Queens of the Stone Age was formed in 1997 by former members of Kyuss, including Josh Homme, the de facto leader and sole member who has been around since the founding. It continues Kyuss' riff-oriented, heavy music, but adds more delicacies than its stripped down predecessor; Josh Homme often describes QotSA's style as robot rock. Queens of the Stone Age also employs another guitarist, Troy Van Leeuwen, who also plays lap steel and keyboards in certain songs.
Josh continued to use his trusty Ovation GP guitar as his main ax, but can also be seen playing a Telecaster, an Epiphone Dot, a Gibson Marauder, and Gibson ES-225 among others. Of course, most of the times they are still tuned down at least a full step, but a C-standard tuning is not rare. QotSA is using various kinds of amps, but the most recognizable ones are the Ampeg Vt-22 combos and Ampeg VT-40's with 2x12 cabs, the Ampeg V, and the Vox AC30.
As you can see from the picture Homme is using a huge arsenal of pedals while playing; some of them might be just there to mislead people, he is famous for trying to hide the secret to his sound. Although he does a good job at masking his stuff, we'll try to pinpoint the cornerstones of his heavy sound. The two main overdrive/distortion pedals he uses are the Boss SD-1 and the Fulltone Ultimate Octave, the latter is a fuzz and an octave pedal in one. He also uses EHX POG Octave Generators and you can also see a Boss octaver on the picture. He uses multiple volume and wah pedals; you can't go wrong with a simple Dunlop CryBaby. Also, you can see some phasers on the board, an MXR Phase 90 and an EHX Small Stone. Since his rig is quite huge, if you want to dig deeper, you can look up the complete list at http://www.uberproaudio.com/who-plays-what/217-queens-of-the-stone-age-josh-homme-guitar-gear-rig-and-equipment.
Is it easy? For most of us, no. Is it cheaper than buying one in local music shop? No, not really. Will it be as good as one made by professionals at least? Most of the times no. Then why do it, you might ask. Well, the most simple answer is that it's incredibly fun; designing the effect, gathering materials, assembling the parts, then finally seeing it actually work. Of course, some pedals are discontinued, and the only way to get one is to spend hundreds of dollars on it on Ebay, so in these cases, you might consider creating one yourself. In this post we'll look at the most basic things you'll need if you decide to build your own effect pedal.
Most of the pedals only need a few tools to be built - you'll need a Solder Station, Solder, a Multimeter, Desolder Braid, Cutters, Pliers, and Wire Strippers. Many homes already have these stuff, but if not, you can order a whole kit at http://www.buildyourownclone.com/tools.html. You should also get a good drill if you want to create custom casings (and it can come handy any time).
First of all, you'll need to take care of the schematics, but you can find these premade at quite a lot of sites, I'll include the links at the end of the post. Then comes the fun part, assembling the circuit, which you'll have to test before moving on to the next part. The most painful (or fun, for some) part is fitting the whole thing into the casing, this can be tricky. You should try to be as careful as you can, the best is to plan the installment beforehand. Throughout the whole process, it is essential to test the pedal every once in a while, so you recognize a faulty wiring for example before you've put it in the casing.
Ordering the parts is much easier nowadays than it was a few years ago, you can order most of these stuff from Ebay or specific DIY effects sites. The reason why this will actually cost you a bit more than buying the complete thing in a store is that it is much cheaper to buy these parts in big numbers, than buying only one or two. Also, because of this, pedal manufacturers can afford top quality parts, while it may not be possible for an average tinkerer. The links below will take you to these shops.
Pearl Jam is the sole band out of the commercially successful ones from the so-called "grunge" era (grunge is a ridiculously overused and meaningless term, so from now on we'll call it - behold! - alternative rock) that have been continuously playing since their debut album in 1991, Ten, without any longer hiatus or a complete change in their lineup. Pearl Jam aged well, like a wine or a cheese, there are no two albums that share the exact same style, their music has blues, classic rock, punk, country, and many other elements that are audible in their music, however, they've managed to create their own sound and own style.
