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Kurt Cobain - Nivrana's frontman and guitar player went down in history as an alternative rock god. Based on our research and eyewitness reports, let's take a look at Cobain's guitar gear he used live.
 Click the gear images for more info and specs at Musician's Friend
Guitars
News: In 2011 Fender began producing a Kurt Cobain signature Jaguar, modeled after his '65 guitar
 
Cobain's most used guitars:
1965 Fender Jaguar electric guitar
- Left handed model
- Dimarzio pickup in neck position and Dimarzio super distortion in bridge position
- Later switched to Seymour Duncan JB
- Schaller Bridge
 
1969 Fender Mustang electric guitar
- Blue with racing stripes
- Lefthanded
 
1990's Fender Stratocaster Standard electric guitar
- Various Japanese models
- Usually used for smashing at end of Nirvana's show
Variety of Fender Telecasters
- 1993 Fender Telecaster (Gibson pickup in neck. Sunburst)
Other Guitars
- Mark IV-style Mosrite Gospel guitar (bought by Kurt in 1990)
- Epiphone et-270
- Univox Hi-Flier
Strings and Picks
Kurt was known to use Dean Markley strings, gauge .10-.52.
He used Dunlop Tortex Standard picks, orange color.
 
Acoustics
- Stella 12-string (Polly recording)
- Epiphone Texan (unplugged recordings)
- Martin D-18E (electric/acoustic version of D-18)
Guitar cabinets
- Marshall 1960A Slant Cabinet - 4x12
- Marshall 1960AC Vintage Cabinet - 4x12
Two to eight Marshall cabs were used depending on the size of the live venue. The cabinets were loaded with either Celestion 12" G12M Greenback Speakers
OR
Celestion 12" Vintage 30 Speakers
Amps
- Crown Power Base 2 Power Amplifier
- Mesa/Boogie Studio .22 Preamp
- Mesa Boogie Mark III head
- Fender Bassman
- Vox AC30
- Marshall Micro stack
- Fender Twin Reverb (his favorite studio amp)
Pedals
- Boss DS-1 and DS-2 Distortions
- Electro-Harmonix Poly Chorus (submitted by anonymous user)
- Electro-Harmonix Small Clone Analog Chorus
- Electro-Harmonix Big Muff
- Electro-Harmonix Echo Flanger
- Tech 21 SansAmp amp simulator
- Pro Co Rat
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Comments
By ear or they would already be in tune when he was handed them. There is a show on youtube where he can't quite get the tuning right and is sounds like [censored], so he trashes the guitar ^^
That might not b Kurts pedal. I believe that show is the paramount studio and Krist is on the left side of the stage, so it could well b his rat pedal and not kurts. Also y would Kurt have his pedal way on the other side of the stage next to the bass amp? Kurt has all his pedal right next to the mic, If I remember right I believe he has a big muff Pi and a Small Stone both by EH, also a Boss DS-1 as well and that's it.
Distortion : 3. comma
Filter : 3,5 comma
Volume : MAX
Picture : imageshack.us/f/225/beznzvu1t.png/
Sorry for bad quality
It was his black strat but with fernandes necks, cause he would break them all the time, in the typical Kurt style.
According to the website Kurts Equipment the sunburst strat was destroyed in Florida sometime, so quite likely it was taken from the crowd... I assume so anyways.
It depends on what kind of venue he would b playing. There is no sound difference. Also His marshall cabs would have been wrecked all the time and they would send new ones out all the time.
Also
He did initially use Dimarzio super distortion in the jaguar but later swapped them out for Seymour Duncan JB models
You're right about that. And actually, the DS-1 was probably used the last time here: 09/01/91 - De Doelen (Ein Abend in Wien), Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
See:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzLUMlc6BRw
Kurt has problems with the distortion at the beginning of Negative Creep, and the pedal starts acting up later in the song as well. Kurt tosses his Jaguar, YES Jaguar, around out of sheer frustration. At approx. 2:04 he picks up his distortion (most likely the DS-1 since this was replaced around this time) and hammers it into the floor. Guess that was the last of that - despite Boss pedals being built like tanks!!!
Kurt did not switch to the Boss DS-2 in February of 92 since it shows at the Halloween party at Paramount Theatre show on Oct 31, 1991. He must have changed to the DS-2 in the fall of that year as photos from August of 1991 exist that clearly depict the Boss DS-1 he was still using around that time. Moreover, a Proco RAT shows next to the DS-1 during the summer of 1991. See e.g:
www.nirvanaguide.com/.../082191.03.jpg
Supposedly, Cobain did not use a EH Big Muff on"Lithium"" despite what "sources" have said, since he chose to tour with the RAT AND the DS-1 in the beginning of the Nevermind tour. And the sound is certainly dry as the RAT's on "Lithium" - compared to any of the other tracks on the album and live (at that time). My guess is that he abandoned the DS-1/RAT setup when he changed to the DS-2 which made that combination obsolete as its sound covers both areas.
www.nirvana.webz.cz/jpg/kurt73.jpg
it's the official website of pro co its says that kurt used a rat
But I can say with some certainty he never used the Big Muff live (it was just for that one studio recording).
Check concert in italy palastrussardi. He plays the sonic blue one almost in the begining on the concert.
need any pictures?
As far as power amps go, Kurt used the Crowns briefly, but switched to Crest because the Crowns were highly unreliable.
he also had a digitech grunge pedal he would throw at things :woohoo:
Also Kurt used a Fender Jag-Stang which the Fender Custom Shop made for him in the colours Sonic Blue and Fiesta Red (Sonic Blue was the only colour Kurt played) it was took along on the In Utero tour but was seldom played.
For other info see kurtsequipment dot com