Tone library / Nirvana / Smells like teen spirit

Smells like teen spirit amp settings — Donner DA-10B

The Nirvana guitar tone for “Smells like teen spirit”, dialed in for a Donner DA-10B with a Donner Stratocaster. Studio version, Nevermind (1991)

Original rig

Mesa/Boogie Studio preamp + Crown Power Base 2 power amp, Fender Stratocaster with Seymour Duncan JB humbucker, Boss DS-1 Distortion, EHX Small Clone chorus

Aggressive mid-forward grunge distortion with scooped low-mids, upper-mid bite around 2.5-3kHz, clean chorused verses contrasting with saturated chorus sections

Amp settings — Donner DA-10B

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

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE7 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Boss DS-1 Distortion

RECOMMENDED — not currently owned. This is non-negotiable for Cobain's tone; the DS-1 IS the sound. Budget alternatives: Donner Morpher or any DS-1 clone (~$30).

Tone 4 · Level 10 · Dist 7

02Electro-Harmonix Small Clone Chorus

RECOMMENDED — not currently owned. Used on clean verses only. Budget alternative: Donner Tutti Love chorus or any analog chorus clone.

Rate 5 · Depth 10

Why these settings

The Donner DA-10B is a small practice amp without the clean headroom of Cobain's Fender Twin Reverb setup. Without a DS-1 pedal, you must use the amp's onboard gain—set to 7 to approximate the DS-1's saturation. I pushed mids to 7 because the DA-10B lacks the natural mid-forward voicing of the Mesa preamp, and the recording has a strong 2.5kHz presence. Reverb is 0; the original is bone dry.

PRO TIPCobain's picking attack was aggressive and slightly behind the beat—dig in hard with downstrokes on the main riff and let the notes decay naturally. The dynamics between the whisper-quiet clean verse and the explosive chorus ARE the song; without a distortion pedal to footswitch, you'll need to roll your guitar volume to 3-4 for verses and slam it to 10 for the chorus.

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These settings are for a Donner DA-10B. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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