Tone library / Nirvana / Aneurysm

Aneurysm amp settings — Zoom G1X Four

The Nirvana guitar tone for “Aneurysm”, dialed in for a Zoom G1X Four with a Squier Bullet Stratocaster. Main riff and heavy chorus, Studio version (Incesticide / B-side 1991)

Original rig

Fender Jaguar (DiMarzio Super Distortion) -> Boss DS-1 Distortion -> EHX Small Clone -> 1960s Fender Bassman head into Marshall 4x12 cab

Raw, saturated distortion with aggressive upper-mid bite and tight low-end grind
Amp settings — Zoom G1X Four
CHANNELFD B-MAN (Fender Bassman amp model) + 4x12 cab IRBRIGHToffBOOSToff
GAIN 3 BASS 6 MID 7 TREBLE 5 REVERB 0 MASTER 7
KnobSetting (0–10)
Gain3
Bass6
Mid7
Treble5
Reverb0
Master7
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Guitar
PICKUPbridge TONE8 VOLUME10
Signal chain

01DS-1 (Boss Distortion model)

Primary gain source; leave on for main riff and chorus sections

Gain 8 · Tone 5 · Level 7

02CHORUS (Small Clone style analog chorus model)

Bypass for heavy riffs; engage for the clean intro and verses

Depth 6 · Rate 4 · Level 7
Why these settings

Because the Squier Bullet Stratocaster uses single-coil pickups compared to Cobain's high-output DiMarzio Super Distortion humbucker, amp bass is pushed to 6 and guitar tone is rolled back slightly to eliminate harsh single-coil spikiness. The DS-1 block acts as the core distortion source into the clean FD B-MAN Bassman model, keeping the amp gain low at 3 to prevent digital clipping and preserve dynamic definition. Clean intro/verse: bypass the DS-1 block and engage the Chorus block.

PRO TIPPick aggressively near the bridge with medium-heavy downstrokes to capture the raw, percussive bite of Kurt's attack without letting single coils thin out.

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These settings are for a Zoom G1X Four. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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