It's too good to not post. The poster is "anonymous". Whoever you are, thank you!
When the new guide is up, I'll embed the pictures and make your contribution pretty.
people who were asking about pedals:
ds-1 japan silver screw (likely 1980ish...you can actually see the silver screw here):
http://www.nirvanaguide.com/images/1990/051390.51.jpg
and here
http://www.kurtsequipment.com/pictures/kurts_ds1.jpg
(the second one seems to be sent from bailey?)
kurt's polychorus (formerly bailey's? - sent in from bailey?):
http://www.kurtsequipment.com/pictures/kurtspoly.jpg
used an original small box proco rat (likely 86-88?) here:
http://www.nirvanaguide.com/images/1989/100889.10.jpg
http://www.nirvanaguide.com/images/1989/100889.15.jpg
along with that Arion mij tuner from the 80s black with white stripe
he also trialed it again when switching to the ds-2 - I've seen a photo where he's trying both the ds-2 and the rat together after putting the ds-1 away...I dunno if the ds-1 was really broken or if someone (earnie?) told him to stop using it live because that thing is pretty rare...like $200 on ebay rare not $25 mit ones...maybe it was broken I dunno...the distortion pot had it's knob removed or lost...hard to tell lots of things were taped or wired/modded to only function one way to avoid accidents live right
on a tangent, the univox custom (it is a custom, says so on the headstock) used on snl rape me, etc has the ibanez gibraltar bridge on it not a badass bridge and it has two humbuckers, likely a dimarzio paf type in the neck and a dimarzio sd (or maybe a sd jb sh-4) in the bridge - basically a univox that would sound like the jaguar...the original p90s are amazing though (see rio guitar) - this guitar is like 1968 and rare - the exact same guitar was made in Canada, just a different headstock logo/brand, same with the phase II flyers (see wikipedia - cheaper than erm $500 on ebay unless you want it to say univox and not something else...)
the small clone is rare 1980/81 version (the first version) that had mini chorus on it (perhaps because the first boss chorus was huge compared to the small clone) - see it here:
http://www.spin.com/gallery/instrument-stories-behind-kurt-cobain-bon-iver-and-more-artists-favorite-gear?page=2#main
http://www.spin.com/sites/spin.com/files/imagecache/gallery_landscape/sites/spin.com/files/images/cobain_1_B_Instrument.png
the ds-2 is likely a japanese ds-2 and those are a bit more rare as well:
http://www.bossarea.com/loadpage.asp?file=boxes/DS-2.xml
any ideas what these two are from 1989-06-27?:
ds-1 and??? pedal that is more red...
http://www.nirvanaguide.com/images/1987/062787.04.jpg
the rest is pretty decent on the equipment faqs
someone needs to figure out the story on the ibanez (pre-lawsuit?) 1970s set neck cherry sunburst les paul copy with the coil tap switches on it...saw a black lefty one on ebay before but that was a mid-late 70s model with bolt on neck, not the prelawsuit with the set neck...anyway this guitar is a total mystery to me and not in these faqs anywhere...super rare guitar.
the ultra-linear twin blackface rivera twin reverb from 1982 135w or whatever is rarer too
more info on the peavey vintage coming but something is in the works first.
ds-1 japan silver screw (likely 1980ish...you can actually see the silver screw here):
http://www.nirvanaguide.com/images/1990/051390.51.jpg
and here
http://www.kurtsequipment.com/pictures/kurts_ds1.jpg
(the second one seems to be sent from bailey?)
