What amp lets Kurt go from buttery cleans into raging distortion in Heart Shape Box?

[Compulsor]

I know he used a lot of diff. amps throughout his too-brief career- usually whatever he could scrounge in the beginning (or what was intact from last show )
Later when they earned a couple bucks, he progressed through many different Fender (a lot of Twins) and Marshall's, with many random oddballs thrown in.

I also realize it's a studio recording that's been massaged, not to mention the unknown in-house studio rigs.

I think I hear the guitar as a Jaguar, with some pretty strong, but 'warm' compression, and maybe a touch of time-based effect (ie chorus or flange) with the rate set at or near zero.

So the x-factor really is the amp/s in action.

I'm not looking to do a cover of the song, or imitate him, I just really dig the tone on that tune and see it as useful under many circumstances.

 

[SWeAT hOg]

I thought I read that Cobain made good use of a Tech21 Sansamp pedal for a lot of songs.

 

[indravayu]

Kurt's Equipment

 

[SWeAT hOg]

From the same site:

3). Tech 21 Sans Amp Classic amp-simulator box (seen 7). This was Kurt's MAIN distortion during the "In Utero" tour despite popular beliefs, and was used throughout the entire tour. Pat also had a SansAmp but preferred his Rat. His settings on the DIP switches were, from left to right: three-up, three down (Jim said he remembered its settings as "Three-up, three-down"(40)), two-up, and all of the knobs were turned all the way up except for the high control which was at about 12 o'clock. Jim doesn't recall where the SansAmp's three-position selector switch's setting was, but thinks it was the Normal (center) setting (57). This pedal was certainly NOT used on Nevermind, like some magazines claim (59).

 

[Compulsor]

Wow, that's really good stuff. I'd read thru several sites that got pretty specific gear-wise, and knew the Twin and the DS-2, and I know he also used a 'big box' EHX Small Clone, but I didn't know about the Sansamp.

Maybe it's the studio trickery, or the Sansamp, but I can't nail that real roll-y, buttery clean on the first few bars of Heart Shaped Box.
I can get close, but then have to jack around with settings to jump into the distorted tones.
My other guess is that they may have had him routed thru an amp switcher to punch into for the higher gain stuff. That seems like more than he'd want to fuss with though, especially live, given the frequency and huge contrast of "loud/quite" dynamics in most of their songs- he'd have to be stomping that thing constantly, along with any effects pedals.
Having watched enough live footage, I don't really see him doing much if any stomping.

 

[lunchie]

Wow, that's really good stuff. I'd read thru several sites that got pretty specific gear-wise, and knew the Twin and the DS-2, and I know he also used a 'big box' EHX Small Clone, but I didn't know about the Sansamp.

Maybe it's the studio trickery, or the Sansamp, but I can't nail that real roll-y, buttery clean on the first few bars of Heart Shaped Box.
I can get close, but then have to jack around with settings to jump into the distorted tones.
My other guess is that they may have had him routed thru an amp switcher to punch into for the higher gain stuff. That seems like more than he'd want to fuss with though, especially live, given the frequency and huge contrast of "loud/quite" dynamics in most of their songs- he'd have to be stomping that thing constantly, along with any effects pedals.
Having watched enough live footage, I don't really see him doing much if any stomping.

He wasn't keeping it together very well the last couple years of his life. There very well could of been someone backstage doing all the stomping.

 

[screamingdaisy]

They probably mixed the loud parts loud and the quiet parts quiet.

 

[Batman]

Fender Twin for clean and a Boss DS-2 for dirt.

 

[Philuk]

Yea it's the Boss DS 2.

 

[Rocco Crocco]

Studios have all kinds of amps laying around. Often guitarists, while recording, use gear they normally wouldn't even think of. Could be 3 or 4 different amps on that record. Not saying I know this for a fact, I am just speculating.

 

[Splattle101]

I have read in a couple of old sources (1990s mags) that he used Mesa Boogie amps for his dirty tones. One of the sources was an engineer being interviewed about the distortion sounds of various guitar players. Nirvana were still around at the time and the engineer said the 'the guy from Nirvana' was using Mesa Boogies. The other source was an interview with Cobain, where he said he was using a Mesa as a preamp, whatever that meant.

 

[screamingdaisy]

I have read in a couple of old sources (1990s mags) that he used Mesa Boogie amps for his dirty tones. One of the sources was an engineer being interviewed about the distortion sounds of various guitar players. Nirvana were still around at the time and the engineer said the 'the guy from Nirvana' was using Mesa Boogies. The other source was an interview with Cobain, where he said he was using a Mesa as a preamp, whatever that meant.

Live, he used a Boogie Studio Preamp into Crown/Crest solid state power amps. The amp was dialled in clean-ish with a DS-1 (Nevermind era), DS-2 (Unplugged/In Utero era), or Sansamp (In Utero) for dirt.

What's interesting is that he used the Sansamp set to emulate a Boogie and plugged it into a Boogie.

 

[Rodmac]

I think a lot of the sonic's were down to Steve Albini - Producer. Kurt had his gear but Steve assisted greatly.

 

[ARandall]

I'd look more toward trying to mimic a live tone.....or see how the tones sounded. Studio not only has a lot of trickery involved, but often multiple tracks for each song. One track might have been all the clean parts. A second and possible others multitracking the dirt with possibly every aspect (guitar, amp, room, mics, studio eq/compression) different.

 

[SWeAT hOg]

I think a lot of the sonic's were down to Steve Albini - Producer. Kurt had his gear but Steve assisted greatly.

I believe Butch Vig was no slouch either.

 

[Rodmac]

Butch Vig - Absolutely. Listen to the tones and production on Nevermind - STUNNING !!!!! ...... the remaining members credit Butch greatly.

Great Band !

 

[rabidhamster]

silverface twin and japanese boss distortion pedal, Vintage Jaguar and Old Super Distortion. You'll hear it right away.