History Of Nirvana
(Krist's Equipment at bottom)
Kurt and Krist met each other in 1985 in Aberdeen and they started a band together called "Stiff Woodies" with Kurt on drums, Krist on bass and rotating cast of guitarists and vocalists. After "Stiff Woodies" they've had some other names like "Fecal Matter" and "Skid Row". Then they decided that Kurt would sing and play guitar and then they found a drummer called Aaron Burkhart. Till 1986 he was their drummer, but he left the band. He was replaced by Chad Channing. In 1987 the band was called: "Nirvana".
During 1987 they made 10 demo with producer Jack Endino, who sended the demos to Sub Pop and Sub Pop decided to sign them. In december 1988 they released their first single: "Love Buzz" and then in 1989 they released their debut-album called "Bleach" which was recorded for just over . At that time Jason Everman was their second guitarist, though he didn't appear on the record, he was just touring with them, but then he joined Soundgarden and later Mindfunk.
Then they released "Sliver / Dive" with drummer Dan Peters. And by the end of the summer of 1988 Dave Grohl, formerly of the DC-based hardcore band Scream, had become Nirvana's drummer and the band signed with DGC for ,000. After that they recorded their second album "Nevermind". While DGC was expecting a moderately successful release, in the neighbourhood of 100,000 copies, Nevermind immediately became a smash hit. What helped the record become a success was "Smells Like Teen Spirit".
Then in 1992 Kurt and Courteney, leader of Hole, got married. Then there were lots of rumours of Kurt and Courtney being herione-users and Kurt cancelled some concerts which made the strenght of the rumours even bigger. But Kurt said that he had chronic stomach troubles. Then there was this "Vanity Fair"-article saying that Courtney was using heroine during her pregnancy. But Kurt and Courtney denied everything and threatened the author. And then there was Frances Bean Cobain, a very healthy baby.
Because Kurt had so much problems Nirvana was unable to record a followup to Nevermind. In the meantime their record-company released Incesticide, a complication of rare songs and b-sides. Then Nirvana recorded "In Utero" in 2 weeks in the spring of 1993.
Then all the problems came again. Kurt suffered a heroin overdose on May 2, but the event was hidden from the press. The following month, Courteny called police to their Seattle home after Cobain locked himself in the bathroom, threatening suicide.
Before releasing "In Utero" Nirvana and the record company decided the production of "In Utero" was to flat, so they decided to re-master the album with REM's producer Scott Litt. At their following tour they decided to hire a second guitarist, which became Pat Smear. Then they did a unplugged-session for MTV, which made In Utero even a bigger success.
After a few concerts in Europe Kurt and Courtney stayed in Rome for vacation. When Courtney woke up op the 4th of March 1994 she saw that Kurt tried to commit suicide with lots of tranquilizers and champagne, but he survived.
After a week in a hospital Kurt returned to Seattle. On March 18, the police had to talk the singer out of suicide again after he locked himself in a room threatening to kill himself. Then Courtney and the Nirvana-managment decided to bring Kurt to the Exodus Recovery Center in LA on March 30, but he escaped from the clinic on April 1, returning to Seattle. His mother went to the police on the 4th of april to fill in a missing person report. The following day, Kurt shot himself in the head at his home in Seattle. His body wasn't discovered until April 8, when an electrician contracted to install an alarm system at Kurt and Courtneys house stumbled upon the body.
In 1994, after Kurt’s death Geffen brought Nirvana’s unplugged-session out on cd. In 1995 this concert won an award for best alternative concert. In 1996 Geffen brought out a complication with parts of concerts called "From The Muddy Banks Of The Wishkah". Then "Nirvana" the greatest hits cd including the song Courtney Love wouldn't release for 8 years, "You Know Your Right". After Nirvana's Dave Grohl started the Foo Fighters, together with Pat Smear, Nirvana’s second guitarist for a while, but after a while Pat Smear left the band. The Foo Fighters brought out 3 albums called: "Foo Fighters" and "The Colour And The Shape" and "All My Life". Krist Novoselic started "Sweet 75" and they have made 1 album.
KRIST'S BASSES AND STUFF
The Recording Of Bleach
Bleach was recorded in 3 different sessions, for the first sesion Krist Novoselic had a Hohner bass that he
borrowed from Greg Hokanson and a PMS amp, but appeared to be using a black w/white pickguard Fender Jazz Bass at the time.
