Matts rhythm tone

[MattMuse1991]

Hi,

I want to know what part of Matt Bellamy's rig we are hearing when he plays them heavy riffs live (think new born, unnatural selection, drop d jams at the end of a song) I can't make out If the fuzz Is what gives him this unique tone, or Is It purely that Diezel amp alone and that great tone Is what justifies the price of the VH4?

 

In this video I think I can hear a bit of fuzz

 

But the deftones riff at the start, not so sure but It sounds great

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Zwi7MUMXLw

[james90]

I'm not sure what he used for HAARP, but it doesn't sound as good as the second video in my opinion. I think that's when he started blending amps though.

 

He probably has a very similar setup in both videos as far as amps go, but I don't think it's the diezel on its own. This is what the diezel sounds like by itself

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HtttC8lPW8

 

He said this in 2010 about his live amp setup

 

So what I do is use the AC30 as the core sound, and then I'll mix in other amps to bring in a bit of character. For example, I find that Channel 4 on a Diezel amp is pretty un(???)able in terms of really high-saturation sounds. I don't like the scooped sound. I prefer unusual and unpredictable midrange spikes that really jump out, and that Diezel channel has some extreme midrange.

 

Then, I have a 100-watt Marshall Super lead that was modified by Matt Wells in New York to permanently link the channels together. He also added a Volume knob for this feature so that I can adjust the amount of gain jumping. Generally, if I want a real heavy sound, I'll mix the Vox with the Diezel, and if I want something more punchy, I'll go with the Vox and blend in a bit of the Marshall. I also use (???) sounds a lot, and I'll sometimes blend a direct sound with a distortion pedal. I'm really into multiple amp and DI tones, but the base sound is usually always the Vox.

[MattMuse1991]

Yes I remember reading that Interview a couple of years ago, but I actually tried a multi-amp setup In guitar rig 4 i.e mixing an AC30 with a hi-gain amp and It sounded harsh. Not sure how he gets this to work In real life but he obviously only uses the brilliant channel on the amp for his clean tones so that would colour the tone of the Diezel for sure If the two were mixed?

[JimboMansonMB-1]

AC30 + Marshall + VH4 = ?

[james90]

Yes I remember reading that Interview a couple of years ago, but I actually tried a multi-amp setup In guitar rig 4 i.e mixing an AC30 with a hi-gain amp and It sounded harsh. Not sure how he gets this to work In real life but he obviously only uses the brilliant channel on the amp for his clean tones so that would colour the tone of the Diezel for sure If the two were mixed?

 

I'm not sure how it works exactly. He might not even be using the AC30 for cleans - it could be overdriven and blended with the diezel...but the question is how.

 

Here's his amp setup during the BHAR era. He's still using these as far as I know, but he was also using this egnater rackmount thing at one point I believe

 

[MattMuse1991]

Thanks for the pic...Interesting to see his amp settings (from what I could see of them)

 

I appreciate the fact that unless you were standing on the same stage, had the same guitar plus all the gear and had the same fingers as the man himself you would never get his sound. I just think that some of his tones he's had In the past are easier to approximate If you know what you're doing but that tone he has for the heavy riffs, It really has Influenced me a lot.

 

I've found that you can get a rather decent mattish sound with a treble booster pedal and an AC30 (Brian May esque) certainly has that killer sustain when the amp Is cranked, but the one thing this setup wont give you Is that punch for drop tuning that a modern amp should give you...

 

Did you notice that new born at reading last year, his amp sounded like It had a coat over It for the riff?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE40EP7RIJg

[Flump]

I can cop a pretty good "Matt's riffy" tone with the VH4 sim in my Axe-fx. I'll post a clip later tonight when I'm home from work.

[JimboMansonMB-1]

What the fuck just happened?

[MattMuse1991]

Huh? Anywayy, looking forward to that recording

[Flump]

Alright so for the recording I did the following:

 

This was played with a BK nailbomb bridge pickup and I used a sustainiac for a few bits. I started with my "heavy" patch which is just a VH4 channel 4 sim into a cab with v30's. In the recording there's kind of 3 sections.

 

In the first section I upped the lower mids and took off a little highs to try and match something like Matt uses.

 

The second section I added in an AC30 in parallel so it would be mixed with a clean.

 

The third section I used the patch stock how i use it. At the end of the third section there's a quick Tool riff just because I originally based the patch similar to Adam Jones sound on 10,000 days.

 

http://soundcloud.com/dafenz/muse-riff-test

 

Here's the video I used as a reference:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gOEtes_zoA

 

Is it perfect? No, but I'd say it's pretty close.

[JimboMansonMB-1]

Huh?

 

This:

 

What the fuck just happened?

