The Gear Used on Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged in New York album
MTV’s Unplugged series made its debut in 1989 and wound up spawning some of the most successful live albums of the 1990s, with releases from Eric Clapton, Mariah Carey, Alice In Chains, and, of course, Nirvana. Nirvana Unplugged held some extra weight because of the timing of its release. The video of the performance debuted in December of 1993, four months prior to Kurt Cobain’s passing, and the subsequent album came out in November of 1994, just a few months after his death. The album was a massive success, debuting at No 1 on the Billboard Charts, going platinum eight times and earning Nirvana their only Grammy Award.
READ MORE: The Humble Gear Used By Kurt Cobain on Nirvana’s Nevermind
MTV Unplugged in New York was a unique album in a lot of ways. It captured a different side of the raucous live band, allowing Cobain to explore some of the music that inspired him, with cover songs from David Bowie, The Vaselines, and Leadbelly. He also got to add three songs from the Meat Puppets, who joined Nirvana on stage for those songs. The performance was a one-of-a-kind look at Nirvana. The gear used on the album was a mixture of strange new instruments as well as old tried-and-true security blankets.
Kurt Cobain’s 1959 Martin D-18E, which he used on Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged in New York, 1993. Image: Daniel Leal/AFP via Getty Images
Guitars
The guitar Cobain used for the duration of the show was his newly acquired 1959 Martin D-18E, which was actually a very rare guitar – only 300 of them are said to have been made. Cobain bought the guitar in the fall of 1993, just weeks before the filming of Unplugged. During that span of time, he had the nut and bridge recut to make it a left-handed guitar. He also added a Bartolini 3AV pickup to the guitar’s soundhole. REM’s Peter Buck used that pickup on his acoustics, and it is believed that this might have influenced Kurt’s pickup choice.
That Martin guitar sold at auction for over six million dollars in 2020, making it the most expensive guitar ever sold. Despite all this, the D-18E is not really known as a particularly good sounding guitar compared to many other iconic Martin acoustic instruments in music history. The D-18E (the E stands for electric) was actually Martin’s first attempt to break into the newfangled electric guitar market. But rather than designing a new model, they instead bolted a pair of magnetic pickups and some controls onto the company’s existing dreadnought body. The success of such a venture can be determined from the tiny production run… before Kurt got his hands on one, it was probably one of the least desirable guitars Martin ever made from a vintage perspective.
During the tours leading up to Unplugged, Cobain had been using an Epiphone Texan, which was a very good sounding acoustic. Given that he was already familiar with the Texan, why then did he buy and switch to the Martin for this most important of acoustic performances? “I’m guessing the visual statement behind playing a Martin, with an absurd array of electronics mounted to the top, was his reasoning behind choosing it for Unplugged,” Kurt’s longtime tech Earnie Bailey told me in 2019. “Considering the Epiphone Texan was a fantastic sounding guitar, while the D-18E was at the other end of the sonic spectrum.”
There are no known records, photos, or videos of Cobain ever using the Martin D-18E at other live shows or studio sessions. Still, the guitar’s one performance was enough to make it the most expensive guitar ever sold – a fact that would probably make Kurt chuckle.
Kurt Cobain performing at the taping of the television program for Nirvana‘s MTV Unplugged in New York, 1993. Image: Frank Micelotta/Getty Images
Amplifiers & Effects… Wait, Wasn’t The Show Called Unplugged?!?
For the show Unplugged, standard procedure was to run the acoustic guitars directly into the soundboard, but Cobain was insistent on running his acoustic through his Fender Twin Reverb, which he essentially used as a monitor for himself. In fact, the show’s producer, Alex Coletti had a box placed in front of the amp to hide it from the cameras. To keep the amp as clean as possible, the 7025 preamp tubes were replaced with 12AX7’s, and the 12AT7 phase inverter was replaced with a 12AU7.
Cobain also used a DS-2 distortion pedal and Electro-Harmonix Small Clone chorus. Both pedals were used on The Man Who Sold The World, and the Small Clone was used on About A Girl and Come As You Are.
Pat Smear’s Nirvana Unplugged gear
Kurt Cobain was not the only one playing guitar on the Unplugged album of course. The performance also featured at various points, Nirvana touring member Pat Smear, Meat Puppets guitarist Curt Kirkwood, and for one song, even Krist Novoselic on guitar as well. Smear was for the bulk of the performance and exclusively played a distinctive Harmony Buck Owens American model acoustic, which Krist Novoselic owned. Again, it’s believed that this guitar was chosen for its looks rather than its sound.
During the Unplugged performance, the American was mic’d and it also had a Bill Lawrence pickup in the soundhole. The same guitar was used by Kirkwood during the three Meat Puppets songs. What’s more, during those songs, Krist Novoselic gave his bass to Meat Puppets bassist Kris Kirkwood, and picked up a Gibson Hummingbird.
The Buck Owens American is an instrument with an interesting history. Buck Owens was a famous country musician who co-hosted the show Hee Haw, where he played a red, white, and blue guitar that had been custom built by Semie Moseley (of Mosrite fame). The show’s success drew interest in the guitar so Buck Owens ended up having Harmony Guitars do a production run of them starting in the fall of 1971. They were very affordable ($82.95 for the guitar with no case), but still relatively high-quality guitars.
The Legacy of Nirvana Unplugged
MTV has filmed over 101 Unplugged performances of which only 30 or so have been turned into albums. Aside from perhaps Eric Clapton, Nirvana’s performance remains the most iconic. The album has sold over five million copies, won Nirvana their only Grammy award, and reached number one on the Billboard Charts. More important than the awards and critical success, the album allowed the band to strip away the loud and distorted grunge aura and really showcase that they could perform brilliantly and stand on their own in a stripped-down, acoustic setting.
The gear used for the performance was more about making a visual statement than it was a tonal one, but I think the great thing about Nirvana was that you could just as well have put them on stage with any make or model instruments and they would still deliver a powerful and memorable performance we would still be talking about today.
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