For the second and third session Krist Novoselic used an Ibanez Black Eagle Bass through a Fender Twin Reverb(1)
The Recording Of Nevermind
Krist Novoselic used a SVT Bass rig (2).
Krist Novoselic used a Gibson Ripper Bass through an Ampeg SVT400 head (1).
In the In Bloom video the you can see an Ampeg bass amp which belongs to Nirvana guitar technician Earnie
Bailey. Krist Novoselic used a ProCo Rat pedal for Breed and Endless, Nameless. (4)
The Recording Of Incesticide
This album is a collection of rare B-sides, BBC sessions, outtakes and demo songs from various studio sessions
etc...
Dive was recorded with Butch Vig so Krist probably uses the same gear as on Nevermind, Most of the other songs
the gear used would have been similar to either Nevermind or Bleach.
Krist Novoselic used a ProCo Rat pedal for Turnaround (4)
The Recording Of In Utero
Krist Novoselic used his Gibson Ripper again through a 200 watt Hiwatt head (converted to use KT90 tubes)
through a Marshall cab.
On the In Utero tour Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic both went with 8 cabs each, all running fully wide open. (1)
The Recording Of MTV Unplugged
In November of '93, a few weeks before the taping, Alex Coletti (MTV Unplugged producer) flew up to a Nirvana
gig in a remote part of New England, somewhere north of Boston. He was armed with rough sketches of the stage
set which embodied Cobain's ideas, and with his own personal Ovation semi-acoustic bass guitar. The latter was
meant to be loaned to Krist Novoselic in the event that the Nirvana bassist didn't have an "Unplugged bass" of his
own. In the end, Novoselic didn't use Coletti's Ovation bass, but rather a Guild acoustic/electric bass rented from S.I.R. in New York an instrument that has been used on other episodes of Unplugged.
Krist Novoselic also played Accordian on Jesus doesn't Want Me for A Sunbeam it is a Dobren.
It was Kurt Cobain's, it was also the first instrument Krist Novoselic learned to play.
The Recording Of From The Muddy Banks Of The Wishkah
This is also a compilation album featuring live songs from 1989 to 1994. The Nevermind tour (1991) according to
Australian Music Trader says Krist Novoselic used a Gibson Ripper Bass through an Ampeg SVT400 head. for
the recording of Nevermind and that became his live rig. On the In Utero tour Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic
both went with 8 cabs each, all running fully wide open but I am not sure of the Basses he used (probably a mixture
of everything mentioned in the FAQ).
Guitars
Krist Novoselic was seen during the end of the Nevermind tour (22/6/92- 30/8/92) using a Gibson Thunderbird IV,
also during much of the early Nevermind tour (??/9/ 91 through ??/4/ 93) he used a Gibson Artist Bass this can be
seen in a lot of live photos.
Krist Novoselic can also be seen using a Gibson Thunderbird on the cover and in the liner notes of From TheMuddy Banks of The Wishkah.
Amplification
200 watt Hiwatt head (converted to use KT90 tubes) through a Marshall cab (1).
Ampeg SVT400 head (1).
Fender Twin Reverb (1).
Mesa/Boogie Road Ready speaker cabs (5).
Effects
Krist Novoselic used a ProCo Rat pedal for Breed and Endless, Nameless on Nevermind.
ProCo Rat distortion Pedal was used for Floyd the Barber at the 10/31/91 show.
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Kurt's Equipment
1. '69 Fender competition Mustang, lake placid blue, w/competition stripe, Pearloid PG, 2 SC's. Used in Teen Spirit video, one of his main guitars.
2. '66 Fender Jaguar, tobacco sunburst, tortoise shell PG, 2 Dimarzio HB's, modified? Kurt always said that this guitar (the guitar he polishes and babies) was a '66. However, all Jaguars from '66 onward had rectangular pearloid fret inlays, not dots like his did. Dotted fretboards were produced until '65. However, Jaguars were not made with Humbuckers, and had only 2 knobs, while Kurt's had 3 Kurt also had a coil tap covered by duct tape. Eric Erlandson plays this guitar in Hole's Doll Parts video.
3. Fender Mustang, Fiesta Red, Pearloid PG, 1 HB. In Pic from Hit Parader magazine, two page spread. Looks like early 93.
