The Signature Nevermind Sound: Kurt Cobain's Electro-Harmonix Small Clone | Nirvana Pedal History 4

[@DocterFweedy]

I can’t wait to see if someone says that Kurt never used this pedal

[@PulseXP-yo8wu]

uH hUh kUrT nEvEr UsEd ThAt PeDal BeCaUsE sOmE rAnDoM gUy ToLd mE oN A fOrUm BaCk In 2o05

[@denverrandy7143]

​@@PulseXP-yo8wu😜👍I sEeN It

[@LDN76]

The pedal used Kurt

[@donp11]

Kurt never used this pedal :)

[@whiteskystudios3261]

He Actually never used this pedal he used a Boss Compact Chorus pedal

[@DaLukeDaNuke]

This is one of the reasons why I’m getting this pedal for Christmas.

[@jonwanrocks]

got one for sale....*ahem*

[@onecall975]

Dude how old are you? Just buy one.

[@onecall975]

How much? I’m interested seriously.

[@_Dredz]

@@onecall975he could be a kid bro lol

[@ulknatmelknatu]

Santa ain't bringing you chit.

[@Kurt-zk9su]

I love the small clone because it has such a lush tone

[@benmannion4381]

Yeahh I actually have one, and it sounds great!

[@kaedenceneedsLOVE]

Just got to school and this drops!??! Gotta watch it on my break 🔥 keep up the good work Eric, can already tell this ones gonna be fantastic, hope I can learn more about my small clone too!!

[@NirvanaGuitars]

Thank you so much! Hope you have a great day at school!

[@jimfromdiscord.8904]

There's a Nirvana-related joke I could make here but someone smarter than me can mak- WON'T YOU BELIEVE IT'S JUST YOUR LUCK WON'T YOU BELIEVE IT'S JUST YOUR LUUUUUUUUCK

[@kaedenceneedsLOVE]

@NirvanaGuitars Thanks Eric!! You're my hero

[@kylehunter2012]

Fantastic video, this channels fast becoming a go to for me. The clone is my absolute favourite pedal of any kind, it’s a must have for me

[@NirvanaGuitars]

Thank you so much for the kind words! Same here, I'll never have a pedalboard that doesn't have a small clone

[@mickjaegermeister]

This video is a prime example why this is one of my fav channels

[@jimfromdiscord.8904]

Always a nice day when NirvanaGuitars uploads. Keep up the good work!

[@larryboy8821]

I have one pedal, a 1970's Morley Phaser because Dead Kennedy's. I don't really know if eastbay used one, but my friend Ralph played lead for Jello in Guantanamo and he used one for DK songs. Damnit, going down an Eastbay Ray rabbit hole... I'm a church player, so I've really never had a need for pedals and just play straight through. I will tell you that a Dirty Fingers pickup will just about blow the speakers when the soundboard isn't ready. 😂 Love the channel, keep it coming!!

[@elspethmoods90]

this is my always on pedal. its the second pedal i ever bought. its essential for my tone preference. now i gotta check what chip its got.

[@elspethmoods90]

mines a 90s reissue and I got the box.

[@downstairsgearnguitars-kc7uq]

Great Sounds Dude!

[@frupiii]

mr nirvana guitars could you do more videos about alternative budget friendly nirvana gear like you did with the sans amp

[@caseymccormick1813]

I just wonder who else noticed that Kurt kept the sound simple. Distortion chorus that’s it and hit it on an off himself.

[@akito1115]

Hi Eric! Cool video, I have a couple of ideas for your next videos.. Since the topic of Telecasters was recently touched upon, Kurt had another one with two humbuckers, sunburst color, from 1993. And he also had an In Utero-era guitar that he used for recording, an Ibanez Les Paul, it would be cool to see them in your videos.

[@Joemcncheese]

Hey dude, this isn't to due with the video but I have the isolated stems for an alternate take of lithium. Should I upload them somewhere? They are the closest thing possible to the isolated lithium guitar because they are from the exact same session.

