Comparing the Boss DS1, Boss DS2, ProCo Rat and Sansamp Classic. 4 distortion pedals that Kurt Cobain used throughout Nirvana.
Each era of Nirvana is represented with the amp settings and guitars I am using. I also used them with the Small Clone and Polychorus for certain songs.
A general overview of what these pedals can do in various different Nirvana applications.
TIMESTAMPS
INTRO:
0:00 - History of when Kurt used each pedal
1:29 - How I will be comparing them
DEMO:
Bleach era with Eastwood Hi Flier
2:46 - About A Girl
3:33 - School
4:23 - Scoff
4:48 - Polly (electric Bleach tour version)
5:38 - Mr. Moustache
Nevermind era with Fender Kurt Cobain Signature Jaguar
6:22 - Aneurysm
7:12 - Drain You
8:48 - Smells Like Teen Spirit
9:52 - Floyd The Barber
10:38 - Breed
In Utero era with Fender Kurt Cobain Signature Mustang
11:15 - Pennyroyal Tea
11:55 - Radio Friendly Unit Shifter
12:50 - Serve The Servants
13:42 - Come As You Are
14:49 - Lithium
15:36 - Scentless Apprentice
16:02 - Heart Shaped Box
GEAR USED:
Eastwood Hi Flier Phase IV (Univox copy)
Fender Kurt Cobain Signature Jaguar (roadworn)
Fender Kurt Cobain Signature Mustang (modded to Skystang I specs)
Boss DS1
Boss DS2 Turbo Distortion
ProCo Rat
Sansamp Classic
Electro-Harmonix Small Clone
Electro-Harmonix Polychorus
Fender Tone Master Twin Reverb
Audio recorded in Pro Tools
My amazon storefront where you can buy gear/parts Kurt used: www.amazon.com/shop/nirvanagu...
Vandalism Strat Stickers - use coupon code "nirvanaguitars" to get 2 for the price of 1:
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Lomic Guitars - Where I got my custom 2021 Jag-Stang Pickguard:
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Learn Nirvana songs with Fender Play!
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Background music is instrumental versions of songs by my band Ithomiid. You can hear the full songs at Ithomiid.com
Follow me on instagram at @nirvanaguitars
Check out my progressive punk band at ithomiid.com
Check out my acoustic project at facebook.com/atlasmn
one of the few videos on the internet that shows exactly how these pedals sound, not glorified at all through some vintage gear, this is just what they actually sound like, which is an achievement for sure man well done
Thank you so much!! 🙏 I'm trying to make the type of the videos I wish I could've found when I first started learning guitar and getting Nirvana gear
which is why this channel is ome of the best 🤘
I hate to break it to you but these pedals sound different on nearly every guitar and amp type out there. This is just how they sound with THESE particular pieces of equipment. The similarity of their sounds on different rigs are rather minimal.
@@blakemcnamara9105 that might be true, but we are talking minutiae here, this gives a really solid representation of what the pedal will sound like as, a clean ss pedal platform amp wont be doing much of the tone shaping here. i have a good few amps (tube and ss from a whole range of brands) and guitars with different pickups and in the room, this is really what they sound like
@@kyleanderson9713 Amen to that!
The Ds2 sounds the best to me. The most balanced distortion and thicker sounding than the ds1
Yes but I was thinking, the DS-1 maybe would let the voice and other instruments sit better in the mix maybe. The DS-2 sounded more like a hi fi fat mix, the DS-1 sounded very Nirvana and dirty, loved it. Well, loved all of the pedals, for different mixes :)
thats what i thought too!
Yes. More heavy. I like it too
for me the proco rat is better, it has much more body.
i thought that too until i actually owned one, worst pedal i've ever owned. ds-1 is much better imo
I'm really surprised how similar the rat and sansamp sound to each other. I've always held the sansamp in way higher regard
Yeah but the sans amp has a little brighter distortion.
Completely agree! I never had a Rat before this video, was very surprised how similar it can sound to the sansamp
They sound similar here, but the SansAmp is much more versatile
I can see why despite the Rat being basically not used, it's still so associated with him! Time and again, the Rat gets underestimated
I have a rat on the same settings and it just sounds like Bleach. Probably because my amp sounds like a dumpster fire.
