think. The initial attack is bright and percussive and milliseconds after it gets woolly. That’s what ruins most fuzzes for me. They make you sound like you’re always on your neck pickup or get shrill when you try to brighten them up with the tone knob.
Tubeworks stuff is great. I had a few of these heads when I was try Harding kyuss tone. I also have an ovation GP for sale if you’re interested. I noticed you’re playing an eastwood
What an awesome video. Nice brief intro that was still informative, and a ton playing with no talking which proved your point over and over again. Time well spent watching this.
I think that sounded pretty great :). Perhaps due to the circuit with the tube preamp overdrive and otherwise the mosfet distortion in the power amp? I thought I could hear the two different distortion working together. I wonder if I was right.. :) regards, great channel!
I wasn’t doing stoner rock in ‘90-‘96, but I had a TubeWorks 100w 12” combo. I’d traded a hopped up JCM800 50w & $200 when I heard it in a local music store. Just ran home & hit the ATM. I just had a Wah out front & a Digitech Multiplay 20/20 in the loop; I strung a TubeWorks 12” wedge > near my drummer & it was a fucking WALL of tone. Their speakers are the earliest Eminence dishes I’m aware of. What gives it that almost gooey pick attack response, is BK isn’t running the preamp tubes at full plate voltage. And he used mostly the old original Groove Tubes. Just gooey awesomeness. Rock on, dude.
my first Real amp was a Mos Valve 12" combo. it could get heavy as fk. I let one of my friends borrow it and he wouldn't give it back. I had to sell it to him. He was in an Industrial band. He pulled the amp out and put it in a Rack. played it live. He loved that thing
Hi man love your videos! I'm not totally sure about if it's the Kyuss amps, can explain: From what I've found and check during years, From start to Blues for Red Sun (1992) he used a single JCM900. Prior to December 92, he used 2 JCM900 rig. In April 93 (Metallica tour) he also used 2 JCM900 Rig (can also be rent gear) In May 93 it's the first time we can see (via youtube) the Mosvalve amps live with JCM900 He mostly use a JCM900/Mosvalve until 1994/95 In 1995 for the last tour, he switched for 2 Mosvalve rig. It appear on the Green Machine video but apparently the video was filmed maybe in 93. Blues for Red Sun is JCM900 So I think skyvalley and circus leave town are certainly a mix of this 2 amps. Also there is a mix of Marshall 4x12 and Ampeg cab (don't know exactly the model) that wen after to a full ampeg cab rig.
Just bear in mind, lots of artists play different gear live than what they recorded with. Especially in cases where they're using a rare amp to record, you don't want to risk having it break or be stolen on the road, so you use a more common, road-tested amp to play live and you just try to get a similar sound from it. That way if something goes wrong, you can replace your live amp pretty easily.
@@theghosty99 for sure man, I'm à professional guitartech and studio engineer 😉 But I think that Josh was using same rig on studio and live, because he was so on a unique sound and feel in this time.
went to high school with BK butler's son in colorado. didnt know that he was the tube works guy till much later though. back then kid didnt even play guitar; the legacy stopped with his father. sad.
Indeed a nice kyuss sound. You even look a bit like josh watching you playng😉. But you can reach the sound very close with a lot of amps ... But the playing style of josh is unique and not to copy... like everybody's own style is unique... so I think more important is to create your own style and sound... and not to try to be the best copy!
Was always curious about what rig allowed all these neck pu sounds to sound both wooly and bright at once! Nice work…I still prefer his Ampeg tones personally.👊🔥
Yeah, the Ampegs are great. I was surprised to learn that he used the Tube Works a lot on the first records though. For instance, the tone on No-One Knows is mostly the Tube Works.
That low end sounds like a fart that wasn't to be trusted after Taco Bell. I think it might benefit from some eq going in and maybe in the effects loop
It would be interesting to see a series where other songs are played in this tone. I would love to hear some Corrosion of Conformity or even some grunge played in the Kyuss tone.
Welcome to the family of someone who still owns one of these! They sound awful, but in a good way. I've got some great Kyuss tones, by cranking up the stack, keeping the drive below 4, and cutting the mids to compensate for that insane Stack knob. The magic happens when you mic it. Joe Barresi used a single U87 on Sky Valley to mic Josh's V4 cabinet, but the magic happened when the mic stand fell and Josh fell in love with the new "improperly mic'd" sound.
