Dave Grohl

When asked what was the fundamental guitar-sound recipe for the album, There's Nothing Left to Lose, musician Dave Grohl answered: "We focused on not using too many distortion pedals, and went for a cleaner, fatter, more natural overdrive. We used a Vox AC30 for pretty much everything on the record, tweaking the sound so that it broke up nicely when played loud.... We wanted to move back to that huge, warm, sludgy sound and get something a little more garagey -- not something so well-produced and pristine. So rather than play through a distortion pedal and an amp with its volume at 5, we wouldn't use a pedal at all." After being asked if there is any trick to recording natural guitar sounds Dave Grohl explained, "The best way to get a natural guitar sound is to eliminate all pedals and find an amp that has a lot of range. With an AC30, for example, you can go clean, dirty, bright, or fat. It's just the amplifier and the guitar -- the most basic combination." Dave Grohl uses the Vox AC30 amp head in a 2x12 combo.

Dave Grohl uses the Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier mainly for creating dirty sounds. This is by contrast where “Dave insists upon using the Vox AC-30s for his clean sounds – even though all the road crew hates the way they break-up onstage,” says a Foo Fighters guitar tech.

Dave Grohl uses the Hiwatt Custom 100 Amplifier Head during live performances, particularly following the release of "Wasting Light," as seen in the Foo Fighters' live session at Studio 606 on YouTube.

"In addition, Grohl -- who played all the guitar parts on Nothing Left -- abandoned ..... Amps: Vox AC30, Mesa/Boogie Maverick and Heartbreaker, Fender Twin."

In an interview with Chris Shiflett, he talks about the gear they use. He mentions that Dave grohl turned up and used a Tonemaster

In this photo taken from their "Intimate Irving Plaza Show", Dave can clearly be seen standing behind a Fender Hot Rod.

The rig that Grohl and, of course, Beebe now swears by on stage is much simpler than the one Beebe inherited: a four-channel Mesa Boogie Road King head with a 4 x 12 Mesa Boogie cab, three pedals — a Boss DD-3 delay, an MXR Phase 90 and Boss TU-2 tuner — and a Shure UHF-R wireless system with “auto-assigning belt packs.” “I got rid of the extra amps,” says Beebe. “Before, when he [Grohl] wanted a cleaner sound, the A/B box would get a signal from the Vox AC30, which sounded great. When he wanted a dirty sound, he would go to the Mesa Boogie, and there was a Marshall that was in the mix every once in a while. I got rid of that and I bought a three-channel amp at the time, and now we use four-channel amps, so I can get a wide range of tones and sounds. I like the Mesa Boogie Road Kings because 1) they sound good, and 2) they’re bullet-proof. We’ve dropped our racks off the loading docks, and when you fire them up to see if they work, they actually sound better! And they’re a big company that have a lot of gear in every country and you get a lot of support. If I need anything, they really take care of us!” - Joe Beebe (Grohl's Guitar tech)

Whenever guitarist Dave Grohl wants to create a dirty sound he uses several Mesa/Boogie 4x12 Rectifier Standard Cabs to transmit it.

Dave Grohl was often seen playing through a Silverface Fender Bandmaster Reverb head through a 4x12 in the early days of the Foo Fighters in 1995-1996. He ran the amp clean with his white Les Paul and used a ProCo RAT 2 pedal for all the distortion. Can be seen on the SNL 1995 performances as well as the Letterman performance from the same year.

Dave uses Custom Audio Amplifiers PT100 with Fender Tonemasters

He used this amp when he performed at the Kennedy Center for a tribute performance to Led Zeppelin.

In “The Making Of There Is Nothing Left To Lose” video, the Mesa Boogie Rectifier Maverick can be seen at the 4:10 mark. At this point, Dave Grohl was the only guitarist in the Foo Fighters, so the amp has to be his.

In this source you can see Dave Grohl using these cabinets for live shows after Wasting Light.

In a video from Laundry Room Studio titled "Exhausted" Sonic Highways Outtakes, Dave Grohl is shown using a Petrol Can CBG amplifier during the recording of the album version of "Exhausted" for Foo Fighters' debut album. This amp may have also been used for other tracks on the album and some demos from 1992 to 1994.

Dave Grohl is listed as using Mesa Boogie Road King II guitar heads on Mesa's website.

Dave Grohl is listed as using Mesa/Boogie Lone Star 2x12 combo amps on Mesa's website.

at 1:11, the amp is clearly seen behind Dave

In the YouTube video "Dave Grohl - Band On The Run - In Performance At The White House," Dave Grohl is seen using a Mesa/Boogie Road King II 2x12 Combo amplifier, which is the combo version similar to the amp he uses with the Foo Fighters.

"In this picture from a Foo Fighters performance at ACL Live, Dave Grohl can be seen with his Grammatico Kingsville behind him, and playing his Gibson Trini Lopez. Dave Grohl described the performance as, "the weirdest f-g show we’ve ever played."

In the "Dave Grohl's Gear" section of the MESA/Boogie website, the Lone Star 1x12 Combo is listed as being used by him (original link here).

Dave Grohl is listed as using Oversized Standard cabinets on Mesa's website.

In this old pic you an see the touring rig of Dave; a Mesa Boogie Rectifier w/ 2 cabs and a Mesa Boogie Heartbreaker

Yes, it is a tiny pic, but you can see the Heartbreaker logo on the amp

In this photo of the first Foo Fighters show (02/19/1995), Dave Grohl can be seen playing a Marshall JCM800 2203 100W. This amp was used for the first tour and also the recording of the first album. We know that it’s a JCM800 2203 because, Ernie Bailey (Foo’s 1st guitar tech), answer to some questions of a fan called Johnny (posted on the commente section of the YouTube video ‘Recreating Dave Grohl’s Foo Fighters Guitar Tone!’) : “David WAS plugged into his Turbo Rat pedal, into a Marshall JCM800 2203 100 watt head powering a Marshall 4x12 cabinet.”

According to Guitar Lobby, Dave used JCM900.

According to this article from Premier Guitar, Dave Grohl used a "The Can" amplifier by SLM Electronics in October 1994 at Robert Lang Studios in Seattle, Washington while recording the Foo Fighters debut album.

At 0:20 you can see the amp plugged into Grohls keyboard rig