kurt's polychorus (formerly bailey's? - sent in from bailey?):
http://www.kurtsequipment.com/pictures/kurtspoly.jpg
used an original small box proco rat (likely 86-88?) here:
http://www.nirvanaguide.com/images/1989/100889.10.jpg
http://www.nirvanaguide.com/images/1989/100889.15.jpg
along with that Arion mij tuner from the 80s black with white stripe
he also trialed it again when switching to the ds-2 - I've seen a photo where he's trying both the ds-2 and the rat together after putting the ds-1 away...I dunno if the ds-1 was really broken or if someone (earnie?) told him to stop using it live because that thing is pretty rare...like $200 on ebay rare not $25 mit ones...maybe it was broken I dunno...the distortion pot had it's knob removed or lost...hard to tell lots of things were taped or wired/modded to only function one way to avoid accidents live right
on a tangent, the univox custom (it is a custom, says so on the headstock) used on snl rape me, etc has the ibanez gibraltar bridge on it not a badass bridge and it has two humbuckers, likely a dimarzio paf type in the neck and a dimarzio sd (or maybe a sd jb sh-4) in the bridge - basically a univox that would sound like the jaguar...the original p90s are amazing though (see rio guitar) - this guitar is like 1968 and rare - the exact same guitar was made in Canada, just a different headstock logo/brand, same with the phase II flyers (see wikipedia - cheaper than erm $500 on ebay unless you want it to say univox and not something else...)
the small clone is rare 1980/81 version (the first version) that had mini chorus on it (perhaps because the first boss chorus was huge compared to the small clone) - see it here:
http://www.spin.com/gallery/instrument-stories-behind-kurt-cobain-bon-iver-and-more-artists-favorite-gear?page=2#main
http://www.spin.com/sites/spin.com/files/imagecache/gallery_landscape/sites/spin.com/files/images/cobain_1_B_Instrument.png
the ds-2 is likely a japanese ds-2 and those are a bit more rare as well:
http://www.bossarea.com/loadpage.asp?file=boxes/DS-2.xml
any ideas what these two are from 1989-06-27?:
ds-1 and??? pedal that is more red...
http://www.nirvanaguide.com/images/1987/062787.04.jpg
the rest is pretty decent on the equipment faqs
someone needs to figure out the story on the ibanez (pre-lawsuit?) 1970s set neck cherry sunburst les paul copy with the coil tap switches on it...saw a black lefty one on ebay before but that was a mid-late 70s model with bolt on neck, not the prelawsuit with the set neck...anyway this guitar is a total mystery to me and not in these faqs anywhere...super rare guitar.
the ultra-linear twin blackface rivera twin reverb from 1982 135w or whatever is rarer too
more info on the peavey vintage coming but something is in the works first.
Hey,
ReplyDeleteThanks, this site is great. A couple more additions:
1) mxr distortion + used live a few times...can't find the photos now but they're on nirvanaliveguide...maybe 88-90 era used overseas??
2) very weird timing but pk's music in australia just got in a lefty ibanez les paul that is basically what Earnie has described...super rare but sadly modified and has a neck crack (I've saved images for you in the future or you can get them yourself. Hopefully Kurt's didn't have that Kahler bridge/trem... (or added pickup selectors, just the coil tap switches):
http://www.pksmusic.com.au/showProduct/Guitars/Electric+Guitars/ILPSBJN/Ibanez+%22Les+Paul%22
3) photos of a somewhat special amp coming soon...
mxr distortion + and arion tuner lame fest '89:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nirvanaguide.com/images/1989/120389.03.jpg
Hi there, in regards to the pic with Kurts DS1 and another reddish pedal beside it, my guess would be it is a Boss BF2 Flanger, due to its Boss-like design, and the absence of Kurt's famous Small Clone, which may have been broken, or prior to the purchase of.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work, and looking forward to your next posts!
It's a Boss DM2 delay, it was used for crazy self oscillation noises in the early days. most notably during the solo on Love Buzz
DeleteI think the red pedal is a PSM-5 power supply master switch but I don't know why he'd by using one - otherwise a SP-1 or DM-2 but those are odd as well. The BF-2 is purple and the one in the photo is red. Also, that photo of Kurt in his Mom's attic room playing the phase III flyer with stickers and headphone on (from cobain unseen book) has two posters on the wall from June 10, 1986 and Sept 27, 1986 - the guitar is plugged into a fender champ (seen at the butt of the guitar) - the peavey vintage is definitely gone before that time period - again, suggesting loss after being kicked from 404 N Michigan st. That black flag show was 86 not 84 right...also shows he was back at his Mom's in late 86 or early 87. I think he only had that peavey vintage about a year in total, maybe year and a half. Anyone got a decent photo of the fender twin ultra linear rivera amp? Best I can find is in the background of one live photo set.
ReplyDeleteI really doubt that you could have sold a Boss DS-1 Long Dash Silver Screw for 200$ on eBay in early nineties.
