Lithium amp settings — Fender Champion 20
The Nirvana guitar tone for “Lithium”, dialed in for a Fender Champion 20 with a Epiphone SG Standard. Studio version, Nevermind (1991) — iconic clean-to-distortion dynamic
1965 Fender Jaguar / Mustang into 1965 Fender Bassman head, EHX Big Muff Pi / Boss DS-1, EHX Small Clone
| Knob | Setting (0–10) |
|---|---|
| Gain | 3 |
| Bass | 6 |
| Treble | 5 |
| Reverb | 1 |
| Master | 5 |
01Boss DS-1 Distortion
Engage for chorus, disengage for verse; acts as primary gain source into the clean amp
The Fender Champion 20 lacks physical mid and presence controls, so mid and presence are set to null while its Blackface clean voice serves as the pedal platform. Because the owned Boss DS-1 is the primary gain engine for the chorus explosion, the amp gain is kept low at 3 to prevent muddy double-gain stacking. The SG's humbuckers are warmer and higher output than Cobain's Jaguar single coils, so the DS-1 Tone knob is dialed back to 4 and guitar tone to 8 to avoid harsh top-end fizz while retaining low-end weight.
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These settings are for a Fender Champion 20. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.
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