Tone library / Nirvana / Drain you (Live at the paramount 1991)

Drain you (Live at the paramount 1991) amp settings — Yamaha Ga15ii

The Nirvana guitar tone for “Drain you (Live at the paramount 1991)”, dialed in for a Yamaha Ga15ii with a Yamaha Pacifica 112V. Live at the Paramount Theatre (October 31, 1991) — main riff and verse/chorus distortion

Original rig

Fender Jaguar / 'Vandalism' Strat (Seymour Duncan JB humbucker) -> Boss DS-1 / DS-2 -> Mesa/Boogie Studio .22 Preamp -> Crest 4801 Power Amp -> Marshall 1960AC 4x12 Cabs

Saturated, aggressive grunge crunch with thick low-mids and cutting top-end bite

Amp settings — Yamaha Ga15ii

CHANNELDrive switch engaged

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	7
Bass	6
Mid	7
Treble	6
Master	6

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE10 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Joyo JF-05 Classic Chorus

Engage during the middle breakdown / bridge section only; leave bypassed for main riffs and chorus

Rate 4 · Width 6

02Boss DS-1 Distortion

RECOMMENDED — not currently owned (key missing piece for authentic Cobain gain)

Tone 5 · Level 8 · Dist 8

Why these settings

The Yamaha GA15II is a basic solid-state practice amp with a 3-band EQ and no presence control, so the drive channel is pushed to 7 to deliver the necessary raw grunge saturation without an owned distortion pedal. Treble is kept at 6 to prevent the small 6.5-inch speaker from sounding overly harsh while mids are boosted to 7 to mimic the thick Mesa preamp punch. Once you add a dedicated DS-1 or DS-2, switch the amp to the clean channel with gain low to let the pedal provide the main clipping. Middle breakdown: engage the Joyo Classic Chorus on the quiet interlude chords.

PRO TIPHit the strings aggressively near the bridge with medium-heavy downstrokes to recreate Kurt's percussive attack, letting the Pacifica's bridge humbucker drive the front end hard.

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