[@MichaelsMusic193]

Eric!!!!!! Another banger! Always gonna see your new videos

[@NirvanaGuitars]

Thank you so much for the continued support! Really means a lot 😃

[@MichaelsMusic193]

Of course! Your the best. It’s my dream to have a Nirvana set up! The closest I have is a DS-2 and of course, a Small Clone🤭

[@NirvanaGuitars]

@@MichaelsMusic193 We all gotta start somewhere my friend, at one point all I had was my first Squier Strat and a Small Clone!

[@MichaelsMusic193]

@@NirvanaGuitars Yes! We got to do a Nirvana jam! That would be my dream

[@MichaelsMusic193]

@@NirvanaGuitars For your next vid, you should do Vandalism Strat and K Strat comparison! 🎸🎸

[@SharpEdgeStandardOfficial]

What did he use for the intro to Breed in the studio ? Sounds so grumble I always loved his tone on that song

[@randomcrap7682]

there we go

[@PrettyboyAshtun]

my small clone just got here

[@DENITHEPENI]

can you do a vid on kurts first mustang (the one with the vinyl pickguard)

[@Kash-r9j]

Please make sunburst strat

[@nathandenton1373]

I love the sound of the small clone, but mine always makes a pop sound when engaging it so i resorted to a boss super chorus. I dont know why mine does that its only a year old.😣

[@davidwhisenant5328]

Awesome video, I play the teen spirit solo the other way towards the middle of the neck, and finally learned it the way you play it thanks to this video,both ways sound on point to me, do you know the other way as well or just the awesome way you play it? Anyway great video, I need to get me a small clone🎸👍

[@COOLAWESOMEMAN]

What part of drain you uses a chorus effect?

[@strain4399]

Спасибо огромное, очень помогло. Я сколько раз слушал в магазине всегда звук был другой, а всё дело в издании, хочу Electro-Harmonix Small Clone 80 г.

[@NiceLittleLeprechaun]

80`s you hear that boost just cracking up the signal 90`s is the same thing but more low-end and bassy tone (Warmer in my opinion) 00/Ri sounds like a blend of the 80`s and 90`s but less boosted. (My favorite sound as of this clip)

[@NirvanaGuitars]

Awesome analysis!

[@NiceLittleLeprechaun]

@@NirvanaGuitars Thank you brother ❤

[@NiceLittleLeprechaun]

@@NirvanaGuitars Thanks for these videos also.

[@popmchn]

Just got my re issue☺️

[@rozzer666]

I bought a good few cheap chorus pedals but nothing sounded right. Eventually i got the small clone and it was amazing for nirvana. Apparently its really easy to swap the chip in the new ones to make ut sound the same as originals. Theres videos on here how to do it

[@Krakikure]

10:49 Old Age

[@ab8817]

he added the chorus because he was into new wave. its that simple. all the new wave bands in the 80s used chorus.

[@miller_6700]

Nirvana could’ve stopped after IU or a fourth album and then turn into new wave. But we all know what drugs and depression does…

[@Thurston86]

Look into my Pedal-Baum! 🤘🤣

[@mikerobbins4138]

How to tell exterior wise between 90's vs 2010 or later if looking online

[@NoahDwice]

Are there any other Nirvana Strats except the k strat,Vstrat and VMA strat?

[@NirvanaGuitars]

Yes, many more!

[@NoahDwice]

@@NirvanaGuitars yippie

[@nathandenton1373]

@@NoahDwice Any fender strat with a jb in the bridge, will work😊

[@Chad_grimes]

Love this tone keep it up!!!❤

[@Echo-Head]

Overall prefer the sound of the 2010's pedal, it keeps more of the bottom end compared to the 90's and holds up more with distortion. The 80's sounded thin and compressed in comparison to me.

[@oliverb.8995]

Cool vid! I don't hear much of a difference between any of them honestly

[@hamz6774]

If you were going to die, what will you do with the guitars, pedals, amps, and ect?

[@furiousseasons1]

90s and 2010s models sound fairly similar, but the 80s version doesn't seem to have nearly as much "warble" as the other two.

[@jdezzz]

are those actually some of his guitars ?