 

In reaction to this:

 

Hi,

I want to know what part of Matt Bellamy's rig we are hearing when he plays them heavy riffs live (think new born, unnatural selection, drop d jams at the end of a song)

 

Followed shortly by this:

 

Hi,

I want to know what part of Matt Bellamy's rig we are hearing when he plays them heavy riffs live (think new born, unnatural selection, drop d jams at the end of a song)

 

Which was pretty weird.

[Phill]

Alright so for the recording I did the following:

 

This was played with a BK nailbomb bridge pickup and I used a sustainiac for a few bits. I started with my "heavy" patch which is just a VH4 channel 4 sim into a cab with v30's. In the recording there's kind of 3 sections.

 

In the first section I upped the lower mids and took off a little highs to try and match something like Matt uses.

 

The second section I added in an AC30 in parallel so it would be mixed with a clean.

 

The third section I used the patch stock how i use it. At the end of the third section there's a quick Tool riff just because I originally based the patch similar to Adam Jones sound on 10,000 days.

 

http://soundcloud.com/dafenz/muse-riff-test

 

Here's the video I used as a reference:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gOEtes_zoA

 

Is it perfect? No, but I'd say it's pretty close.

 

Nice meaty tone

[james90]

I appreciate the fact that unless you were standing on the same stage, had the same guitar plus all the gear and had the same fingers as the man himself you would never get his sound. I just think that some of his tones he's had In the past are easier to approximate If you know what you're doing but that tone he has for the heavy riffs, It really has Influenced me a lot.

 

exactly.

 

I've found that you can get a rather decent mattish sound with a treble booster pedal and an AC30 (Brian May esque) certainly has that killer sustain when the amp Is cranked, but the one thing this setup wont give you Is that punch for drop tuning that a modern amp should give you...

 

That makes sense. He says the core sound is the AC30, but I suppose he blends in the VH4 for more low mids and just to get an overall bigger sound.

 

Did you notice that new born at reading last year, his amp sounded like It had a coat over It for the riff?

 

Yeah, his sound was pretty different. listen to the beginning of stockholm syndrome - it has that "wah pedal stuck half way" sort of sound...but I'm not sure what he's using to get that exactly.

[MattMuse1991]

I've been doing a bit of messing around and I have a feeling It's the marshall plexi and quite possibly the AC30 we're hearing for some of them riffs. I doubt It's the Diezel because the tone to me seems 'punchy heavy' NOT 'over-saturated heavy' (which Is what matt uses the Diezel for) I did try the AC30 and the plexi together In guitar rig 4 and It did sound that tiny bit bigger but I found that the plexi actually sounded better on Its own than the two amps combined, the AC30 tends to sound harsh overdriven when you blend It with another amp I have found so I can only assume the AC30 Is there for the clean sound when he says 'core sound'

will do a recording at some point:)

[tomrulez]

I wouldn't go off the tones in Guitar Rig simply because there isn't a VH4 sim to mix them with. I've never really liked the amp sims in Guitar Rig anyway.

[MattMuse1991]

Fair point. Although I'm sure you could easily get a similar Diezel vh4 sound with a hi-gain amp model. I think the sounds from guitar rig are awesome and I've been Impressed by them as they do sound very realistic but the more you turn the master output volume up the more they start to sound fake, some worse than others, just like any digital modeller out there right now.

[james90]

I wouldn't go off the tones in Guitar Rig simply because there isn't a VH4 sim to mix them with. I've never really liked the amp sims in Guitar Rig anyway.

 

Not that I've tried guitar rig, but I wouldn't go by that anyway - we don't know what settings Matt is using exactly (he might change them from time to time), the speaker cabinets, how he has the amps mic'd/what mics he's using, what else is being done to them after that, how the amps are blended exactly, etc

 

I can't tell what's being used for HAARP (it really doesn't sound like the diezel at all, though) but the 2010 era tone sounds a lot heavier. The diezel is a very tight and punchy amp with a massive low end, so I think he's been using more of that recently and blending the AC30 in somehow. The diezel on its own doesn't sound exactly like that...the highs are different.

 

But I'm not sure...he also has that egnater/randall setup, but I don't know if that gets used live. It's in the rack though.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFCD9jGlB74

 

I sold my VH4 a few years ago (really wasn't worth keeping as I only used channel 3 ) but I have an AC30 style amp and an amp that has a similar overall voicing to the VH4 (not as much low end though). I'll try to make a clip of these two together...should be interesting

[MattMuse1991]

Not that I've tried guitar rig, but I wouldn't go by that anyway - we don't know what settings Matt is using exactly (he might change them from time to time), the speaker cabinets, how he has the amps mic'd/what mics he's using, what else is being done to them after that, how the amps are blended exactly, etc

 

I can't tell what's being used for HAARP (it really doesn't sound like the diezel at all, though) but the 2010 era tone sounds a lot heavier. The diezel is a very tight and punchy amp with a massive low end, so I think he's been using more of that recently and blending the AC30 in somehow. The diezel on its own doesn't sound exactly like that...the highs are different.

