Best amp for Nirvana sounds???

[ezweave]

Like who you want to, what is it that John Cusack said in the movie version of High Fidelity?

 

"How can it be bullsh!t to state a preference?"

 

You can find a bit about his tone here -> kurt's tone

 

There's a funny racist story about Nirvana and EVH. In their latter days, Pat Smear (of the Germs and later Foo Fighters) played guitar(he plays a colorful guitar on the MTV Unplugged stuff).

 

Anyway they were playing the Forum in 1993 and Mr Eddie Van Halen (all respect to his playing, even if he is a jerk) was very, very drunk but wanted to sit in with them. They said that they "didn't have a guitar for him". He pointed to Pat and said, "Well then let me play the Mexican's guitar. What is he, is he Mexican, is he Black?" He then went into some racist homphobic rant, and Kurt just left in disgust.

 

True story (ego trip's big book of racism pg 91).

[Trashburg]

-R3:wave:

[Bopper]

 

Originally posted by Mr.Picklebottom any random amp, then shoot up until you dont care what you sound like, then play

 

 

Then sell millions of records and become the most significant artist to play music in the last 20 years. Then blow your brains out...

 

 

...actually its been done before so nevermind.

[ezweave]

 

Originally posted by Bopper Then sell millions of records and become the most significant artist to play music in the last 20 years. Then blow your brains out... ...actually its been done before so nevermind.

 

 

I wouldn't call him the most influential artist to play music in the last twenty years... I would say that people like Greg Ginn, Ian Mackye, Bob Mould, and others loom larger musically (in that vein). I mean, how many musicians have Black Flag tattoos?

 

Not that he wasn't influential. Just saying, not the most. My favorite picture of Kurt is the one in the reissue of Dear You where he is wearing a Jawbreaker t-shirt. Haha.

[Knob_Gobblin']

Originally posted by Jonny_Q Well, you've done it now. Sunk to the lowest denominator. You were doing pretty well, than you decide to slam Hendrix on a GUITAR FORUM. Nice.

 

Didn't that do in a lot of guys other than Hendrix??? Bonzo. Jim Morrison. Possibly Elvis. Janis Joplin maybe??? And believe me I wasn't dissing Jimi, just saying I find his death much {censored}tier than Kurts.

 

Thats a pretty funny story about EVH. I always knew he was an asshole, but thats pretty lame.

 

Thanks for that link ezweave. I'm curious about this Sansamp gizmo and the Polychorus. Both of those look like good fun.

[telephant]

Originally posted by Sick Michael But honestly, if Kurt Cobain is your guitar hero......wow......just wow....oh well....its an easy tone-quest I suppose. If I can use the word tone.

 

{censored} not you to?

[StevieRaveOn]

 

Originally posted by The Idiot 120 watt fender twin from the 80s and a boss DS-2 for dirt. Super Distortion in the bridge pickup of jazzmaster will get you there. He used the crown and studio pre on nevermind (later changed to Crest 4801), the fender twin was used on the bleech and In Utero. A very simple set-up. Twin, DS-1 or 2, and a small stone. He also preferred V30 loaded cabs.

 

 

That may have been for studio use, but I remember this standing out when reading it... for live use, he used Radio Shack car stereo 12"s for his cabs... that way, he could replace them anywhere.

[geek_usa]

Am I the only one, ahhhh

Am I the only one....

 

RAPE MAEHHH

RAPE MAEHHH

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

by the way, on Nevermind, Kurt and Butch worked together to use several different types of tones. The amps were a Mesa/Boogie something or other, a Fender Bassman cranked ALL THE WAY up, and then they ran this nasty "supergrunge" pedal into the board for tracks like "Breed".

[ZOMBI5150]

 

Originally posted by warplanegrey just fart into an SM57

 

I'd suggest putting a condom over top of the SM57.....wet farts and mirophones don't mix:thu:

[telephant]

Boss DS-2 into a Fender Twin is what I would use. And that would be pretty versatile too cause then you can get a few fuzz pedals, and get your Mudhoney/Melvins grunge thing happening as well.

