Muse

Supermassive Black Hole guitar tone settings.

Black Holes and Revelations · 2006 · Alternative

Explore Supermassive Black Hole by Muse: an example rig, amp settings and playing tips. Adapt the reference to your own supported gear with Amper.

Black Holes and Revelations — Muse album artwork — Album artwork · Muse / Apple Music ↗

RECREATION

Main guitar riff

Dense, dark-edged riff saturation.

In your hands

Keep rhythmic accents short and precise.

Evidence and sources

Amper practice recreation for the named guitar part or arrangement. Gain, EQ, pickup and effect choices are authored starting points, not documented artist settings or a verified recording rig. No track-specific recording evidence is claimed for this profile. Listening validation on physical gear is pending.

Reference tone

FREE TO EXPLORE

An authored example rig, not your matched settings or a documented artist preset.

Player II Telecaster→Big Muff Pi→DSL40CR

guitar · Fender

Player II Telecaster

Pickup selectorBridge single-coilWhy this setting?

Suggested pickup position for this part; a tonal choice, not a claim about the original session.

Volume10Why this setting?

Suggested volume position for this part. Compare at equal listening volume and adjust by ear.

Normalized 0-10 knob travel; not printed panel numbers

Tone8Why this setting?

Suggested tone position for this part. Compare at equal listening volume and adjust by ear.

Normalized 0-10 knob travel; not printed panel numbers

pedal · Electro-Harmonix

Big Muff Pi

Volume3Why this setting?

Match bypassed loudness by ear; output is not a fixed unity-gain position.

Normalized knob travel 0-10. Output level.

Tone5Why this setting?

Editorial starting point, not a measured reproduction. Compare at equal listening volume and adjust by ear.

Normalized knob travel 0-10. Clockwise shifts from bass emphasis toward treble.

Sustain7Why this setting?

Editorial starting point, not a measured reproduction. Compare at equal listening volume and adjust by ear.

Normalized knob travel 0-10. Distortion and sustain amount.

Effect footswitchOnWhy this setting?

Engage this selected pedal for this section; match the bypassed loudness.

amp · Marshall

DSL40CR

Classic Gain2Why this setting?

Editorial starting point, not a measured reproduction. Compare at equal listening volume and adjust by ear.

Normalized knob travel 0-10. Classic channel preamp drive.

Classic Volume2Why this setting?

Start with output at minimum, then raise toward this low starting position to suit your room; knob position is not loudness.

Normalized knob travel 0-10. Classic channel output.

Clean/Crunch buttonCleanWhy this setting?

Editorial starting point, not a measured reproduction. Compare at equal listening volume and adjust by ear.

Also selects Classic channel unless an external two-way footswitch is connected.

Treble5Why this setting?

Editorial starting point, not a measured reproduction. Compare at equal listening volume and adjust by ear.

Normalized knob travel 0-10. High EQ.

Middle7Why this setting?

Editorial starting point, not a measured reproduction. Compare at equal listening volume and adjust by ear.

Normalized knob travel 0-10. Mid EQ.

Bass4Why this setting?

Editorial starting point, not a measured reproduction. Compare at equal listening volume and adjust by ear.

Normalized knob travel 0-10. Low EQ.

Tone ShiftOffWhy this setting?

Editorial starting point, not a measured reproduction. Compare at equal listening volume and adjust by ear.

Presence5Why this setting?

Editorial starting point, not a measured reproduction. Compare at equal listening volume and adjust by ear.

Normalized knob travel 0-10. Power-stage high-frequency response.

Resonance4Why this setting?

Editorial starting point, not a measured reproduction. Compare at equal listening volume and adjust by ear.

Normalized knob travel 0-10. Power-stage low-frequency response.

Classic Reverb0Why this setting?

Editorial starting point, not a measured reproduction. Compare at equal listening volume and adjust by ear.

Normalized knob travel 0-10. Classic channel reverb.

Master SelectMaster 1Why this setting?

Editorial starting point, not a measured reproduction. Compare at equal listening volume and adjust by ear.

Master 12Why this setting?

Start with output at minimum, then raise toward this low starting position to suit your room; knob position is not loudness.

Normalized knob travel 0-10. Output when Master 1 selected.

LoopOffWhy this setting?

Editorial starting point, not a measured reproduction. Compare at equal listening volume and adjust by ear.

OutputLow (20 W)Why this setting?

Editorial starting point, not a measured reproduction. Compare at equal listening volume and adjust by ear.

With no external channel footswitch connected, select the indicated Classic or Ultra mode using its front-panel button. After selecting the mode, select Master 1 and switch Loop off; recalled states may differ. Start both output levels low.

Know the limits

Editorial recreation; these settings have not been listening-tested on your setup.
Pickup output, speakers, room, and studio layering remain differences; the numeric mapping is not an acoustic calibration.

These are Amper recreation settings, not the artist’s exact knob positions. The example rig translates this named part’s stored gain, EQ, pickup and effect targets into verified hardware controls. Amper practice recreation for the named guitar part or arrangement. Gain, EQ, pickup and effect choices are authored starting points, not documented artist settings or a verified recording rig. No track-specific recording evidence is claimed for this profile. Listening validation on physical gear is pending.