Kurt's ds-1 broke during a performance on French TV before this. The footage is available on RUclips. During Drain You, his guitar stopped working after stomping on the ds-1 hard. After trying to get it working for a bit, fiddling with his guitar (I'm guessing he assumed the guitar itself broke), he threw the guitar down in frustration and sung the rest of the song, with Pat Smear carrying the guitar playing. As I remember from some book/books on Nirvana, Kurt couldn't find another DS-1 to replace it at the time, and this was during a tour. So he had to grab whatever was available, which was the Grunge pedal. Kurt, or maybe his guitar tech Eddie (Eddie answered some questions on an online forum somewhere, I'm pretty sure I saw him talking about it) found a DS-2, making the Grunge unnecessary. As I recall, Kurt thought the Grunge was a joke and hated it. If memory serves, I believe during the show where he threw the pedal into the crowd, Kurt had his DS-2 at that point. As I remember it, I believe He had both pedals plugged in on stage and actually used the DS-2, only keeping the Grunge in his pedal chain as a joke, concluding with throwing it into the crowd. I'm guessing that's where the rumor started that he never turned on the Grunge, because Kurt had the Grunge in his setup and didn't turn it on during that particular show. The internet wasn't a thing back then, so anyone who wasn't at the previous shows and were only at that one show might not hear about the shows where Kurt did turn on the Grunge, and spread stories of the show, assuming the same thing was true at all shows. It wasn't public knowledge that the DS-1 had broken until years later, so people would have assumed Kurt was still using it unless they could see his pedal board well enough to notice it wasn't there.
I vaguely remember the MTV interview story with Kurt talking about the Grunge pedal, but the context I got the story in was that he was joking, but he played it straight, so maybe the interviewer didn't get that he was joking. Sorry I don't have better memory, I really wish I could tell you the specific places I got my info, but that was a long time ago. I hope I was still a help.
Oh. As you may know, Kurt used both a Big Muff and the DS-1 together on a few songs, like Territorial Pissings. So I'm guessing that's what the Grunge was trying to emulate.
Hey always wondered if Kurt had the 83? Japanese ds-1 pedal. I had an 83 it's backing plate is in Japanese and it says Roland not Boss. The age of the pedal matched one Kurt might find in the Northwest. My pedal was bought in Vancouver BC in 88 I think.
Today is December 29th, 2023, and I’m posting this comment at 7pm mst. It has been almost exactly 30 years down to the hour since Kurt threw his grunge pedal into the crowd. And I happen to watch your video right now.
The FX69 has just an obscene amount of gain, I’ve had mine since they came out and I love it. There’s a LOT of misinformation about Nirvana out there, mostly because Kurt loved messing with the media and often contradicted himself and even straight up lied to reporters because he enjoyed it. Love the channel, you do a great job.
Thank you so much! I agree, Kurt could be quite the storyteller when it came to interviews & the media. It makes the hunt for the truth all the more fun 😉
@chemistryofquestionablequa6252 For sure man! I still remember the sweeet feedback i used to get...a sweet cherry on top of what sounds like one of the grimiest fuzz boxes ever made lol. I've been looking for a replacement unit quite a while now but ive only seen the boss versions. That's awesome you held onto yours all this time. I had mine from about 95-'06, before I walked away left it at my existence with everything else I owned. What a tragic loss (the equipment not the girl lol). If you ever sell yours or find one for sale at a decent price...Holla ✌️
You turn the Grunge all the way down, and the gain is still over the top. I used to use it for metal and my DOD FX-55B Supra Distortion for alt/grunge.
1:46 yes, PLEASE make more videos on guitar pedals. I really would like to know a lot more about the “DS-1”, “DS-2”, “RAT”, and “Small Clone”. Especially when Kurt began using these pedals, because there is a lot of misinformation about Kurt’s usage of certain pedals…Also great vid❤❤
listen man, the accuracy of your playing is so underrated at this point. swear we're just used to you nailing these riffs like nothing. great work once again 💯🐐
Thanks for your fact-checking. It seems like we're entering an era where RUclipsrs are finally being held to a higher standard and are more often being called out for just making stuff up, not sourcing anything, and straight up plagiarizing.
I was lucky enough to see Nirvana with my friends several times. We saw all the great grunge bands back then. It feels weird but also good to see young people still loving this music. We had no idea we were witnessing music history. We were too busy stage diving and having the time of our lives. Great video man.
"We were too busy stage diving and having the time of our lives" This is so wonderful! This is how it should be! Live it all to the fullest! It's great that you had this experience! Before everything started to crumble under the pressure of the show business industry.
Thank you for doing the actual work, investigating the sources, searching for clues, and debunking the myths. As far as I am concerned, your videos are the videos of record for all things Nirvana gear! Always happy to watch your videos! Take care!
Kurt and Nirvana was the reason I started playing music almost 40 years ago now. He made it seem easy enough that even I could do it... As long as I was honest and REAL about it. I just wanted to say "Thank you" for all your hard work researching and chasing down the TRUTH. We appreciate it and YOU, immensely...
Same here, I remember seeing a nirvana video and thinking “I don’t know why, but I have to learn these songs like now” later a buddy of mine gave me my first guitar (an acoustic, but still) here I am 27 years later and I’ve been hooked the entire time.
Doubtful.....dod was popular for a bit, but the problem with their pedals wasn't just gimmicks, overall they were of terrible build quality..... some people got lucky and theirs are still going, but they had a very high fail rate and short lifespan. When there's countless pedals similar in price range that hold up, it's a no Brainer to go with the competition..... I've known a handful of people who initially hyped them only to have them die, and I've tried two that lasted for less than a year combined.
I have the Grunge FX69B… a friend gave it to me over 10+ years ago… I always thought it sounded terrible. Cool video! Thoroughly enjoyed the history and review
It absolutely is terrible. And even if you think it maybe sounds ok at home, the real killer is that it's completely unusable live. Even worse than most fuzzes, the Grunge pedal just completely erases like all the midrange and makes your tone completely inaudible in any kind of loud band mix. It is straight up unusable. You could maybe use it for some overtone layers in a recording or something but you definitely couldn't use it for a core track or anything. It's pretty trash. And even as a fuzz, there's much better options.
