Guitar Journal: QOTSA, Mu-Tron vs Behringer, & Black Sabbath
QOTSA, Mu-Tron, & Black Sabbath's final farewell concert!
3,5 / 5,0 | 
QOTSA’s Troy Van Leeuwen has a new signature GMI Public Address Systems 33F6 tube amp that looks amazing. Mu-Tron has publicly stated about the latest Behringer pedal release, and they aren’t happy about the new clone. Finally, Black Sabbath is back for their last-ever live show!
Guitar Journal
QOTSA – Troy Van Leeuwen‘s new amp
The GMI Public Address Systems 33F6 is Queens Of The Stone Age’s Troy Van Leeuwen’s new amp, and it was designed using NOS parts and specifically to work well with pedals.
It follows the announcement of the Peavey Josh Homme Decade Too at NAMM 2025. However, this amp is a handmade boutique tube model with a price tag to match.
All Tube
The GMI 33F6 is a 35-watt, two-channel tube amplifier resulting from years of collaboration with Sean Romin, Van Leewen’s long-time amp technician. Romin, a musician himself, aimed to create the perfect amplifier for Troy because even the best vintage models did not give him the sound he wanted.
The 33F6 combines modern and classic components, including a 12AX7 preamp tube and 6L6GC power amp, to produce a clear, precise sound. Other features include a Lar-Mar-style “post-phase inverter master volume” and a switchable tone stack.
Availability
The GMI Public Address Systems 33F6 is handcrafted in the USA and offered in limited quantities due tot the sourcing of NOS parts. The price ranges from $5000 to $5500 and you can register your interest now on their site.
Mu-Tron
Mu-Tron has just shared a statement online about the new Behringer B-TRON III Envelope Generator pedal and accuses them of assimilating their history and branding. Musitronics Mu-Tron is a small operation compared to Behringer, so for them to compete against a multi-billion dollar company is going to be complicated.
More Mu-Tron designs cloned
Behringer has already cloned the Bi-Phase (now renamed Dual-Phase) and the Octave Divider, both designs that originate from Mu-Tron.
The full statement below mentions that the Grateful Dead Gear forum has been censoring and removing their comments. Jerry Garcia famously used Mu-Tron, so there is a real connection here.
So a $2 Billion German company has decided to copy a 3rd Mu-Tron product. It is being distributed, sight unseen, 6 month pre-order through a $31 billion Investment firm which owns the largest online music store in the world. The pedal is most-likely entirely made in China and will sell for less than the cost of what it takes us to produce here in the USA. And even admits “tariff 1.0”, “chip shortages”, Covid, and rising labor costs, we have not raised the price of our products in 8 years. Instead, we have continued to innovate new products and do our best to deliver awesome products to last a lifetime. This company has not only copied the trade-dress ( color schemes, fonts, labels and verbiage), they have even assimilated the history of Musitronics into their videos as if was their own. What is even worse and really sad is that we noticed in that the moderators of an online Grateful Dead gear forum is have been censoring and deleting comments left by supporters of Musitronics Mu-Tron against these products. From other sources we have also discovered these same “Deadheads” have been trash talking our products in attempts to dissuade retailers from carrying out products and musicians to not use them. What would YOU do? – Musitronics Mu-Tron
Is there a solution?
I’m not sure if there is a solution that would suit both parties. As far as I am aware, you cannot legally protect a circuit design, which is why there are so many pedal clones in the world. I would guess that fans of original Mu-Tron effects will save their money, buy the originals, and not bother with Behringer’s clones of these classic circuits.
Cheaper Clones
How many people will stop buying Musitronics Mu-Tron and opt for a cheaper Behringer alternative is hard to guess. If you cannot afford an American-made product, will you opt for a cheaper Chinese-made clone?
Could Musitronics create an affordable range elsewhere to reach a wider audience? Or should they concentrate on what they do best and keep making products in the USA?
In 2025, the pedal marketplace is already saturated, and with cheap clones, digital modeling, and software emulations competing for our money, do these more boutique and high-end US-made pedal brands have a way to compete? Quality and craftsmanship are possibly the answer here, but I haven’t a definitive answer.
Black Sabbath
Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath are reuniting for a final performance at a benefit concert in Birmingham on July 5th. The legendary heavy metal band will headline “Back To The Beginning,” a one-day festival at Villa Park featuring numerous bands they influenced, including Metallica, Pantera, Slayer, Gojira, and Anthrax.
As a guitarist, this is fantastic news, and I’m hoping it will inspire many young potential players to get more into playing the guitar. It’s the perfect time to grab an SG and play some heavy riffs!
Back To The Beginning
This concert marks the first time in 20 years that the original lineup—Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward—will perform together. Osbourne, whose touring has been limited by Parkinson’s disease and spinal injuries, will play a short solo set before joining Black Sabbath.
Ozzy’s full-stop!
Sharon Osbourne recently told BBC News that her husband is “so excited” for this final show, which will serve as his farewell to fans. “Ozzy didn’t have a chance to say goodbye to his friends, to his fans, and he feels there’s no been no full stop,” she explained. “This is his full stop.”
This is going to be the ‘concert of the summer’ for many fans, and tickets will sell out instantly, though I hear prices are high for the various ticket brackets.
The concert, announced at Villa Park by Sharon Osbourne and Tony Iommi, is being touted by musical director Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine guitarist) as “the greatest heavy metal show ever.” Proceeds will benefit Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and Acorn Children’s Hospice.
Huge Lineup!
The lineup includes Alice In Chains, Halestorm, Lamb Of God, and Mastodon. A “supergroup” featuring Billy Corgan, Slash, Fred Durst, Wolfgang Van Halen, and Tom Morello, among others, will perform a mix of Sabbath and Ozzy songs.
If you love the guitar and the heavier riff-filled land, this will be the concert you want to attend this year. Tickets go on sale officially this Friday, 14 February, and I may have to sell a kidney to get one
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2 responses to “Guitar Journal: QOTSA, Mu-Tron vs Behringer, & Black Sabbath”
Behringer is the Temu of the music industry: flooding the world with cheapo „fast-gear“ and destroying the local market. I think it’s ok to clone out-of-production stuff that became inestimable but it’s not ok to clone the products of a small company that is still producing and struggling. The worst thing is: we don’t need all that stuff. Why don’t we just save up and buy the quality and treasure it and get inspired to actually make music than to just heard gear. If I can’t afford a MuTron then I probably don’t need one. I also own a Behringer product: back then I thought I‘d need a Pro-1. Guess what: I never use it because it sounds just like any other synth. Meanwhile, if I want that whatever „one special thing“ I just throw a plugin on it…
Anyway, the MuTron post is attacking the very company that’s behind this site. It’s quite awkward. The reaction is „but I haven’t a definitive answer“. This seems like to be the motto of the decade. Given the terrible situation of the world right now, this is getting serious. We should wake up!
Even the former isn’t OK really. Because every discontinued synth have modern equivalents with innovative features.
Behringer, by flooding the market with zeno-effort clone sold at paper thin margins, harms the synth world as a whole.