[V-Type]

When I had my Jag I could get his vibe through a few different amps. A big muff type distortion,chorus and reverb with a Hot Rod deluxe got me the closest though. Now i use a modeler (Pod XT) to get near identical tones as his.

[Knob_Gobblin']

Ok so I picked up that amp. Its a Fender Twin Reverb, looks pretty old but it works. Louder than hell. My neighbor is officially pissed off now. With the DS-1 turned up and the volume at 5 it got pretty insane. I tried to crank it, but I'm pretty sure that would have done even more hearing damage that I already got with it at 5. I'll probably keep it around 2-3 from now on and I need to pick up some earplugs methinks.

 

The guy had some other amp he was selling, a Diesel or something like that, but he wanted more for it and I thought the Fender was more my style.

 

Whats the difference between the DS-1 and the DS-2?

 

And what fuzz pedal would be cool with this? I'm pretty happy with the distortion I get with the DS-1, but I'm starting to feel like I could enjoy expirimenting with some new things. I'm definately looking for a Polychorus. I had one of those blue Chorus pedals for a while, but I broke it stomping onit.

[Zakko]

Originally posted by Knob_Gobblin' The guy had some other amp he was selling, a Diesel or something like that, but he wanted more for it and I thought the Fender was more my style.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[The Idiot]

How much was the Diezel, 400$?

[cfordummies]

Come on, people. Kurt openly admitted on several occasions that he wasn't a good guitarist. I definitely remember he said that he wrote bad solos, and that he constantly battled with the instrument.

 

My take on it is that sloppy playing is just his style. Honestly, I think that if he wanted to, he could've played really nice and clean, but he just wanted to play hard and sloppy. Bleach shows that he's capable of playing fairly clean, traditional guitar solos, but as he progressed (Heart-Shaped Box, Gallons of Rubbing Alcohol, In Utero in general), he leaned more towards really non-traditional playing.

 

Also on his tone and playing, I think too many guitarists are really just obsessed with the technical side of things, whereas a lot of really respectable artists just wanna play. I think that was Kurt's deal: he didn't fret over tone and having a smooth playing style, he just PLAYED.

 

I can definitely see why some people don't like him because I guess in a way he kind of lowers the bar for what guitarists should be, but he also gives hope to us guitarists who are choppy and "rhythmically retarded."

 

All I'm saying is just show a little respect for the dead guy. He never claimed to be a good guitarist (the opposite in fact), and I honestly like his messy style. Then again, I only have like, three posts here, so don't listen to me!

[The Idiot]

 

Originally posted by Nighthawkst3 Getting back to the amp subject I don't think you would need to be too fussy but I think that a fender twin might be to clean and sparkly to take the distortion pedal very well. You might need something with a bit more body to it.

 

 

I think the twin is the quintessential Nirvana amp since it was used on Bleech, In Utero and Unplugged.

[cfordummies]

 

Originally posted by The Idiot I think the twin is the quintessential Nirvana amp since it was used on Bleech, In Utero and Unplugged.

 

 

Agreed for sure. Definitely get the Twin for Nirvana tone. For Unplugged in particular though, they switched out some of the tubes to get it cleaner I reckon. Then again, I don't think that show is really what people immediately think of when they hear "Nirvana tone."

 

And I'm just walking right into a joke like, "Yeah, when I think of it, I think of farts and sludge lolz"

[lefchr]

Originally posted by warplanegrey just fart into an SM57

I was wondering how long before some goofball said something stupid. Your the winner:thu:

 

LIve he used crown and crest power amps, mesa preamp he had that set clean and used a ds1, or a sansamp for distortion. In the studio he used a fender twin.

[rfritz]

You all disgust me.

Does it ever occur to you that maybe it was an intentionally unpolished sound? You have to think about what significance Nirvana has to rock in that time period. I think what Cobain was going for was to defy tone obsessed metro sexuals like most of you, and produce a much more raw sound that brought rock back to a purer form that had been lost somewhere between the towering racks, lipstick and hair teasing.

If you dont like their music, thats one thing. But show some respect to a man and a band that changed the course of rock in a very desperate time period.