[@volterra02]

i love you man

[@NirvanaGuitars]

Sending love back! ❤️

[@denverrandy7143]

I dunno,I like the 80s one...All sound good.

[@kingcreates1379]

To me the 80s one sounds the most like his tone

[@kidsbutnotkids5901]

hello!

[@NirvanaGuitars]

👋

[@S1M0ND0e]

Old components(aged) = Lofi pedal ...either buy the reissue to be authentic or AFG-1 Analog Dynamic Flanger and ajust drive to make it lofi

[@rigor.mortis.4]

eric eric eric, you should totally do a full tone analysis and cover of anorexorcist from with the lights out. (kaos radio 5/6/1987) i love the crunchy roughness of that version, also thanks for the dope video. love the pedal history vids 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

[@patrickosullivan7783]

Not Eric but I’m pretty sure he used a Fender Champ (silverface) with a Univox Superfuzz, and a Univox Hi-Flier (phase 3).

[@NirvanaGuitars]

Would love to tackle that one, Anorexorcist is a top 5 song for me!

[@rigor.mortis.4]

@@NirvanaGuitars HELL YEAHH

[@that-one-kid-420]

i've thought about the univox hi-flier 4 that is a left handed version, re-stringed and re-placed the strap holder on a bigger horn for righty. meh kinda cringe comment, sorry😬💀

[@S1M0ND0e]

Eastwood Univox + paying a Tech to do the mod = Fender Alternate Reality Sixty-Six

[@rainbowslushy223]

the vintage one does sound better right away it sounds a lot less out of tune and has a cool flangyness

[@esej1]

And how is NeoClone doin'?

[@guitarrilho502]

He actually never used this pedal live 🥴

[@andrewpappas9311]

My go-to chorus is my Boss CH-1 and I use it constantly but I still love the Small Clone and is definitely a huge part to Kurt’s sound, I remember my local guitar store had one of these awhile back and sounded great. It’s absolutely perfect for those classic Teen Spirit, Come As You Are, Drain You, In Bloom and Lithium tones and I’ll always love it, knocked it out of the park as always, Eric

[@tsarbombacrazy88tsarbomba47]

Im not going to lie, this channel is solid at researching history and being really nice. Thanks man for doing this 🤝

[@ReturnOfTheGhoulScouts]

Yeah, so informative without patronising 👍🏻

[@Georgeisjawa]

Definitely a great choice for my personal favorite Nirvana album. Also the 2010 reissues are what I would go with as it is affordable and gets the job done.

[@jaroslavkubicek9410]

Regarding Come As You Are sound reproduction. Listen to original Butch Vig mix. You will hear only the Small Clone, and the difference it is pretty noticeable. Many people claim Small Clone is in Lithium intro, but that is the SPX90. Andy Wallace used it to widen Krists bass as well.

[@JRamos97]

Definitely agree, CAYA Devonshire mix at least to me does sound like the 80s Small Clone is the only thing being used there. Also in Territorial P the og mix sounds vastly different than what we had in the released version, just guitar and distortion without post-production effects. Devonshire mixes are as raw and unpolished as we ever gonna get for Nevermind.

[@TheSellins]

Hey Eric, I wanted to thank you for your recommendation you gave me about the SD-JB pickups. I'm also trying to create a pedal board for my favorite pedals and while watching this I remembered that I saw a Neo-Clone and a Nano-Clone on amazon. They both seem to be compact remakes of the Small Clone and cheaper options. Right now I'm not sure if i want to blow $100 on the Small clone so I was wondering if you had a recommendation for an alternative. It's also strange how the Neo-Clone has the depth switch but the Nano only has a rate knob. (Keep up the pedal history vids. It's very cool to see the stories behind the equipment)

[@savoirfaire8979]

I believe that the massive sound on the studio version of “Come as You Are” is due to multiple tracks and additional rack effects.

[@lps738]

The mixer Andy Wallace LOVES Yamaha spx90 symphonic modulation ensemble preset on like all the albums he's done

[@ElectroIllusion]

@@lps738 - cool, if someone in a Nirvana cover band wants more of a closer sound they can buy a used Yamaha SPX90 and use that live too.

