Kim Thayil

In an interview with Premier Guitar (2012), Kim Thayil stated, "When I got there, Matt brought a Mesa/Boogie Tremoverb combo and Neil had one, too. I just really liked how it sounded and it felt almost instantly like Soundgarden."

In this article by Guitar Player, Kim Thayil says, "A particular attribute of the Guild S-100— which is still my main guitar—is that the low strings are very resonant behind the bridge. That helps create weird harmonics when the signal is feeding back. I pick below the bridge, and slide my left hand up and down the string around the 12th fret to create a pulsating, harmonic effect. The other prerequisite is hot pickups. I noticed as a teenager that my guitar was louder than my friends’ SGs and Les Pauls. The S-100’s pickups are also slightly microphonic, so they are great for distortion and feedback."

"The '79 Guild S-300 (middle) has hotter stock DiMarzio pickups and is used for heavier songs and songs where he is the only guitar player and doesn't need the space behind the bridge."

In this photo, we can see Thayil with 3 heads of VTM-120 model.

This was Kim’s main amp for superunkown. There were other amps he messed around with but the dual rectifier gave him his tone.

Kim: “Chris gave it to me. Lately, with this album, I’ve noticed there’s a lot more use of the delay pedal. I became fond of it when writing By Crooked Steps and then Worse Dreams. So, now I’m using it on some of our older songs live with selected parts of solos like Slaves & Bulldozers and Black Hole Sun.”

At 29:15 in this Rig Rundown for Kim Thayil of Sound Garden, his gear is displayed, showing his Mesa/Boogie Electra-Dyne Head.

Can be seen in the video at the 10:40 mark. Called the "Diet Les Paul" by Kim due to its lighter weight compared to other Les Paul models. Used in CGCGGE tuning ('Pretty Noose,' 'Head Down,' etc.)

This amp can be seen in the photos, both hiro and Kim are using Mesa boogie gear.

He used this amp on the albums ultramega ok and louder than lover.

Can be seen in the video at the 9:30 mark. Used with the "Mailman" tuning (CGDGBE).

The Premier Guitar Rig Rundown of Soundgarden states of Kim's Firebird, "Kim's Gibson Firebird is a current production model and has doubled strings in EEBBBE tuning ("My Wave," "Been Away Too Long")."

In this photo, Thayil is visible playing Gibson Firebird V.

In a concert held in Seattle on October 10, 1986, Kim Thayil played a red Fender Stratocaster, as seen in the footage from the show.

This pedal was used in 2011, according to Mesa. This one causes a lot of gain, as Mesa writes : "The Lehle switches the MXR Doubleshot Distortion and Boss NS-2 gate in/out of the signal path with one switch. The gate is used because there is too much gain with the MXR causing the guitar to squeal. Kim doesn't want a gate on his signal all the time because he does a lot of low-level, subtle techniques that would get lost with a gate."

In a user-uploaded photo, Kim Thayil's pedalboard includes several effects pedals, notably featuring the DOD FX30 Noise Gate among others like the Boss Metal Zone, Boss CE-2, DOD Preamp, and Dunlop Wah/Volume.

At 12:22 in this Rig Rundown for Kim Thayil of Sound Garden, his gear is displayed, showing his MXR Custom Audio Electronics MC-402 Boost/Overdrive Pedal.

At 26:50 in this Rig Rundown for Kim Thayil of Soundgarden, his gear is displayed, showing his Ibanez CS9.

His Guild S-300 has Dimarzio Super Distortion according to Kim.

En esta fotografía se aprecian los siguientes pedales de derecha a izquierda: Boss metal zone, boss ce 2 , dod noise supressor, dod preamp, dunlop wha/ vol

At 12:22 in this Rig Rundown for Kim Thayil of Sound Garden, his gear is displayed, showing his T-Rex Tap Tone.

In this Rig Rundown, Kim states he runs a Rotosphere through the effects loop of his Mesa/Boogie Electrodyne.

In this photo, Boss CE-2 is visible next to Thayil.

At 12:22 in this Rig Rundown for Kim Thayil of Sound Garden, his gear is displayed, showing his Providence PEC-2.

At 12:22 in this Rig Rundown for Kim Thayil of Sound Garden, his gear is displayed, showing his Dunlop MC404 CAE Wah.

At 12:22 in this Rig Rundown for Kim Thayil of Sound Garden, his gear is displayed, showing his Electro-Harmonix Micro POG.

In this Rig Rundown with Premier guitar, you can see the box on the top-right of his pedalboard with a label stating "Combo" on it. This probably means the pedal is being used to route his signal chain to his combo amp, the Mesa/Boogie Trem-o-verb.

This pedal was only listed on Mesa's website. However, the Guitar Player article from 1996 states that he used this pedal way before 2011, on the song "Applebite".

"GP: There are so many interesting tones on the new record. What's the subtle, pretty pitch-modulation effect on "Applebite"?

KT: That's a Jim Dunlop Rotovibe in the Rotovibe setting, as opposed to the chorus setting. I'm playing my '59 Tele on that one, and it's pretty clean. We did two tracks of it, so the Rotovibe sweeps are going slightly off-kilter for an interesting phase difference. I really like the Rotovibe, although I don't go around playing with toys too much. I just figure the sounds are all in your fingers, your attack, the guitar and the amp. I'm much more interested in playing the guitar than doctoring my sound to get a certain effect."

Two of those cabs were seen with Thayil when Mesa documented his rig.

At 17:20 in this Rig Rundown for Kim Thayil of Sound Garden, his gear is displayed, showing his Boss DD-7 Digital Delay Pedal.