# What effect is this?



## sgiven (Jul 31, 2007)

There's a certain effect that I've heard in a number of songs that I'm really into. The clearest example I can think of is in the lead guitar of "Make it Wit Chu" by Queens of the Stone Age.

You can listen to it here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5ivZ-4DmPY

It sounds like some kind of fuzz pedal but not like any of the fuzz pedals I've heard.

Any ideas?


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## Gene Machine (Sep 22, 2007)

*tubes*

it sounds like good old fashioned tube amp power tube overdrive to me. Add a little tone from whatever pickup he's using (is that a rickenbaker? not sure)

e.g.

guitar on 10 -> princeton reverb on 10.

my $.02


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## screamingdaisy (Oct 14, 2008)

Fulltone Ultimate Octave. You can detect hints of octave up on some of his notes. It's the same effect he used on Little Sister.


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

Yup, sounds like humbuckers driving a tube amp. But, I also hear a squawkiness to the sound, which makes me believe that the pickups are wired out-of-phase. This might account for why you can't get the sound at home.

Here's a couple links to guitar wiring that you can take a look at

http://www.1728.com/guitar.htm

http://users.chariot.net.au/~gmarts/pickcomb.htm

http://deaf-eddie.net/drawings/phase.doc


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## devnulljp (Mar 18, 2008)

I'd guess a maybe D*A*M meathead or more likely something like an old Ibanez Standard Fuzz, although it could be some kind of a ring-mod.
The Solidgoldfx 76 will get you close. Listen to those soundclips. it's not as extreme as an octavian type pedal but you'll get those overtones.


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## sgiven (Jul 31, 2007)

hollowbody said:


> Yup, sounds like humbuckers driving a tube amp. But, I also hear a squawkiness to the sound, which makes me believe that the pickups are wired out-of-phase. This might account for why you can't get the sound at home.
> 
> Here's a couple links to guitar wiring that you can take a look at
> 
> ...


It is that "squawkiness" that I'm talking about. It's almost like a muffled "honking" sound (that's the best I can describe it anyway). You can also hear it in "Who do You Love" by George Thorogood but its not quite as prominent.

Thanks for the links. I'll check it out.


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## screamingdaisy (Oct 14, 2008)

devnulljp said:


> I'd guess a maybe D*A*M meathead or more likely something like an old Ibanez Standard Fuzz, although it could be some kind of a ring-mod.
> The Solidgoldfx 76 will get you close. Listen to those soundclips. it's not as extreme as an octavian type pedal but you'll get those overtones.


The Ultimate Octave is a Foxx Tone Machine (fuzz) when the octave is bypassed.

As a reference, here's the same song from a live gig;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T94Z1Gy3MfA

Skip to 3:20 if you want to go strait to the solo.

You can't see them, but in the background there should be a pair of Ampeg VT-40s running into a pair of 2x12s. The sound comes from a fuzz box... fuzz is Josh's "thing".

(immediately right of the mic stand)


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## screamingdaisy (Oct 14, 2008)

sgiven said:


> It is that "squawkiness" that I'm talking about. It's almost like a muffled "honking" sound (that's the best I can describe it anyway). You can also hear it in "Who do You Love" by George Thorogood but its not quite as prominent.


Hollowbody guitar.


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

screamingdaisy said:


> Hollowbody guitar.


Hey screamingdaisy, I know Homme uses a lot of semi-hollows and the Ultimate Octave, but you don't hear an out-of-phase sound too? Is that nasal quality to his guitar just a semi-hollow and the Fulltone? I've got an old Muff and a Dot, and they don't sound like that together. I figured that nasal sound was a dead giveaway for an out-of-phase pickup.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

I don't know the band well but the solo sounded like a funky old guitar through a small tube amp turned up loud. I heard overtones (dissonance) that may have been enhanced by a good overdrive of some sort, but if there's an effect on that it's fairly subtle.



The solo starts at 2:35 by the way.


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## screamingdaisy (Oct 14, 2008)

hollowbody said:


> Hey screamingdaisy, I know Homme uses a lot of semi-hollows and the Ultimate Octave, but you don't hear an out-of-phase sound too? Is that nasal quality to his guitar just a semi-hollow and the Fulltone? I've got an old Muff and a Dot, and they don't sound like that together. I figured that nasal sound was a dead giveaway for an out-of-phase pickup.


