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Chris Wolstenholme: The Sticky Ver. 1

This is a glowing example of the differences in recorded tone and live tone. I model my live tones after his recorded tones. They might be a little more tame, when he is going for more wild. It also could be the mix, the arena, a knob got bumped... There are many factors to tone that change all the time.

I can say with 100% certainty that it is the P+C.
 
I see. Thanks so much for all the info! It's really helpful for me to as I'm transitioning slowly from a gt6b to a single pedal board.

So if I were to emulate his live tone, it'll still be the P+C? I know it sounds like the P+C live during the Jools Holland show.
 
Well, I was playing bass in a cover band, and in an original band that was having a hard time writing material. One night (long story) I was watching Fuse at 3am. I saw the video for "Hysteria", but I didn't know who it was. In between the fooling around session with an Ex at the time, I grabbed the name at the end, and presented this band to the guys, kind of a "Check these guys out" moment.

Oddly enough, at the same time, the singer had also seen the video and we both were blown away. We searched the catalog and started to fall in love with the band. As the four of us started to enjoy the music, we felt we were able to play these great songs that no one else knew of in the cover side of things, as we are good enough to play them perfect. So, I needed to invest in some effects (never owned any before).

It started with a little big muff and a few crappy other pedals. It took 8 months to get close to a few sounds, but it was always lacking. Finally, I got the Deep Impact, and all bets were off. Once I found one, I felt I was closer than ever, even though I had really nothing set up his way. I got the Animato for Christmas from my wife, and LOVED the raw tone of it in the context of the rig, and felt that I needed the regular muff and the LS-2 along side of the other pieces. It was all a bout cover songs (Hysteria, Plug in Baby, Starlight, etc) that started it.

After that, I use the effects in my band, but most times differently than Chris does. I used to have many other pedals to record the first album and had to replace some with the rack effects, etc. I plan to add more of "my effects" in the future, but do pretty well with what I have.

As for the Amp, I just wanted to play Marshall, and this was the most affordable way to do it. Oddly enough, I have owned Marshall DBS heads longer than I have been a Muse fan.

The Pedulla came from a unique angle. I wanted a Jazz, but not a Jazz. I wanted something different, that looked great in 4 and 5 string versions, was sleek, light and the neck had to be fast. I have had Fenders, Ernie Balls, Warwicks, Spectors, a few other brands... Pedulla is the only bass that "fits" me. I have a Status (Washburn) now, and I love it, but it is a different bass than I am really used to. I have now owned over 7 Pedulla basses in the past 5 years.
 
Sorry about that. I'll repost them here and now, and add some more shots.

Showbiz (Horrible pic)

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OoS:

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Absolution:

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Black Holes and Revelations:

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The Resistance:

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And the Manson bass...

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Are you sure it was an OBD-3 he used on Showbiz?
From looking at various pics, it looks to me as though it's actually an OS-2.
The front of the knobs of the OBD-3 are black and the OS-2's knobs are yellow, like on his pedalboard.

Good eye. I went with what was told to me, but never noticed that.

The inhaler is probably the secret to Hysteria.
 
Starting from Showbiz, this is what i know/believe to know:

This rig was a lot simpler.
I am a little lost on the signal routing of his pedals here because there is only that one image and it is very difficult to make out.
Although I think the chain may be something along the lines of:

Pete Cornish: Channel 1 straight to Ampeg SVT II. Channel 2: (This is a rough guess from studying live videos from that time and from that only picture of his board) Boss OC 2 - Boss LS-2 - Boss OS 2 (in one of the loops of the LS-2 which is set to the A+B Mix setting for extra clean blend and stacking or could be set to the A <-> B which is more likely with either the DD3 or Muff in chain B) - Boss DD3 - EHX/Sovtek Green Big Muff pi - Then into his 2nd Ampeg SVT II. The OC-2 could come after the Big Muff here i'm not entirely sure but that confuses me since octaves running into dirt is a typical touch to his sound but maybe at this point he hadn't discovered a solid use for that particular pedal combo. One of the chains also ran into the Korg DTR1 too before hitting one of the Ampegs. I have not found any record of him using the Boss ODB 3 at this time like Wikipedia sates.

He used Bass Collection basses with 40 - 100 gauge strings, as well as an electric double bass for unintended in the studio and sometimes live.
One of his Bass Collection basses (the green one) later had large white spots painted onto the body.

During the next year (2000) Chris would go on to gain some more gear whilst touring for the album. The most notable thing added to his rig was the 2 Marshall DBS heads with Marshall DBS cabs, to replace his Ampegs. Whether he kept his Ampegs or sold them is unknown.
He would also go on to buy the Akai Deep Impact, Line 6 FM4 and the Human Gear Animato (which he purchased when the band was in Japan). During this time he purchased his first few Pedulla Raptures, which I believe was from Manson's guitar shop, since this was around the same time Matt Bellamy was to also purchase his own custom Mansons. Plus if you look on Manson's site they have been selling Pedulla basses there for years. It's one of the only places in the UK you can buy Pedullas. The Sunburst RB4 identical to the one Kaputsport owns and the blue Pedulla Rapture RBJ2 - 4 used in the Plug in Baby video, (which he would later go onto sell on ebay the following year since he preferred the single pickup versions) were used. Early live versions of Plug in Baby were also played on the Deep Impact or Line 6 FM4 with a more squelchy synth sound... YouTube - &#x202a;Muse - Plug In Baby Live @ Eurockèennes 2000&#x202c;&rlm;
The Line 6 FM4 on the attack synth setting was also used for Sunburn live during the verses from this point.