Man i discovered your channel this year and it has been the best thing to happen to me, i love your videos and the form that you make them, hope you still make alot more quality videos this 2024, love you and wish you the best man.
I love this channel real bad Fun fact, the DOD Gonkulator is the grunge circuit with the addition of a ring modulator that you can blend on or off. I love that pedal.
@@tigmil8116 I’ve heard that. I also heard the Grunge is a modified DS-1. Does that mean the Rat and DS-1 are a similar circuit? I actually don’t know. Also, I remember playing an original Grunge back in the day and not liking it. Yet I love the distortion side of my Gonkulator reissue. And the Gongulator reissue doesn’t have the EQ controls of the original Grunge. I wish Josh Scott or someone can clear this up lol.
@@kidgloves2 I have an FX13 Gonkulator that I got used on Ebay around 2002. I too think it sounds better than the Grunge pedal and I think this because you can turn the gain down and find a sweet spot. The demo we just watched has the 'grunge' knob all the way down yet it's still a very high gain sound.
My first pedal was the DOD Flashback Fuzz which was also a tweaked Grunge pedal. The Gonkulator was my holy grail pedal after hearing Mike Einzinger use one but they were impossible to find and very expensive. I would up buying a reissue for $40 a few years ago, and now it basically is a paperweight lol
CONGRATS to the folks auctioning the pedal off more than Faux Stars were willing. I love your videos, its history, man. Everything is history- and I cannot wait for more.
Holy crap, I saw that and could not believe that they would not recognize the value in that gear and their expert was either a moron or working with them to undervalue it. As someone who is nowhere near an expert in these values, even I know $500 for a piece of gear used by Kurt Cobain is criminally lowballing.
I’m really interested in a Kurt Cobain pedal history series! Some background on Krist’s bass pedals (I believe I saw a RAT in a live show) would be fantastic too. 2:04
One of my friends who’s a huge Nirvana fan owned this as his first guitar pedal and while he does agree it’s kind of a meme pedal he did eventually sell it but he still has some fond memories of it, but as for the pedals Kurt used I would love to see something like that and it’d be awesome learning about the origins of his DS-1 (my DS-1 still has the same settings as Kurt on Smells Like Teen Spirit that I got from an issue of Guitar World from a few years ago and it still sounds great in general), DS-2, Small Clone, Big Muff, Rat, Polychorus, etc. Great as always, man, happy holidays and I hope you and your family have a merry Christmas, peace and love from Canada
This is a great video for Nirvana nerds. I’m not sure why I’m reading negative comments here? I have been a nirvana fan for over a decade and you are the most rigorous researcher I have seen on RUclips. EDIT: PAPER CUTS SOUNDED SO GOOD WITH THIS HAHAHA!
At this point youre the internets best source of new and confirmed Nirvana info Eric! Thankyou so much for the enormous amount of work you do, we are very grateful
@@NirvanaGuitars Ive been a massive Nirvana fan since i was 15 or so, im 38 now. Your videos bring me such happiness as it means i am STILL learning real stuff about Kurt and the band after all these years. I love your indepth analysis and all the fact checking you do. You're a legend!!
I would absolutely watch a ‘Kurt’s pedals’ series. Or pedals & amps. Totally. I always believed he was just trolling with this pedal, so thank you for this video. Love it.
So, it’s safe to say that Kurt had this on the board for a few-weeks, hated it, and gave it to a fan. In the fall of ‘93, I was looking for a good dirt-box & tried a few. I didn’t like the sound of the FX69 through my amp, and settled on a RAT … I’m still not a big-fan of the signal, but can understand why someone may use it. Very cool segment, by the way. Your playing is also really solid, so I subscribed. 👍🏻
I’ve got one of the later versions that have “Loud, Low, High & Grunge “ knobs left to right . I got it quite awhile ago from a coworker buddy for $50 , used but in great condition. It’s on my pedal board , along with a Morley “ Wah -pedal” , an Ibanez TS-9 tube screamer , a Boss original DS-1 and a “ Path seeker “ splitter box to use my Vox or Fender Blues Deluxe amps individually or paired up . All of this is tapped into a Pigtronics Philosopher king pre amp . I can get some serious tones & extended sustain & fade or swell with all of it . Fun just to mess around and I’m sure I’ll never find all the combinations I can create . 😉👍. Cool video here and I appreciated it a lot . Thanks man for sharing this with us .
I remember when on pawn stars this pedal showed up. Pawn stars is always low balling people. Interesting history and I’m glad I own one. Kurt seemed to be the kind of guy that would troll the trolls. Seems almost laughable that he “never turned it on” when if you own this pedal you can definitely hear it
Fun story: My friend was speaking to his step father about music and What kind of music We play (I am in a band) My friend said that We play punk and grunge and especially Nirvana. He said that he was an exchange student (from Finland) and he went to The same school as Kurt and Chris. He told My friend that he was aware that they had a band and they spoke about it, because he was interested in punk/alternative rock. Little did he know that in a few years Nirvana was The biggest band in The world.
This is a great Mythbusters episode! I always thought he just threw that pedal in the crowd that one time! There's a whole backstory to it though, wow. Huh. Nice job. 👍
Very nice video, I would love to see more pedal history videos- and very interesting info about the grunge pedal, I am honestly glad that if there was one pedal that needed more info, it would be this one. What I mean is I am glad that you decided to let in more info about this pedal and gave it a chance while everyone excused it as a gimmicky, cash grab- rrally giving this pedal justice for what it deserves
Thank you so much! It’s all in an effort to clear out all the misinformation that’s floating around. And when set right, it’s actually a pretty great pedal!
I have an original FX84 Milk Box Compressor and I nearly always record my basses through it. It tightens up the signal and really fattens up the low end.
The dod grunge was my first distortion pedal, I bought it back in 1994 I still love it. I bought a digitech version around 2010 and it's not the same as the dod
I was at that show and remember him throwing it in the crowd. I was in the upper seats to the left of the stage. It was a great show and I was lucky to even see them.
