He has built a replica of Kurt Cobain’s aluminium Veleno guitar. He has compiled a forensically accurate suite of IRs capturing the late Nirvana frontman’s In Utero tone. Now Aaron Rash has unveiled his latest project, The Nevermind Sessions, an IR pack that sounds “identical” to the era-defining electric guitar tones of the Seattle grunge trailblazer’s seminal 1991 album.
Rash is YouTube’s most-authoritative voice on Nirvana guitar tone. In his words, he “started going down the rabbit hole” and what a journey that turned out to be. Along the way he befriended the late Steve Albini, the legendary producer responsible for putting In Utero down on tape.
Albini even lent Rash his Veleno for the project. Nirvana tech Earnie Bailey also helped him fill in the missing pieces, like how Cobain got that clean tone on In Utero from a Frankenstein’d tube amp that was rescued from a dumpster.
One of Rash’s great epiphanies in this archeological survey of Nirvana tone is that your amp’s speaker matters. Like, it really matters, and is the secret sauce to so many of the tones you hear on the records. Rash has gone to some insane lengths to source this gear and to test it. A 13-hour drive to pick up a vintage HiWatt from Seattle? No problem.
This dedication is what makes his YouTube channel essential viewing. It is what makes these IR packs worth checking out. He even recorded The Utero Sessions IR pack at Robert Lang’s studio in Seattle, where Nirvana tracked You Know I’m Right.
Speaking to MusicRadar in January, Rash said this was a learning process. On occasion, the gear seemed to change in real time, with speaker responses and tone changing after being exposed to too much fuzz pedal.
“It’s really weird. So I started taking speakers apart,” he said. “And I’ve actually re-coned a few, which was really, really eye-opening for me. I’ve learned that the tone is in the cone, more so than anything. So I did weird things like taking the cones off of different speakers and putting them on other speakers. It’s really weird stuff but it’s really interesting.”
So what’s in the box? Well, The Nevermind Sessions was another Herculean labour. “It sounds, literally, exactly like the record,” promises Rash. It also ships with a manual that walks you through everything you need to know. “It covers every pedal, every song, how many layers of what is recorded,” says Rash. “It’s super in-depth. It’s super-easy to use.”
Rash has organised all these sounds by song, so if you’re trying to nail that In Bloom rhythm sound you can just load up that IR and it’s there.
Though, one thing to note: the names to the tracks have been changed. You should be able to guess which IR goes with which song. Teenager Spirit? Yes, you guessed it. “I don’t want to get used, obviously, so everything is named a bit differently,” says Rash. “But you’ll know what it means.”
You’ll know how it sounds. Just check out the video, and listen to those opening powerchords to Smells Like Teen Spirit. Sorry, Teenager Spirit. It’s uncanny.
It’s also available now direct from Aaron Rash, priced $49.99. For more, subscribe to Aaron Rash’s YouTube channel.