Pearl Jam's history is so long and varied that I will not attempt to tell you the whole story; if you are interested, you should definitely check out PJ20, Pearl Jam's 20 anniversary film. Worth the time. PJ has gone through a bunch of drummers since their inception, but all the other founding members are still part of the group. Vocalist/Guitarist Eddie Vedder, guitarist Mike McCready and Stone Gossard, bassist Jeff Ament, along with drummer Matt Cameron (who also played and plays with Soundgarden) and guest keyboard player Boom Gaspar form one of the most creative and influential bands of all time.
Hopefully those who want to recreate Pearl Jam's sound have thousands of dollars/euros/whatever lying around, 'cause it will be expensive. PJ has always used a "classic" sound, it blends together perfectly, experimental sounds have rarely appeared on their songs. Since they usually go with 3 guitars, but at least 2, it is essential that their parts do not overshadow the others. The two full-time guitar players could be called "Strat" (McCready) and "LP" (Gossard) - in the early years of the band, they mostly played these two instruments, but since then, they've been switching them more regularly (money is good). McCready can be seen playing a Les Paul Junior, while Gossard uses Strats and usually an acoustic if the song requires one.
There are some pedals that we can say are mainstays of the Pear Jam sound, but there they have used dozens of pedals throughout the years, so we'll only take a look at the most basic ones. One of the pedals that is used by both Mike and Stone is the famous Ibanez TS-9. This overdrive pedal is capable of giving your sound from a mellow middle boost to a crunchy distortion-like tone. (Low Budget Tip - You might want to check out the Joyo Vintage Overdrive pedal, which is a clone of the TS-808 with the same chip, sounds great for its price.) Pearl Jam often uses phased sounds, using pedals like the MXR Phase 100, which is available at almost any shop if you want to try it out. For delay, they've used a wide range of BOSS delay pedals, including the DM-3, DD-3, and DD-5. Two Dunlop effects are usually used in their rigs, the famous CryBaby (535q) and the Rotovibe, which is a chorus/vibrato pedal, simulating the sound of the rotating Leslie speakers. If you are interested in a complete list of gear used, with tabs, biographies, etc, you should check out GivenToWail.com, great site.
Kyuss, the legendary desert rock/stoner rock/metal band, that launched the career of Queens of the Stone singer/songwriter/guitarist/generalbadass Josh Homme, is an interesting take on a blog dealing with guitar effects. Their sound can be attributed to Josh's unusual choice of amps, tunings, but not so much to the extensive use of effects, which stands in contrast with the approach of QotSA.
Kyuss was formed in 1988 under the name of Katzenjammer, then Sons of Kyuss, and in 1991, they finally changed their name to Kyuss. The two continous members were singer John Garcia and guitarist Josh Homme, other members included Nick Oliveri, Scott Reeder, and Brant Bjork among others. The band disbanded in 1995. Today, two original members, John Garcia and Brant Bjork are touring as Kyuss Lives!, playing Kyuss songs.
Kyuss became the prototypical stoner act, drone guitar riffs, heavy bass, hard'n'loud drums, and strong vocals. Josh Homme mainly used an Ovation GP guitar, which is the single most important part; this guitar is capable of producing a unique sound that no other guitars can. Homme later said in an interview that he prefers unique guitars, guitars with a story, and that he tends to buy used guitars because of this. He also said that he never owned a Gibson Les Paul or a Fender Stratocaster. To get that solid stoner sound, you should also roll back the tone knob on your guitar a bit (or a lot). Kyuss mostly played in a C standard tuning, so you'll want to set up your guitar to accommodate that, and .12 or .13 strings are recommended. Use your neck pickup.
Josh used bass amplifiers in Kyuss, we know of a Tubeworks Mosvalve RT2100 ES in particular, but he used various other amps, including Marshall JCM900s and 2000s. Though we know some of the models he used, we don't really know the little "magic tricks" they used to tweak the sound of the amps, this is the main reason Josh Homme's sound is so elusive. As for the equalization, you should turn up the bass and the mids, and turn down the treble. You should also crank up the volume to get a natural, crunchy, overdriven sound.
