Drain you amp settings — NUX Mighty 40-BT

The Nirvana guitar tone for “Drain you”, dialed in for a NUX Mighty 40-BT with a Squier Bullet Stratocaster. Live at The Paramount, Seattle, October 31, 1991

Original rig

Mesa/Boogie Studio Preamp (clean) → Crown Power Base 2 → Marshall 1960A 4x12, Fender Mustang (bridge pickup), Boss DS-1, EHX Small Clone

Raw, aggressive mid-heavy grunge distortion with swirling chorus on clean sections

Amp settings — NUX Mighty 40-BT

CHANNELClean channel (or lowest gain amp model available)BRIGHToffBOOSToff

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	2
Bass	5
Mid	7
Treble	6
Presence	5
Reverb	0
Master	6

Don’t have a NUX Mighty 40-BT? See this song on other amps → Match your own rig →

Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE8 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01NUX MG-100 Distortion (DS-1 model if available, or generic distortion)

This is your primary gain source. Cobain ran his DS-1 hot with tone around noon. Set amp clean so the distortion stays tight and defined.

Dist/Drive 8 · Tone 6 · Level 7

02Analog Chorus (Small Clone substitute)

Engage only for the bridge/breakdown section. Small Clone is a slow, deep chorus—keep rate low, depth high for that watery Nirvana swirl.

Rate 4 · Depth 7

Why these settings

Cobain's rig used a clean preamp as a pedal platform—your NUX Mighty 40-BT should do the same. Set amp gain to 2 (clean headroom) and let the MG-100's distortion do all the dirt work. Your Squier Strat's single coils are brighter and lower output than Cobain's Mustang, so I raised mids to 7 (vs original ~5.5) and kept treble conservative at 6 to avoid ice-pick highs. Roll tone knob to 8 to tame Strat bridge harshness.

PRO TIPCobain's attack was loose and aggressive—use all downstrokes on the main riff with your pick angled slightly, hitting the strings hard near the bridge for that snarling, percussive grunge bite. The sloppiness is part of the sound.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a NUX Mighty 40-BT. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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