Tone library / Nirvana / Smell like teen spirit

Smell like teen spirit amp settings — Fender Mustang LT25

The Nirvana guitar tone for “Smell like teen spirit”, dialed in for a Fender Mustang LT25 with a Gibson Les Paul Classic. Studio version, Nevermind (1991) — main distorted riff/chorus tone

Original rig

Fender Stratocaster (Seymour Duncan JB humbucker at bridge), Boss DS-1 Distortion, Mesa/Boogie Studio Preamp (Rhythm channel, clean setting), Crown Power Base 2, Marshall 1960B 4x12 with Celestion G12T-75s

Aggressive, gritty distortion with upper-mid bite and scooped lower-mids — raw but controlled saturation

Amp settings — Fender Mustang LT25

CHANNELMetal 2000 amp modelBOOSToff

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

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE7 VOLUME10

Why these settings

Cobain's DS-1 into clean Mesa is replicated here using the Mustang LT25's Metal 2000 model, which delivers similar upper-mid grit and gain structure. Your Les Paul's humbuckers are hotter than Cobain's single JB, so gain is dropped from 7 to 6 and tone knob rolled to 7 to tame brightness. Mid pushed to 7 to compensate for the Fender-voiced modeling which scoops mids more than the original Mesa rig.

PRO TIPCobain's attack was aggressive downstrokes with a thin .60mm pick held loosely — the slight sloppiness and pick scrape is part of the tone. Dig in hard on the palm-muted sections, then lift cleanly for the open power chords.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a Fender Mustang LT25. 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.