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Dave Grohl's Pristine Pedals

Ranked #724 in Music, #17,840 overall

Pure, Clean Distortion

Dave Grohl likes to have his guitar heard, so he needs to keep his guitar tone clear and pristine. He has a wide variety of pedals to help him accomplish this. He also likes to show off his crystal clear tone with a lot of delay. Not bad, eh? Dave has definitely found what he likes. With no help.
In this lens, I will go over the pedals that Dave uses. I can't find any information on his settings, however, and I'm not completely sure of what his signal chain looks like now. To see his signal chain from 2000, Click Here

image from fineartamerica.com

info from http://www.uberproaudio.com/who-plays-what/78-foo-fighters-dave-grohls-guitar-gear-rig-and-equipment

Boss DM-2 Analog Delay

What can I say, Dave likes his delay. This was one of his core pedals. This pedal takes a large amount of electricity to power, so not all power sources will work with it. The DM-2 was discontinued in 1984, so it's a vintage pedal(obviously). None the less, this pedal is still very popular, and can be found on eBay pretty often.
A pedal close to the DM-2 is the Retro-Sonic AD. It is a copy of the DM-2. Another option id the Ibanez AD-9.
Click Here to check out the Retro-Sonic AD
Click Here to check out the AD-9's page

image from members2.jcom.home.ne.jp

On Amazon...

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On eBay...

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Boss DD-3 Digital Delay

Another delay pedal. What did I say? According to Boss, this pedal is the pedalboard equivalent of a rack unit. It has pretty simple controls: level, feedback, delay time, and an interesting mode knob with 4 options.
Click Here to go to the DD-3's page

image from guitarcenter.com

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Boss TU-2 Stage Tuner

Every guitarist needs a tuner, it's a necessary evil. Boss is among the top dogs for pedals(obviously), and of course for tuners. Dave has two of these on his pedalboard, just to make sure. Of course, Boss went all out with this pedal with 7 different tuning modes: chromatic, guitar standard, guitar half step down, guitar whole step down, bass standard, bass half step down, and bass whole step down. It also remembers your preferences. Cool, huh?
Click Here to go to the TU-2's official page

image from americanmusical.com

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MXR Phase 90 Phaser

Dave is one of the hundreds of artists that use this pedal, but I'm not quite sure when he uses it. It doesn't seem like any Foo Fighters songs have a phaser in it. It only has one knob, for speed.
Click Here to check out the Phase 90.

image from sweetwater.com

I thought of a song: Breakout from There is Nothing Left to Lose.

On iTunes...

Track Artist Album  
Breakout Foo Fighters Foo Fighters: Greatest Hits

On Amazon...

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Proco Rat Distortion

The Proco Rat is used by alternative artists from all over, Dave being one of them. After all, the Foo Fighters wouldn't be the face of Post-Grunge without distortion, right? The Rat has pretty much standard distortion controls with distortion and volume, but then it also has filter. at first glance this may seem like a specialty knob or extra, but it's basically just tone.
Click Here to check out the Rat.

image from effectsdatabase.com

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Dunlop Univibe Chorus

I think of quite of times when the Foo Fighters have used a chorus pedal. First thing that comes to mind is on Headwires from There is Nothing Left to Lose. Chorus is used by countless artists, and there are just as many pedals as there are guitarists that use them. There's one for everyone. This pedal has pretty simple straightforward controls and can go anywhere from a thick phasey tone, to a vibrato effect.
Click Hereto go to the Univibe's page.

image from pulseonline.com

On iTunes...

Track Artist Album  
Headwires Foo Fighters There Is Nothing Left to Lose

On eBay...

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Electro-Harmonix Memory Man

Surprise! Another delay pedal! Oh wait... This pedal is also a chorus and a vibrato pedal. Cool. Like most EHX pedals, this ones a little overboard and out there. It has 6, count them, 6 knobs for delaying, chorusing, and vibrato-ing. It even comes with an overload light! How nice.
Click Here to check out the Memory Man

image from keymusic.com

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Electro-Harmonix Q-Tron

An envelope filter. I don't know why, but I guess he has it. The Q-Tron creates a large variety of auto-wah and envelope filter effects with it's, once again, 6 knobs.
Click Here to check out the Q-Tron

image from robrobertshomes.com

On Amazon...

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Dunlop Heil Talkbox

I really think this thing was only used on one Foo Fighters song: Generator from There is Nothing Left to Lose(I really like that album). This is a pretty unique pedal. You basically have the sound from your amp coming out of a tube that's next to a microphone. From there, you put your mouth over the tube, or close to it anyway, and make different shapes with your mouth. The result is a combination of your voice and your guitar. Pretty cool, huh? After all, no knobs to deal with.
Click Here to go to the Talkbox's page

image from amoeba.com

On iTunes...

Track Artist Album  
Generator Foo Fighters There Is Nothing Left to Lose

On Amazon...

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Keeley Katana Boost

Remember how I said Dave really likes his tone? Well this is one of those contributing pedals I was talking about. This pedal provides both a clean boost, or a distorted boost by pulling the knob uniquely placed on the side of the pedal. Turn the knob to determine how much of a boost you want.
Click Here to check out the Katana

image from dirtbox.net

On Amazon...

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MXR Smart Gate

An intelligent noise gate, oh the joy! This is exactly what all guitarists who hate hum need. It has 3 settings in addition to the sensitivity knob: hiss, mid, and full band.
Click Here for more info on the Smart Gate

image from altomusic.com

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Ebtech Hum Eliminator

Another contributing factor to Dave's pristine tone. This eliminates whatever hum any of the pedals, or guitars create. That's why it's called the Eliminator.
Click Here to check out the Eliminator

image from americanmusical.com

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THD Purple Hot Plate Attenuator

Dave definitely uses this piece of gear a lot. It allows you to get a full distortion sound at any volume. The creators claim that the Hot Plate is the most popular attenuator out there. Do I believe them? I don't know. Keep in mind that Dave uses the purple version.
Click Here to check out the Hot Plate

image from 3-b-s.eu

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Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus

With so many pedals, it's no wonder that Dave needs a pretty big power source for his pedals. This power source goes all the way and regulates power extremely well. Best part? It's hand made in the USA.
Click Here to check out the power source

image from stevesmusiccenter.com

On Amazon...

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What's Your Favorite Effect That Dave Uses? What Song Is It In?

I'd love to know! My favorite is the chorus effect in Everlong (the beginning)

  • adamfrench Oct 1, 2011 @ 5:10 pm | delete
    Impressive lens, thumbs up
  • guitaristic Jun 23, 2011 @ 3:12 pm | delete
    Hehe, I have the THD Power Plate myself and it has proven really useful. Congrats on the lens!
  • thebabyshop May 6, 2011 @ 2:59 pm | delete
    Love Dave Grohl's music, thanks for sharing about the pedals he uses!
  • clipman3 May 6, 2011 @ 3:41 pm | delete
    same, no prob!
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clipman3

I'm big on music, listening to and making it. I love guitars and trying to find that perfect tone.
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