Is that really what Barressi laid down for main guitar sound? I would think the fallen mic would be too far from the speakers to pick up any decent sound
@@nicoguarini28 The guitar tone that I remember never really had a super punchy or clear tone. Dynamic mics that are far from the grill or fairly off axis get this foggy/dark quality without being muddy per se. Couldn't say that's definitely the story, but I'd buy it. The guitar and bass tones, especially on Sky Valley/self-titled, always had this magical blending quality, where it was tough to tell where the guitar ended and bass began. Wouldn't surprise me if an odd mic placement on the guitar contributed to that.
@@nicoguarini28 If you're using a boring old SM57, yeah it won't sound great a foot away. But any engineer will know the tone on that album is a condenser mic, much more sensitive. You would be surprised how much a good condenser can pick up. There's more than one way to mic a guitar amp.
@@XIVDock Neumann U87, which is a condenser mic with adjustable polar patterns, doesn't change the frequency response as much as a dynamic mic would. In the interview, Joe had said the magic quality of that album was that Josh's guitar sound is huge because Scott's bass sound fit under it perfectly. If you listened to the bass isolated, it's not a huge bottom end, like today's modern recordings.
Tbh I "heard" that he used the "Goss" JCM900 on BFTRS through an Ampeg 8x10, but that TW does sound correct. Funny, tried them a few times and HATED them! "Tube Fuzz" a la the Model T/Wino. The high output neck pickup is pretty key, too. I used to play a LOT on my RG550's Steve Morse (bridge model) in that position when I owned my 900.
It's funny how a clearly better amp and settings can remind me that this is exactly how my Line 6 Spyder III sounded when I was 15, wondering what guitar strings BFMV used so I could sound like them, thinking that's where all the tone comes from
Stuff I use at Sweetwater: imp.i114863.net/P1KkY
Stuff I use at Thomann: bit.ly/mythomannstore
Just now revisited this video. Yep! I'm still freakin jealous! Haha!
Even if Josh uses a huge pedalboard nowadays (which is normal when you have a discography as varied as QOTSA), it's great to hear you prove every time that his sound is primarily amp-based.
🤟🏻💪🏻
Peavey Decade
@@BorisBidjanSaberi11 lol
Secrets of the sound!
@@BorisBidjanSaberi11 For Bass...
I do not listen to Kyuss that much anymore but this tone has a special place in my heart! Puts me right back in my dope-loaded late teens. Peace!
Same here!! Good times 😎
You almost stopped listening to Kyuss.. i think i have a cream for that, man
i’m a dope loaded late teen, as soon as i started doing bong rips welcome to sky valley just showed up on my record player. kyuss, sleep and fu manchu are the holy trinity for me
Sounds like you should listen to some kyuss
The singer sucks in that band.
And he nails it again!
🤟🏻
Dude your dedication to unraveling the Kyuss tone mysteries is unrivaled, cheers!
Thanks!
only person on youtube getting these tones.... fucking love kyuss and mad respect for you delving into this ... do stage 3
This guy went to the trouble of actually getting the amp AND the guitar Josh used, so that should get pretty close.
Dude, the amp tone is spot on, but what’s most impressive to me is your fingers move like Josh’s. The guitar moves episode you can really see how he moves his fingers for vibrato and stuff like that. You nailed that. Super duper impressive.
Was thinking the exact same thing while watching the video.
Sounds killer. You always nail the Homme tones.
thanks!
It was about time you got this amp and made this video. Literally, it’s the only one on youtube explaining how to get this tone so we can finally understand it. You’re a genius
Definitely sounds close. Would love to see more experimentation tho. Liked!
more experimentation in a different video coming up ;)
My father gave me his mosvalve rt-2100 combo amp back on 2011. Been cranking it up ever since. They have such a unique sound.
Sweet! Omg, come on now, you got all the pieces for like a triple rig with this, the Ampeg and the little peavey bandit or what it was. We need to hear it!
The Peavey that Josh used wasn’t anywhere as good as a bandit. Supposedly a much cheaper, smaller watt decade is Josh’s secret weapon. Since then the price of what used be a $40 used amp costs about 10x’s more. I feel bad for someone who buys at the inflated price because not too good an amp. Actually the price that this amp commands is the problem. I mean solid state Peavey amps do not sound radically different, just that wattage differs & size of speaker differs for the most part. Saying comparing apples to apples, I mean Peavey with digital effects built in or a twin speaker model will sound different.