Amazing research you did there! I'd love to watch the histories of the other pedals too. BTW, the DOD Grunge is closely related to the Boss MT-2 Metal Zone. Both have almost the same topology, but the DOD don't have the mids control and it has a few components with different values. Nothing to do with the Boss DS-1, which is much simpler and very different sounding. Cheers!
The Grunge circuit doesn't have too much in common with the DS-1. The Grunge has a lot of gyrators creating a much more complex frequency response than a DS-1. Also, the DS-1 has that kind of "tilting" EQ circuit, same topology as a Big Muff. Grunge has active shelving high and low EQ stages. I like the Grunge pedal for Industrial Metal like NIN and Ministry.
Grunge pedal is a boss metalzone with the mid and mid frequency circuit remove. i modded mine replacing the diode clipping with LED,And replacing capacitors in the gyrators just like the mods in the metalzone.
I’m still just starting this video but want to say, I clicked so fast at the title. I love history over specific pedals and other musical instruments etc
when u did the audio comparison for the minnesota show w grunge and sans pedal i IMMEDIATELY recognized the sound and where ive heard it on other bootlegs
I got a dos grunge fx69 for my christmas a young kid and still have. I loved it at the time. The distortion was way better than many cheap amp distortions. The instructions had settings for a few nirvana songs like territorial pissings.
Friend gave me a bag of old pedals including this one, I kept it as a curiosity because of the labels and the Kurdt connection. Thanks for breaking it down.
I saw that Pawn Stars episode. And yes Corey Harrison is indeed a lowballer. He did that on MOST of the items he dealt with. Chumlee is quite the opposite.
Hey, Eric. I think I mentioned this under a JQ video but after listening back to back I think it's safe to say that the DOD was NOT used on "Breed" for live and loud. It's definitely the SansAmp. During the intro for the song and the ending where Pat's guitar cuts out and Kurt's lets his sustain/feedback briefly, you can hear a very distinctive low end that you won't get from the DOD. The tone is also far too smooth to be the DOD. I think the confusion stems from how the SansAmp usually sounds relatively smooth (on Kurt's settings). Granted, it does sound a bit crunchier than usual during Breed for live and loud but you also need to remember that it's Kurt. He's definitely cranking the volume on the SansAmp which will overdrive the Mesa Pre. Now, I don't own a Mesa Pre but I can achieve a similar sound by cranking the volume of my SansAmp, using Kurt's settings, into my Vox AC30. The distortion from the SansAmp combined with the Mesa being overdriven, which is usually a crunchy amp already, will produce the sound that you can hear during Breed. Anyways, sorry I'm so passionate about this but that's just my two cents. Other than that, the video was amazing, as always. I love your content.
Always appreciate the passion, no need to apologize! I do disagree though, this is something I really focused on when working on my Live & Loud tone video. We have Kurt playing the intro by himself twice in the beginning before the drums come in, that is the perfect reference to recreate as it is essentially his solo’d guitar track. I tried to get that sound with my Sansamp, and couldn’t. Got it very close very quick with the DOD. Then again, you and I are both using different amps than Kurt did. That plays a role. I remember JQ used the DOD for Breed, and he actually played through a mesa pre.
Also you say your using Kurt’s settings, are you trying to recreate the official released Live & Loud or a different sound source for that show? The official release’s guitar mix is not that great, it has almost no low end, overloaded with highs to the point where it’s harsh. If you’re using Kurt’s settings, than you’re going to sound better and “fuller” than the official live album’s mix haha!
@@NirvanaGuitars it is very interesting to hear your POV. I don't know, to me it never sounded fizzy enough to be the DOD. But anyways, it was nice discussing this with you. Like I said, love the vids and I'm always looking forward to new uploads!
@@NirvanaGuitars I used the de facto Kurt Cobain SansAmp settings. So 3 up, 3 down, 2 up on the dip switches. Presence and amp drive on max. I did try different mic positions and according to an Aaron Rash video, the cabs are micd up off-axis. Like you said though, the amps are different, let alone the speakers. My attempts at recreating the tone come relatively close however. But yeah, it's interesting to see your POV on it, I love having these sort of discussions.
Thank you so much for the kind words and support! I’m always up for a discussion about these kind of specifics, this is the nerdy stuff I live for haha 🤓 we might never know 100% which pedal it was, unless we get a different camera angle that shows his feet during that song! Either way, I think it’s safe to agree that it’s a pretty cool tone and an all around amazing performance of that song 🙂
Christ! That sound take me back when i got this pedal in 1993. I loved this pedal and suited me perfectly. Years on i am sure I still have my original (now broken) and the mark 2 replacement. Somewhere! 😂 Brilliant video! 👌🏻
yeah do the pedal history!!! got so many questions about kurts use of boss ds-1 and turbo distortion pedals, not the hugest nirvana fan, listening wise but for kurt as a guitarist ,song writer and muscian hes one of the best , and is so interesting, love your content man! your starting to convert me to Fender mustangs and jaguars LOL i will give u that im more a Kramer Baretta,flying V, LP guitar guy, but those fenders are the "middle child" of theyre lineup
Great video, specially the first investigations part! Thank you for this, I hate so much misinformation... I spreads like a virus and once it's here, when you tell the truth, no one believes you because of that brainwash all over the world, all over the years. That's crazy and it's just like that in every domains. Anyway I love my Grunge Pedal as you know and I use it as much now as my DS-2 in my band ^_^ Great playing also, specially with Pennyroyal Tea;) Happy holidays and Merry Christmas to all the Nirvana community!!!😋
Hey, great video and also awesome channel in general! I remember that sometime in the late 90s, a friend of my band got one of those pedals and our guitarist briefly tried it during one of our rehearsals. We played a mix of grunge and emo-y stuff back then and primarily just used our Marshall heads overdriven for all the distorted sounds. Our guitarist played around with the Grunge pedal a bit, laughed and just put it aside. It just sounded absolutely horrible in comparison to our usual sound. I think now after watching your video, I finally get what Jason was aiming for when designing the pedal, it's just really punk rock, dirty distortion with a lot of noise. And I actually kind of like it (it was just not suitable for our style back then). :D (PS: I'm in my mid forties now and recently had my first live gig in 15 years or so--with my Nirvana cover band!)
