Matthew Bellamy

Matt Bellamy has consistently recorded and performed with the Diezel VH4. According to Bellamy, he uses the amp for its high-gain tone and to provide more saturation and sustain when blended with a Vox AC30.

Muse guitar tech Jason Baskin shows this Marshall 1959HW Plexi Head in Matt Bellamy's rig. The 1959HW is a handwired reissue of a circa 1967 100W Superlead head.

"The Dickinson is an amp that Matt got in a studio, or was using in a studio. It's a UK thing - it's built out of aircraft aluminum... its actually got wedge speakers in it, it's driven by our monitor guy, he turns it up and down depending on where Matt is on stage, Matt comes over and wants to get a little bit of feedback, or kind of put on a little show over here, he'll turn it up. If he's out and about on the stage, he'll turn it back down so that you don't get any spill down the microphones..."

Before switching to a Diezel amp, Matt Bellamy used a Marshall JCM 2000 DSL 100 Amp. He says "I just use[d] a two-channel amp, one full on. A lot of people switch between channels for crunch sounds or clean sounds but I tend to stick to one channel 90% of the time, which is volume on full, with the gain really low. You get this really attacking, clean sound which I use quite a lot."

Muse guitar tech Jason Baskin points out the The Egnater Preamp in Matt Bellamy's rig.

This amplifier (bottom left in the picture) was used by Bellamy during 1999. One of his first amplifiers.

This amplifier was used whilst touring with Muse for the Black Holes and Revelations Tour.

Matt Bellamy on using a Soldano cabinet: "...in a studio environment you can really test amps out against each other and find out what sounds best. 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. And I'll be using that exact set-up live as well. The good thing about the Diezel is that it's MIDI controllable, which means I can plug my guitar straight into the amp and have the effects just going through the effects loop."

As seen in this photo, Matt used this amp for the recording of Resistance.

We can see this amp on the Matt's rack.

In an interview, when asked about his go-to amp, Matt Bellamy mentions that he uses a Marshall JCM800 modified by Matt Wells. He says:

I tend to always use a combination of a Vox AC30 blended with a more metal-type of amp, like a Diezel—a high-gain amp—or my Marshall JCM800, which was modified by [NYC-based amp guru] Matt Wells to be a much more high-gain version. I like to have that combination of saturation with clarity at the same time. The Vox has a clearer tone and provides the clarity and attack, while the saturation and high sustain comes from the Diezel or Marshall. That’s always been my go-to and that’s what I tend to use live.

In this image from Muse's studio recording of the album "Drones", we can see the Jazz Chorus-120 wired up.

After detailing various guitar amp heads Matt Bellamy uses, his guitar tech Jason Baskin says: "...those are all run through a head switcher, and switch it to a cabinet underneath the stage. It's a Mills Acoustics Afterburner... with Vintage 30s."

A Soldano Decatone 100-Watt Triple Channel Amp Head was used during Muse's Showbiz tour by lead guitarist and singer Matt Bellamy.

In this Instagram photo posted by Marshall amps, Matt Bellamy's Marshall 2555X Silver Jubilee Reissue can be seen. It was used for Muse's show at Reading & Leeds Festival. The caption reads:

New amp day for @mattbellamy of @muse: 2555X Silver Jubilee full stack ready for @officialrandl 🤘🏻#marshallamps #liveformusic

In this picture, the Kemper Profiling Amplifier is also a part of the gear used on the "The 2nd Law" Tour.

Matt is seen using this amp (on top of the Soldano head) in this photo of a live performance, during Muse's early days.

Matt used the modded JCM800 for Simulation Theory. Matt's modded version allows the JCM800 to be more of a high-gain amp.

Matt used a Line6 HD147 Modelling amplifier for radio shows when the full rig was not required.

Matthew Bellamy uses a Marshall Silver Jubilee 25/55 100W Amp Head, as confirmed by correspondence with Marshall's sales and service support. An inquiry highlighted a custom version of the amp seen in a concert video, which differs slightly in design from the typical Silver Jubilee, featuring six knobs on the right, two black buttons, and a unique power switch configuration.

In this video you can see two Marshall next to the drums, using in the psycho world tour.

In the Muse Live at Main Square Festival 2015 concert video, Matthew Bellamy uses the Marshall 1960BHW guitar amplifier cabinet, identifiable by the "100" sign in the corner.

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "For the final guitar sounds [...] we ended up with two Mills cabs, one with a modified Ampeg V4, which originally was a bass amp and has a very deep sound, or with the modified Marshall 1959 head, or sometimes a Marshall Plexi amp from the studio."

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "We did extensive amp research for the guitar sound for ‘The Globalist Part 1’. Matt had a very precise sound in mind, which was retro, warm and intimate. I took the DI from live tracking of the song to try out a collection of amps I rented, particularly many late-’50s Fender amps — Tremolux, Deluxe, tweeds, etc — and did a massive shootout to get the right sound. We ended up using a Deluxe and a Tremolux in combination, one with and one without tremolo."

Matt used the Crazy Horse while recording Simulation Theory.

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : “We did extensive amp research for the guitar sound for ‘The Globalist Part 1’. Matt had a very precise sound in mind, which was retro, warm and intimate. I took the DI from live tracking of the song to try out a collection of amps I rented, particularly many late-’50s Fender amps — Tremolux, Deluxe, tweeds, etc — and did a massive shootout to get the right sound. We ended up using a Deluxe and a Tremolux in combination, one with and one without tremolo."

Matt used an old Marshall JTM45 head from the early-sixties on Drones and Simulation Theory.

In a user-uploaded photo on Imgur, Matthew Bellamy's Kemper Profiler Power Head - 600-watt Profiling Head is visible on Muse's equipment rack.

Matt used a Budda Superdrive Series II head during The Resistance' recording. It can be seen above the Orange Head in the photograph on the right.

Matt Bellamy's rack includes a Skrydstrup AS44 Amp Head Switcher.