Tones sound amazing. If they sound weird, it's because they're made for a full mix with bass, vocals, and drums. I wouldn't be surprised if people changed their minds once they heard these exact same tones in a full mix.
It's always a surprise to me when you get the stems of a song you love and solo the different instruments and realise how they (usually) sound like total shit. And then you can never unhear it when you listen to the song.
@@jhhhfdm11 The Reverb video with Troy from Queens really supports this - he basically goes through all these chains going "close but too much gain, close but it's actually a much cleaner sound, etc" over and over again. I guess so much saturation and compression etc gets applied later in the mixing stage, on top of the punch from all the other instruments.
Always loved that lead part on “Go With the Flow.” In fact, was listening to it yesterday driving back from a local music store and thinking “you should really figure out how the hell he’s getting that incredible lead sound.” I’ve wondered what pedals he was using for many years. Cheers for putting me on the right track!
These are very good. I used to listen to QOTSA during my commute to and from college every day so these are ingrained in my soul. There are some I can feel in my core, so very good job in replicating them.
@@JohnsDough1918 he also did it in the early days of Queens, most of the stuff on the first album and some of the stuff on Rated R is definitely all neck pickup, that almost stifled, midrangey sound is unmistakable
@@samdavidson7022 Far from it. Brian explained it very well. I'd add there are many video recordings from around the time the S/T came out that shows Josh playing almost exclusively on the bridge pickup (the Bizarre festival being the clearest one). He was playing the same songs during later tours also using the bridge position. Imma go on a little amp rant here, but I think it explains the QOTSA thing better than anything about pedals. His bassier tone on Rated R might be explained by the Ampeg V-4B bass head he was using a lot back then, at least according to Eric Valentine's video about No One Knows (it's easy to find online but it's not on TH-cam). However, the V-4B is almost the same circuit as the V4 guitar head, which also exists as the VT-22 combo version, and the VT-22 is basically a higher powered version of a VT-40 with a different speaker arrangement. The differences between bass and guitar amp were few back in the 60s-70s after all. That's just to illustrate that generalizations about Josh's sound, him using exclusively bass amps in this instance, are misguided. Josh's edgier, fuzzier sound is often explained by his reliance on solid state amps mixed with tube ones. That's just the nature of old analog transistor amps, like the Tubeworks Brian mentioned, or the Peavey Musician heads that keep showing up in Josh's rigs over the years; during the SFTD sessions, thanks to Eric Valentine's photos, or during the Iggy Pop and Villains tours.
Everyone, buy a Fulltone Ultimate Octave. Josh and Troy both used one for years. They are rare now but worth every used penny. Nails the tone of the SFTD and Era perfectly. I'm buying a PDF 2 this week though, as it is sounding better every time I hear a Queens riff through it on TH-cam.
really great tones! not quite the origin but extremely close, people should understand that tone is in the hands too - and this guy got it pretty right
I really dont know why you guys are so disappointed with the tone. For me, the tone is very close to the original considering only the use of pedals. I dont care what pickup he's using Good job guys.
The pickup position is in most cases equally if not more important than the effects used. For example, their David Gilmour video was ruined because they were on the bridge pickup the whole time despite Gilmour's frequent use of neck pickups.
Using only the pedals and not thinking about what pickup(s) you're selecting is counter-intuitive. It sounded super weird in places because of this. Not shitting on the effort that was put into making this video, but it could have been better IMHO.
I thought some a lot of the older tones sounded pretty wrong. Nothing against them as it is what they have on them at the time so fair play. I mean I am perhaps overcritical as I listen to QOSTA pretty much every day. No one can doubt No One Knows, Little Sister and Burn the Witch just sounded off
I think the video suggests sounding "like" QOTSA using pedals and not sounding "the same". Even because with a Blackstar and 2 or 3 pedals this would be impossible. I think if Josh saw this video he would be proud.
Yeah, you're right. And I think that the ones who criticizes this video with their big mouth ... sucks at guitar ! For me they did a great job for this one !
