Matt Bellamy has caused something of a shake up in the guitar world since Muse burst onto the scene in 2001. He has made guitars sound like everything other than a guitar over the years, and this leaves many people wondering just how he does it.
Let's dig into the 2001 Origin of Symmetry rig and find out.
Pedals
At this point in Muse's career, Matt's pedalboard was actually somewhat basic. This has changed a lot over the years but in the early days it was fairly straight forward. Matt Bellamy is a known user of Manson guitars. Most of the guitars used in 2001 had some effects built in meaning he could get away with less pedals on the floor.
- Korg DTR-2 Tuner
- Reverb Switch for Marshall DSL100 Amplifier
- Vocal Distortion
- Boss FV-300 Volume Pedal
- Channel Switch for Marshall DSL100 Amplifier
- Line 6 DL4 Delay
- Digitech Whammy
Korg DTR-2 Tuner
Matt had a rack mounted tuner fixed to his custom pedalboard. It is not known why he preferred the DTR-2 rack mounted tuner over a pedal form tuner. As this tuner does not have a switch of it's own, it would have been connected to the Tuner Out of his volume pedal.
Reverb Switch for Marshall DSL100 Amplifier
This was just a standard Marshall footswitch for turning the amplifiers built in Reverb on and off.
Vocal Distortion
Little is known about this unit. It is connected to the main vocal mic and when switched on, it applies a distortion effect to the vocal feed.
Boss FV-300H Volume Pedal
Used for volume control but also to act as a mute when tuning. The FV-300H has a Tuner Out jack which would allow for silent tuning when the volume is turned down.
Channel Switch for Marshall DSL100 Amplifier
This was just a standard Marshall footswitch for switching channels on the amp.
Line 6 DL4 Delay
The DL4 is a delay unit with multiple features and patches. Any delay based sounds would have come from one of the patches in this unit.
Digitech Whammy
Used for pitch shifting effects, usually set to up one octave or down one octave depending on the song. This was used in the solo for studio version of New Born and the live outro tapping licks.
Guitars
Matt has always been a big user of Manson Guitars. Manson Guitars are built by Hugh Manson in England. Most of Matt's custom guitars have various effects pedal circuits built into the guitar so he can manipulate them on stage with his hands. It is said that Matt owns over 50 guitars built by Hugh Manson.
Manson Delorean
The Delorean was the very first custom build for Matt from Hugh Manson's workshop. Matt wanted a guitar that sounded like a Gibson with P90 pickups but looked like a Fender Telecaster. Taking inspiration from the film Back to the Future, Matt opted for a rough metal finish on the guitar to make it stand out. This guitar had multiple effects pedals built into it:
- Z-Vex Fuzz Factory
- MXR Phase 90
- Graphtech Ghost Acoustic Piezo Saddles
Manson 007
This was another one of the first custom built guitars that Hugh Manson built for Matt. It has a number of effects built into it:
- Fernandes Sustainer
- Z-Vex Fuzz Factory
- Z-Vex Wah Probe
- Graphtech Ghost Acoustic Piezo Saddles
It also has a MIDI touch pad above the strings to control the pitch on Matt's Digitech Whammy. This allows him to go an octave up or down without touching the pedal. This guitar has now been retired from touring but was used in the studio on New Born.
Manson 7 String E Guitar
This was the first guitar Matt bought from Hugh's shop. It was originally designed for playing jazz with a single neck pickup and piezo bridge pickup but Matt had a bridge pickup fitted. It is a 7 string that was used live in 2001 for the song Citizen Erased which is tuned AADDGBE. Although this was the live guitar, the studio version of the track was recorded on the Delorean with a bass string fitted for the Low A.
Ibanez Destroyer
In 2001, Matt used a sunburst Ibanez Destroyer live for the track Hyper Music. This was part of the DTX120 range which had a slightly smaller body than standard models. This guitar was destroyed on stage by Matt in Paris in 2001 as seen on the Hullabaloo DVD release.
Amplifiers and Cabinets
During the Origin of Symmetry album tour, Matt was using a pair of Marshall JCM 2000 DSL 100 amplifiers and matching 4x12 cabinets.
Marshall JCM 2000 DSL 100 Head
Matt used the DSL100 as a matching pair on stage. One was placed side stage with a microphone on it for the front of house sound and the other was on stage behind him used for feedback parts.
Matt has said he runs the amp on full volume with the gain low to get a "attacking, clean sound". He switches between the channels occasionally but has been quoted saying he uses one channel 90% of the time, though he has not said which channel. All the reverb on this tour was from the amps built in reverb circuit.
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A look at the pedals, guitars, and amplifiers described in Matt Bellamy’s 2001 Origin of Symmetry setup, from pitch shifting effects to custom guitars with onboard electronics.