Kurt Cobain - Nivrana's frontman and guitar player went down in history as an alternative rock god. Based on our research and eyewitness reports, let's take a look at Cobain's guitar gear he used live.
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Guitars
News: In 2011 Fender began producing a Kurt Cobain signature Jaguar, modeled after his '65 guitar
Cobain's most used guitars:
1965 Fender Jaguar electric guitar
- Left handed model
- Dimarzio pickup in neck position and Dimarzio super distortion in bridge position
- Later switched to Seymour Duncan JB
- Schaller Bridge
1969 Fender Mustang electric guitar
- Blue with racing stripes
- Lefthanded
Fender makes a Kurt Cobain signature version:
1990's Fender Stratocaster Standard electric guitar
- Various Japanese models
- Usually used for smashing at end of Nirvana's show
Variety of Fender Telecasters
- 1993 Fender Telecaster (Gibson pickup in neck. Sunburst)
Other Guitars
- Mark IV-style Mosrite Gospel guitar (bought by Kurt in 1990)
- Epiphone et-270
- Univox Hi-Flier
- Martin D-18E
Strings and Picks
Kurt was known to use Dean Markley strings, gauge .10-.52.
He used Dunlop Tortex Standard picks, orange color.
Acoustics
- Stella 12-string (Polly recording)
- Epiphone Texan (unplugged recordings)
- Martin D-18E (electric/acoustic version of D-18)
Guitar cabinets
- Marshall 1960A Slant Cabinet - 4x12
- Marshall 1960AC Vintage Cabinet - 4x12
Two to eight Marshall cabs were used depending on the size of the live venue. The cabinets were loaded with either Celestion 12" G12M Greenback Speakers
OR
Celestion 12" Vintage 30 Speakers
Amps
- Crest 4801 power amps
- Crown Power Base 2 Power Amplifier
- Mesa/Boogie Studio .22 Preamp
- Mesa Boogie Mark III head
- Fender Bassman
- Vox AC30
- Marshall Micro stack
- Fender Twin Reverb (his favorite studio amp)
Pedals
- Boss DS-1 and DS-2 Distortions
- Electro-Harmonix Poly Chorus (submitted by anonymous user)
- Electro-Harmonix Small Clone Analog Chorus
- Electro-Harmonix Big Muff
- Electro-Harmonix Echo Flanger
- MXR Phase 100 pedal
- Tech 21 SansAmp amp simulator
- Pro Co Rat