@@seamusthedawg2456 A shame no company is trying to reproduce the sound of these amps in a less complicated, more portable format nowadays, because my old VT-40 is the most QOTSA thing in a box I ever used. Also a shame because the V/VT series is great for more than playing QOTSA. The only amp maker that approaches that uniqueness and sheer musicality nowadays is Benson imo, albeit with a very different end result.
During live shows homme will play a six string for the lead as well, while normally Troy will play the 12 string. They mirror notes during the solo too. So you can just use your 6 string for the solo just want be as potent as with the 12 string.
You guys really should have gone with single coils for turnin' on the screw, and I think some of it is too saturated with fuzz, but overall it's a very useful video, especially in terms of the non-dirt tones. I think the key with Josh's distorted tone is keeping transparency in the signal.
I could listen to that I sat by the ocean part forever. all I have to say is: wow. time to buy a twelve string, and learn how to play slide. also, nice Agile. rondo music kicks ass
What, the SG? Those are cool. My dad plays in a band, and one of their drummers gave him a 60s SG for one performance. He said it was the best guitar he's ever played.
I have a question about these potent pairings videos. What is the order of pedals in the chain? Since they’re not plugged in, I guess they’re from left to right, but if they were connected, they would be placed from right to left....
also, thta PDF-2 has two settings. I acutally have one and its a big difference between the two settings. Ones almost a clean boost with EQ adjustment and the other is a good distortion
shows what engineering can do. the PDF 2 is a key component. more mids on it and a little less on amp. the other secret ingredient: {gnir dom} cool video. didn't put 2 and 2 together for univibe and another love song type lead stuff.
leugenaars yes you are correct. The Living Room demo is much more spot on - mainly because he uses the Catalinbread SFT, and not The Dirty Little Secret....which I have no idea why they used it for this demo..
The SFT is the key for that grit punch of QotSA overdrive over the ages. Their early days almost solely depends on it. (not on SFT itself, but on the distortion of Ampeg VT-22/VT-40 Josh uses). One way to get even closer to Josh sound is to use an OD boost or an EQ pedal to boost the mids. Transparent OD pedals like Fulltone OCD could get there. This Dirty Little Secret is based on Marshall amps. It's almost like the opposite overdrive they should be seeking, but oh well... I don't work at Reverb, but I DO KNOW Josh work after Kyuss.
Well, that's true. That's why I said 95%. It could be spot on if it had like 2/3 of the gain used and a bit less treble on the SFT. But the tone, and I mean the way the attack on the strings sound different throughout the riffs, was way closer than Reverb's. But hey, that's the beauty of music. Both can have different taste and opinion and still enjoy it. :)
I think the difference between living room demos and Reverb is amp usage. I think living room demo got pretty close considering he used a Tone King Imperial, which I've never played myself but comes off as more of a vintage Vox sounding amp maybe with more midrange. And he seemed to get a good portion of their tone down, a little more low end and I think it would have been spot on. While Reverb also did pretty well using the Blackstar artist 15 on "british" mode with treble low and Mids + Bass high, and it seemed like the amp handled the low ends fairly well. I would have liked to see them use the Catlinbread SFT with the Blackstar and see how well the Blackstar+SFT sound together and how close in tone it would come. Which I agree with Leugenaars, would be a more fitting distortion for that Ampeg sound. I haven't played a Blackstar amp either, I'm just going off demo's I've heard of both. And both sound great in different ways. I think the Tone king has good vintage warmth with a lot of mids and balanced treble n bass. And Blackstar is more modern with modes that can emulate other amps to an extent, and it seems like it does a decent job at doing so. The only problem with Blackstar from what I've read in all my amp research I've down is fixing Blackstar amps can be a big problem if they break.
i would have to agree, for that style but not the song itself. That song was really meant for a light overdrive on a clean channel. But the tone that reverb created is fucking badass.
kaden sinn a silvertone harmony. The only reason I know is because I inherited one from a passed relative. I’m pretty sure they were sold out of sears catalogs back in the day. Those things are so deceptively light too.
