Lithium amp settings — Line 6 Spider V 240

The Nirvana guitar tone for “Lithium”, dialed in for a Line 6 Spider V 240 with a Gibson SG Special. Studio version, Nevermind (1991)

Original rig

Fender Bassman amp, Fender Mustang/Stratocaster (bridge pickup), Boss DS-1 or Big Muff for chorus distortion

Verse: warm, slightly gritty clean with low-end thump. Chorus: compressed wall-of-fuzz with scooped mids and aggressive sustain.

Amp settings — Line 6 Spider V 240

CHANNELInsane (for chorus) / Clean (for verse)BOOSToff

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	7
Bass	6
Mid	4
Treble	6
Presence	5
Reverb	0
Master	5

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE7 VOLUME8

Signal chain

01Spider V built-in Big Muff model

Use the amp's built-in Big Muff effect for the chorus. Bypass it completely for the verse sections. If unavailable, use the built-in 'Classic Distortion' or 'Fuzz' model.

Drive 8 · Tone 5 · Level 7

Why these settings

Your SG's humbuckers are hotter and warmer than Cobain's single-coil Mustang/Strat, so I pulled the gain back slightly and dropped the tone knob to 7 to tame the extra thickness. The Spider V's Insane channel gets you into Big Muff territory; keep mids scooped at 4 to replicate that hollow, compressed fuzz sound. For the verse, switch to the Clean channel with gain at 1-2 for the nearly-clean arpeggios.

PRO TIPThe song is in Eb standard tuning—detune a half-step before dialing in the tone. For the loud-quiet-loud dynamics, Cobain played the verse at reduced picking intensity with the fuzz bypassed, then stomped it on and dug in hard for the chorus. Replicate that attack dynamic, not just the settings.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a Line 6 Spider V 240. 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.