[@PrettyboyAshtun]

been looking for a chorus pedal might as well get this one since kurt is the reason i picked up a guitar

[@stab180]

Imagine the guy who stole it going to a pawn shop 20 years later and just saying "Don't ask me how I got that."

[@Arthur_Helpy]

can you make a video about cheap versions of this pedal ? because in Brasil the small clone is very expensive 😣😣

[@TargetHHH101]

I ran a small clone for about 7/8 years, eventually the switches go out, they generation energy and it doesnt release until the pedal turns on and it makes a loud pop and its very annoying, i went thru 2 of them and after the 2nd acted up i switched to the mxr analog chorus it sounds almost identical and it doesnt aggravate me when playing so anybody considering one, think of that.

[@officialnaplava]

thank you so much for all your content my man. Another great video that made my day.

[@scoreofallthings4896]

RETICON SAD1024 chips are dying and there is no modern replacement. Beware when you buy vintage pedals with a sad1024. It will be a brick at any moment.

[@mile2.0]

Is it crazy for me to say that I like the 90s reissue tone more than the vintage 80s pedal. It just sounds more full to me and more watery sounding

[@mmhmm6116]

Ugh, kurt obviously never used the small clone you made all of this up!

[@kaydenandrade3138]

Nice joke

[@idunno7166]

God I can swear I love this pedal, its sound is so unique, I really want to get one

[@spidermanfan.3161]

It sucks to this day i still don’t have a small clone chorus but hopefully I,ll get one soon or someday. But nice to see a video on it.

[@CrisCDXX]

Love this video, just a humble shout out to the EHX Neo Clone as it's a Small Clone in the nano package. Just as good as any Small Clone to get those watery Kurt tones.

[@Lovetone1983]

You can mod the 90s reissue to sound more like the original. You should look into it, its like 3 parts. Super easy

[@deepend69]

Best chorus I've tried is the Ibanez CS9 in stereo or the ADA FLANGER.

[@ElectroIllusion]

If someone wants a closer sound, they can buy a Yamaha SPX 90 and use that live --- in the effects chain after the Electro-Harmonix Small Clone.

[@CorbenEdward]

I have one that looks and feels old, lots of scratches, has the reissue knob, old power jack, dim red LED, butttt says MADE IN USA. After years and years of using boss super chorus & ce5's the small clone just blew me away. Perfect for post punk & gothic rock, sounds epic & easy to set.

[@tymime]

Maybe Kurt was trying to sound like post-punk or The Cure?

[@andrewsmith1520]

In the demos, when you kick in distortion, is it before or after the chorus effect? Thanks.

[@pakitogalaxias]

Always doubt it because in other videos it seems he uses first chorus but on kurt photos is first dist

[@Gabe511]

I think he probably did have both chips. EH would use any parts they could get their hands on in the older days of production so thats why some had different parts. My Small clone has the MN and i had to search out my vintage Big Muff for the Pumpkins sound.

[@9330Hg]

Well well… my favourite notification of the day! 😍 keep up the good work!

[@NirvanaGuitars]

That seriously means so much thank you!

[@parabot2]

Biyang Ch-8 Chorus is a very nice option on a budget , it use the now hard to get MN3007 . ( it it's easy to nail each era sound as it 3 knobs spread , tone and speed ) Due to the huge price increases in EHX pedals , the Biyang is a no brainer , they do pop up on Ebay now and then . Just a heads up .

[@Thurston86]

Love the Pedal History! Wouldn’t mind getting into rack effects with that SPX-90!!! 🤘😬

[@nickfeldman6538]

I absolutely love this pedal and it’s on my board along with the DS2 -2. The detail you’ve gone into again is excellent, keep it going!

[@eljoel89]

So if the difference between Chorus and Delay is length of time and number of repeats, I'd say the reissue Small Clones sound like they have stronger repeats and possibly preserve the repeats for longer.

[@mikerobbins4138]

I just picked up a 1981 small clone for 600 dollars is that reasonable for that pedal and it has the red icon chip

[@M1norCharacter]

Is the 80’s pedal broken? Why the rate knob on it is turned further than the last mark? I actually like it and wondering if it’s designed purposely

[@LewWelchThePoet]

🤘👍🏿PastFX is about to drop a clone of the Small Clone with improved functionality.

