Song for the dead amp settings — Fender Deluxe Reverb
The Queens of the stone age guitar tone for “Song for the dead”, dialed in for a Fender Deluxe Reverb with a Epiphone SG Standard. Studio version, Songs for the Deaf (2002)
Ampeg V-4B + Peavey Musician/Standard solid-state PA heads blended, Boss SD-1 (drive 0, tone 10, level 10) as clean boost, Ovation Ultra GP / Gibson ES-175 / Les Paul guitars
| Knob | Setting (0–10) |
|---|---|
| Gain | 6 |
| Bass | 7 |
| Mid | 8 |
| Treble | 4 |
| Presence | 3 |
| Reverb | 0 |
| Master | 6 |
01Boss SD-1 Super OverDrive
RECOMMENDED — not currently owned. This is critical to the QOTSA tone. Used as a clean boost to slam the front end and add upper-mid sizzle. The SD-1's mid-hump around 700-1kHz is essential to Homme's cut.
02Boss GE-7 Graphic EQ
RECOMMENDED — not currently owned. Homme boosted 400Hz specifically. This stacks after the SD-1 to thicken the low-mids into that signature wall.
The Deluxe Reverb is scooped and bright — the opposite of Homme's bass-amp-derived low-mid thickness. I pushed bass to 7 and mid to 8 to compensate for the Fender's natural mid-cut, while dropping treble to 4 and presence to 3 to tame the Fender's 6kHz sparkle that would fight the dense, warm original tone. Without the SD-1 boost, the Deluxe won't achieve the compressed saturation — it stays too clean and polite. The SG's humbuckers help add thickness vs the original's similar pickup output.
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These settings are for a Fender Deluxe Reverb. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.
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