For me the Ds1 nailed the 91/92 tone and sansamp just work perfectly for in utero
Completely agree! This is why I included all 3 eras, the pedals react differently/have different strengths when it comes to what amp settings are being used
@@strat_1880 well we know for sure that the DS1 & DS2 have buffers. You might have to play each one individually and then put the DS1 & DS2 last and then try them first and compare
@@strat_1880 if you made a video on it i’d watch it
I remember an early 90's interview, probably RIP magazine, where he was talking about gear. They wrote down DF-1 not DS-1. Spent so much time looking for a non existing DF-1 pedal. Now everything is so documented & tested.
Man. I want a DS2 now! It wasn't the perfect fit for every riff but overall to my ear it had the best sound. Thanks for these videos. I grew up a Kurt fanatic and always tried to mimic is tone and never could!
Thank you for the kind words and for watching 🙂 I think if someone wanted 1 pedal to get close to his tone, I’d recommend the DS2! Like you said wasn’t perfect for everything but it nails his famous late 91 tone
Buy a ds-2. I've never been so happy with a distortion pedal. It does everything a ds-1 does, plus the glory of the turbo mode with everything dimed... it's the best.
It's funny you say that, I came away wanting a DS1.
This is one of the coolest videos you have put out, I'm a huge fan of Kurt's pedals and this had just made my day!
Thank you so much! That really means a lot, so happy you enjoyed it 🙏
The DS-2 sounds just like Reading album and Sansamp sounds just like Live and Loud. Very cool!
One of the few videos that closely demonstrates how Kurt's guitars sound in every song. I really love the sound of the SansAmp and it really captures Kurt's sound during their In Utero tour. I enjoyed this video a lot. Thanks for sharing! Lifelong Nirvana fan here since '91... so I just subscribed 'man! 🤘⭐💯🍺🎸
The sound of the RAT improved dramatically with the 1993/1994 Live Amp Settings. DS2 wins for consistency, though.
It really did; it doesn't sound very good at all with the previous settings but really came alive with 93-94 settings!
this video took so much work. thank you so much dude! this was sick!!
It’s highlight of my week when you drop a video. This was awesome
Can't tell you how much that means to me 🙏 Thank you so much for the support!
I appreciate the thoroughness of your videos. I can't believe Kurt had the treble and mids dimed out on the amp, but it sounds accurate.
Great video! each pedal demonstration definitely has its own unique sound, as i own a majority of these pedals i can now dial in more accurately! Also the polychorus sounds so much different compared to the one I own which is a more recent reissue!
Happy my video is able to help! 😁
I've sold 3 ds-1 pedals and I always come back, they do a cool OD thing too. The turbo distortion I never liked too heavy and not heavy enough at the same time. the rat and poly chorus!! That's awesome sounding! Actually kind of sounds like a trapped rat . The rat and sans amp double tracking a part would be very close to in utero tone. Cool video duder
Wow this sound bring back my good memories listening nirvana when i'm on elementary school... this is exactly the distortion that Kurt used. Good videos! 🔥
Thank you!
The DS-1 sounds the most like Nirvanas tone than the others.
Cool bro! Thank you for your history work and for your video.
Great job, man! SansAmp sounds gorgeous
Excellent video , simple and effective explanation !!! Thank you sir 👍
Great video. much appreciated. I love it when the cheaper pedals that go way back and are very accessible have the better sound in my opinion.
awesome work! Now i know how he create a legendary sound ) Thank you!
Excellent video I like how you set it up showing all necessary information at once with the little windows and pedal highlight. As for the pedals the SansAmp won by miles for me in the In Utero part while all the other parts the DS2 was best. The DS1 I absolutely dislike with its thinner and very fizzy sound. Great video
Thank you for the feedback! A part of me was worried there was too much going on with the pedals, window, amp settings and guitar pic all being shown at once. But I wanted to somehow present all that info haha! The DS2 and Sansamp are my favorites, so I completely understand 👏🏻
Mestre! Sensacional! Algo perfeccionista! Parabéns!