[@mikerobbins4138]

The 2010 version would it be same as if I walked in to a music store today at purchased one sound wise or was there another update since 2010

[@MarzLast]

the later reissue sound different to make it sound like a early one theres a couple of minor component changes plus you can swop the depth switch for a potentiometer so you have control of it

[@ampking139]

try this put the distortion pedals first and the modulation pedals after if you put the pedals in that order it gives it a more nirvana tone

[@Pig_Man06]

a fernandes strat with a humbucker? Billie Joe Armstrong?

[@prospectnyc]

That Tele sounds great through that pedal

[@Kennyuk77]

Well I just found out my old small clone is a 90s one

[@XxStonedImmaculatexX]

According to Earnie Bailey, Kurt likely had both vintage versions of the Small Clone since he had 2 vintage Small Clones. In some cases, the Mini Chorus pedal had either the MN3007 chip or the SAD chip and vice versa for the Full Chorus no matter the year as I’ve seen based on listings from Reverb. I suppose EHX used whatever they had.

[@krisfrederick5001]

After I blew up my Electro-Harmonix Poly Chorus in a fit of sonic glory. (Pay attention to the overload LED) this was the perfect cheaper replacement, LOVED IT. 100%

[@SproutMaster]

Would it not have been more accurate to compare the 80's Small Clone with the same settings for the 94 songs? depth switch up and much slower rate?? or is it just an error with the on screen graphic?

[@NirvanaGuitars]

Demo format is explained at 7:43. First part the pedals are set exactly the same, second half is the Nirvana demo where I set each of them to be as close to Kurt’s sound as possible

[@Memper]

Hey you can also use impulse response pedals too, just isolate the guitar intro to come as you are, run it through voxengo deconvolver, put it in your IR Pedal, then BOOM!

[@tsg_frank5829]

The 90s reissue just has a distinctively deeper chorus sound to my ear, even compared to vintage 80s pedal, 2010s gets close enough to matching the rest.

[@bobowrathsovine.]

It's out of character for Kurt to have used any pedal other than the Big Muff or some early 70's fuzz. But he used the Sans Amp simulator which was cutting edge modern technology of the early 90's. He didn't use chorus effects in the traditional subtle approach of trying to replicate the Boston/Van Halen sound but he used it in a exaggerated noisy way

[@rakistaruelo]

Great video, man! Was just about to go to bed but when I saw this and ended up trying to keep myself up just to finish it. AHAHAHAHA! I remember I got mine after only a month of owning a BOSS CE-5 because of how different they sounded. Been using it ever since.

[@ryanpeluaga3417]

As always, Awesome video and thank you for presenting the information the way you do! Very Cool! The small clone is definitely my favorite chorus pedal, and there are some very subtle differences between the three. But, I wouldn’t say, at least for me, that it’s enough to justify shelling out the big bucks to get a vintage pedal. I have one from The 2010s,, and it sounds just as good as the other two.

[@user-ib3gj3ty9k]

The more I hear the 90’s and 2010 Small Clone, it sounds refined but quieter compared to the vintage 80’s Small Clone… Really, it stands out a mile for the Nirvana sound… 💜

[@mrNobody100]

im kind of disappointed in the fact i like the oldest one the best, like a cliche gear nerd... but anyway i'm sticking with my neo clone, mainly because its small and fits better on my board. even if it's apparantly different than all the ones demo'ed here, it does the thing for me...

[@Morbid0007]

Great video! Being a Nirvana fan myself, I picked up one of these a few years ago. It's a cool pedal, but I prefer the Boss flanger (BF-3).

[@the-blueblurr]

the songs you played on the clean chords section are old age and been a son?(I LOVE HOW OLD AGE SOUNDS WITH CHORUS)

[@Thurston86]

Maybe one day you could get into how you fixed your Small Clone! It would be cool for those interested in electronics/pedal building/mods! 🤘😬

[@kaseyidkwhattonamethus]

2010❤❤