As for the effects, you can get a fuzz or a Boss SD-1, after all this amp magic, the distortion will mostly come from the amp itself. As for the fuzz, an EHX Big Muff could work as a general solution, or you could get an EHX Germanium Muff for a bit more crunchy low end. Though Josh never really used fuzz in Kyuss, it might work for some of you with amps that have a lower gain. The other effects are quite elusive, and haven't been used a whole lot in Kyuss, but a few people recommended getting a Visual Sound H2O for the chorus/delay modulation.
In this post I am going to introduce you to my favorite boutique pedal makers (boutique pedals usually mean high-quality, hand-built stuff), Black Arts Toneworks. They have 3 main models, the Pharaoh, the LSTR, and the Black Forest, all of them being some sort of overdrive/distortion/fuzz effects. Every BAT pedal is hand-built, and their quality and appearance separates them from all other companies, but Mark still manages to keep prices relatively low. BAT's collaborator, Gr8Scott Graphics also offers custom graphics for a few more dollars.
Pharaoh
First of all, the Pharaoh is a killer looking Fuzz pedal, absolutely wonderful. It is also probably the most verstatile of the three. It has four knobs (Tone, High, Fuzz, Volume), and two switches (Hi-Lo output, Germanium-No diodes-Silicon). This fuzz is capable of giving you from a cleanish boost, through a gentle overdrive, to a facemelting fuzz tone. It's special characteristic is that it lets through enough of your mids so that your guitar sound won't be "highjacked", you'll still retain your guitar's sound. The Hi-Lo switch sets the headroom, so Hi will sound a bit more saturated and distorted (fuzzy) than Lo. The most intriguing part is the 3-way switch, which lets you choose between a Germanium or Silicon diode/transistor, or you can bypass them if you leave the switch in the middle position. Another interesting thing is that Pharaoh is capable of functioning with bass guitars, and some people actually use it for that.
LSTR
Another fuzz pedal, the LSTR ("Lester") is "the Pharaoh's unruly brother, LSTR provides the opposite of the Pharaoh. The LSTR is an all out rock machine tuned and blended to deliver the signature Black Arts low end along with more fuzz than mamma allows , unique tone controls and LSTR's understated, striking beauty.Teaching kids to smoke, play games and drink beer." After these words there is not much more there to say. While the Pharaoh is a bit dialed back, this fuzz's gain is over the top. Its 4 switches (Tone, Scoop, Fuzz, Volume) lets you create a variety of sounds, from the classic Big Muff to a Pharaoh-ish open sound.
Black Forest
The Black Forest overdrive/distortion is a traditional OD/Distortion, but of course at its best. Black Arts Toneworks created a versatile (see a pattern here?) pedal, that can give you overdriven, distorted, or even fuzz-like tones. "The pedal takes the classic ColorSound OD circuit and drags it through the soil." The 6-way Depth control switch makes you have total control over this pedal, cycling through different capacitor modes. The first thing you'll realize when you stomp on this pedal is its rich and fat sound, definitely a must have for players looking for a more classic sound.
One of the biggest obstacles when you try to get into guitar effects is where to look for them, where can you check out what they do, compare prices, etc, so in this post I'll show you a few sites and tools where you can get started.
Internet stores are real good, because they are reliable, they can get almost anything, fast and cheap, but on the flipside, you can't try them out personally. Because of this, buying guitars from them might not be the best idea (though I think most of them have a buyback policy, meaning you can send back stuff you don't like), but buying stompboxes is alright. Most of them offer free shipping to the US, but you can get good rates for almost any civilized country. My two favorites are ProGuitarShop.com and PrymaxeVintage.com, but there are dozens of other shops online. A great feature of these sites is that you can filter your search results according to the type of gear you are looking for, for example, you can take a look at all the tremolo pedals, without knowing any of them by name. The reason why ProGuitarShop stands out is the gear reviews they post online, these videos are among the most thorough and detailed ones available on the interweb.
