If I want that Husker Du/Dinosaur Jr. sound, what guitar pedals should I buy?

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Obviously some kind of distortion pedal, but I'm really not familiar with any. Some help would be greatly appreciated.

― Maurice Dozor, Sunday, 27 November 2005 15:01 (twenty years ago)

http://guitargeek.com/rigview/223/
http://guitargeek.com/rigview/81/

― zappi (joni), Sunday, 27 November 2005 15:04 (twenty years ago)

that's one amazing site. :)

― Omar (Omar), Sunday, 27 November 2005 16:11 (twenty years ago)

that site really is nuts, the Dino Jr. rig is great

The main part of the Husker Du sound is that MXR Distortion+ pedal

― Renard, Sunday, 27 November 2005 18:40 (twenty years ago)

In the '80s, neither would have been playing such a complicated setup, though, right?

― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Sunday, 27 November 2005 18:45 (twenty years ago)

You're going to have to fly to LAX, then drive a few miles to Torrance or Redondo Beach, CA and find dude named Spot to record you guys.. and drag out some old mixers and mics...(at least for that early Husker Du "zen arcade" sound)

― dali madison's nut (donut), Sunday, 27 November 2005 18:52 (twenty years ago)

Is Spot back in LA? He was living here in Austin for a few years, at least.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Sunday, 27 November 2005 19:18 (twenty years ago)

Well, Maurice will have to fly to Austin then.

― dali madison's nut (donut), Sunday, 27 November 2005 19:44 (twenty years ago)

get THE BUZZ BOX

― corey c (shock of daylight), Monday, 28 November 2005 05:11 (twenty years ago)

Grunge pedal. Face down, butt all the way up.

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Monday, 28 November 2005 05:21 (twenty years ago)

supafuzz bigmuff

― Special Agent Dale Koopa (orion), Monday, 28 November 2005 05:27 (twenty years ago)

Weed.

― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Monday, 28 November 2005 05:34 (twenty years ago)

Heh, in comparison:

http://guitargeek.com/rigview/334/

― Sundar (sundar), Monday, 28 November 2005 07:18 (twenty years ago)

This looks pretty good. So did he do all the tremolo and whammy stuff with his feet on stage or was it on top of playing with the semi-detached whammy bar?

― Sundar (sundar), Monday, 28 November 2005 07:21 (twenty years ago)

probably both.

from what i've tried and have been told, those rack mounted or stompbox tremelo/auto whah petals are kinda tricky to manipulate tightly. so i expect he might have used the midi controler for a basic level or a large effect and then got the closer effects with his hands on the bar.

i think he was also doing a lot of that stuff by bending the neck.

― bb (bbrz), Monday, 28 November 2005 15:56 (twenty years ago)

The digitech whammy was used for pitchshifting. All the trademark wooziness was using the tremelo arm on the guitar.

― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Monday, 28 November 2005 15:59 (twenty years ago)

Re: Kevin Shields

The midi foot controller is used to select patches/presets on the ADA tube pre amp and the SPX-90, which Sheilds used for Reverse Reverb effects.

― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Monday, 28 November 2005 16:02 (twenty years ago)

That J. Mascis rig is insane. No wonder he's so loud!

― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Monday, 28 November 2005 16:08 (twenty years ago)

http://guitargeek.com/rigview/81/

the first thing you should do, if trying to achieve the husker du sound, is to run away as fast as possible from the sugar sound.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 28 November 2005 16:08 (twenty years ago)

fcc, i can't believe what you're saying!

― k/l (Ken L), Monday, 28 November 2005 16:12 (twenty years ago)

k/l makes no sense at all!

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 28 November 2005 16:19 (twenty years ago)

fcc is right! (Husker Du always had a chorus pedal in there somewhere, I think.)

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Monday, 28 November 2005 16:28 (twenty years ago)

They had pretty different setups. J. Mascis had a vintage Jazzmaster and was playing Marshalls boosted with old fuzz pedals even in the early Dinosaur days. I know Bob Mould was using an Ibanez Flying V copy and I am pretty sure was using solid state amps on the early Husker Du records.

― earlnash, Monday, 28 November 2005 17:27 (twenty years ago)

those rigs are fucking insane! geez.

― Savin All My Love 4 u (Savin 4ll my (heart) 4u), Monday, 28 November 2005 23:21 (twenty years ago)

david gedge's is pretty classic, if i recall...

that site somehow tricked me into buying a blue box...i still don't know what to do with that thing

― bb (bbrz), Monday, 28 November 2005 23:24 (twenty years ago)

It's interesting to compare JM's setup to the likes of Yngwie Malmsteen ( http://guitargeek.com/rigview/259/ ) and Robert Fripp ( http://guitargeek.com/rigview/396/ ). He's right on par with them in terms of sheer excess, which is strange b/c I assumed his sound could be boiled down to one part wah pedal, two parts fuzzbox and five parts sheer volume.

On the other hand, there's Ian Mackaye: http://guitargeek.com/rigview/224/

I love this website, and I hope they expand to display setups employed by guitarists at various stages of their careers - especially those whose endeavors span the whole analog > digital ev(de?)volution.

― Steve Gertz (sgertz), Monday, 28 November 2005 23:53 (twenty years ago)

I hope they expand to display setups employed by guitarists at various stages of their careers

They have done this; check out various entries for Cobain, Iommi, etc in different years.

― Edward III (edward iii), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 17:57 (twenty years ago)

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