Also if you have problems with the pedals and the sounds keep in mind during live shows hommes guitar sound is not always the way it sounds on the records. He basically doesn't want people to know what he uses so switches his sound a lot. Sometimes it'll sound like he has the fuzz turned to 3,000 and others it's closer or not. He often just switches equipment and I'm honestly just guessing it just depends on what he wants to use that night. So i would focus on technique of learning what he's doing before complaining about what pedals you use, cause if homme doesn't give a fuck why do you? Right?
Tones sound amazing. If they sound weird, it's because they're made for a full mix with bass, vocals, and drums. I wouldn't be surprised if people changed their minds once they heard these exact same tones in a full mix.
It's always a surprise to me when you get the stems of a song you love and solo the different instruments and realise how they (usually) sound like total shit. And then you can never unhear it when you listen to the song.
@@CLaw-tb5gg HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Gorillaz basically
This is what happens when people have never heard themselves in a mix try to tell you what the solo instruments should sound like.
@@jhhhfdm11 The Reverb video with Troy from Queens really supports this - he basically goes through all these chains going "close but too much gain, close but it's actually a much cleaner sound, etc" over and over again. I guess so much saturation and compression etc gets applied later in the mixing stage, on top of the punch from all the other instruments.
No its not. Its because this is just wrong lol
Fantastic tones. I never really appreciated how much signature tone QOTSA relies on.
Always loved that lead part on “Go With the Flow.” In fact, was listening to it yesterday driving back from a local music store and thinking “you should really figure out how the hell he’s getting that incredible lead sound.” I’ve wondered what pedals he was using for many years. Cheers for putting me on the right track!
'I Sat By The Ocean' sounds identical to the guitar tones on The Cars debut album produced by Roy Thomas Baker. Very cool!
These are very good. I used to listen to QOTSA during my commute to and from college every day so these are ingrained in my soul. There are some I can feel in my core, so very good job in replicating them.
Really cool you included Auto Pilot. That song has always been one of my favourites.
No control
Didn't know the song!
This is a great demonstration showcasing the benefits of recording loud amps vs recording mainly pedals
This has been incredibly useful. Clearly I need the MPF-1 clone in my life.
wait… which ones that?
I wish I had access to all those guitars, pedals, amps. I would be in heaven. Autopilot sounds killer btw
Great! Now I want to just sit around my house and listen to QOTSA all day. Thanks a lot Reverb. >:(
Reverb I literally love you
Troy saw this video and gave you a bit of advice. Said you got most of it correct. So I thank you good sir.
i think most of the tone come from johs amp, also boosting the mids help, and i read somewhere that he uses the neck humbucker most of the time
Filip Šak the neck humbucker thing is only when he was in Kyuss. If you watch QOTSA live vids, you'll see Josh mostly uses the bridge pickup nowadays.
Heyman Heyguys u are absolutely correct. He only uses the neck pickup now when he uses an octave pedal.
@@JohnsDough1918 he also did it in the early days of Queens, most of the stuff on the first album and some of the stuff on Rated R is definitely all neck pickup, that almost stifled, midrangey sound is unmistakable
@@samdavidson7022 Far from it. Brian explained it very well. I'd add there are many video recordings from around the time the S/T came out that shows Josh playing almost exclusively on the bridge pickup (the Bizarre festival being the clearest one). He was playing the same songs during later tours also using the bridge position.
Imma go on a little amp rant here, but I think it explains the QOTSA thing better than anything about pedals.
His bassier tone on Rated R might be explained by the Ampeg V-4B bass head he was using a lot back then, at least according to Eric Valentine's video about No One Knows (it's easy to find online but it's not on TH-cam). However, the V-4B is almost the same circuit as the V4 guitar head, which also exists as the VT-22 combo version, and the VT-22 is basically a higher powered version of a VT-40 with a different speaker arrangement. The differences between bass and guitar amp were few back in the 60s-70s after all. That's just to illustrate that generalizations about Josh's sound, him using exclusively bass amps in this instance, are misguided.
Josh's edgier, fuzzier sound is often explained by his reliance on solid state amps mixed with tube ones. That's just the nature of old analog transistor amps, like the Tubeworks Brian mentioned, or the Peavey Musician heads that keep showing up in Josh's rigs over the years; during the SFTD sessions, thanks to Eric Valentine's photos, or during the Iggy Pop and Villains tours.