I owned this pedal in 1997ish and I think it's hilarious to see Kurt on the floor hitting the button by hand because mine was broken and you couldn't easily switch it by foot at all. The plastic cover over the footswitch seemed to wobble around a bit and prevented the button from pushing properly. I ended up having to duct tape it. 😂 I cannot believe that I bought it for $20 from a friend who said 'whatever man it's broken and barely works.' it was the first pedal I ever bought. And I should have held onto it. 😢 😂
Also, if you know Josh from JHS well... It's quite possible he had inside info in writing that article or believed some internet forum backroom rumors. He is a massive nerd and has backups of entire website forums and catalogues of old advertisements and tracks down old receipts and estate sales and keeps the boxes for everything he owns. The dude is neurotic in the best way for knowing anything and everything about pedals. He literally owns a giant pedal museum and pedal company. But it could just be some rumor equally.
Wow this was the first guitar pedal that was my own. Along with the DOD Ice Box. I had gotten this from ebay back in 98-99 I think. Haha got it because of the name Grunge pedal. Was a HUGE Nirvana fan then. Just started playing guitar then too. Later on after I no longer had the pedal. I found out that Kurt had it. Never really knew it played it live. Except as a Joke hence Grunge pedal. Really enjoy your content Eric. Soon I will upload a video of the gear I have ( Original Poly chorus, and a 1980s Small clone among others . Keep em coming man. Brandon
I bought this pedal originally back in 1993. And it came with a little booklet that actually had settings for songs like territorial pissings and breed.
Something about the shrill high mid-treble frequencies with the FACE knob turned up a bit as well as the distortion characteristic sorta reminds me of the Boss HM-2 but fizzier
Tim Lash from the band Hum used this pedal a bit in the mid 90s and you can hear it in their live shows from that era. Kinda crazy to me that people give the pedal a lot of crap even though Hum are widely praised for their guitar tone
I feel like alot of these pedals are severely misunderstood, the grunge has such a specific, harsh-ish tone that even though most people hate it, its still so unique.
I have the Death Metal from that same era, and it’s another batshit insane distortion from that series. Pretty much all of those pedals are looked at as either really great sounding pedals or horrible pieces of trash that should be thrown out of a 2nd story window. But I think they’re a VERY acquired taste. Still a great video from you, man. And I still long for the day you, Aaron Rash, Khristore, and JQ make a video together.
That’s my recent-ish K Strat build! The Vandalism and VMA strats made me appreciate strats more, but I swear the K strat is making me become a full on strat guy. Definitely in my like top 3 if I had to rank my guitars ruclips.net/video/qxkurDZv9rM/видео.html
Like what I do? Buy me a coffee so I can stay awake while I mix audio and edit videos 😴
www.buymeacoffee.com/nirvanaguitars
Kurt's ds-1 broke during a performance on French TV before this. The footage is available on RUclips. During Drain You, his guitar stopped working after stomping on the ds-1 hard. After trying to get it working for a bit, fiddling with his guitar (I'm guessing he assumed the guitar itself broke), he threw the guitar down in frustration and sung the rest of the song, with Pat Smear carrying the guitar playing. As I remember from some book/books on Nirvana, Kurt couldn't find another DS-1 to replace it at the time, and this was during a tour. So he had to grab whatever was available, which was the Grunge pedal. Kurt, or maybe his guitar tech Eddie (Eddie answered some questions on an online forum somewhere, I'm pretty sure I saw him talking about it) found a DS-2, making the Grunge unnecessary. As I recall, Kurt thought the Grunge was a joke and hated it. If memory serves, I believe during the show where he threw the pedal into the crowd, Kurt had his DS-2 at that point. As I remember it, I believe He had both pedals plugged in on stage and actually used the DS-2, only keeping the Grunge in his pedal chain as a joke, concluding with throwing it into the crowd. I'm guessing that's where the rumor started that he never turned on the Grunge, because Kurt had the Grunge in his setup and didn't turn it on during that particular show. The internet wasn't a thing back then, so anyone who wasn't at the previous shows and were only at that one show might not hear about the shows where Kurt did turn on the Grunge, and spread stories of the show, assuming the same thing was true at all shows. It wasn't public knowledge that the DS-1 had broken until years later, so people would have assumed Kurt was still using it unless they could see his pedal board well enough to notice it wasn't there.
I vaguely remember the MTV interview story with Kurt talking about the Grunge pedal, but the context I got the story in was that he was joking, but he played it straight, so maybe the interviewer didn't get that he was joking. Sorry I don't have better memory, I really wish I could tell you the specific places I got my info, but that was a long time ago. I hope I was still a help.
Oh. As you may know, Kurt used both a Big Muff and the DS-1 together on a few songs, like Territorial Pissings. So I'm guessing that's what the Grunge was trying to emulate.
Hey always wondered if Kurt had the 83? Japanese ds-1 pedal.
I had an 83 it's backing plate is in Japanese and it says Roland not Boss.
The age of the pedal matched one Kurt might find in the Northwest. My pedal was bought in Vancouver BC in 88 I think.
Today is December 29th, 2023, and I’m posting this comment at 7pm mst. It has been almost exactly 30 years down to the hour since Kurt threw his grunge pedal into the crowd. And I happen to watch your video right now.
I want to say "perfect timing" but that doesn't feel like enough!
Nirvana Pedal history series actually sounds cool, that would be dope to see
What pedal would you want to see discussed next? 🙂
@@NirvanaGuitars Boss DM-2 ;)
@@NirvanaGuitarsSmall Clone for sure
@@NirvanaGuitarshis ds-1's
@Nirvanaguitars can you do his polychorus next?
The FX69 has just an obscene amount of gain, I’ve had mine since they came out and I love it. There’s a LOT of misinformation about Nirvana out there, mostly because Kurt loved messing with the media and often contradicted himself and even straight up lied to reporters because he enjoyed it. Love the channel, you do a great job.