The best place to do research is YouTube. Just by typing a few keywords, for example the name of the pedal you are looking for and it will usually give you quite a few results. Bear in mind that the sound you hear might differ from what it would sound with your gear, sometimes different guitars, amplifiers, and low-quality mics or cameras can alter the sound significantly. Generally, you'll want to check out reviews that show you the gear they use (or maybe even use various kinds of guitars), and most importantly, when talking about stompboxes, you should look for videos that use ONLY the given pedal you are looking for. Two channels you should check out - ProGuitarShop's channel, that I've mentioned before (http://www.youtube.com/user/proguitarshopdemos?ob=4), and Gearmanndude's channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/gearmanndude?ob=4), where he definitely adds his own tone to the reviews.
Amazon and Ebay are two other great sites if you are looking for guitar gear. Amazon mostly sells new stuff, while Ebay has both new and used gear. Sometimes you can get good discounts if you buy on these sites, so always look around before buying something - another seller might be offering it at a much lower price. One thing you have to check before buying is the shipping price, because they can get quite high, especially if you live far from the retailer.
On Ebay, if you know what you are looking for, you can try to look for used gear. You should be careful though, unless you have a full knowledge of the item you want to buy, you can end up with stuff that don't meet your expectations. Always do the research, always look at the photos, most of the times the scratches and other damages are highlighted, so you won't experience any unpleasant surprises after unpacking. Don't even bother buying stuff that don't have pictures of them. You can also ask the seller questions about the item, most of the time they will be more than willing to answer, they want to sell their merchandise after all. Another thing to look at is the feedback the seller has, the higher it is, the more pleased their customers were. Usually you won't find anything lower than 99%, these communities function real well, no one will really try to screw you. One last thing you need to know is that if you buy something on these sites, you are virtually signing a contract, so you are obliged to pay for the things you ordered.
The Melvins are another band from the state of Washington, the band was formed Buzz Osborne (aka King Buzzo), Matt Lukin, and Mike Dillard while they were attending Montesano High School in Montesano, WA. Out of the founding members, only King Buzzo remains in the band, who is, apart from his well-known ties to Kurt Cobain, famous for his weird hairstyle (I love it though), bizarre humor, and his sludgy, mid-tempo guitar playing. It is difficult to tell the genre of music they are playing; the easiest thing would be to call it alternative or alternative punk, but a sludge metal, doom metal, or a stoner rock label could also suit it. The Melvins is a case in which these labels definitely fail to tell you the whole story, they have changed and reinvented themselves countless times, for example, their current lineup includes two drummers, which is rarely used in popular music.
Osborne's guitar of choice has been the iconic Gibson Les Paul for a long-long time, which can be seen on the picture on the left, but while rehearsing in the same building as the band Isis, he was introduced to his new crush, an Electrical Guitar Company Standard Guitar, which is made out of aluminium, equipped with Les Paul pickups.
King Buzzo's approach to effects is to keep it simple. As you can see in the video embedded below, currently he only uses 5 pedals in his live rig: a BOSS ODB-3 Bass Overdrive, a BOSS DD-3 Digital Delay, an MXR Blue Box, an MXR Dyna Comp, and a BOSS TU-2 Chromatic Tuner as his tuner. His pedalboard is the perfect example of 'less is more', even with these few pedals, he can achieve various tones and sounds.
The two most exciting pedals on this board are the BOSS Bass Overdrive and the MXR Blue Box (which is a relatively new favorite of mine). The Bass Overdrive is, as its name implies, primarily made for bass players, but King Buzzo decided to use it for his guitar as his main overdrive/distortion. This pedal gives that special, sludgy sound to the newer Melvins records; we have to be grateful to BOSS that this pedal happens to be able to function at higher frequencies too. The other intriguing pedal is the MXR Blue Box, which is a Fuzz and an Octave pedal combined. It has real simple controls, one knob for the output and one for the mixing of the fuzz and the octave. Turned to the left, it gives you only two octaves down, and all-out fuzz when turned to the right. Gotta love this glitchy stompbox.
An iconic band, lead by an iconic guitarist/singer/songwriter. Nirvana's raw power swept the world of popular music, their breakthrough album, Nevermind, single-handedly overthrew the pretentious glam scene. Though Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden and others are all great bands on their own, Nirvana was the one that allowed all of them to become commercially successful. The huge stardom eventually led to Kurt Cobain's downfall, he died on April 5th, 1994, joining the 27 Club. The circumstances of his death were quite strange and controversial, it was officially ruled a suicide, though you could make a strong case for murder. You decide, check out www.justiceforkurt.com.
