Chris Wolstenholme: The Sticky Ver. 1

[nendo]

I have Prunes and custards and the Octave multiplexer. Just got it today so not had time to experiment with it yet but does anyone have any rough ideas on what settings work best for Uprising?

I'm looking to experiment with these pedals but won't be able too for a few days.

I do have a Boss oc3 if that works any better for it. Unfortuently i don't have a oc2 and my russian big muff should arrive some point next week

[paulaviation]

Hey kaputsport, quick question.

I know you say Plug in Baby is Deep Impact into big muff on your videos, but could it be FM-4 into Muff?

I'm not using the FM-4 but another filter and can get a pretty decent PIB tone. I'll upload a video next week.



On another note, Muse on Satuday! WOOOO!

[SGbassist]

Originally Posted by paulaviation

Hey kaputsport, quick question.

I know you say Plug in Baby is Deep Impact into big muff on your videos, but could it be FM-4 into Muff?

I'm not using the FM-4 but another filter and can get a pretty decent PIB tone. I'll upload a video next week.

On another note, Muse on Satuday! WOOOO!

To me. I do plug in baby by oc2 into Russian muff into a EHX Micro Qtron.

Just my 2 cents

[paulaviation]

Chris is organising a football match in Dublin tomorrow evening with fans before the Saturday gig.


I'll see if I can get any info on the Hysteria tone.

[Ibanezsr500]

Originally Posted by paulaviation

Chris is organising a football match in Dublin tomorrow evening with fans before the Saturday gig.

I'll see if I can get any info on the Hysteria tone.

You do know that kaputs already got it dialed, right?

[spector_boogie]

Originally Posted by IntrepidCellist

Bad reviews or no for the new album, they sold out Madison Square Garden in about two minutes. I had to wait for them to add a second show to get tickets.

And, really, I like it. The songs are far more different dynamically and structurally from each other, which hearkens back to Absolution (my all-time favorite album of theirs.) The Resistance and especially Black Holes and Revelations were a little more monotone.

But, honestly, while I think The Resistance is their weakest album, I've liked all of them. And it's great to see a bassist so up front in the mix, being an integral part of the band's sound.

Also, I can't get Panic Station out of my head...

It's funny, because this is what everyone said about that album when it first dropped in 2009 (I remember reading the Rolling Stone review of it (which I only had bc I had to forcibly call their offices and demand they stop sending me that rag "for free") and they gave T.R. like 2 stars and said it would massively fail, etc..) yet it was far and away their biggest commercial success with how big "Uprising" and "The Resistance" were.
Now I love Matt and Chris and Dom as much as anybody, but I doubt we'll get that kind of reaction to this record.
However, as someone else mentioned, every Muse album is something totally new and different, so it shouldn't be a surprise to fans. I do think the second half of the record is a little cheesey poofs in some places though. And, I thought Madness was about as lame a song as there is when I first heard it, now I absolutely love it. I still have my tix for when they come through next March.

[yaksonator]

Muse has been one of those bands that no matter what the music sounds like to me I have to listen to it, and eventually end up enjoying. Like previously posted its new and "fresh" every time pretty much. I'm going to see them in march in St. Louis and im super pumped! Muse is a band I have to see atleast once no matter how much they change!!

I like the new album.

[Moe45673]

I tried playing Madness with my bass synth wah. I got a similar sound out of it that naufal did (though the nitty gritty was different, I used a lower frequency sweep and didn't do an octave thing). What I didn't like was that it's impossible to do the staccato notes with the Digitech, so it's a song that won't go into my rotation (unlike, say, Hysteria when I kick on my Muff).

About the album: Well, I think I'll go into how I define Muse albums

Showbiz - Muse's version of a garage band. Can see the beginning elements of exploring more advanced musical ideas in here, like in the title track intro how he changes chords just by adding a new note to the ones he's been playing.

OoS - Muse's experimental wacky keyboard laden stuff. Very spacey themes and the music itself gives off a spacey feeling (Bliss, Micro Cuts). To me, the best tracks are New Born, Hyper Music (stylistically reminds me of Fillip with out there dissonant guitar that comes together into a catchy track), and Feeling Good.

