Tone library / Nirvana / Come As You Are

Come As You Are amp settings — Harley Benton HB-20MFX

The Nirvana guitar tone for “Come As You Are”, dialed in for a Harley Benton HB-20MFX with a Ibanez GIO GRG170DX. Studio cut, Nevermind (1991) — iconic watery clean intro and main riff

Original rig

1965 Fender Jaguar / Mustang (neck pickup, D standard tuning) -> EHX Small Clone chorus -> Mesa/Boogie Studio Preamp / Fender Twin Reverb

Warm, dark, watery clean with prominent deep chorus modulation

Amp settings — Harley Benton HB-20MFX

CHANNELClean channel (Clean amp model, onboard Chorus active)BOOSToff

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	3
Bass	6
Mid	5
Treble	4
Reverb	2
Master	5

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Guitar

PICKUPneck TONE8 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Onboard Mod FX (Chorus)

Select the onboard Chorus modulation on the HB-20MFX

Depth 8 · Speed 4

Why these settings

The HB-20MFX is a digital modeling amp, so we select its cleanest Fender-style voicing with low gain to replicate the headroom of the studio preamp and Twin Reverb. Cobain's tone is warm and watery rather than bright, so treble is pulled back to 4 with the Ibanez neck humbucker slightly rolled off to emulate a darker Mustang neck pickup. The onboard chorus handles the essential Small Clone modulation with high depth and a slow-to-medium rate. Chorus bypass: switch off modulation for the heavy chorus section if playing with an external dirt sound.

PRO TIPTune down a full step to D standard (D-G-C-F-A-D) as on the record, pick near the neck pickup with a medium-light touch, and let the open D string ring out cleanly.

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These settings are for a Harley Benton HB-20MFX. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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