Holy shit, you nailed the tone with go with the flow, damn
Everyone, buy a Fulltone Ultimate Octave. Josh and Troy both used one for years. They are rare now but worth every used penny. Nails the tone of the SFTD and Era perfectly.
I'm buying a PDF 2 this week though, as it is sounding better every time I hear a Queens riff through it on TH-cam.
You like the PDF2? How u use in the signal chain?
I've seen a lot of people putting it before other dirt pedals.
Or just build your own for 1/3 of the price. Not hat difficult.
My PDF2 arrived today, pretty impressed. Plays v nice with Russian Big Muff.
Or a joyo with the caps turned around, or just any foxx tone machine clone
I don't know who QOTSA are, but I liked all the cool sounds and playing here. Cool stuff. Maybe I'll give them a listen now. lol
LARRY Check out Kyuss :)
LARRY Listen to Songs for the Deaf. That album changes lives.
An incredible band. My favourite band of all time. Songs for the Deaf or Rated R are the best beginning ones but my favourite is Era Vulgaris
LARRY Where did you live the past 20 years? QOTSA are one of the biggest modern rock bands along with Foo Fighters and a few others
LARRY Sorry buddy, but I don't trust you :-)
I had the old PDF pedal. Stone Age are great.
CIRCLE OF TONE Your friend for guitar tone is it as good as the 2? Can you still sound like QOTSA with it?
Great selection of songs. These sound super close.
how about one for Daft Punk
love qotsa such an underrated band josh homme is a fucking legend
Revisiting this after a while, wish I could like it again!
I didnt expect this to get so much hate.... Thought it was pretty close actually :)
you guys should do a potent pairings for jack white
well they did one! ;)
All Muff, all the time lol
You guys did a pretty good job with this, I want to buy all of these pedals now
really great tones! not quite the origin but extremely close, people should understand that tone is in the hands too - and this guy got it pretty right
another love song was ON POINT
This is Life!! thank you so much
Damn Auto Pilot sounded great!
Sounds great to my ears! Nicely done guys 🤘
I really dont know why you guys are so disappointed with the tone.
For me, the tone is very close to the original considering only the use of pedals.
I dont care what pickup he's using
Good job guys.
The pickup position is in most cases equally if not more important than the effects used. For example, their David Gilmour video was ruined because they were on the bridge pickup the whole time despite Gilmour's frequent use of neck pickups.
Using only the pedals and not thinking about what pickup(s) you're selecting is counter-intuitive. It sounded super weird in places because of this. Not shitting on the effort that was put into making this video, but it could have been better IMHO.
I thought some a lot of the older tones sounded pretty wrong. Nothing against them as it is what they have on them at the time so fair play. I mean I am perhaps overcritical as I listen to QOSTA pretty much every day. No one can doubt No One Knows, Little Sister and Burn the Witch just sounded off
this video is shit
I think the video suggests sounding "like" QOTSA using pedals and not sounding "the same". Even because with a Blackstar and 2 or 3 pedals this would be impossible.
I think if Josh saw this video he would be proud.
this is awesome, thank you!
Great demonstraion , plsssss do for soundgarden
That was fun. Want all the things.
the tones are on point good job reverb
I waited so long for this
Some of these are spot on. Autopilot and Burn The Witch showed pretty well. Most others though... :P
Really good job putting this vid together
wow, there are some tone snobs in these comments
Yeah, you're right. And I think that the ones who criticizes this video with their big mouth ... sucks at guitar ! For me they did a great job for this one !
I feel like it's because josh is the king of tone and queens fans really want to know the sounds of their first 3 records
this is amazing, thank you so much!!!
Era vulgaris has some crazy tones on it
watch that Eric Valentine vid. he produced part of SFTD. he'll tell you. ampeg vt-40, or a bass v4 a hotbox distortion and an ovation gp.