Kurt was sort of an anti-hero of guitarists, he was not caught up with the nuances, but his songwriting skills and characteristic voice made him a legendary player. After a few hours of playing Nirvana songs, probably your hands will be stuck in a power chord shape, but nevertheless, as he once said in a Fender FrontLine interview: "I can't play [guitar] like Segovia. The flip side of that is that Segovia could probably never have played like me." (You can read the interview here http://tinyurl.com/6plz2wq and here http://tinyurl.com/7ruj546 - Segovia was a famous classical guitar player, regarded as one of the greatest guitarists ever to play) Bob Dylan was also a fan of Kurt's songwriting, after hearing Polly, he remarked: "That kid has heart".
Kurt's guitar sound is probably one of the most easily and inexpensively recreatable ones, but the feel-oriented style he played with is probably impossible to emulate. The guitar most widely associated with him is the Fender Mustang, which was, at the time, a cheap guitar, one you could probably pick up at a pawn shop. Kurt replaced the bridge pickup for a Seymour Duncan Hot Rails humbucker, and installed a tune-o-matic bridge. Other "pawn shop pickups" include his Fender Jaguars, now, needless to say, going at a much higher price than back then. Fender now offers Kurt Cobain signature models of both the Mustang and the Jaguar. Kurt was also experimenting with a new guitar he called the Jag-Stang, which combined the strengths of both guitars. Fender eventually created it for him, but it was rarely used. Japanese-made Jag-Stangs were available for purchase for a short period of time, but it has been discontinued since.
Kurt's pedalboard's mainstays were the BOSS (Roland) DS-series pedals, he started out with the DS-1, then switched to the DS-2 Turbo Distortion in February '92. Other overdrive/distortion pedals he used include an MXR Distortion, a ProCo RAT, an EHX Big Muff, and a Tech 21 Sans Amp Classic, which was his main distortion during the In Utero era. His choice of chorus pedal was the EHX Small Clone (which is still surprisingly cheap), its sound can clearly be heard in the song Come As You Are. Other pedals he used include an EHX PolyChorus/EchoFlanger, but he used these sporadically. You can't go wrong if you get yourself a BOSS DS-2 and an EHX Small Clone, then rock away.
Lots and lots of videos, books, websites, and films have been made about Nirvana and Kurt, some good, some terrible, but there are two things I recommend you to check out if you are interested. The first one is http://www.kurtsequipment.com/, which covers everything you can possibly know about Kurt's gear. The other is a film called Kurt Cobain: About a Son, which is narrated by Kurt Cobain himself, the autobiography introduces us to the world he grew up in.
"I don't believe in God, but if I did, he would be a black, left-handed guitarist" The Dreamers
Jimi Hendrix. Even if you never followed popular music, you heard about this guy. Eccentric behaviour, Woodstock, Club 27, he had everything to become a rock legend. He was not necessarily the most sophisticated guitar player (still, I think most of us would be happy with what he got), but he was creative, he was an innovator. He is credited for bringing a number of effects into mainstream use, he was famous for using a lot of feedback and cranking up the amp to 12 (yeah, he could do it).
JH's signature, upside down right-handed Fender Stratocaster was a huge part of his sound. This inversion changed the usual sound characteristics of the Strat, since his lower strings had a bright sound and his higher ones had a mellow sound this way. His longtime friend and technician, Roger Mayer, mentioned in a recent Guitar World interview (http://www.guitarworld.com/interview-roger-mayer-secrets-jimi-hendrixs-guitar-setup#slide-0) that they also strung the instrument in a rather unconventional way; the gauges ran .010, .013, .015, .026, .032 and .038, in order to balance out the sound, to avoid the general G-heavy (the G-string generally has a higher diameter than what would come in a logical series) guitar sound. He didn't mess with the stock pickups. Another interesting thing to note is that he was able to fret bass notes with his thumb (he had freakishly large hands), while he would play melodic lines with his "regular" fingers easily.