4. Fender Mustang, Sonic Blue, Tortoise shell PG, 1 HB. Designed specifically for him by Fender techs, the guitar was slightly reshaped. This was his main guitar for the entire In Utero tour.
5. Fender Mustang, Fiesta Red, Tortoise shell PG. Used on last tour, and in pics wearing orange and purple Sliver sweatshirt.
6. Fender Mustang, color unknown, pearloid pickguard. This is the mustang played in the DGC In Bloom video. Its in black and white, so I can't identify its color, but its none of the above. It has no stripe, 2 SC's and no painted headstock. Anyone help me out on this one?
Earnie Bailey, Kurt's tech, says that Fender sent Kurt 4 new mustangs for the In Utero tour. So, apparently I haven't seen them all.
7. Ferrington Mustang copy. Guitar designed by Kurt, made by Danny Ferrington, for his book, Ferrington guitars. It is Sonic Blue, has a Tortoise shell PG, two Bartolini Single-coils, one
Bartolini HB, and heart-shaped fret inlays. Kurt said that it would be his recording guitar.
8. Fender Jag-Stang, sonic blue, pearloid PG, 1 HB. You all know about this one by now. Kurt's design for a Fender guitar, a cross between a Jaguar and a Mustang. Mainly Mustang hardware, with a Jaguar-ish body. Courtney gave it to Peter Buck after Kurt died. He plays it in the What's the Frequency, Kenneth? video, and Mike Mills plays it live on Let Me In.
9. No-name Mustang. Used in the first In Bloom video. Greenish, blueish, whiteish. No pickguard.
10. Fender Strat Special, black, black PG, 1 HB. Coil tap. After Reading festival '91, he smashed the neck off, and replaced it with a Fernandes neck, which is visible in the performances of Breed, Polly, and About a Girl (and Endless, Nameless) on the Live, Tonight Sold Out video. Has sticker that reads: VANDALISM: AS BEAUTIFUL AS A ROCK IN A COP'S FACE (Corn on the cops! Corn on the cops!)
11. Fender strat, white PG, stacked black HB. Kurt had many of these, some had SC's, some had stacked HB's.
12. Fender Strat, white, white PG, black HB. Has "K records" sticker on it. Visible on Screaming Life cover.
13. Fender strat, white, white PG, stacked HB. Played at '92 MTV Video Music Awards.
14. Fender Telecaster, Sunburst, white PG, from solo part of Come as You Are video.
15. Fender Telecaster, blue, white PG, has red heart, and "Courtney" painted on it. Maybe #14 with a paint job? Visible on back of Nirvana and the Seattle Sound book.
16. Fender Strat, black, white PG, black HB, Come as you Are, pages 166 and 177.
17. Fender Strat, sunburst, white PG, stacked HB, played at Reading 92.
18. Epiphone Les Paul Copy, brown (?), underwater Nevermind sessions, p. 184 in Come As you Are
19. Epiphone Les Paul copy, orangeish, Motor Sports show?
20. Univox? Sunburst guitar, white PG, Maple Fretboard, p. 116-117 in Rolling Stone's Cobain book.
21.White Univox. Custom-made, though still right-handed. Played in Heart-Shaped Box video.
22. Gospel (?). Sunburst guitar, white PG, page 34 of Nirvana and The Seattle sound book, also in Screaming Life.
23. Univox, sunburst, w/pink and green stickers all over it, Monkees sticker on back, WASP: We are scary Posers written on back. First ever smashed guitar.
24. Mustang copy, wood color, HB, Soundgarden sticker, especially visible in Incesticide tab book.
25. Epiphone (?) SG copy, played at Tijuana, Mexico concert. Visible on page 131 in Come As you Are.
26. Epiphone, played at Raji's concert (see film strip in CAYA) and Tijuana, Mexico.
27. Univox, sunburst Mosrite copy, played on SNL, 93.
28. Jaguar (?) copy, on cover of Alternative guitar #1. Strange looking guitar that I've never seen before. There is a better picture of it somewhere, but I can't remember where I saw it.
29. Univox, Mosrite copy, sunburst, white PG. Used in Sao Paulo concert, Aneurysm and Dive on Live Tonight, Sold Out.
30. Epiphone (?), red, used in Sub Pop In Bloom video.
31. Gibson, possibly Epiphone, odd-looking guitar in Come As You Are video. Not exactly Kurt's regular type of guitar, considering he turned down a Gibson endorsement, but Epiphone's are made by Gibson.