Figures that Josh Homme used a pedal called "Hot box"...
can confirm, i tracked down a VT-40 and wiyh out a doubt half of their music was recorded on those lol
@@seamusthedawg2456 A shame no company is trying to reproduce the sound of these amps in a less complicated, more portable format nowadays, because my old VT-40 is the most QOTSA thing in a box I ever used. Also a shame because the V/VT series is great for more than playing QOTSA. The only amp maker that approaches that uniqueness and sheer musicality nowadays is Benson imo, albeit with a very different end result.
Thanks for this inside information
What about how to sound like Modest Mouse?
Good idea, we love Isaac Brock's guitar tones. We'll add it to our list!
Great!
During live shows homme will play a six string for the lead as well, while normally Troy will play the 12 string. They mirror notes during the solo too. So you can just use your 6 string for the solo just want be as potent as with the 12 string.
I thought you guys did an excellent job on this! Really awesome sounds.
You guys really should have gone with single coils for turnin' on the screw, and I think some of it is too saturated with fuzz, but overall it's a very useful video, especially in terms of the non-dirt tones. I think the key with Josh's distorted tone is keeping transparency in the signal.
That guild is sooooo sick
I could listen to that I sat by the ocean part forever.
all I have to say is: wow. time to buy a twelve string, and learn how to play slide.
also, nice Agile. rondo music kicks ass
love love love this
you're so close to the sound they have!!! great !
Weldone !!! It's good ! And thank you to giving this
I think a big part of the tone comes from Homme using a little ampeg SVT thing quite a lot, really would have helped
I guess that's why Troy van W seemed to question the choice of the DLS for some tones.
Confirmed, you can Rock with a Squier
So so sick
thank U very much! great job!
Yeah!
That red guitar is so beautiful
What, the SG? Those are cool. My dad plays in a band, and one of their drummers gave him a 60s SG for one performance. He said it was the best guitar he's ever played.
Great job
Now if only we could afford all those pedals
Awesome. Any chance of an episode for Failure?
I'm really digging the half Marty Friedman/half John Petrucci look, Joe
I have a question about these potent pairings videos. What is the order of pedals in the chain? Since they’re not plugged in, I guess they’re from left to right, but if they were connected, they would be placed from right to left....
also, thta PDF-2 has two settings. I acutally have one and its a big difference between the two settings. Ones almost a clean boost with EQ adjustment and the other is a good distortion
That was great...not an easy task!
While these are all really cool sounds, I find a distinct lack of Fulltone Ultimate Octave in here, especially for some of the older material.
It's just a Foxx Tone Machine clone, any octave fuzz will get you close
Wow
Some lead guitars sound like if they were from a 8-bit game
I think that's a cool sound myself.
thats the sound, small amps pushed to hell until the cone goes flat
Autopilot was pretty spot on
Subscribed!
shows what engineering can do. the PDF 2 is a key component. more mids on it and a little less on amp. the other secret ingredient: {gnir dom} cool video. didn't put 2 and 2 together for univibe and another love song type lead stuff.
Fuck yeah!.41 and just got my first guitar, my 1st goal is to play a QOTSA song!.
MY BLOODY VALENTINE.
Check out this contest we ran last year: reverb.com/news/vote-for-the-winner-of-reverbs-number-mybloodypairing-contest
What would pedal do you recommend using for regular John or the first album?
Pretty disappointed to not hear a Catlinbread SFT, but otherwise pretty good sounding.
Autopilot is epitome of rock n roll, man
Why not use the mimiq to double parts?
TC Electronics do a decent Vibe pedal that sounds pretty QOTSA...on another note that Guild is stunning!
sat by the ocean sounds the best
What's the pedal with the pdf 2 logo on it and where can i find it? I love it.
It's a PDF2 made in England by a company called Stone Deaf... I have had one for a few months and love ir
Is it just my phone or does the rhythm change with the first if you start the video and go back 10 sec
I don't quite know QOTSA well enough to know if these are ACCURATE tones, but I will say they're all pretty GREAT tones!
What about Kyuss?
so having 14 different guitars and 30 different pedals will make you sound like them. real salesmanship.
If you want to know how to REALLY sound like Josh, just watch the Livingroom Gear Demos. That guy 95% nails it, not Reverb. Not this time.
leugenaars TRUE
leugenaars yes you are correct. The Living Room demo is much more spot on - mainly because he uses the Catalinbread SFT, and not The Dirty Little Secret....which I have no idea why they used it for this demo..
