Breed amp settings — Fender Hot Rod Deluxe IV

The Nirvana guitar tone for “Breed”, dialed in for a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe IV with a Fender Player Plus Stratocaster. Studio version, Nevermind (1991) — ProCo Rat split into amp + DI

Original rig

Fender Bassman (clean, high headroom), ProCo Rat (v1), Fender Mustang with humbucker — pedal-driven gain into clean amp

Aggressive, tight, forward upper-mids with raw distortion edge and punchy low-end

Amp settings — Fender Hot Rod Deluxe IV

CHANNELCleanBRIGHToff

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	3
Bass	5
Mid	7
Treble	5
Presence	5
Reverb	0
Master	5

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE7 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01ProCo Rat (or Rat 2 clone)

RECOMMENDED — not currently owned. The Rat is non-negotiable for this tone; a Boss DS-1 gets you closer to 'Teen Spirit' but 'Breed' specifically used the Rat's tighter, more aggressive clipping. Filter at 4 keeps it from getting too dark.

Distortion 7 · Filter 4 · Volume 8

Why these settings

Your Hot Rod Deluxe has similar Fender DNA to the Bassman—high headroom, scooped mids—so it's actually ideal as a clean platform. Kurt used humbuckers; your Strat's single coils are brighter and lower output, so I've pulled treble down 1 from typical Bassman settings and pushed mids to 7 to compensate for the Strat's natural scoop. Without a Rat, you cannot get this tone from the amp alone—the HRD's drive channel is too smooth and compressed compared to the Rat's gnarly clipping.

PRO TIPKurt picked hard and close to the bridge for that aggressive attack. Dig in with downstrokes on the main riff—the Rat responds dynamically to pick attack, and that percussive snap is half the tone.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe IV. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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