32. Martin D18-E Acoustic, used in Unplugged. Courtney played it on Hole Unplugged for Doll Parts and Hungry Like the Wolf.
33. Acoustic guitar with cutaway. Does anyone know what this guitar is? There are pics of it around, where he's wearing a leather jacket. I thought it was from the KAOS radio show he did acoustically, but Dave and Chris are there. It could be the mid-sixties 12-string Stella that he used for Polly and the first demo of Lithium. I've never seen this guitar's headstock, so I don't know if it is a 12-string or not.
34. Ibanez Vintage (Vantage? I can't read that small) acoustic from Tower records in store performance. Page 47, Nirvana and the Seattle sound book.
35. Epiphone Texan acoustic, with replaced lefty flat-top bridge. Used on In Utero tour? Possibly guitar with "Nixon Now" sticker on it.
36. Nixon Now Acoustic. Does anyone know what this is?
That's about it for guitars, that I have seen. I have obviously left something out, so e-mail me with any info you have, please. On a few notes, Kurt liked his guitars strung up HEAVY. Like a low .058. He felt that it affected his sound for the better.
Amps:
Ampwise, Kurt was pretty flexible. I didn't concentrate on this area very much, as his sound came mainly thru his effects. If you look in any picture he'll usually be playing thru a different amp. This info comes thru his guitar tech:
For Bleach, Kurt used a Randall head powering "the cab of the week". He obviously smashed them so often, he would play thru just about anything. When they started playing larger venues, Kurt switched to a Sunn Beta-Lead head driving Peavy 4X12 cabs. On Nevermind, Kurt supposedly played thru a Mesa/Boogie Studio Tube Preamp into Radio Shack speakers. I somehow doubt this. For touring, Kurt used multiple power amps and Marshall cabs. Kurt eventually settled with Crest 4801 Power amps. For In Utero, Kurt used his trusty Fender Twin Reverb. He also used the Twin Reverb on Unplugged. For the final tour, he used lots of Marshall cabs. He often played thru those mini-stacks with the red trim. That's all of the hard information I have ampwise, but there is an article in the new Guitar World (Oct. 96?) that is supposedly on the New album, Kurt's equipment, etc.
Effects:
Here's the fun part. Kurt didn't use a whole bunch of effects, but the ones he had were pretty weird.
1. Boss DS-1 Distortion. Primary fuzz-box for the early years, often referred to as Roland EF-1.
2. Electro-Harmonix BigMuff. Used for Nevermind.
3. ProCo Rat. Used for Nevermind.
4. Boss DS-2. Kurt switched to a DS-2 after Nevermind.
5. Electro-Harmonix Small Clone chorus. One of Kurt's main effects, used for the watery chorus on Teen Spirit, In Bloom (maybe on verse???), Come As You Are, Territorial Pissings (interlude), Drain You (interlude) and clean part on Endless, Nameless. Also used on Incestide Aneurysm intro. Used on Unplugged show for Come As you Are, as well.
6. Electro-Harmonix Polychorus. The ultimate pedal. Four modes: Flanger, Chorus, Double Tracking, and Filter Matrix. Used on Radio-Friendly Unit Shifter, Scentless Apprentice, the LIVE Heart-Shaped Box Solo, Gallons Of Rubbing Alcohol Flow Thru The Strip, The Priest they Called him, and Curmudgeon. Probably on others, too. On songs where the solos sound doubled over to perfection, like on Sappy (or for those of you that call it Verse Chorus Verse) he could have used a distinct double-tracking effect. I don't really know. I am sure about those songs though.
7. Electro-Harmonix Echoflanger. Same as Polychorus. Kurt had two of them apparently, and used them on the Unplugged show. However, I don't know what songs he used it on. I don't think he used it one any songs, but Guitar World says that he was arguing with MTV techs over the various qualities of the Echoflangers.
8. Tech 21 Sansamp. Classic model. Amp/cab simulator, Kurt used it for Distortion.
9. DOD Grunge pedal. Kurt was playing one on Live and Loud. An MTV joke, perhaps?
10. Vibrato footswitch. Okay, not really a pedal, but Kurt used amp vibrato (tremolo) from his Twin Reverb on the In Utero Heart-Shaped Box solo.
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