The SFT is the key for that grit punch of QotSA overdrive over the ages. Their early days almost solely depends on it. (not on SFT itself, but on the distortion of Ampeg VT-22/VT-40 Josh uses).
One way to get even closer to Josh sound is to use an OD boost or an EQ pedal to boost the mids. Transparent OD pedals like Fulltone OCD could get there.
This Dirty Little Secret is based on Marshall amps. It's almost like the opposite overdrive they should be seeking, but oh well... I don't work at Reverb, but I DO KNOW Josh work after Kyuss.
Well, that's true. That's why I said 95%. It could be spot on if it had like 2/3 of the gain used and a bit less treble on the SFT. But the tone, and I mean the way the attack on the strings sound different throughout the riffs, was way closer than Reverb's.
But hey, that's the beauty of music. Both can have different taste and opinion and still enjoy it. :)
I think the difference between living room demos and Reverb is amp usage. I think living room demo got pretty close considering he used a Tone King Imperial, which I've never played myself but comes off as more of a vintage Vox sounding amp maybe with more midrange. And he seemed to get a good portion of their tone down, a little more low end and I think it would have been spot on.
While Reverb also did pretty well using the Blackstar artist 15 on "british" mode with treble low and Mids + Bass high, and it seemed like the amp handled the low ends fairly well. I would have liked to see them use the Catlinbread SFT with the Blackstar and see how well the Blackstar+SFT sound together and how close in tone it would come. Which I agree with Leugenaars, would be a more fitting distortion for that Ampeg sound.
I haven't played a Blackstar amp either, I'm just going off demo's I've heard of both. And both sound great in different ways. I think the Tone king has good vintage warmth with a lot of mids and balanced treble n bass. And Blackstar is more modern with modes that can emulate other amps to an extent, and it seems like it does a decent job at doing so. The only problem with Blackstar from what I've read in all my amp research I've down is fixing Blackstar amps can be a big problem if they break.
what was the les paul style guitar used on autopilot called?
Great demo guys! Don't listen to the haters. A lot of us love the series!
Reverb's tone on Turnin In The Screw is even better than the original
No, just no.
i would have to agree, for that style but not the song itself. That song was really meant for a light overdrive on a clean channel. But the tone that reverb created is fucking badass.
What guitar is used at 1:27 ??
kaden sinn a silvertone harmony. The only reason I know is because I inherited one from a passed relative. I’m pretty sure they were sold out of sears catalogs back in the day. Those things are so deceptively light too.
Can you guys do Jack White?
Good idea! On our list.
nice ending.
Can you do Korn 👍
Does anyone know what model the 12 string was that was used for the lead on I sat by the ocean?
Does anyone know what brand/model that 12-string guitar is at 0:49?
It looks like an agile, but you could probably get away with a gretsch or a danelectro. Maybe even that Squier 12 string jazzmaster
Also if you have problems with the pedals and the sounds keep in mind during live shows hommes guitar sound is not always the way it sounds on the records. He basically doesn't want people to know what he uses so switches his sound a lot. Sometimes it'll sound like he has the fuzz turned to 3,000 and others it's closer or not. He often just switches equipment and I'm honestly just guessing it just depends on what he wants to use that night. So i would focus on technique of learning what he's doing before complaining about what pedals you use, cause if homme doesn't give a fuck why do you? Right?
Witch guitars are used in autopilot?
you don't need overpriced pedals. old solid state bass amp heads cranked to all 10 and a couple EQ pedals boosting the mids
FUCKING SD-1 IS IN EVERY GIG, I'M GOING TO BUY ONE, (or any other recomendation)?
Don't. They won't last.
no catalinbread sft? no fulltone ultimate octave? or even an octavia type pedal? all the pre-era vulgaris stuff is pretty embarrassing sounding.
You mean in this video of with qotsa??!?
No fy6 either..Id say the SFT is essential to nailling early queens!
Wich guitars do they used on Autopilot?
what is that 12 string????
Bruh autopilot sounded perfect