Absolution - The culmination of their previous efforts and their most solid album, IMO. Advanced and grand musical ideas that are extremely accessible. Lots of production but doesn't feel pompous.

BHaR - A return to a more stripped down guitar-centric sound. Starlight may be the best song they ever made. Experimental again. I know it's not true but I feel like Origin of Symmetry was Muse saying "We're experimenting and not ashamed of it!", then realizing (I know I'll be tarred and feathered for this) that they were really putting forth music they weren't quite at the level of putting out, so with BHaR they held back and just focused on getting the experimental parts right without really going nuts with them. Probably the album I'd want to listen to the least, though it does have some amazing tracks on it (Starlight, Exo-Politics)

The Resistance - Loved this album the second it came out, especially the first half (Unnatural Selection and MK Ultra are fillers at best). I Belong to You is a bit jumpy but it comes together as a very good track. Exogenesis I find I have to be in the mood for. One time I was in a hotel in Miami at the gym there, doing the treadmill. The gym had an excellent view of Miami and the sun was going down. It was beautiful. A plane was flying overhead and Exogenesis part 3 came on as I watched it. One of the most "my life has a soundtrack" feelings I ever got. Having said that, the first 5 songs I am always down to listen to. Undisclosed Desires and the title track are knockouts. Not a huge fan of Uprising but in the context of the album I like it.

2nd Law - It's a good album, but I feel it's very similar to TR. Supremacy has elements of United States of Eurasia and MK Ultra in it. Panic Station (even aside from the slap bass) has elements of Undisclosed Desires (though I love both). Prelude is simple classicaly-influenced music, just like Exogenesis. Survival also has lots of United States of Eurasia in it, with its eastern european chanting and such. Follow Me takes a lot from Take a Bow and other songs. Animals sounds like a better produced and more technically proficient song that should have been on Origin of Symmetry. Etc etc.

Madness is phenomenal (I Want to Break Free is one of my favorite Queen songs) and doesn't pretend to be something separate. It even follows a blues chord progression like that song.

My point being, the new album is awesome. It's Muse. But I feel it's the least reinventive album they've ever put out. (Having said that, I like Save Me a lot. Liquid State sounds like a decent song by another band, but not a band I'd listen to. It's probably the most hard-rockish song they ever put out, as Matt's vocals don't fall into that camp so their hard rock songs (Stockholm Syndrome, etc) always sounded unique. But Chris's vocals are definitely more within the grittier hard rock camp so Liquid State just sounds like another driving hard rock song, though not a bad one).

[naufal6161]

Originally Posted by Moe45673

I tried playing Madness with my bass synth wah. I got a similar sound out of it that naufal did (though the nitty gritty was different, I used a lower frequency sweep and didn't do an octave thing). What I didn't like was that it's impossible to do the staccato notes with the Digitech, so it's a song that won't go into my rotation (unlike, say, Hysteria when I kick on my Muff).

yeah, I'm already messing around (again) with my DBSW, and I'm already got.. Lets say 90% about Madness sweep sound

About staccato, we can't play it "very clean", except you have extra constant-right-finger-power-and-speed

I set my DBSW's Sens knob full up, Control at 12.30, and Range at 12.00 (current setting)

Gonna upload my revised version soon

[MetroBass]

What double neck bass was he playing on SNL? One looked like a kaoss electronic pad. Thing was shaped like a steinberger.

[naufal6161]

Originally Posted by MetroBass

What double neck bass was he playing on SNL? One looked like a kaoss electronic pad. Thing was shaped like a steinberger.

It's a Misa Kitara merged with a Status Graphite

[jwr]

What did he do to to that beautiful bass! MY GOD! LOL

[Chrishi87]

I play The Madness Riff just with a Octaver. Sounds good, but you have to step a lot

[bassofthe]

Halp.

I have been asked to play Hysteria with a friend for his audition, and I want to get as close to the original tone as I can with the equipment I already have. I play a Dingwall Z2. My pedal selection is:

Fuzzrocious Grey Stache (gate mod)
Iron Ether Oxide
Iron Ether FrantaBit
Iron Ether Xerograph Deluxe
Dr Scientist The Elements
Digitech Whammy IV
Aguilar TLC Compressor
Strymon Ørbit Flanger
Moog MF104M Analog Delay
Iron Ether Nimbus

I don't have any splitter or mixer, so I can't do any parallel processing except for the clean blend on some pedals. With this equipment, how can I get the as close as possible to the Hysteria tone?