I've never done the out of phase thing myself so I can't really attest to it's sound. I'm just using my knowledge of QOTSA and a little bit of listening and reasoning. The problem is that I've never used an Ultimate Octave myself, so I don't know how nasaly it can get. I have a Tonebender clone, and I think I could dial it in for a similar ****** midrange tone.


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## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

Thats a great guitar tone. Another effect he uses sometimes is a cocked wah pedal. We used to play Little Sister and I could cop the exact sound with a pretty distorted tone and my wah cocked back a fair ways. I dont really hear that tone on Mak it Wit Chu though. The solo also sounds like it was recorded really dry ie no reverb of any kind.

While we're on Queens of the Stone Age. I always loved No One Knows - great groove on that one. We tried playing that with our band but we could never get through the middle "chaos" section.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmFKgB1DStc&feature=related


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

screamingdaisy said:


> I've never done the out of phase thing myself so I can't really attest to it's sound. I'm just using my knowledge of QOTSA and a little bit of listening and reasoning. The problem is that I've never used an Ultimate Octave myself, so I don't know how nasaly it can get. I have a Tonebender clone, and I think I could dial it in for a similar ****** midrange tone.
> 
> The weird effect to the right of the Ultimate Octave is a Maestro Parametric Filter.... he could be using it as a notch filter to get that nasel tone as well (though I can't honestly say for sure).


Yeah, makes sense. I don't have any direct Ultimate Octave experience either, but with other fuzzes, even in the bridge position, I got a pretty fat tone out of my semi-hollow.

To the OP - I guess you need to try a couple fuzzes and try to dial in that nasal, quacky tone. Otherwise, if you're handy with a soldering iron, you can try to mod your guitar to switch between in and out of phase and see if that helps. It's not terribly hard, and might give you a bunch of new tones to play with. For the ultimate in tone versatility, check out the Jimmy Page wiring, to allow coil-taps on both pickups, phase in and out, as well as series/parallel switching.


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## screamingdaisy (Oct 14, 2008)

hollowbody said:


> Yeah, makes sense. I don't have any direct Ultimate Octave experience either, but with other fuzzes, even in the bridge position, I got a pretty fat tone out of my semi-hollow.


Back off the guitar's volume until the fuzz cleans up. Most classic fuzzes that I've used brighten up and sound more like an overdriven amp than a fat ass fuzz. You can get some great brittle guitar tones doing it this way.



bagpipe said:


> Thats a great guitar tone. Another effect he uses sometimes is a cocked wah pedal. We used to play Little Sister and I could cop the exact sound with a pretty distorted tone and my wah cocked back a fair ways. I dont really hear that tone on Mak it Wit Chu though. The solo also sounds like it was recorded really dry ie no reverb of any kind.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ8Ejst7VkI



> While we're on Queens of the Stone Age. I always loved No One Knows - great groove on that one. We tried playing that with our band but we could never get through the middle "chaos" section.
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmFKgB1DStc&feature=related


Killer song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2RODXCvLWM


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

bagpipe said:


> While we're on Queens of the Stone Age. I always loved No One Knows - great groove on that one. We tried playing that with our band but we could never get through the middle "chaos" section.


No One Knows is on my list of "perfect" songs, it's got great verses, a great chorus, and awesome bridge/breakdown, is a decent length and just generally rocks mightily. I'm not a _huge_ fan of other QOSA stuff, but No One Knows always puts a smile on my face when I hear it.


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## sgiven (Jul 31, 2007)

Thanks for all the suggestions. I listened to some samples of the Ultimate Octave, out of phase pickups, hollow bodies, and many other things and they all have a hint of what I'm looking for. I guess it's a combination of factors that gives that sound.

I'll have to do some experimenting.


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## jfk911 (May 23, 2008)

just randomly putting this out there QOTSA rock ha. i like to listen to them before i play hockey tends to pump me up and help me zone out and clear my mind. good stuff


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## Joey D. (Oct 16, 2006)

Was once a Homme tone freak, having seen them live, and as one can see from the posted pics, the ultimate octave is a main source of gain. That said, on record...anything goes. You can check out the in the studio footage of him and Billy Gibbons to see the insane multitude of gear laying around, most weird, vintage and not brought on the road.

And yeah it's likely in the amps, playing through Ampeg VT-22's and V4's dimed, it can create some very cool, strange and dissonant overtones that are nigh impossible to copp.

Throw on your neck humbucker, roll the tone knob to zero...keep the volume up and gain moderate on a drive/fuzz pedal...should get you in the ballpark.


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