Thank you so much! I agree, Kurt could be quite the storyteller when it came to interviews & the media. It makes the hunt for the truth all the more fun 😉
Yes it's great. It's like a fuzz distortion Mashup. Great sounds. Gives great feedback
@@EricJohnson-fh8zj The feedback from it is like nothing else I’ve used over the years and you can really manipulate it well.
@chemistryofquestionablequa6252 For sure man! I still remember the sweeet feedback i used to get...a sweet cherry on top of what sounds like one of the grimiest fuzz boxes ever made lol. I've been looking for a replacement unit quite a while now but ive only seen the boss versions. That's awesome you held onto yours all this time. I had mine from about 95-'06, before I walked away left it at my existence with everything else I owned. What a tragic loss (the equipment not the girl lol). If you ever sell yours or find one for sale at a decent price...Holla ✌️
You turn the Grunge all the way down, and the gain is still over the top. I used to use it for metal and my DOD FX-55B Supra Distortion for alt/grunge.
i thought i was the only one who saw the misinformation in the JHS description, thank you for bringing this to light!!
1:46 yes, PLEASE make more videos on guitar pedals. I really would like to know a lot more about the “DS-1”, “DS-2”, “RAT”, and “Small Clone”. Especially when Kurt began using these pedals, because there is a lot of misinformation about Kurt’s usage of certain pedals…Also great vid❤❤
you should make a booger history video!
@@owenmartbrono sorry, i already uploaded that on my second channel
listen man, the accuracy of your playing is so underrated at this point. swear we're just used to you nailing these riffs like nothing. great work once again 💯🐐
Lol but they're easy riffs to nail....
@@Pixpi ight lemme see your video nailing all of these, lmk when you upload it
Thanks for your fact-checking. It seems like we're entering an era where RUclipsrs are finally being held to a higher standard and are more often being called out for just making stuff up, not sourcing anything, and straight up plagiarizing.
That’s what I try to do here on my channel! Present the facts, cite my sources and hopefully clear up inaccuracies 🙂
It’s great that your focusing on Kurts gear a lot, but I personally would love to see you cover some of Pat’s gear
Been meaning to discuss his gear! I LOVE his red Hagstrom a lot
I was lucky enough to see Nirvana with my friends several times. We saw all the great grunge bands back then. It feels weird but also good to see young people still loving this music. We had no idea we were witnessing music history. We were too busy stage diving and having the time of our lives. Great video man.
"We were too busy stage diving and having the time of our lives" This is so wonderful! This is how it should be! Live it all to the fullest! It's great that you had this experience! Before everything started to crumble under the pressure of the show business industry.
Thank you for doing the actual work, investigating the sources, searching for clues, and debunking the myths. As far as I am concerned, your videos are the videos of record for all things Nirvana gear! Always happy to watch your videos! Take care!
Kurt and Nirvana was the reason I started playing music almost 40 years ago now. He made it seem easy enough that even I could do it... As long as I was honest and REAL about it. I just wanted to say "Thank you" for all your hard work researching and chasing down the TRUTH. We appreciate it and YOU, immensely...
Same here, I remember seeing a nirvana video and thinking “I don’t know why, but I have to learn these songs like now” later a buddy of mine gave me my first guitar (an acoustic, but still) here I am 27 years later and I’ve been hooked the entire time.
A pedal history series would be really cool! Literally all types of Kurt's gear history series would be welcome!
The irony is that had the pedal been given a different name, people probably would've loved it.
Doubtful.....dod was popular for a bit, but the problem with their pedals wasn't just gimmicks, overall they were of terrible build quality..... some people got lucky and theirs are still going, but they had a very high fail rate and short lifespan. When there's countless pedals similar in price range that hold up, it's a no Brainer to go with the competition..... I've known a handful of people who initially hyped them only to have them die, and I've tried two that lasted for less than a year combined.
I have the Grunge FX69B… a friend gave it to me over 10+ years ago… I always thought it sounded terrible. Cool video! Thoroughly enjoyed the history and review
It absolutely is terrible. And even if you think it maybe sounds ok at home, the real killer is that it's completely unusable live. Even worse than most fuzzes, the Grunge pedal just completely erases like all the midrange and makes your tone completely inaudible in any kind of loud band mix. It is straight up unusable. You could maybe use it for some overtone layers in a recording or something but you definitely couldn't use it for a core track or anything. It's pretty trash. And even as a fuzz, there's much better options.
Haha! Couldn’t have said it better. It’s absolute trash. I always thought it was just me… it’s not. Thing is worthless 😂
Man i discovered your channel this year and it has been the best thing to happen to me, i love your videos and the form that you make them, hope you still make alot more quality videos this 2024, love you and wish you the best man.
Me too bro
I love this channel real bad
Fun fact, the DOD Gonkulator is the grunge circuit with the addition of a ring modulator that you can blend on or off. I love that pedal.
Didn't know that! Gotta look that up now haha sounds interesting
The grunge is a modified rat circuit as well.
@@tigmil8116
I’ve heard that. I also heard the Grunge is a modified DS-1. Does that mean the Rat and DS-1 are a similar circuit? I actually don’t know. Also, I remember playing an original Grunge back in the day and not liking it. Yet I love the distortion side of my Gonkulator reissue. And the Gongulator reissue doesn’t have the EQ controls of the original Grunge. I wish Josh Scott or someone can clear this up lol.
@@kidgloves2 I have an FX13 Gonkulator that I got used on Ebay around 2002. I too think it sounds better than the Grunge pedal and I think this because you can turn the gain down and find a sweet spot. The demo we just watched has the 'grunge' knob all the way down yet it's still a very high gain sound.
My first pedal was the DOD Flashback Fuzz which was also a tweaked Grunge pedal.
The Gonkulator was my holy grail pedal after hearing Mike Einzinger use one but they were impossible to find and very expensive. I would up buying a reissue for $40 a few years ago, and now it basically is a paperweight lol
CONGRATS to the folks auctioning the pedal off more than Faux Stars were willing. I love your videos, its history, man. Everything is history- and I cannot wait for more.
