Kurt Cobain's pedal

[JazzTom 0]

hi

watching the live and loud concert i realized that kurt was using a pedal that i haven't seen before, as far as i know, he used to use the boss ds-2 turbo distortion, tech 21 sans amp (the second one in the pic) electro harmonix small clone and the electro harmonix polychorus

i didn't find it at http://www.kurtsequipment.com/

Here's the pic

it seems like boss , doesn't it? can anyone identify it?

[jacksonjackass 3]

Could be a boss HM-2 or something. Not sure if the MT2 existed back then.

[Catasphere 0]

I remember reading that the Digitech "Grunge" pedal came out around that time, and he used one on stage one time, as a joke, and it sucked, so he picked it up and threw it into the stage. Maybe that was it?

[jacksonjackass 3]

I remember reading that the Digitech "Grunge" pedal came out around that time, and he used one on stage one time, as a joke, and it sucked, so he picked it up and threw it into the stage. Maybe that was it?

You could be right there.

Nathan has one and seems to like it, but most say its a pile of junk. from what I've heard coming form youtube myself, it sounds really solid statey and clippey. Sort of like a cranked up line 6 spider.

[Earth 24]

I used to know what this is, its a dod/digitech or something similar and he used it mainly on endless nameless and for feedback, thats about all. it was for noise, not songs. He used to have both it and the sansamp/ or DS-2 on simultaneously for more sustaining feedback.

[Serious Cat 0]

I have a Digitech Grunge pedal, and it sucks balls.......

Better get a Boss Metal Zone/DS-1.

[Stevie K 3]

It's a DOD Grunge pedal from when DOD still existed. He only used it for destruction, just like how he only pulled out that strat for destruction. It was a joke, he hated he way it sounded.

[Earth 24]

Yes I know he did that but I think he used another pedal (this one) too for what I said in the above post. i read it in the 90's...how the fvck I'm supposed to recall sh!t from then IDK....

[NathanStang75 10]

Not got it any more alex. Its not a bad pedal for nasty black metal soundz but nowt special.

[Cymastar 2]

It's a DOD Grunge pedal from when DOD still existed. He only used it for destruction, just like how he only pulled out that strat for destruction. It was a joke, he hated he way it sounded.

I believe DOD still exists to this day, only production has shifted from America to China for the VFX Line.

Personally, my favorite DOD lines were the final two MIA lines and the VFX. The last line and VFX for the better switches, and the last two lines for all the great and interesting pedals that came out.

[smallclone 4]

the pedal in question is a DOD phaser. watch the live loud video right after lithum and before the destruction jam, shows kurt stepping on the dist. in his ex board. clear shot of the phaser. only songs ive ever heard him use this in was curmudgeon and aneurysm.

[Blandest 0]

It's a DOD Grunge pedal from when DOD still existed. He only used it for destruction, just like how he only pulled out that strat for destruction. It was a joke, he hated he way it sounded.

..andi read he apparently threw it into the crowd

[jacksonjackass 3]

the pedal in question is a DOD phaser. watch the live loud video right after lithum and before the destruction jam, shows kurt stepping on the dist. in his ex board. clear shot of the phaser. only songs ive ever heard him use this in was curmudgeon and aneurysm.

That old rig site said he used a phase 90

[smallclone 4]

those sites are often incorrect.

[smallclone 4]

not trying to start a flame war but its been over ten years since i looked at this so i made a screen shot. you decide.

[Mad-Mike 18]

Looks like a grunge pedal to me, or something from that era.

I'd take the Grunge any day for serious music over the DOD Death Metal. We had one of those in my previous band and it sounded like a Washing Machine on spin cycle. Of course, one of our guitarists INSISTED on using it through the PA...so his sound went "bvvvvvvt bvvvvvvvvvt bvvvvvt bvvvvvt". As a short term effect I could see that being useful (like recreating the sound of a laundry room), but do I really want the band to have a Maytag for a guitar player?

[gilmourish 3]

I want to get a DOD/Digitech Death metal. Rehouse it, and circuit bend/mod the crap outa it into the craziest stupidest box of noise ever.

[Purplehaze19x 2]

That is not a phaser, DOD phasers only had 3 knobs. I saw a a real clear picture of it a few years back, and it was a Grunge pedal.

the pedal in question is a DOD phaser. watch the live loud video right after lithum and before the destruction jam, shows kurt stepping on the dist. in his ex board. clear shot of the phaser. only songs ive ever heard him use this in was curmudgeon and aneurysm.