Hendrix's two main effects, which he used almost all the time, were the Arbiter Fuzz Face and a Vox wah-wah pedal. In the first post we have already discussed the way a Fuzz overdrive works, now is the time to look into a wah a little. It is usually combined with an expression pedal (to easily alter the level of the effect with your feet while playing), but there are autowahs out there, which act just like regular stompboxes. Wahs are filter pedals, which emulate human sound by sweeping peak responses, then altering their frequencies up and down to reach that recognizable sound. Probably the most famous example of the Wah-Wah is the Jim Dunlop CryBaby, which is available in many versions (including a Hendrix one) in almost every guitar shop.
Roger Mayer later made him an Octavia pedal, which reproduced the played notes one octave higher and/or lower. The use of this effect can be clearly heard on his legendary track, Purple Haze. He also used a Japanese Uni-Vibe pedal, which was used to emulate a rotating Leslie speaker. It is now manufactured by Dunlop, though its pricetag is quite high.
Initially, Jimi used Fender and Vox amplifiers, but soon he switched to Marshall amplifications, after he was introduced to these British monsters. Jim Marshall's high gain creations helped Hendrix create his original, trendsetting sound, which still inspires and is emulated by thousands of guitar players in the world.
Jimi Hendrix is the quintessential guitar hero, musical genius, and rock legend.
Stompboxes are probably the most widely used and easily costumizable guitar effect units. The two main branches are analog and digital effects (analog/digital circuitry). Analog effects are generally believed to be of higher quality, because of their natural sounds; they simply alter the signal due to its components' characteristics, for example, germanium transistors create a fuzzy distortion. Digital effects on the other hand use microprocessors to convert the signal into a digital one, which then gets altered by the effects unit. The way you can look at it is that a digital effect is a mini-computer, which can only do one thing, but it is (hopefully) really good at it and does its job real fast, without noticeable latency.
Also, apart from the single, one-trick pony effects, there are multi-effect pedals (typically digital), which offer multiple types of effects, but they are generally less costumizable than their single-effect counterparts, however, you can get them a lot cheaper overall. BOSS is manufacturing quite a wide variety of multi-effects, you can take a look at them at http://www.bossus.com/gear/productlist.php?ParentId=248.
Overdrive/Distortion/Fuzz effects are the most widely used ones, they create that dirty, crunchy sound that almost all rock/metal bands have. The way they work is that they clip the soundwaves' peaks, creating overtones. Fuzz effects differ in a way that they are transforming the waves almost into squarewaves, giving them a tighter, heavily distorted sound. Famous pedals include the Ibanez TubeScreamer 808 or 9, the ProCo Rat Distortion, and the EHX Big Muff.
Modulation effects alter the sound in different way, including timbre and pitch change, adding a second signal, slowing down a track, while leaving the other untouched, rapid volume changes, etc. Flangers, Chorus pedals, Tremolo pedals, and Phasers are part of this group. We will discuss them individually later on.
Filter effects alter the frequency, usually boosting one region, while reducing the other. Filters include the Wah-wah and the Talk Box, which we'll try to build from cheap materials soon.
Dynamics effects modify the volume of your signal. Boosters (as you might have guesses) increase the volume to make up for the loss in your rig or to give that extra kick during solos (up to 11). Compressors even out the volume of your notes, while Noise gates reduce the unwanted hums and hisses.
Lastly, the Time-based effects include Delay pedals, which repeat sounds, creating an echo-like sound; Reverb effects (amplifiers often have built-in reverb effects), which emulate sounds in an echo-chamber; and Loop effects, which can record a certain part that can replayed later.
Of course, there are many other effects, these are just the most common ones. When we'll be looking at individual guitar sounds, we'll go into smaller details regarding a given pedal.
Ever wondered what those little boxes do that are connected to the guitar and/or the amp? You always wanted to know how Nirvana created their distinct, yet simple sound on Nevermind? Or you are just trying to find your own sound? I'll try to offer a solution for all of that, in this blog we'll take a look at guitar effects, general musical characteristics, and the rigs of famous (or not that famous) bands and guitarists.
This week we'll be looking at the most common stompbox types. So, as Mr. Morrison of The Doors sang, "let it roll, baby, roll".