This video is valuable alone for being the only good Tubeworks RT-2100 demo TH-cam's ever had.
We need to get you a real Ovation Ultra GP next.
they are fricking hard to come by, though
Dude this sounds spot on! Such a satisfying chunky tone, one of my favourites of the 90's 🤘
I actually bought a couple old beat up ones recently for a good price, going to have someone fix them up a bit. They sound fantastic! Not just for a kyuss/qotsa tone but I get a bit of a doomy sleep kind of tone on my high output bridge pickup
It really gives you that "cranked tube power amp" sound without actually having a tube power amp
You caught that very Kyuss sound in this video. 👍🏻
Perfect timing. I’m in Joshua Tree+Palm Springs today and feeling extra queeny.
This is insane, it sounds like we're hearing a album guitar track. AMAZING!
its literaly that sound 100% damn i enjoy those riffs and this sound u sick dude
The old Tube Works stuff is great, the amps are damn near indestructible. I’ve got a mid ‘90s TD-752 combo I bought about 20 years ago that’s seen a fair amount of abuse and still works beautifully, other than cleaning the pots and jacks a few times I haven’t had to do a thing to it over the years.
I had one of those. Don't remember it sounding fuzzy, though.
@@saddestchord7622 They’re very different amps. The TD-752’s dirt channel is essentially a Tube Driver pedal with a normal solid state power amp, whereas the RT-2100’s is based on the higher-gain Real Tube pedal and has their “MosValve” system that puts a tube (either a 12ax7 or 12au7, I forget) at the power amp’s input stage.
It does have sort of a green Russian vibe to me, so I could see why someone might think Josh used a muff in the Kyuss days. This has something special going on at the front end of the note though, almost like the attack is slightly cleaner or something. I'm sure he has some kind of muff variant now, but in the early days he was super averse to using anything that was already used by so many people.
Russian? I use a Sovtek Mig100 with a Tube Works 9002 rack set up.
Slightly radioactive.
Not like radio sound, I mean actually radioactive.
That’s the key I think. The initial attack is bright and percussive and milliseconds after it gets woolly. That’s what ruins most fuzzes for me. They make you sound like you’re always on your neck pickup or get shrill when you try to brighten them up with the tone knob.
Thee ol’ boozeroony is one of Josh hommes many master pieces and you absolutely rocked it 🤘🏻❤️
I have the RT-2100 half stack, traded a few cheap pedals for it! My friend just wanted to get rid of it! Love this amp🤘🏻
Be cool to hear the tube works and the vt-40 as doubled guitars.
indeed! Any with my Peavey Standard
@@LivingroomGearDemos yes please!
Amazing tones from that amp, such a balls out fuzz sound. Great playing man, you’ve nailed it
This tone is so welcoming and nostalgic 🤤
That was killer. I haven’t listened to Kyuss in a long time.
Just my favourite tone of all time, so much dirt yet so much groove..
that was spot on! awesome as always! on a budget you can get the same tone with a hot neck pickup,overdrive,and a bass amp
I have a brunetti pleximan, a -62 strat and a rat. Tone is there too 🤟🤝
MAN THAT GARDENIA TONE
Aw man, I love that sound! I'll put on Kyuss on my next commute again.
We've gotta stop advertising these older "shitty" amps to the world. They'll be $1000 before you know it. Any Peavey earlier than 1990 for example
their guitars and basses are next, I've been hoarding
I’ve got a few late 70’s peavey combo amps that are my go to for doom
Used to be able to get Crate GX-140Cs for $100. Some shitbird did a video about Cannibal Corpse and now the are 750+ if you can even find them.
Thankfully I already have a shitty amp!
@@insederec they already got to the T-40s man don’t let anyone know (seriously why are these basses $1500 now)
Those half step bends are sooo saucy
Tubeworks stuff is great. I had a few of these heads when I was try Harding kyuss tone. I also have an ovation GP for sale if you’re interested. I noticed you’re playing an eastwood
cool, can you email at the email address in the description?
Im so happy that theres so many Kyuss fans out there, it has a special place in my heart, when I have a a kid, Im naming him Kyuss!
Would love you to do a video on Josh’s solo tone focusing on the short delay with a lot of repeats sound he had for like clockwork.
Wow thanks for posting this. I had this amp, bought from a pawn shop in the late 90's. Would love to have it back someday.
