When it comes to rock scene of the past decade or so, the selection of bands was pretty much streamlined and monotone. That is until Queens of the Stone Age came around.
This band is hard to describe aside from the fact that they have a pretty unique tone. One person who is responsible for this new sound is Josh Homme. He is the lead vocalist and guitarist of the band. He is also the only band member who was there from the very beginning.
What Hommes did is pretty amazing with all things considered. His style is very peculiar and seems to a be a fusion of bluesy rock and more modern punk. However, the most interesting aspect of his sound are the guitars he uses.
Today we are going to take a look at Josh Homme guitar rig and see what he uses to achieve the tone that made Queens of the Stone Age so famous.
Take a closer look
Aside from creating and making his band so popular, Josh Homme achieved one more interesting feat. Back in the day, Ovation Ultra GP was a guitar that you would turn to if you couldn’t afford a proper Gibson Les Paul.
It’s the type of instrument you would find in pawn shops for dirt cheap prices. Then Homme came along and completely changed this.
Back in his early days, Homme used one of these guitar. He kept using to a point where an Ovation Ultra GP skyrocketed in price all thanks to him. You’ll be hard pressed to find one under a $1000 these days. That is the kind of impact this man has on the music industry.
These days the situation is a bit different. He moved away from the Ovation, and is usually seen wielding a semi-hollow guitar. It’s usually a Motor Ave or Maton. There are some Telecasters in the mix as well as a Gibson Marauder. All of his guitars are equipped with humbuckers, sometimes special series depending on how customized he wants his guitars to be.
In terms of amplifcation, Homme used to be a devoted Marshall fan, at least in his early days. We are talking JCM900 heads and Ampeg cabs. He never really got into massive amp stacks, and prefers to use smaller amps. His setup today is usually four Vox VT40s chained together.
This odd combination is pretty unique to Hommes, and may come across as pretty strange to a regular observer. However, he found what works the best for him and is sticking to it.
The pedal board of Josh Hommes is pretty unique as well. For the most part you will find Boss, Dunlop, Moogs and others. However, the main piece of his pedal board is a secret that he is not all that willing to share with the world just yet. From what we can tell, there are some oddball pedals in his collection, like EHX POG and Univox Super-Fuzz.
On the whole
Josh Homme is a pretty unique guy when it comes to the equipment he uses. There’s not a single part of his setup that can be characterized as standard.
Recreating his particular sound may prove to be a pretty hard task that requires obscure components which you will hardly find. Josh Hommes guitar rig is interesting to say the least.
