Was Nirvana's Nevermind Recorded With a Malfunctioning Bass?

[Rev J]

And here's that Warwick Trace Elliot pic:

Looks like Dolphin Pro through A Trace Combo. The other stuff I said about Cobains crap gear and tone choices came from interviews I read with him and people around him. My other opinions are based on my own observations.

C/S,
Rev J

 

[JimmyM]

No they're legendary because their no talent junky singer painted the walls with his brains. If that never happened they would probably be a footnote. Poison sold a million albums too does that mean they are great?

They were legendary long before then. Very few bands can claim to have destroyed the previous model of what was acceptable for rock and roll bands singlehandedly. You don't have to like it, but them's the facts.

 

[bigsnack]

Nirvana paved the way for a total about-face in rock music during that time. They made a monstrous impact on what was going on at that point, and sold a lot more than a million records. I feel lucky to have experienced that paradigm shift personally, as I don't think that happens often.

 

[JimmyM]

Nirvana paved the way for a total about-face in rock music during that time. They made a monstrous impact on what was going on at that point, and sold a lot more than a million records. I feel lucky to have experienced that paradigm shift personally, as I don't think that happens often.

And I laugh at the Poison comparison, too. Poison was very much following the hairmetal-pop blueprint. They brought absolutely nothing new to the game. Nirvana did. Again, not everyone likes it and they don't have to, but to even mention them in the same breath as Poison is laughable.

I remember back in the days after Kurt killed himself, some idiot on BBS's (you all remember BBS's, right?) posted a diatribe laughing at how the rest of the band was screwed, and one of the things he said was, "And what the hell is that drummer going to do now? He's totally finished in the business!" Har har.

 

[willbassyeah]

No they're legendary because their no talent junky singer painted the walls with his brains. If that never happened they would probably be a footnote. Poison sold a million albums too does that mean they are great?

C/S,
Rev J

How does that makes you feel then, having a junkie being recognised as the man who defined 90s music while discussing about a dead man's gear on talkbass?

 

[bigsnack]

I can definitely hear the difference in the tone, and they sound like punches to me. My guess is that one take was from the original tracking session, and then they went in and cleaned up pieces of it later that didn't work with the lead vocal or something. I find stuff like this really interesting, but it goes to show you how little this matters in a full mix, since I've never noticed it after listening to the record literally hundreds of times. Very cool find though!

 

[reddesert]

Owing to the fact that the (probable) Ripper in question was a 1976 model (15 years old with all original electronics) and was never seen again on stage by August, being replaced by by a 1974 model, I believe that it had a defective neck pickup wire and kept cutting out randomly so was either destroyed or sold off.

In addition to all the other stuff posted here, it would have made no sense that he destroyed or sold off the Ripper because of a defective pickup wire (and among all the obsessive knowledge on the Internet, no one has ever told the story that way). Fixing that stuff is trivial unless the actual pickup is dead, which is rare, and still replaceable. I fixed a friend's Ripper as my second guitar-wiring project as a 19-year-old with a soldering iron, a modest knowledge of electronics, and no Internet to guide me. It's not that hard.

(Responding to the other argument) Nirvana was immensely influential and derogating their tone on forums is absurd. Tone arguments pale before good songwriting. And, I thought the St. Vincent version of Lithium was cool, too.

 

[Humberto Silva]

It sounds to me like he's just changing where he's picking, and a lot of the changes sound pretty on purpose to me.

This.

The track it's a little sloppy and that, added to tome probably differente takes, makes it sound a little different.

 

[pedroims]

Probably he was on drugs while recording, it sounds great to his ears but the reality can be heard on the track.

 

[Clef_de_fa]

And I laugh at the Poison comparison, too. Poison was very much following the hairmetal-pop blueprint. They brought absolutely nothing new to the game. Nirvana did. Again, not everyone likes it and they don't have to, but to even mention them in the same breath as Poison is laughable.

I remember back in the days after Kurt killed himself, some idiot on BBS's (you all remember BBS's, right?) posted a diatribe laughing at how the rest of the band was screwed, and one of the things he said was, "And what the hell is that drummer going to do now? He's totally finished in the business!" Har har.

Well ... not that far from the truth ... Dave changed from drums to guitar ... and the bass player pretty much vanished from music to do something else.

 

[Bodeanly]

Well ... not that far from the truth ... Dave changed from drums to guitar ... and the bass player pretty much vanished from music to do something else.

