Tone library / Nirvana / Smells Like Teen Spirit

Smells Like Teen Spirit amp settings — Cort Cm150b

The Nirvana guitar tone for “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, dialed in for a Cort Cm150b with a Fender Player Precision Bass. Studio version, Nevermind (1991) — NOTE: Original is 6-string electric guitar, user has bass guitar

Original rig

Mesa/Boogie Studio preamp + Crown Power Base 2 + Marshall 4x12, Fender Stratocaster w/ Seymour Duncan JB humbucker (bridge), Boss DS-1, EHX Small Clone

Aggressive, mid-heavy grunge crunch with scooped low-mids around 500Hz-1kHz and boosted upper-mids around 2.5-3kHz — unobtainable on bass but approximated as grindy, driven bass tone

Amp settings — Cort Cm150b

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	6
Bass	4
Mid	8
Treble	7
Presence	0
Reverb	0
Master	5

Don’t have a Cort Cm150b? See this song on other amps → Match your own rig →

Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE10 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Boss DS-1 Distortion

RECOMMENDED — not currently owned. Essential for this tone. Without it, push amp gain to 8 but expect muddy results on bass frequencies.

Tone 4 · Level 10 · Dist 7

02Electro-Harmonix Small Clone Chorus

RECOMMENDED — not currently owned. Used on clean verse sections only. Depth switch UP (full depth).

Rate 5 · Depth 10

Why these settings

This tone is designed for 6-string electric guitar and cannot be faithfully reproduced on bass. The Cort CM150B bass amp lacks the upper-mid presence (2-3kHz) that defines Cobain's cutting grunge tone. I've pushed mids to 8 and treble to 7 to add as much bite as the bass amp allows, and kept bass at 4 to prevent mud. Without a distortion pedal, you will not achieve the song's signature crunch—a Boss DS-1 or bass-specific OD (Darkglass, Tech 21 SansAmp) is essential.

PRO TIPIf you're covering this on bass, play the root notes aggressively with a pick near the bridge to maximize attack and upper harmonics—this is the closest a P-Bass gets to guitar aggression. Consider playing an octave up where the fretboard allows.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a Cort Cm150b. 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.