Kurt Cobain

This screenshot from the Julien's Auctions website (slightly altered to make it fit better) shows the auction for Kurt Cobain's Boss DS-1 Distortion pedal. Jeff Toste was the recipient of the pedal after Cobain threw it into the crowd. A letter from Toste accompanying the pedal tells the story:

The third show of Nirvana's iconic Nevermind tour was at Club Babyhead in Providence, RI. It was September 25th, 1991 and The Melvins opened. I was at that show.

During the show Kurt Cobain had technical problems, and at one point he was getting no sound from his gear. He must have thought his distortion pedal (Boss DS-1) had something to do with it. He smashed the pedal on the stage and threw it into the crowd. It landed between the feet of the guy in front of me. I pulled it out from between his feet.

The left hinge on the pedal is broken, but otherwise works. The pedal still has the original duct tape used to secure it to the stage. I've had it ever since.

The winning bid of this particular auction was $8,960 USD. The original source of the auction is here.

Replaced Kurt's DS-1 around 1992. Kurt still used the same settings like his DS-1 and kept it in Mode 1. Can be seen in the Unplugged show, Live at Reading, and a handful of other shows, usually before his Small Clone.

Kurt used the Sansamp as his primary distortion on the In Utero album and tour. His settings were '3 up, 3 down, 2 up' on the switches, both drive knobs were full, high from 11-2 o clock, in normal mode.

This guitar effects pedal was used for the recording of "Nevermind”.

In this photo, the pedal clearly has the same knobs of that of the first version of the Pro Co Rat, as seen by the thick white lines which differ from the second one, proving that this is the correct model.

It is used throughout the MTV Live and Loud show at Pier 48 in Seattle. Its next to his Tech 21 Sansamp pedal. You can get a fairly good view of it during Radio Friendly Unit Shifter, Drain You, Rape Me and Blew. The closest shot you get is a couple of times during Endless Nameless when some fans get onto the stage, which I've provided screenshots of for the source.

Later, in 2014, it was tried to be sold on the infamous Pawn Stars show.

Kurt Cobain used the MXR M104 Distortion+ pedal during some of his live performances, as confirmed through conversations and emails with his guitar technician, Earnie Bailey. This information is supported by a photo on Kurtsequipment titled "leanover.jpg."

Used in 01/30/94 at Robert Lang studio for the You Know You're Right sessions