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Gear Avail

Desert rock

Josh Homme

Queens of the Stone Age, 2000 onward

A midrange-forward board that ignores the usual advice to scoop the mids out of a heavy tone. Boosting a narrow band instead of cutting one is what gives those riffs their honk, and it is why they cut through on a small speaker.

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The chain

Shown in conventional signal order rather than the order the sources list them, so it reads the way it would be wired: guitar on the left, amp on the right.

  1. 1
    Drive / fuzzNo photo available

    ProCo Rat

    Drive / fuzz

    Hard, gritty gain with plenty of midrange left in it.

    Not stocked by any store we track

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  2. 2
    Drive / fuzzNo photo available

    MXR Micro Amp

    Drive / fuzz

    A clean push to make the amp work harder without changing its voicing.

    Not stocked by any store we track

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  3. 3
    EQNo photo available

    Maestro Parametric Filter

    EQ

    A vintage parametric boosting one narrow midrange band, which is the honky, nasal core of the sound.

    Not stocked by any store we track

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  4. 4
    DelayNo photo available

    Boss DD-3 Digital Delay

    Delay

    Short slapback on the cleaner passages.

    Not stocked by any store we track

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Documented on

  • Rated R

    album · 2000

    • The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret
    • Feel Good Hit of the Summer

  • Songs for the Deaf

    album · 2002

    • No One Knows
    • Go with the Flow
    • First It Giveth

Editorial gear history, assembled from interviews, rig rundowns, live photography and liner notes. Josh Homme is not affiliated with Gear Avail and nothing here is an endorsement. Rigs change between tours and between takes, so this one is scoped to 2000 onward rather than presented as a career-long setup. In most cases what is documented is that a pedal was on the board during those sessions or that tour, not that it is audible on a specific bar of a specific take.