What an awesome video. Nice brief intro that was still informative, and a ton playing with no talking which proved your point over and over again. Time well spent watching this.
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks
Waiting for Josh to hire you man.
I’m waiting for him to sue me
@@LivingroomGearDemos Then you’ll really know you nailed it
Man... yes! It sounds amazing!
I’ll answer your email soon! Thanks for the info once again 💪🏻
Thanks for the inspiration sir. Just finding it difficult to continue playing and your a welcome influence
Great work
Thank you! Cheers!
this thing sounds incredible
I think that sounded pretty great :). Perhaps due to the circuit with the tube preamp overdrive and otherwise the mosfet distortion in the power amp? I thought I could hear the two different distortion working together. I wonder if I was right.. :) regards, great channel!
Very nice stack feature. I have the same amp. Walter Becker had one
I imagine he was doing very different things with his lol.
haha
It’s definitely close , I’m starting to like these rugged sounds more and more .
it's like having a little Steve Albini in there making it sound unusually interesting
Nailed it mate, if Kyuss lives again they should give you a call
So cool, would never have guessed. Sounds just like I remember it.
Sounds amazing! Back to the 90's fer sure!
Sounds really good! You even remind me of Josh in his early days
I wasn’t doing stoner rock in ‘90-‘96, but I had a TubeWorks 100w 12” combo. I’d traded a hopped up JCM800 50w & $200 when I heard it in a local music store.
Just ran home & hit the ATM.
I just had a Wah out front & a Digitech Multiplay 20/20 in the loop; I strung a TubeWorks 12” wedge > near my drummer & it was a fucking WALL of tone.
Their speakers are the earliest Eminence dishes I’m aware of.
What gives it that almost gooey pick attack response, is BK isn’t running the preamp tubes at full plate voltage.
And he used mostly the old original Groove Tubes.
Just gooey awesomeness.
Rock on, dude.
Kyuss is way better then queens!!!
This is such good work. Thank you for the fun.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Incredible man...wtf. that is THE tone !!
my first Real amp was a Mos Valve 12" combo. it could get heavy as fk. I let one of my friends borrow it and he wouldn't give it back. I had to sell it to him. He was in an Industrial band. He pulled the amp out and put it in a Rack. played it live. He loved that thing
Hi man love your videos!
I'm not totally sure about if it's the Kyuss amps, can explain:
From what I've found and check during years,
From start to Blues for Red Sun (1992) he used a single JCM900.
Prior to December 92, he used 2 JCM900 rig.
In April 93 (Metallica tour) he also used 2 JCM900 Rig (can also be rent gear)
In May 93 it's the first time we can see (via youtube) the Mosvalve amps live with JCM900
He mostly use a JCM900/Mosvalve until 1994/95
In 1995 for the last tour, he switched for 2 Mosvalve rig.
It appear on the Green Machine video but apparently the video was filmed maybe in 93.
Blues for Red Sun is JCM900
So I think skyvalley and circus leave town are certainly a mix of this 2 amps. Also there is a mix of Marshall 4x12 and Ampeg cab (don't know exactly the model) that wen after to a full ampeg cab rig.
Just bear in mind, lots of artists play different gear live than what they recorded with. Especially in cases where they're using a rare amp to record, you don't want to risk having it break or be stolen on the road, so you use a more common, road-tested amp to play live and you just try to get a similar sound from it. That way if something goes wrong, you can replace your live amp pretty easily.
@@theghosty99 for sure man, I'm à professional guitartech and studio engineer 😉 But I think that Josh was using same rig on studio and live, because he was so on a unique sound and feel in this time.
went to high school with BK butler's son in colorado. didnt know that he was the tube works guy till much later though. back then kid didnt even play guitar; the legacy stopped with his father. sad.
Man I fucking love kyuss riffs
yass
nice playing man, really enjoyed it
Indeed a nice kyuss sound. You even look a bit like josh watching you playng😉.
But you can reach the sound very close with a lot of amps ... But the playing style of josh is unique and not to copy... like everybody's own style is unique... so I think more important is to create your own style and sound... and not to try to be the best copy!
It is pretty much DAT sound!
When a bad sound is the best sound.
Nailed the tone man!
