Tone library / Queens of the stone age / The evil has landed

The evil has landed amp settings — Orange OR15H

The Queens of the stone age guitar tone for “The evil has landed”, dialed in for a Orange OR15H with a Fender Jim Root Telecaster. Studio version, Villains (2017) — produced by Mark Ronson, mixed by Alan Moulder

Original rig

Josh Homme's typical rig: Ampeg VT-40 / Ampeg V4 heads into Emperor cabs, Ovation GP preamp for signature midrange grind, Fender Jazzmaster/Telecaster variants. Troy Van Leeuwen on various Telecasters including 12-string. The 'fuzzed out melodic guitars' suggest Homme's signature boost/preamp saturation rather than traditional fuzz pedals.

Grinding mid-forward fuzz-adjacent crunch with boogie-style low-end thump and harmonic overtones — tight but not scooped, with upper-mid bite

Amp settings — Orange OR15H

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	6
Bass	5
Mid	7
Treble	5
Master	6

Don’t have a Orange OR15H? See this song on other amps → Match your own rig →

Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE7 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Tube Screamer style OD (TS9 / TS808 clone)

RECOMMENDED — not currently owned. Used as a mid-boost into the OR15's already cooking gain stage to replicate Homme's Ovation preamp push. This is essential for the QOTSA grinding midrange character.

Drive 3 · Tone 6 · Level 7

Why these settings

The OR15 is perfect for this tone — its warm, compressed low-mids and natural sag match QOTSA's grinding character far better than a scooped American amp would. Homme's signature sound comes from preamp saturation stacking (Ovation GP into tube heads), which the TS-style pedal replicates by pushing the OR15's front end. Gain at 6 (not maxed) keeps note definition for the riff clarity this track needs. Rolled tone knob to 7 tames the Jim Root EMGs' high-end spike.

PRO TIPHomme's picking attack is critical — he digs in hard on downstrokes for the main riff but backs off dynamically on the verse groove sections. The Jim Root's active EMGs are hotter than Homme's passive Jazzmaster pickups, so use your picking dynamics to control saturation rather than riding the volume knob.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a Orange OR15H. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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Song, artist and gear names are used to identify the tone being matched; ToneAdapt is not affiliated with or endorsed by the artists or manufacturers mentioned. Settings are AI-generated starting points — trust your ears.