 

But I'm not sure...he also has that egnater/randall setup, but I don't know if that gets used live. It's in the rack though.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFCD9jGlB74

 

I sold my VH4 a few years ago (really wasn't worth keeping as I only used channel 3 ) but I have an AC30 style amp and an amp that has a similar overall voicing to the VH4 (not as much low end though). I'll try to make a clip of these two together...should be interesting

 

Guitar Rig In Itself Is just fun for experimenting with digital modelling and competing with your friends trying to nail all them tones by your favourite players plus Instead of buying expensive amps, you can get a reasonably good simulation, make your own presets and you have a lot of choice, that's why I like It...I have a couple of Muse presets with some cool effects.

 

I agree about the 2010 era setup, It does sound chunkier and better (although some prefer his old sound before he had his mansons) Not only do Muse get better, but Matt's tone appears to aswell.You could take a guitarist out of a metal band and replace them with Matt and his tone would still work. Haarp to me sounds kinda like an AC30 with a boost pedal for some songs but for the heavier stuff I haven't a clue (hated the KOC tone don't know what he was using but It sucked on the CD, sounded scooped.)

 

I used to think Brian May's tone was Impossible to get but compared to Matt's, It's easy and a budget setup, unlike Matts. He has actually said BM is an Influence on him and you can see It In some of the things he does and to some extent, their tone Is similar except the key to Brian's sound Is In the playing, It's more the equipment for Matts.

 

We just don't know enough about his setup, like you said. I'm sure we will find out more In years to come but there's not enough Information and It's far from a cheap rig.

[Bs]

Does anyone want to explain to me, or link me to a video showing, what's so amazing about the VH4? I know it's got a great reputation, and I probably should have taken my chance to play it when I was at Mansons, but from checking a few videos online, I haven't really been bowled over by it in the way that everyone talking about suggests I should.

[Flump]

Does anyone want to explain to me, or link me to a video showing, what's so amazing about the VH4? I know it's got a great reputation, and I probably should have taken my chance to play it when I was at Mansons, but from checking a few videos online, I haven't really been bowled over by it in the way that everyone talking about suggests I should.

 

It's definitely not everyone's cup of tea, and in my opinion you can get really close to it for a lot less money.

 

Also, an AC30 is in no way similarly voiced to a VH4. Not even close.

 

I like the sound of channel 3 a lot for its drier sounding distortion. If you listen to anything off of 10,000 days by Tool you can get a great idea of what the VH4 sounds like. Adam Jones has mixed a VH4, recto, and marshall superbass together on albums, but on 10,000 days it sounds like mostly vh4. For example on this video of the pot go to about 30 seconds in and when the guitar comes in that is basically the sound of the VH4.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycAByDNZYrA

[Impulse 101]

I have to be honest, I've never heard a Vox sound like Matt's primary rhythm tone in person. Something is adding in a lot more drive and while the Vox probably an element the VH4 and Marshall are a big part of the riffing tone on most of the clips in this thread.

 

I can get pretty close to Matt's tone with my VHT (Fryette) D120. It's really a matter of making the midrange grind without too much front end gain. The natural tube compression of slapping a tube amp silly at V1 is a big part of his tone and is essential to getting the feel of his guitar parts for performing them.

 

JT

[Dave.]

Imo one of the way mains to get close to Matts tone is compression. Lots of compression.

[haze015]

It's definitely not everyone's cup of tea, and in my opinion you can get really close to it for a lot less money.

 

Also, an AC30 is in no way similarly voiced to a VH4. Not even close.

 

I like the sound of channel 3 a lot for its drier sounding distortion. If you listen to anything off of 10,000 days by Tool you can get a great idea of what the VH4 sounds like. Adam Jones has mixed a VH4, recto, and marshall superbass together on albums, but on 10,000 days it sounds like mostly vh4. For example on this video of the pot go to about 30 seconds in and when the guitar comes in that is basically the sound of the VH4.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycAByDNZYrA

 

Always sounded like Adam Jones has always blended the Super Bass & VH4 together to me. Every demo of the VH4 I've heard doesn't have the clarity/crunch he has in his sound, which has to come from the Super Bass.

 

I don't think the VH4 is all that special, could easily get a Mesa Single/Dual Rec and get a similar sound, managed to get 46 & 2 pretty much spot on with a Tele a Single Rec!