Holy crap, I saw that and could not believe that they would not recognize the value in that gear and their expert was either a moron or working with them to undervalue it. As someone who is nowhere near an expert in these values, even I know $500 for a piece of gear used by Kurt Cobain is criminally lowballing.
I have an original in a box in my basement. Thanks for the refresher. It's going to stay in that box 😂
Great pedal for playing sludge, too. You really do the music justice, BTW. This was a lot of fun to watch, especially when you played "School"
I’m really interested in a Kurt Cobain pedal history series! Some background on Krist’s bass pedals (I believe I saw a RAT in a live show) would be fantastic too. 2:04
Keep these coming. Excited for the jag-stang video. Do one on the echo flanger !
Will do! There’s so much research for the Jag-Stang haha that one will end being a pretty long one
@@NirvanaGuitars I really like the detail you put into using actual live tracks and the moments the effects are used
One of my friends who’s a huge Nirvana fan owned this as his first guitar pedal and while he does agree it’s kind of a meme pedal he did eventually sell it but he still has some fond memories of it, but as for the pedals Kurt used I would love to see something like that and it’d be awesome learning about the origins of his DS-1 (my DS-1 still has the same settings as Kurt on Smells Like Teen Spirit that I got from an issue of Guitar World from a few years ago and it still sounds great in general), DS-2, Small Clone, Big Muff, Rat, Polychorus, etc. Great as always, man, happy holidays and I hope you and your family have a merry Christmas, peace and love from Canada
This is a great video for Nirvana nerds. I’m not sure why I’m reading negative comments here? I have been a nirvana fan for over a decade and you are the most rigorous researcher I have seen on RUclips. EDIT: PAPER CUTS SOUNDED SO GOOD WITH THIS HAHAHA!
I actually think depending on the settings someone could get a really cool black metal or almost industrial tone out of it
YES pedal history please 🙏 😎love the channel man!
$1,000-$2,000 is laughable lmao
but this one says “butt”
YES!! More pedal history videos!!
At this point youre the internets best source of new and confirmed Nirvana info Eric! Thankyou so much for the enormous amount of work you do, we are very grateful
Wow that is an honor, thank you for the kind words and for watching! 🙏🏻
@@NirvanaGuitars Ive been a massive Nirvana fan since i was 15 or so, im 38 now. Your videos bring me such happiness as it means i am STILL learning real stuff about Kurt and the band after all these years. I love your indepth analysis and all the fact checking you do. You're a legend!!
You are too kind 🥹🙏🏻 I’m a fanatic making content for fellow fanatics! So happy you’ve been enjoying my videos!
Hey man nice covering of Kurt's pedal! Btw do you think you'll make a video about Kurt's sunburst strat used at the 1992 Reading show?
I touch on all of his hot rail strats in my 1992 VMA history video!
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I love the way you lay the research in a great linear way
One day I am going to buy you one of Kurt's guitars , you are probably one of the best overall guitar RUclipsrs
That's one of my dreams too 🥹 Thank you!
Great job as always! You always do your research and your videos are very informative.
The pedal series would be a great additional to your channel.
Your nirvana tunes are spot on! Sounded like I was listening to a demo tape of Kurt playing these songs.
I would absolutely watch a ‘Kurt’s pedals’ series. Or pedals & amps. Totally. I always believed he was just trolling with this pedal, so thank you for this video. Love it.
Great video. Nirvana pedals history would be great. It would be great a comparision between the 3 versions, showing differences between them
So, it’s safe to say that Kurt had this on the board for a few-weeks, hated it, and gave it to a fan.
In the fall of ‘93, I was looking for a good dirt-box & tried a few. I didn’t like the sound of the FX69 through my amp, and settled on a RAT … I’m still not a big-fan of the signal, but can understand why someone may use it.
Very cool segment, by the way. Your playing is also really solid, so I subscribed. 👍🏻
no wonder he hated it, it's so noisy it probably equated to indiscernible noise live. although i would love to have a pedal like this for noisy stuff
I would be interested in the pedal history type videos. This was a fascinating history - thanks for going to the effort of researching all the info.
I’ve got one of the later versions that have “Loud, Low, High & Grunge “ knobs left to right . I got it quite awhile ago from a coworker buddy for $50 , used but in great condition. It’s on my pedal board , along with a Morley “ Wah -pedal” , an Ibanez TS-9 tube screamer , a Boss original DS-1 and a “ Path seeker “ splitter box to use my Vox or Fender Blues Deluxe amps individually or paired up . All of this is tapped into a Pigtronics Philosopher king pre amp . I can get some serious tones & extended sustain & fade or swell with all of it . Fun just to mess around and I’m sure I’ll never find all the combinations I can create . 😉👍. Cool video here and I appreciated it a lot . Thanks man for sharing this with us .
Excellent video, well researched and wonderfully presented. I can hear it all over Live and Loud now
I remember when on pawn stars this pedal showed up. Pawn stars is always low balling people. Interesting history and I’m glad I own one. Kurt seemed to be the kind of guy that would troll the trolls. Seems almost laughable that he “never turned it on” when if you own this pedal you can definitely hear it
They do have to make money. Why is it that no one actually knows how a pawn shop is ran business wise?
Fun story: My friend was speaking to his step father about music and What kind of music We play (I am in a band) My friend said that We play punk and grunge and especially Nirvana. He said that he was an exchange student (from Finland) and he went to The same school as Kurt and Chris. He told My friend that he was aware that they had a band and they spoke about it, because he was interested in punk/alternative rock. Little did he know that in a few years Nirvana was The biggest band in The world.
Wow that is amazing!!
9:05 the fact that tim robinson kinda looks like josh just makes this 10 times funnier
This is a great Mythbusters episode!
I always thought he just threw that pedal in the crowd that one time! There's a whole backstory to it though, wow. Huh. Nice job. 👍
Pls keep the nirvana vids coming and any others.only vids I watch all the way thru
This video is really interesting thanks Eric for the great content
Thank you for the kind words and for watching!