[Phagor]

Originally Posted by bassofthe

I have been asked to play Hysteria. My pedal selection is:

Nice set of pedals you have there!

I use the Iron Ether Oxide for the synthy part of the Hysteria tone - it totally nails it. I use an EBS compressor before the Oxide to even out my dodgy playing! So the Aguilar could help with that. I would think the Grey Stache with the gate off would give you the Muffy part of the tone.

I use a Boss LS2 to blend the synth with the fuzz - I think this is critical, otherwise if you run Oxide -> Grey Stache, the Stache will round all the corners off the nice Oxide buzz. Highly recommend an LS2 - cheap and easy to get hold of, and adds a lot of flexibility to your board.

If you can't get a LS2, blender or mixer, I would use The Elements as the fuzz, because it has a Mix control to blend the fuzz with the synthy fuzz.

You could mix in some octave from your Whammy, but to be honest I think there's enough going on with the other pedals, bearing in mind it's quite a busy bass line that you're going to be playing live.

So your path could be:

TLC -> Oxide -> [Whammy] -> Elements

The first time I played the song, I had worked out the perfect combination of pedal settings, then I pressed the wrong pedal and ended up playing the intro with no effects! Big anticlimax

Worth mentioning that I think Chris plays this song live with just Muff these days - there's some sense to that, it's difficult to reproduce all the studio trickery live.

[bassofthe]

Thanks, I'll try that^^

[Cornelius Dawse]

Hey, guys! Just gonna shoot this out:
Is the Mastotron good to get a Chris-like tone?
I'm leaning toward either get a Swollen Pickle, trying hard to find a Black Russian Big Muff or ordering a Mastotron to upgrade from a Bass Big Muff (not bad, but in a mix...)
The thing is: I hate how the Swollen Pickle has internal pots. It irritates me like hell.
I know I'll have to work hard to find a Black Russian Big Muff, and also, it doesn't have a 9v adapter, quite the bummer, and I'll have to blend it. I really really hate blending.
Finally, the Mastotron. Not similar to a muff in any way, but I like the sounds, although I don't like how it looks.
I would love to hear your opinion, guys, since we all love the same tone (Wolstenholme's, that is.)
Cheers

[kaputsport]

Originally Posted by Phagor

Worth mentioning that I think Chris plays this song live with just Muff these days - there's some sense to that, it's difficult to reproduce all the studio trickery live.

I would love to know where you are getting this information...

Originally Posted by Cornelius Dawse

Hey, guys! Just gonna shoot this out:
Is the Mastotron good to get a Chris-like tone?
I'm leaning toward either get a Swollen Pickle, trying hard to find a Black Russian Big Muff or ordering a Mastotron to upgrade from a Bass Big Muff (not bad, but in a mix...)
The thing is: I hate how the Swollen Pickle has internal pots. It irritates me like hell.
I know I'll have to work hard to find a Black Russian Big Muff, and also, it doesn't have a 9v adapter, quite the bummer, and I'll have to blend it. I really really hate blending.
Finally, the Mastotron. Not similar to a muff in any way, but I like the sounds, although I don't like how it looks.
I would love to hear your opinion, guys, since we all love the same tone (Wolstenholme's, that is.)
Cheers

The Mastotron will NOT do anything for you except allow a cheap cover for TIRO, and add a squished tone for Uprising. The black russian muff is essential to getting his tones, as much as the animato. There is an adapter to get the right 9v power to it.

[kaputsport]

Muse Bass Tones Volume 4 is out now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPsGH...6h84lQ&index=2

[kaputsport]

Originally Posted by paulaviation

Hey kaputsport, quick question.

I know you say Plug in Baby is Deep Impact into big muff on your videos, but could it be FM-4 into Muff?

I'm not using the FM-4 but another filter and can get a pretty decent PIB tone. I'll upload a video next week.



On another note, Muse on Satuday! WOOOO!

I have been toying with it like this:

FM-4 > Deep Impact setting "dark Bubbles" > Muff. I gotta dial the envelope filter better, but I am getting really close.