Origin Of Symmetry:

All his new gear was used to record this album. Here is what i believe was done for some of the songs:

New Born - Clean intro - Muff/Animato/Clean used for the riff. If you listen closely you can hear the distortion panned to one side and clean on the other for this part. A great studio effect used for this part of the song i think. Brings out the most in the riff. - Animato w/ high compression/Clean for the verses and guitar solo - Muff/Animato/Clean for the chorus's too along with the panning effect.

Bliss - Muff/Animato/Clean


Hyper Music - Animato/Clean.. although i think live the Muff may be added on the Chorus/Main riff because i can see Chris stepping on a pedal in that position on his board around that era. Although of course, I could be wrong.

Plug in Baby - Now this song has caused me so many questions that are still pretty much left un-answered, but this is some answers i have come to conclude. The recorded version i strongly believe is OC-2 running into the Muff running into the Deep Impact with everything on for when the riff is played, mixed with clean. During the verse I think the Muff is left off, just letting the Impact and OC-2 do the work. For the Chorus and Bridge i think it's just OC-2 into the Muff with clean blend. Now of course i could be wrong and a little debate with Kaputsport has caused me to re-review his live board for the OOS tour, and most carelessly I missed the blindingly obvious signal chain of Deep Impact - DD-3 - Muff - OC-2. It still confuses me however why on earth he would place the OC-2 after the Muff but who knows. Of course as we all know Chris is very secretive of his tone and signal paths and this routing could of been set up for that picture on purpose, but I don't think this is true after thinking about it. Another conclusion I came too on why this could be set up like this is to do with the input gain on the Deep Impact because of course placing the muff in front of it will change the input gain dramatically whether it is on or not. This could be the reason why Plug in Baby sounds different live and never like the studio recorded tone?
Another way the song could have been recorded is indeed with the Deep Impact in front of the muff used for the main riff/verses, with or without the OC-2 depending on the setting of the Deep Impact and whether or not the patch used had an octave. This could also include the FM4 being used after the Muff for the high end wah like sounds. I must confess i do not own a Deep Impact yet but I do plan to in the future. If anyone feels like selling me theirs let me know I would be very interested. I do however own a Korg G5 and have tried a few settings with that and have come close myself using different combinations using the G5, Muff and OC-2. In both Muff before synth/Muff after synth orders I have come close, although i know i will never achieve the full sound until obtaining my own Deep Impact.
On a side note though I do own an Animato that i recently purchased and must say is fantastic, easily my favorite pedal so far.

In terms of the order of his live board for OOS I am not 100% certain but I have an idea. After studying 2 pictures i own of his OOS board, our discussion and from live video's of that time (e.g. Hullaballo) I have come to believe it is something along these lines:

Pete Cornish: Chain 1 - Boss LS-2 set to the A <-> B setting: Chain A: Animato, Chain B: Line 6 FM4 - Marshall DBS.
: Chain 2 - Akai Deep Impact - Boss DD-3 - Big Muff - Boss OC-2 - Korg DTR1 - Finally the signal is split again. One going to a 2nd Marshall DBS and one going to a Marshall B150.
I think his bass goes direct to the P.A. too before hitting his board, so the clean tone is always there, even when he has the Animato on Amp 1 and Muff on chain 2.

For the first part of the OOS tour Chris still had his Green Big Muff on his board. Whether this was used for recording I don't know but later was replaced with the standard black ones.

If you listen to Sunburn Played live (e.g. Hullabaloo) You can hear the filter sweeps going off in the verse with no bass note behind it, this is because he only has Amp 1 (Pete Cornish: Chain 1) on into chain B of the LS-2 (Line 6 FM4 set to Attack Synth). As the verse progresses and the clean bass notes needed to be added in, he turns on Amp 2 (Pete Cornish: Chain 2) with all of the effects in chain 2 bypassed. Finally when distortion is needed for the chorus he steps on the LS-2 switching chain B to chain A, Turning on the Animato.

I know more about other songs and some information post OOS but I could be here for days. I hope I have been of some help and I'll post some more in the future.
This post is not to disagree or argue anyone's opinions or ideas i'm just sharing my own findings, beliefs and first hand experiences.
 
I believe it was a bass collection bass played clean through an Ampeg svt with some compression. In the chorus it sounds like some fuzz is used (big muff maybe?) if your looking to play this yourself then experiment with different fuzz/distortion/overdrive if your looking to mimic the studio version from Showbiz. Live from around 2000 onwards he used the Animato in the chorus/outro mixed with clean. In the studio version the bass is tracked by some form of synth/keys played most likley by matt bellamy.
 
hello all...
I just silent reader in this thread yesterday
thanks to mr.kaput. Your video n your explanation in this thread, has inspired me.:)

now I want to share my video: &#x202a;Muse Bass Effect&#x202c;&rlm; - YouTube

sorry to video quality, because I just record it with webcam.

I just try to get chris tone. I used two blender(only use 3 loop),boss oc-2 big muff, digitech synth wah, prunes n custard clone and boss pw-10 to sweep low pass filter. Hardwire CM-2 used to replace animato (I can't buy animato, because it's very expensive). I know my rig is more cheap than kaput's rig and it need much pedal to get real chris tone. But I just worked to approach chris tone.thx. respect for all. :)
 

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