Lithium amp settings — Boss Katana mini x

The Nirvana guitar tone for “Lithium”, dialed in for a Boss Katana mini x with a Jackson JS12 Dinky. Studio version, Nevermind (1991)

Original rig

Mesa Boogie Studio .22 preamp + Fender Bassman, Fender Mustang (bridge pickup), Boss DS-1 for chorus dirt

Verse: almost-clean with hint of breakup, mid-forward. Chorus: thick fuzz-wall distortion, compressed and aggressive

Amp settings — Boss Katana mini x

CHANNELCrunch (for verse breakup) / Brown (for chorus wall-of-fuzz)

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	3
Bass	4
Mid	8
Treble	5
Reverb	0
Master	7

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE6 VOLUME8

Why these settings

The Katana Mini lacks the DS-1 that defines the chorus explosion, so I'm using the Crunch channel with low gain for the verse's edge-of-breakup sound. For the chorus, switch to Brown channel and crank gain to 8. Your Jackson's humbuckers are hotter than Kurt's Mustang single coils, so I pulled treble down to 5 (original was 6) and dropped guitar volume to 8 to reduce the input heat and keep the gritty-but-not-fizzy character.

PRO TIPThe loud-quiet-loud dynamic IS the tone. For verse, pick lightly near the neck; for chorus, dig in hard near the bridge. Rolling your guitar volume from 8 to 10 between sections mimics the DS-1 stomp without a pedal.

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These settings are for a Boss Katana mini x. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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Song, artist and gear names are used to identify the tone being matched; ToneAdapt is not affiliated with or endorsed by the artists or manufacturers mentioned. Settings are AI-generated starting points — trust your ears.