Absolutely brilliant video, thank you so much
Nice vid bro, such quality work
Hey man great presentation. enjoyed the vid !
ive been using the DS-2 for years, highly recommend
Ds-1 for Bleach songs, Ds-2 for Nevermind and Incesticide and Sans Amp for In Utero. If i could chose only one, Ds-2 for the overall consistency. I am a little frustated though because some years ago i bought a Ds-1, you should have done this vídeo earlier 😂. Great work man, superb tone, great channel!
Incredible how it sounds really the same as the albums. Nice vid.
thank you very much friend, you are the best!🌹 love it
For me the DS1 and 2 are the sound when I think of Nirvana, especially live. They have that almost ‘fizzy’ punchy distortion. When you played Floyd The Barber, that just had Live @ the Paramount written all over it. The Rat….well I can see why he didn’t use it much. I wasn’t overly keen on the SansAmp either, but I know it’s capable of much more than just the settings Kurt used. Nice video, I appreciate the dedication!
For the Rat..He's using it wrong, Filter Knob is the opposite of Tone Knob, instead of twist the filter knob the same as DS-1 (which might be 9-10 o'clock) twist it to 3 o'clock. Tone Knob adds more Treble (and Mids in some cases) while Proco Rat's filter knob adds more bass.
All great pedals! The only thing ive never been able to find is Kurt's Big Muff setting.. i always assumed he just cranked it and backed the tone off a bit (much like his boss pedals). Great content though dude! 👍👍👍
just bought the ds2 off my guitar teacher at it sounds awesome. thanks for doing this video.
I run a ds1 in my band and I love it, it's so easy to get those really sheer in your face distortion sounds and pretty decently priced would recommend
Man, you are living my 14 year old self's dreams! I ended up with a Jag-Stang, but I always wanted the HH Jaguar and an LPB Mustang. I dont listen to Nirvana much anymore, but offsets are still some of my favorite guitars.
I’ve been using the Boss DS-1 for almost 20 years. My absolute favorite distortion pedal.
DS2 is the winner, but I have DS1, DS2 and a RAT, in a normal band situation the Rat is the one better sounding, it pops you out of the mix, especially with 2 guitars, with the DS1 you tend to disappear
I loved using the Rat box. I let my friend borrow it and he broke it. :(
@@mysterymac38 there are cheap copies around the sound identical to mine, the mooer for example but even the Chinese copies, the rat is not to difficult to clone
thing that changes a lot if you use the modified version of the ds1, with the Keeley Mod.
just got a ds-2 because it sounds amazing with most of the eras, thanks!
Very helpful video! Thanks for sharing!
Glad it was helpful!
@NirvanaGuitars You make good videos, this was very good & simple
Thank you so much!
Love this video! Awesome content.. Thanks!
Thanks for watching!
Dude, awesome video!!
Thanks for your work 👍👍👍
Great vid man!! Im surprised out of all these pedals the one I thought would be my last pick turned out to be my favorite, the plain old ds1 for the nirvana sound for sure👍. Have you tried the waza ds1 btw and if so whats the difference?
dude this is such a killer video, the ds-2 is the clear winner, but as someone who owns all the pedals above, i can say when some mods are done to the ds-1 that can take you to a whole nother level
Thank you! I've heard that modding a DS1 can make a huge difference, I have yet to try it though!
what mods are you suggesting doing to the DS-1??
@@Gatchi i took out some things to give it more fuzz and less buzz, the big one though is i ripped the diodes out and put them on switches with a few other options, its all on the first page of Google
@@NirvanaGuitars get a pre 2016 ds-1, you do this by checking the serial number, take out the diodes and change some stuff around to make it less, ya know, tinny and more angry
@@kyleanderson9713 can we hear what this sounds like?
Great comparison! 👍😊
Thanks!
hey man, I was wondering where I can but the DS-1 pedal? Also keep up the great videos, these tone videos are great.
@NirvanaGuitars Fabulous video, you can really tell which pedal Kurt used for which songs (for example, Heart-Shaped Box sounds practically identical to the studio version!!), can you do a video of all the Nevermind song tones like the Bleach video and then can you do the same for In Utero???