Very nice video, I would love to see more pedal history videos- and very interesting info about the grunge pedal, I am honestly glad that if there was one pedal that needed more info, it would be this one. What I mean is I am glad that you decided to let in more info about this pedal and gave it a chance while everyone excused it as a gimmicky, cash grab- rrally giving this pedal justice for what it deserves
Thank you so much! It’s all in an effort to clear out all the misinformation that’s floating around. And when set right, it’s actually a pretty great pedal!
I have an original FX84 Milk Box Compressor and I nearly always record my basses through it. It tightens up the signal and really fattens up the low end.
I like the sound of the pedal in Paper Cuts, a highly distorted sound that becomes scratchy.
PLEASE do a Nirvana pedal history series, your content is great and something like that would just be amazing!
I did not expect to like this pedal, but you’re right, it’s almost a fuzz. Far more useful than I was expecting.
Underated pedal. Used mine back in the late 90s through already trebly marshall valvestate. It was a fun time 🥂
It would be awesome to see this pedal history series!
I greatly appreciate your research.
You should do a You know you’re right tone video some day. Great video btw!
I think I still have a CD with demo sounds from the DOD pedals. The Gonkulator was a cool one 😁
The dod grunge was my first distortion pedal, I bought it back in 1994 I still love it. I bought a digitech version around 2010 and it's not the same as the dod
I was at that show and remember him throwing it in the crowd. I was in the upper seats to the left of the stage. It was a great show and I was lucky to even see them.
Amazing research you did there! I'd love to watch the histories of the other pedals too. BTW, the DOD Grunge is closely related to the Boss MT-2 Metal Zone. Both have almost the same topology, but the DOD don't have the mids control and it has a few components with different values. Nothing to do with the Boss DS-1, which is much simpler and very different sounding. Cheers!
The Grunge circuit doesn't have too much in common with the DS-1. The Grunge has a lot of gyrators creating a much more complex frequency response than a DS-1. Also, the DS-1 has that kind of "tilting" EQ circuit, same topology as a Big Muff.
Grunge has active shelving high and low EQ stages.
I like the Grunge pedal for Industrial Metal like NIN and Ministry.
Grunge pedal is a boss metalzone with the mid and mid frequency circuit remove. i modded mine replacing the diode clipping with LED,And replacing capacitors in the gyrators just like the mods in the metalzone.
I’m still just starting this video but want to say, I clicked so fast at the title. I love history over specific pedals and other musical instruments etc
Extremely impressive research, my friend.
That was a really informative video and I enjoyed watching you play the riff. But my God that's a hard pedal to love!
Nicely done with some of the deep cuts like anarexorcist!
Good detective work as well..
First pedal I ever purchased in 1993. Still have it.
when u did the audio comparison for the minnesota show w grunge and sans pedal i IMMEDIATELY recognized the sound and where ive heard it on other bootlegs
I got a dos grunge fx69 for my christmas a young kid and still have. I loved it at the time. The distortion was way better than many cheap amp distortions. The instructions had settings for a few nirvana songs like territorial pissings.
Love these videos best nirvana tone channel
🥹🙏🏻
Friend gave me a bag of old pedals including this one, I kept it as a curiosity because of the labels and the Kurdt connection. Thanks for breaking it down.
I saw that Pawn Stars episode. And yes Corey Harrison is indeed a lowballer. He did that on MOST of the items he dealt with. Chumlee is quite the opposite.
Who's gonna buy a pedal kurt used a handful of times though? It wasn't his DS-1 or any of his guitars. Or even his unplugged sweater.
Oustanding and thorough research. Well done!
Yes! Please do a pedal history!
nice that pedal sounds great especially on Floyd the Barber
Hey Eric,
Just came across the video so starting watching 😋
Hey, Eric. I think I mentioned this under a JQ video but after listening back to back I think it's safe to say that the DOD was NOT used on "Breed" for live and loud. It's definitely the SansAmp. During the intro for the song and the ending where Pat's guitar cuts out and Kurt's lets his sustain/feedback briefly, you can hear a very distinctive low end that you won't get from the DOD. The tone is also far too smooth to be the DOD. I think the confusion stems from how the SansAmp usually sounds relatively smooth (on Kurt's settings). Granted, it does sound a bit crunchier than usual during Breed for live and loud but you also need to remember that it's Kurt. He's definitely cranking the volume on the SansAmp which will overdrive the Mesa Pre. Now, I don't own a Mesa Pre but I can achieve a similar sound by cranking the volume of my SansAmp, using Kurt's settings, into my Vox AC30. The distortion from the SansAmp combined with the Mesa being overdriven, which is usually a crunchy amp already, will produce the sound that you can hear during Breed. Anyways, sorry I'm so passionate about this but that's just my two cents. Other than that, the video was amazing, as always. I love your content.
Always appreciate the passion, no need to apologize! I do disagree though, this is something I really focused on when working on my Live & Loud tone video. We have Kurt playing the intro by himself twice in the beginning before the drums come in, that is the perfect reference to recreate as it is essentially his solo’d guitar track. I tried to get that sound with my Sansamp, and couldn’t. Got it very close very quick with the DOD. Then again, you and I are both using different amps than Kurt did. That plays a role. I remember JQ used the DOD for Breed, and he actually played through a mesa pre.
Also you say your using Kurt’s settings, are you trying to recreate the official released Live & Loud or a different sound source for that show? The official release’s guitar mix is not that great, it has almost no low end, overloaded with highs to the point where it’s harsh. If you’re using Kurt’s settings, than you’re going to sound better and “fuller” than the official live album’s mix haha!
@@NirvanaGuitars it is very interesting to hear your POV. I don't know, to me it never sounded fizzy enough to be the DOD. But anyways, it was nice discussing this with you. Like I said, love the vids and I'm always looking forward to new uploads!
@@NirvanaGuitars I used the de facto Kurt Cobain SansAmp settings. So 3 up, 3 down, 2 up on the dip switches. Presence and amp drive on max. I did try different mic positions and according to an Aaron Rash video, the cabs are micd up off-axis. Like you said though, the amps are different, let alone the speakers. My attempts at recreating the tone come relatively close however. But yeah, it's interesting to see your POV on it, I love having these sort of discussions.
