Alternative2003Absolution

Hysteria Amp Settings

by Muse

Get This ToneFree — no account needed

Original Recording Settings

partially-sourcedResearched tone data for "Hysteria" by Muse

Original Gear

Guitar: Manson Delorean (aka 'Silver Manson' / 'Industrial Disease' / DL-1 prototype), built by Hugh Manson in 2001 — Matt Bellamy's #1 guitar throughout Origin of Symmetry and Absolution cycles (used Feb 2001 – May 2005). Poplar body with 1.7mm aluminum cladding, bolt-on birdseye maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, Schaller fixed bridge.
Pickups: Bridge: Kent Armstrong 'Motherbucker' (high-output humbucker) — the pickup driving the rhythm and octave counter-riffs. Neck: Seymour Duncan Hot P-90 (used on the melodic solo-arpeggio section). Roland GK-2A hex pickup also present but not used on this track. (bridge)
Amplifier: Diezel VH4 (100W 4-channel tube head, EL34 power section) — adopted during Absolution pre-production and used 'across the entire record' per Bellamy. A custom Marshall (his JCM2000 DSL100 lineage) was also present at the session.
Channel: Channel 3 (mid/high-gain rhythm channel) for the heavy octave riff and chorus power chords; channel 3 or 4 also for the solo
Tuning: Standard E (E A D G B E), no capo
Pickup Selector: bridge
Strings: Unknown (Bellamy is commonly reported to use 0.010-0.046 Ernie Ball Regular Slinky, but not explicitly documented for this session)

Cabinet: Soldano 4x12 loaded with Celestion Vintage 30s — Bellamy's direct quote: 'I went through a lot of different cabs and heads but ended up using a Diezel head with a Soldano cabinet. It was the best sound I could find so I used that on everything.' Produced by Rich Costey, tracked primarily at AIR Studios, London (late 2002), with completion at Livingston Studios (early 2003). Costey typically mic'd guitar cabs with an SM57 + large-diaphragm condenser blend.

Amp Settings

Gain

7.0

Bass

4.0

Mid

6.0

Treble

5.0

Presence

5.0

Master Volume

6.0

Volume

6.0

No published Hysteria-specific settings exist. Values estimated from the Diezel VH4's known voicing, Bellamy's tonal prescription (tight lows, aggressive mids, modern high-gain clarity) and the mix-documented need to leave the low-mid pocket for Wolstenholme's distorted bass. VH4 Ch. 3 saturates heavily from preamp stages, so gain 7 is perceptually very distorted. Deep control ~3-4 to avoid mud.

Effects Chain

→

Z.Vex Fuzz Factory — built into the Delorean from 2001 and therefore present in the signal path

fuzz (onboard, unused on main Hysteria tracks)

→

MXR Phase 90 — built into the Delorean

phaser (onboard, unused)

→

DigiTech Whammy (WH-1/WH-4 era)

pitch shifter

→

Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler (primary) + Line 6 Echo Pro (rack)

delay

→

1.Z.Vex Fuzz Factory — built into the Delorean from 2001 and therefore present in the signal path — Available on the guitar during the session but MuseWiki attributes Fuzz Factory to 'Plug In Baby,' not Hysteria. Hysteria's distortion is amp-driven, not fuzz-driven. Included for completeness as an inline onboard circuit.

2.MXR Phase 90 — built into the Delorean — Onboard, but no source attributes the Phase 90 to the Hysteria guitar track.

3.DigiTech Whammy (WH-1/WH-4 era) — Used on the guitar solo, but routed so that the Whammy is audible only on the DELAY REPEATS, not on the dry solo signal. This is a documented Rich Costey split-signal production trick (MuseWiki 'Tones'). Creates the ethereal pitch-shifted shadow behind each solo note.

4.Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler (primary) + Line 6 Echo Pro (rack) — Stereo delay bus that receives the Whammy'd signal on repeats while the dry solo bypasses the pitch shift.

Playing Technique

Plectrum (Dunlop Tortex.73mm), aggressive attack. Intro: Bellamy mimics the Wolstenholme bass riff on guitar with a long plectrum pick-scrape (audible in the isolated guitar at ~1:34). Main riff/post-chorus: pedal-tone octave figure over the open low E with palm-muted chug fills. Chorus: power chords with whammy-bar dips (likely overdubbed on a second guitar with a vibrato bridge, since the Delorean has a fixed Schaller; fan reports attribute these shimmers to a 1962 Gibson SG with a tremolo unit). Bridge/heavy final chorus: guitar locks in unison with the bass riff for the 'massive unified tone' moment. Solo: a fast string-skipping double-picked passage high on the neck, followed by an intervallic arpeggio sequence over C–G–Dm–Am triads. Tempo ~166 bpm, 4/4, A minor.

Sources+

Sound on Sound, Richard Buskin, 'Rich Costey: Recording Muse's Absolution' (December 2003)
MuseWiki, 'Hysteria (song)'
MuseWiki, 'Tones' (Absolution/Hysteria section)
MuseWiki, 'Manson Delorean'
MuseWiki, 'Diezel VH4'
MuseWiki, 'Korg Kaoss Pad' (confirms onboard-Kaoss guitars did NOT exist during Absolution; first was M1D1 Black in 2006)
MuseWiki, 'Rich Costey' and 'Absolution (album)'
Wikipedia, 'Hysteria (Muse song)'
Wikipedia, 'Absolution (album)'
Mixdown Magazine, 'Gear Rundown: Muse Absolution'
Mixdown Magazine, 'Gear Rundown: Matt Bellamy'
Guitar World, 'Manson MB-1 Guitar is Muse Guitarist Matt Bellamy's Secret Weapon'
Guitar World, 'Matt Bellamy's 10 greatest Muse guitar moments'
Guitar World, 'Manson Black Edition recreates Matt Bellamy's main guitar'
MusicRadar, 'Muse's Matt Bellamy teases new Manson Guitar Works Delorean replica'
Manson Guitar Works, 'DL-OR Relic Edition' product page
Guitar FX Depot, 'Matt Bellamy (Muse)'s Guitar Rig'
Equipboard, 'Matthew Bellamy's Guitar Gear, Pedalboard & Amps'
Uber Pro Audio, 'Muse – Matt Bellamy Guitar Gear Rig and Equipment'
Reverb.com, 'A Closer Look at the High-Tech Mattocasters of Muse's Matt Bellamy'
Guitar.com, 'The Genius Of… Origin of Symmetry by Muse'
Guitar Lessons 365, 'Muse – Hysteria Guitar Lesson' (confirms standard tuning)
GuitarGuitar, 'MUSE: How to Sound AND Play Like MATT BELLAMY'
Rig-Talk forum thread, 'Matt Bellamy Muse Diezel - VH4'
Ultimate-Guitar, 'Hysteria' tab (tuning confirmation E A D G B E)
Total Guitar interviews with Bellamy (c. 2003-2004, referenced via MuseWiki Tones)