Your vids are so underrated
Thank you so much!
The DS1 is by far my favorite distortion pedal. I still use it with a strat.
Great video, one think a lot of people miss viewing these videos is how different recorded and live nirvana is. For some of the stuff I think a twin is fine (bleach era and some of in utero) but it is very different to a mesa studio pre and boss distortions are quite picky with what you feed them into.
Exactly! I think that's something a lot of people don't realize. Nevermind the record sounds different than live Nevermind era, and In Utero the record and the In Utero tour sound colossally different. Always wish Kurt would've had more time and recorded an album or even just demos with the In Utero tour set up, particularly the sansamp
I love my rat. It’s got nice buzz and tone settings that will wave or drone. I think it sounds most like Sansamp. But I’m gonna say for this test overall the turbo distortion sounds fullest , maybe not always most like Kurt’s but it’s still the best sounding option in this experience
imo the DS2 sounds the most familiar, for obvious reasons.
Great video, would you be able able to do one on Greg Sage's pedals and amp, since he is Kurt's major inspiration for his guitar sound.
2:05 that picture was taken at my local college (9 minute drive from where I live) I actually met a guy at the guitar center here who actually went to that concert and saw him on the day and place where that picture was taken.
That is super cool! That's one of my favorite live pics, I love that we clearly see the two choruses pedals
I got my DS-1 last week, I love it so much
Congrats! It’s definitely a great pedal
thats crazy! I got a ds1 last week too! its a life changer compared to my old beat up Daddy O overdrive pedal 😂😂😂
Great video. Loved how many songs you went over. What song is playing in the background during the history and testing method explanation? I really like it
Thank you! It’s an instrumental version of the song Killjoy by my band Ithomiid 🙂
Great demo!!! DS-2 definitely had a fuller sound than the DS-1. Question, is this a MIJ pre-1993 DS-1 or newer? Hopefully this comparison is between the pedals Kurt would’ve been using.
i own a DS-2 yet am in love with the DS-1s thinner sound
You are the best in KZhead !! I’m your Instagram fan !
0:27 i have and Use the Boss DS2 its sound really good, almost identical. But hey the other tones shown here sound really good as well!! 👍
The boss DS2 is a great pedal! Completely Nails the late 91 sound, does really well with in Utero tour settings too
I think they all worked for their appropiate eras, which makes sense, perfect tone. (And for the RAT, yeah I guess I can see it being used for territorial pissings)
Have seen a lot of videos! Great job. One question, do you use your Small Clone before DS2? Kurt was the other way, I think. Why did you end up with that signal chain. Thank youu
Pretty ear to differentiate distortion!❤
Cool video as always! Love to see fellow Nirvana fans like me obsess over things like these. What show is that btw 0:51 I've never seen those pictures before
Great vid as usual! 🫃🫃🫃🫃🫃🫃 Your vid’s are so helpful because I have been dying on how to get the 90’s grunge/alt rock sound for ages! What is your fav Nirvana song?
Happy my videos have been helpful!! Very hard to pick, but probably come as you are and dive
@@NirvanaGuitars great tracks
Awesome video
I own a Digitech Grunge and it's is doing a great job too !
What a great video. Doesn't get any more clear or better than that lol. You sold me on the Turbo Ds2
That School chorus is so freakin good and powerful!
Really interesting video
goated demos
Thank you so much 🙏🏻
All are great pedals, but for me the sansamp classic sounds the most like Kurt. Great comparison!
Even though he apparently barely used it, the Pro Co Rat sounds the best to me! I'll have to bust mine out again, could never quite get the sound I wanted out of it, but you helped change my mind! Even sounds a bit like the Sans Amp, albeit a lot cheaper.
Wow so cool!
awesome man! Just a little detail: modulation in nirvana should be always after distortion on your signal.
Wow awesome man! Btw how do you make your guitar videos sound loud enough, especially when you use distortion. I’m asking because every time I do so, my videos sound quiet.
