Tone library / Nirvana / Heart-Shaped Box

Heart-Shaped Box amp settings — NUX Mighty 20 MK2

The Nirvana guitar tone for “Heart-Shaped Box”, dialed in for a NUX Mighty 20 MK2 with a Ibanez 320FM. Studio version, In Utero (1993) — Steve Albini recording, chorus section tone

Original rig

Fender Jaguar (Drop D) → Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi → Mesa Boogie Studio Preamp → Crown power amp. Polychorus on the solo. The verse is cleaner with volume rolled back; the chorus stomps the Big Muff for the iconic wall of fuzz.

Raw, scooped mid-range fuzz wall with harmonic saturation and compressed sustain — aggressive but melodic, deliberately unpolished

Amp settings — NUX Mighty 20 MK2

CHANNELHiGain (NUX amp model closest to saturated preamp tone)BRIGHToffBOOSToff

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	7
Bass	7
Mid	3
Treble	7
Presence	5
Reverb	0
Master	6

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE6 VOLUME10

Why these settings

The original Big Muff fuzz is scooped with heavy saturation — your NUX HiGain channel approximates this by pushing gain to 7 with mids scooped to 3. Your Ibanez humbuckers are hotter than Cobain's Jaguar single coils, so gain stays at 7 rather than 8. Bass and treble both at 7 recreate the Big Muff's characteristic smiley-face EQ curve. For the cleaner verse tone, roll your guitar volume to 6 and drop amp gain to 4.

PRO TIPThe verse-to-chorus dynamic is everything — practice the hard stomp into the chorus by using your guitar's volume knob as Cobain did. Roll to 6 for verses, slam to 10 for choruses. The aggression comes from the contrast, not just the fuzz.

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These settings are for a NUX Mighty 20 MK2. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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