Not far from the truth? Come on, dude. Dave recorded the Foo's entire first record by himself, played drums for one or two QOTSA albums and some live shows, played drums for the super group Probot, played drums with Them Crooked Vultures (with John Paul Jones on bass, maybe you've heard of him?). Give me a frigging break.

And Krist, while still performing here and there, became a political and social activist (primarily for musicians).

If that's vanishing, I want whatever you're smoking.

 

[static0verdrive]

Don't forget when you listen to isolated tracks you aren't listening to the instrument solo'd, by a long shot. You're listening to the whole song EQ'd to where you mostly only hear what you want - but any competing frequencies in that range will still be there, you aren't making up for times where something like the kick might have a side-chain compressor ducking the bass a bit at times, etc. This isn't a comment on Nirvana's bass or bassist, just my frustration with isolated tracks on youtube.

 

[karl_em_all]

No they're legendary because their no talent junky singer painted the walls with his brains. If that never happened they would probably be a footnote. Poison sold a million albums too does that mean they are great?

C/S,
Rev J

Could be they're legendary because of his quintessential rock vocals, sublime songwriting abilities, and the band's kickass rhythm section featuring a rock drummer extrordinaire. But he couldn't play guitar like Eddie Van Halen so he had no talent right?

 

[A. D. Fairhurst]

Smells Like a Pun
In Pun
Pun as You Are
Pneed
Punium
Pun You
Punny
On a Pun
Pun Act
Pun Away
Something in the Pun
Endless, Punless

 

[A. D. Fairhurst]

Definetely some punch-ins going on. But the tone of the bass doesn't change that much to my ear anyhow- It is surprising how "bright" and clean his tone really is. Not really grungy at all.

Krist is an under-rated player, he had a HUGE impact on Nirvana's sound.

As his tone is a scooped mid, it sounds great and sharp by itself, but becomes a solid wall of bass when other higher-frequency instruments are laid on top, like guitars, and drives the song.

 

[A. D. Fairhurst]

Oh yes I did. Lets face it the gear that was used on that album was barely functioning. The acoustic on "Polly" wouldn't even stay in tune and was missing tuning heads. Cobain replaced the speakers in his main amp with ones from Radio Shack. His writing, playing, and tone sucked. Usually that and drums are the parts that get the most attention. I saw a picture from later Nirvana sessions that show Noveselich playing a Warwick through a Trace Elliot and I thought "Sounding like crap is pretty expensive".

C/S,
Rev J

That Warwick belonged to a Dutch studio where they were doing a radio broadcast. Their gear was being set up for a show that night. The Warwick was never used on Nevermind.

 

[A. D. Fairhurst]

Probably he was on drugs while recording, it sounds great to his ears but the reality can be heard on the track.

The most Krist ever did was weed. Kurt, on the other hand...

 

[A. D. Fairhurst]

Don't forget when you listen to isolated tracks you aren't listening to the instrument solo'd, by a long shot. You're listening to the whole song EQ'd to where you mostly only hear what you want - but any competing frequencies in that range will still be there, you aren't making up for times where something like the kick might have a side-chain compressor ducking the bass a bit at times, etc. This isn't a comment on Nirvana's bass or bassist, just my frustration with isolated tracks on youtube.

Actually, this is the soloed track. It was pinched from the Rock Band game files.

 

[A. D. Fairhurst]

In addition to all the other stuff posted here, it would have made no sense that he destroyed or sold off the Ripper because of a defective pickup wire (and among all the obsessive knowledge on the Internet, no one has ever told the story that way). Fixing that stuff is trivial unless the actual pickup is dead, which is rare, and still replaceable. I fixed a friend's Ripper as my second guitar-wiring project as a 19-year-old with a soldering iron, a modest knowledge of electronics, and no Internet to guide me. It's not that hard.

(Responding to the other argument) Nirvana was immensely influential and derogating their tone on forums is absurd. Tone arguments pale before good songwriting. And, I thought the St. Vincent version of Lithium was cool, too.

Actually, I think it just played second fiddle to the 1974 on tour after that.

 

[static0verdrive]

Actually, this is the soloed track. It was pinched from the Rock Band game files.

OK cool - it was more of a general comment as at work I can't see the youtube links anyway... and it's a rant I usually reserve for tone conversations, for stuff like Jamerson when there's no version of him playing it solo. So many bass harmonics/overtones get lost when you EQ out something higher like a tom or some lower guitar range, so it's not a fair representation. Good on ya for using a real solo track!