Kurt Cobain (Nirvana) Rig

Kurt Cobain was Nirvana's left-handed singer-guitarist, and the Nevermind-era sound is a cheap Fender offset into a hard-clipping Boss DS-1, not a cranked Marshall stack. On Bleach he smashed Univox Hi-Fliers through a borrowed Fender Twin and a Randall; by Nevermind his main electrics were a 1969 Lake Placid Blue Competition Mustang (the Smells Like Teen Spirit video guitar) and a 1965 Jaguar already loaded with a DiMarzio Super Distortion and PAF. Live from May 1990 onward the amp was a Mesa/Boogie Studio Preamp into a Crown or Crest solid-state power amp and Marshall 4x12s, with an Electro-Harmonix Small Clone adding the watery chorus on Come As You Are and the Teen Spirit pre-chorus.

On In Utero and the 1993–94 tours he replaced the DS-1 with a Boss DS-2, made a Tech 21 SansAmp Classic the main dirt box, and added an Electro-Harmonix Poly Chorus; he also designed the Fender Jag-Stang from cut-up Polaroids of a Mustang and Jaguar and played a 1959 Martin D-18E on MTV Unplugged. Cobain died in 1994, so there is no later touring rig — the current production line is the Fender Kurt Cobain Jaguar (still sold), a recreation of the modified '65 with the same DiMarzio pair, plus periodic Jag-Stang reissues. The hard part to copy is not a secret amp; it is the DS-style clip into a loud, relatively clean Fender or Mesa platform, plus the Small Clone and his sloppy, detuned attack.