Thank you so much for the kind words and support! I’m always up for a discussion about these kind of specifics, this is the nerdy stuff I live for haha 🤓 we might never know 100% which pedal it was, unless we get a different camera angle that shows his feet during that song! Either way, I think it’s safe to agree that it’s a pretty cool tone and an all around amazing performance of that song 🙂
Sweet vid, I’d love to see more pedal videos like this
I would love a nirvana pedal series, I love learning about guitar pedals and how guitarists I love used them
The Heart Shaped Box segment was the most telling. OG all the way
Amazing! Would love more pedal videoes, sanSamp next?😃
I saw them in Houston Texas in Dec. of '93....very cool seeing this video
Christ! That sound take me back when i got this pedal in 1993. I loved this pedal and suited me perfectly. Years on i am sure I still have my original (now broken) and the mark 2 replacement. Somewhere! 😂 Brilliant video! 👌🏻
yeah do the pedal history!!! got so many questions about kurts use of boss ds-1 and turbo distortion pedals, not the hugest nirvana fan, listening wise but for kurt as a guitarist ,song writer and muscian hes one of the best , and is so interesting, love your content man! your starting to convert me to Fender mustangs and jaguars LOL i will give u that im more a Kramer Baretta,flying V, LP guitar guy, but those fenders are the "middle child" of theyre lineup
Great video, specially the first investigations part! Thank you for this, I hate so much misinformation... I spreads like a virus and once it's here, when you tell the truth, no one believes you because of that brainwash all over the world, all over the years. That's crazy and it's just like that in every domains.
Anyway I love my Grunge Pedal as you know and I use it as much now as my DS-2 in my band ^_^
Great playing also, specially with Pennyroyal Tea;)
Happy holidays and Merry Christmas to all the Nirvana community!!!😋
Kurt got the pedal on my 1st birthday; nice!
Can you show your whole guitar collection and pedals again?
Hey, great video and also awesome channel in general! I remember that sometime in the late 90s, a friend of my band got one of those pedals and our guitarist briefly tried it during one of our rehearsals. We played a mix of grunge and emo-y stuff back then and primarily just used our Marshall heads overdriven for all the distorted sounds. Our guitarist played around with the Grunge pedal a bit, laughed and just put it aside. It just sounded absolutely horrible in comparison to our usual sound. I think now after watching your video, I finally get what Jason was aiming for when designing the pedal, it's just really punk rock, dirty distortion with a lot of noise. And I actually kind of like it (it was just not suitable for our style back then). :D (PS: I'm in my mid forties now and recently had my first live gig in 15 years or so--with my Nirvana cover band!)
I owned this pedal in 1997ish and I think it's hilarious to see Kurt on the floor hitting the button by hand because mine was broken and you couldn't easily switch it by foot at all. The plastic cover over the footswitch seemed to wobble around a bit and prevented the button from pushing properly. I ended up having to duct tape it. 😂 I cannot believe that I bought it for $20 from a friend who said 'whatever man it's broken and barely works.' it was the first pedal I ever bought. And I should have held onto it. 😢 😂
Also, if you know Josh from JHS well... It's quite possible he had inside info in writing that article or believed some internet forum backroom rumors. He is a massive nerd and has backups of entire website forums and catalogues of old advertisements and tracks down old receipts and estate sales and keeps the boxes for everything he owns. The dude is neurotic in the best way for knowing anything and everything about pedals. He literally owns a giant pedal museum and pedal company. But it could just be some rumor equally.
60 Cycle Hum did a video on the DOD Flashback Fuzz that I'm pretty sure has the same circuit board as the Grunge.
Wow this was the first guitar pedal that was my own. Along with the DOD Ice Box. I had gotten this from ebay back in 98-99 I think. Haha got it because of the name Grunge pedal. Was a HUGE Nirvana fan then. Just started playing guitar then too. Later on after I no longer had the pedal. I found out that Kurt had it. Never really knew it played it live. Except as a Joke hence Grunge pedal.
Really enjoy your content Eric. Soon I will upload a video of the gear I have ( Original Poly chorus, and a 1980s Small clone among others . Keep em coming man.
Brandon
‘It has a buzz saw like sound’ that’s probably why I like it,… reminds me of the sounds of my dad running great grandpas old craftsman table saw.
I bought this pedal originally back in 1993. And it came with a little booklet that actually had settings for songs like territorial pissings and breed.
Something about the shrill high mid-treble frequencies with the FACE knob turned up a bit as well as the distortion characteristic sorta reminds me of the Boss HM-2 but fizzier
I rocked that pedal from 2002 or 2003 till around 2006 and I miss it,used it almost every gig.
I would love to see nirvana pedal history. Thanks for the detailed and scholarly content.
Tim Lash from the band Hum used this pedal a bit in the mid 90s and you can hear it in their live shows from that era. Kinda crazy to me that people give the pedal a lot of crap even though Hum are widely praised for their guitar tone
Paired with an EQ pedal, along with your guitar volume knob, you can somewhat tame it to a small degree.
I feel like alot of these pedals are severely misunderstood, the grunge has such a specific, harsh-ish tone that even though most people hate it, its still so unique.
question! what guitar strap kurt used in live and loud on the mustang guitar?
I’m not sure, when I saw Skystang I the strap wasn’t with it
i’m thinking it was the Black Ernie Ball Strap and he maybe put it on upside down?
I have the Death Metal from that same era, and it’s another batshit insane distortion from that series. Pretty much all of those pedals are looked at as either really great sounding pedals or horrible pieces of trash that should be thrown out of a 2nd story window. But I think they’re a VERY acquired taste. Still a great video from you, man. And I still long for the day you, Aaron Rash, Khristore, and JQ make a video together.
I got the same. Bought them both at the same time. Both aren’t that bad.
Wasn't that pedal sold on Pawn Stars in like season 1 or 2?
11:38
Love how wildly and unapologetically nerdy you are! Nerding out
😉
Diggin the kshield logo on the white strat in the background
That’s my recent-ish K Strat build! The Vandalism and VMA strats made me appreciate strats more, but I swear the K strat is making me become a full on strat guy. Definitely in my like top 3 if I had to rank my guitars
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