What a great tone! I used a Mosvalve power amp with a Marshall 9001 tube preamp back in the day. I should have gotten this!
that green machine riff is everythinggg
Was always curious about what rig allowed all these neck pu sounds to sound both wooly and bright at once! Nice work…I still prefer his Ampeg tones personally.👊🔥
Yeah, the Ampegs are great. I was surprised to learn that he used the Tube Works a lot on the first records though. For instance, the tone on No-One Knows is mostly the Tube Works.
@@LivingroomGearDemos That's really surprising! Just hunted down that Valentine vid ;)
HUGE sounds 👌
This guitar tone is therapy.
So impressed by this! And it sounds so good.
Thumb is the one.
I was entertained
🎉 yeah ! Plz make a TONEX profile of this Beast 😊
Got myself a Tubeworks ProValve, can't wait to get my hands on the MosValve for double damage 😈
Certainly some transistor clipping going on here - sounds fantastic
great work man!!
So dirty, so evil, so badass sounding. Definition of raw power!!!
Suena BESTIAL !!!!!!!
Sounds right Nice work.
Man I forgot how awesome that gardenia riff is!!!
I have 2 of these amps, a 1x12 combo & a 4x10 combo.. they are killer
Absolutely perfect
Wow sounds amazing bro 🔥
That low end sounds like a fart that wasn't to be trusted after Taco Bell. I think it might benefit from some eq going in and maybe in the effects loop
I really enjoyed this, Thanks - J
Glad you enjoyed it
Wow. Absolutely killer!!
Something I suggest trying, cranking the mids on the tubeworks seems to get me somewhere closer to kyuss
It would be interesting to see a series where other songs are played in this tone. I would love to hear some Corrosion of Conformity or even some grunge played in the Kyuss tone.
I expected this to be more like a Marshall Valvestate, but it sounds more like a solid state Sunn amp. Br00tal
AWESOME SOUND!!!!
Spot on tone
A real "Homme Boy". \m/-
Welcome to the family of someone who still owns one of these! They sound awful, but in a good way. I've got some great Kyuss tones, by cranking up the stack, keeping the drive below 4, and cutting the mids to compensate for that insane Stack knob. The magic happens when you mic it. Joe Barresi used a single U87 on Sky Valley to mic Josh's V4 cabinet, but the magic happened when the mic stand fell and Josh fell in love with the new "improperly mic'd" sound.
Is that really what Barressi laid down for main guitar sound? I would think the fallen mic would be too far from the speakers to pick up any decent sound
@@nicoguarini28 The guitar tone that I remember never really had a super punchy or clear tone. Dynamic mics that are far from the grill or fairly off axis get this foggy/dark quality without being muddy per se. Couldn't say that's definitely the story, but I'd buy it. The guitar and bass tones, especially on Sky Valley/self-titled, always had this magical blending quality, where it was tough to tell where the guitar ended and bass began. Wouldn't surprise me if an odd mic placement on the guitar contributed to that.
@@nicoguarini28 If you're using a boring old SM57, yeah it won't sound great a foot away. But any engineer will know the tone on that album is a condenser mic, much more sensitive. You would be surprised how much a good condenser can pick up. There's more than one way to mic a guitar amp.
@@XIVDock Neumann U87, which is a condenser mic with adjustable polar patterns, doesn't change the frequency response as much as a dynamic mic would. In the interview, Joe had said the magic quality of that album was that Josh's guitar sound is huge because Scott's bass sound fit under it perfectly. If you listened to the bass isolated, it's not a huge bottom end, like today's modern recordings.
Tbh I "heard" that he used the "Goss" JCM900 on BFTRS through an Ampeg 8x10, but that TW does sound correct.
Funny, tried them a few times and HATED them!
"Tube Fuzz" a la the Model T/Wino.
The high output neck pickup is pretty key, too. I used to play a LOT on my RG550's Steve Morse (bridge model) in that position when I owned my 900.
starts searching reverb and ebay before finishing video ...such a cool tone!
Good luck finding one! Close to impossible 🙈
your best video, ever 🙌
oh shiiit. love it. maybe i need one
It's funny how a clearly better amp and settings can remind me that this is exactly how my Line 6 Spyder III sounded when I was 15, wondering what guitar strings BFMV used so I could sound like them, thinking that's where all the tone comes from
Pretty sure Sleep used this amp on The Sciences. The tone is incredibly recognizable.
nah primarily Orange amps. can be found in the artwork.
@@bobbymcjunior Orange cabs but they use a few different heads
Sounded great. But -- there go the prices on reverb!