 

As far as replicating the sound, think about it like this. Do you think Kurt Cobain would want you to sound exactly like him? No. I think thats part of the reason why he committed suicide. He never wanted to be anyones idol, and I speculate that he's in heaven shaking his head at you, wondering why you dont try to acheive your own unique sound. Go to the music store and mess around, see what appeals to your ears and your heart.

And dont listen to any of these arrogant and condecending douches. A hundred years from now, theyll still be talking about Kurt Cobain, but these pathetic tone meisters will have been long forgotten because they spent too much time changing their pedal order to do anything significant in rock history.

[ezweave]

 

Originally posted by rfritz You all disgust me. Does it ever occur to you that maybe it was an intentionally unpolished sound? You have to think about what significance Nirvana has to rock in that time period. ...

 

 

That would be true if Nirvana was formed in Anatartica and they had no influences.

 

As it were, Kurt had many influences he often sighted: Husker Du, The Melvins, Mudhoney, The Vaselines, Black Flag, The Pixies...

 

And all of those bands had unorthodox and noisy guitar styles. I'd suggest you listen to some of those bands before you claim that Kurt was 100% original.

 

Ironically, that's part of what plagued Mr Cobain. He felt that he wasn't really that great, compared to his forebearers, so he didn't understand all the attention. Honestly, I can only feel sorry for him. All those other bands toiled in relative obscurity from main stream society. It's not like people were claiming that Greg Ginn (who hated tube distortion) and Bob Mould were geniuses when their bands were at their peak. And those aren't even household names.

 

Nirvana wasn't a revolution, they were just part of the aftermath of the American underground movement that exploded in the 80s. Read the book "Our Band Could Be Your Life", buy albums from those bands, and then you will find the real genius.

 

But that's how art/music works, you learn from others. So, I think he would only care if all you want to do is replicate him and not build on his style.

[thenakedarab]

Originally posted by BluePowder7 scrapin' the barrel for material, are we?

 

Man, you're just pissed 'cause it's more proof of your assholishness for posterity.

[cfordummies]

 

Originally posted by rfritz You all disgust me.

 

 

Hey, don't lump all of us together. I defended the guy and more or less agree with what you're saying. Maybe moreso with the guy who said as long as you're not ripping off of Cobain and instead just building on what he did. That makes good sense to me.

[dysorexia]

we all know kurt killed himself cuz his tone was so crappy. thats why we spend lots of moeny here on boutique amps... its like life support.

 

but but...you use a {censored}ty splawn amp.

[rbm]

Mesa .22 Calibur

Crown Power Amp

Semour Duncan SD pups

 

Then layer it a few times to make your recording sound thick.

 

If no recording, then go for a Dual Rec / He used those live at the end of his career.

[Tommy Horrible]

 

That would be true if Nirvana was formed in Anatartica and they had no influences. As it were, Kurt had many influences he often sighted: Husker Du, The Melvins, Mudhoney, The Vaselines, Black Flag, The Pixies... And all of those bands had unorthodox and noisy guitar styles. I'd suggest you listen to some of those bands before you claim that Kurt was 100% original. Ironically, that's part of what plagued Mr Cobain. He felt that he wasn't really that great, compared to his forebearers, so he didn't understand all the attention. Honestly, I can only feel sorry for him. All those other bands toiled in relative obscurity from main stream society. It's not like people were claiming that Greg Ginn (who hated tube distortion) and Bob Mould were geniuses when their bands were at their peak. And those aren't even household names. Nirvana wasn't a revolution, they were just part of the aftermath of the American underground movement that exploded in the 80s. Read the book "Our Band Could Be Your Life", buy albums from those bands, and then you will find the real genius. But that's how art/music works, you learn from others. So, I think he would only care if all you want to do is replicate him and not build on his style.

 

 

You sir are correct. I Love punk, hate Cobain. He's the most overated artist ever. Mike Ness, Greg Ginn, Glenn Danzig(yes I know some of you don't know he's a punk icon), Ian Mckaye, Joe Strummer, Kobain couldn't even come close to carrying those guys jocks musically, lyrically, stylistically or actually moving underground music foward a iota of what those guys did. Cobain was a hack and I jumped for joy when that {censored}face wacked himself, what a bitch.