That old rig site said he used a phase 90

It was a vintage dual knob MXR Phase 100. I have one and it nails the Curmudgeon sound!

[smallclone 4]

and the mystery is solved. i saw some early photos from the in utero tour and the ds-2 was where the grunge pedal is in that pic. i guess the ds-2 was broken or lost.

[That One Guy 0]

Well, that does indeed look like a DOD Grunge pedal. If this is, and that's what it looks like, then perhaps this is why Kurt sarcastically clapped to the crowd after the concert: "You people can't tell the difference!" I've always wondered why he did that. In the full length video, he kind of goes back and forth with a couple people in the crowd, so that could be it too. But I digress.

 

I have a DOD FX86 Deathmetal, and it is pretty hard to get a decent sounding tone out of the thing. I found something of a sweet spot on it, though. But It's hard to keep it from sounding like, well, death metal.

 

Never tried a DOD Grunge, but I imagine a lot of people have been duped into thinking that thing captures the Nirvana sound. I've found that a good amp and pickups can work wonders with nearly any pedal.

[That One Guy 0]

I just re-watched the concert; never gets old. At the end, he does stomp on the Sans Amp but the DOD is off. So if he did play it, then it wasn't from this segment. The majority of the concert, I couldn't get a decent look at the pedals so it's hard to say if he had the DS-2 there the whole time.

[paulo 1]

dod grunge...  and i belive he use it on "school",for pier 48/MTV Live and Loud Concert  sorry for my english...

[Mad-Mike 18]

DOD Grunge it is, I think I have watched Aneurysum from that concert, and I OWN a DOD Flanger (FX-75B Stereo Flanger), Kurt's sound sounds more like an EHX than a DOD Flanger pedal to my ears.

 

A lot of the alt-rock acts used to buy and joke about with those pedals because of the commercial idea of putting the "sound of the youth" into a little box you can hit with your foot, like it's going to magically make your Squier Strat and Crate 10 Watt Practice amp sound like a Fender Mustang with a JB humbucker, a DS-2, run through 2 crown power amps and a marshall cab.  There was a video I saw on Youtubet, possibly from the year punk broke, where Sonic Youth is putzing about with one in one of the member's back yards and making fun of it, I'll post it if I can find it.

[That One Guy 0]

dod grunge...  and i belive he use it on "school",for pier 48/MTV Live and Loud Concert  sorry for my english...

 

 

Yeah, I think you're right. It appears that he even holds it up to show the crowd before starting "School". It does sound like crap, lol. Another place it sounds like he's playing around with it: Endless, Nameless, the longer version where they are tooling about before they really get going. If you listen to the early part of it, you can hear him switching between two different distortion sounds. It's hard to hear, but one definitely sounds like "death metal". I think it's the Grunge pedal. It's interesting, sorta, because you can see him trying to listen for something. It's hard to tell what, though.

 

 

DOD Grunge it is, I think I have watched Aneurysum from that concert, and I OWN a DOD Flanger (FX-75B Stereo Flanger), Kurt's sound sounds more like an EHX than a DOD Flanger pedal to my ears.

 

A lot of the alt-rock acts used to buy and joke about with those pedals because of the commercial idea of putting the "sound of the youth" into a little box you can hit with your foot, like it's going to magically make your Squier Strat and Crate 10 Watt Practice amp sound like a Fender Mustang with a JB humbucker, a DS-2, run through 2 crown power amps and a marshall cab.  There was a video I saw on Youtubet, possibly from the year punk broke, where Sonic Youth is putzing about with one in one of the member's back yards and making fun of it, I'll post it if I can find it.

 

 

I think the last time they played Aneurysm live was July or August of '93. Nonetheless, yeah you're right, it's the DOD Grunge. It is funny that they mocked it. If you have that Sonic Youth video, that'd be cool. I tried Google, and the one video I found of it had been removed for whatever reason.

[Mad-Mike 18]

The Death Metal is a hilarious pedal.  Way way way way back, when I was lead guitarist for a band called Lithium based in Montgomery, I had a buddy who was our rhythm guitarist who used a Fender Am. STD Strat through one into a Crate GX-15......it sounded like someone was playing music with a Hot Tub motor attached to a filled hot tub.  Still all these years later and is one of my most hilariously memorable Anecdotes from that band.

 

Should have been called the DOD Appliance Metal......or put in a chrome case and named "the Brave Little Toaster"....LOL.