ReplyDeleteFirst, because back in those days it wouldn´t had been that rare as nowadays, and second,
because eBay didn´t existed back then.
That's what I was thinking. People were aware, in the late nineties, that the old long dashes and clack labels sounded better... but I don't know how much they went for. And now, 2021, good luck finding a long dash silver screw ds1 for less than 400. I got lucky. I got my black label long dash (black screw) for $39 on ebay.
DeleteHe most likely used a MIT DS-2 because he only got the DS-2 when his DS-1 broke on tour and a roadie went to pick up another one, and ended up coming back with a DS-2 instead. Kurt was pissed at first but ended up (obviously) liking it. The odds of some roadie walking into a music store and randomly picking up a MIJ one are slim. Plus, I have played both and the MIJ ones have a noticably scooped sound, and Kurt was all about the mids.
ReplyDeleteAlright, let's get some of the facts straight here:
ReplyDelete1) No one gave a shit about how old their Boss DS-1 was in 1987-1994 and if it was MIJ or MIT. We didn't even know there was a difference between them, as they didn't switch to the Silver Label bottom and the use of the PSA power supply until 1994. Regardless, they didn't change the DS-1 circuit until 1994 (switching from the TA7136AP op-amp to the BA728N) when they also changed it to accept the PSA power supply. So Kurt used either MIJ or MIT DS-1s that had the same circuit and were powered by the same power supply the whole time he was alive (at least I don't know of him going back to the DS-1 in 1994).
2) The MIJ DS-2 was only sold Dec 87 to Nov 89, and according to bossarea.com "it's a bit of rarity". So, Kurt didn't switch to the DS-2 until Feb '92 according to kurtsequipment.com and more than likely it was purchased new at that time and therefore it was probably MIT.
3) The other red pedal in this photo (http://www.nirvanaguide.com/images/1987/062787.04.jpg) I can say with almost 100% certainty is a Boss DM-2 Delay pedal. The PSM-5 has silver jacks on the top of it and you can see the knobs appear the same as they do on the DS-1 in this pic. As the only guitarist in the band, I'm sure early on he was looking for other ways to fatten up his sound during solos, which a delay pedal like the DM-2 can do, of course we know he eventually ended up using chorus pedals for that.
Totally agree with ALL you said !
DeleteHey,
ReplyDeleteThanks for pointing out the unlikely MIJ DS-2 thing and also the DM-2 (fatten sound up thing makes sense)...and the DS-1 circuit remaining the same until after it didn't matter anymore (in this case). Funny because I had a MIT DS-2 and hated it but that was when I had a SS amp. Really sucks he lost the univox superfuzz so early on, I can't imagine how crazy things would have sounded if that was his main pedal.
I read somewhere he had a replacement / clone pedal made of that.
DeleteWow! Kurt with a Delay! I totally save that pic
ReplyDeleteLooks like he's messing with the delay settings in that pic, if it is a delay. I think that's his left hand on one of the knobs. So he's probably making some weird delay freakout noises happen. Would love to hear a bootleg of that show.
ReplyDeleteI just want to point out that I am 100% positive he used the ds-2 in 1991. The ds-2 is clearly seen during endless nameless live at the paramount when kurt falls to his knees by his pedals. Here's a picture from November 04,1991. www.nirvanaguide.com/images/1991/110491.02.jpg
ReplyDelete6/27/1989 is actually 6/27/1987:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nirvanaguide.com/images.php?id=870627
However, I THINK YOU ARE CORRECT ABOUT THE PURPLE PEDAL BEING A BOSS DELAY (ANALOG, TOO). In the With The Lights Out box-set, the live song "Raunchola/Moby Dick" (dated 1988) ends with Kurt going bananas on it, most likely, as analog delays oscillate and make wacky noises when you crank the repeats to the max and then manipulate the delay time knob. Add to this guitar feedback and you got yourself the sounds he was getting at this closing jam.
I know this will be a tough question as there is probably little to no proof with pix... But anyone know if Kurdt ever used the boss super distortion and feedbacker DF-2 prior to the bleach era?
ReplyDeleteThank You and I have a super offer: average cost of redoing a kitchen
ReplyDelete