Don’t forget: for Territorial Pissings, Kurt plugged his guitar straight into the console, hence why the distortion sounds so fuzzy. He wanted to emulate the production of early punk bands for that song. Killer vid!
Brilliant work thank you! Really appreciate your hard work
Thank you for watching! 🙏🏻
Just love the ds2
I so needed drums during this video. But interesting.
When your really break it down to basic circuitry there are only 7 or 8 different dirtboxes but the little differences and features in each “new” dirtbox that comes out to this day can sound so different from each other. You can either have a fuzzface, big muff, rat, mxr, ds1, dod250, tubescreamer or bluesdriver and every other pedal is just a variation of those pedals with tweaks and options. For me, I have 4 drives on the board. Rat, Big Muff, SD1 and an EHX Hot Tubes. This video is making me think of adding a DS1 to that collection.
Loved it
Fantastic demonstration! Thanks for sharing . In the end, if you had to keep only one, and only one ?
I’d probably pick the sansamp!
I'm amazed how similar the RAT and Sansamp do sound (Sampamp having a nicer mid hump IMHO)! When I started playing guitar in 1996 I was soooo much into Nirvana (and I kind of learned how to play guitar, by learning Nirvana's songs). Back then the live album "From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah" came out, and I was so after that sounds that by looking in the booklet I saw a picture with Kurt and a Boss pedal with 4 knobs, which I mistakenly though was the OD2r Turbo Overdrive (which btw is another all Boss gem from that era)! So I got that OD2r and to be honest loved the sound I was getting out of it with my Fender Strat and a Fender 25w transistor amp. Only few month later I discovered Kurt was using the DS2! So I sold the OD2r and got the DS2, and used that extensively for many years. My sound to go was the Kurt Cobain setting but with Turbo 2 mode (and often with a switch pedal to switch between mod 1 &2)!
Качественное видео !
Great work! The amp setting shown in the video 1:47 is the amp setting closest to what Cobain used with his fender?
Breed on the DS-1 Is like heaven to my ears.
Excellent video !! I just wonder what is the impact on kurt's tone with his Mesa boogie studio preamp ? You shoud maybe try it on your next videos ;)
The DS2 was the first pedal i bought. One of my favorite pedals ever.
Awesome video I would go with ds-1 all the way to in Utero days just because the ds-2 is too muddy for me. But the Sansamp is a beast of a pedal The rat gets real gnarly for some heavy fuzz doom stuff tho
Agreed that the sansamp is a beast 👏🏻 and yeah the DS1 definitely shines for the earlier eras!
I believe I've read somewhere that no bass distortion pedal was used on the Nevermind version of Breed. They just overloaded the whole Neve board!
when we jam Nirvana, Pat uses a DS-1, and usually a classic vibe 70's squire jaguar which sounds amazing :)... i use a TC electronic Dark matter for the bass where as i don't own a Rat and i personally like the dirt it makes .
Your neighbours must love you for blasting a Twin like that! 😉👍 For me the best is the DS-1, it just sounds the most appealing to me. ps maybe the DS-2 just edges ahead from Nevermind onwards
Great video 📹 ❤❤❤❤
Это хорошо проделанная работа 🤝
The RAT pedal is so great. I never even knew about it until I used it in the AxeFX...Man it's awesome.
Have you tried the Turbo Rat?
@@markusantonio4866 I have not. What’s the difference?
i just played the ds 2 with those settings and damn is it loud!
Don't forget that the amp that you use is going to play a huge part in the tone! Kurt later used Boogies and Marshall Cabs and they sound very different from a Twin Reverb. I got a Boss DS-1decades ago and played it through a Vox and hated it at first... Then I tried it through a JCM 800 and it was awesome.
Yeah… I play thru a VOX and I can’t get that tone(even though I love xox amps). I had a JCM800 and it was stolen on a tour. . Killer amps.
@@pentastarr666 Sorry to hear that! My Les Paul - which was first good guitar I bought - was stolen about 10 years ago, I still can't get over it -_-
@@firewitch9531 I had a 72 LP and times were rough and I had to sell it… still haven’t gotten over it
Best KZhead recommend ever
❤️