Tone library / Nirvana / Smells Like Teen Spirit

Smells Like Teen Spirit amp settings — hotone pulze mini

The Nirvana guitar tone for “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, dialed in for a hotone pulze mini with a Ibanez RG GIO GRG120QASP. Studio version, Nevermind (1991) — iconic distorted main riff/chorus

Original rig

Fender Stratocaster (Seymour Duncan JB bridge humbucker) -> Boss DS-1 -> Mesa/Boogie Studio Preamp (Clean Rhythm channel) -> Crown Power Base 2 -> Marshall 1960B 4x12 cab

Aggressive, raw pedal-driven distortion with scooped lower mids and boosted upper-mid bite

Amp settings — hotone pulze mini

CHANNELUS Clean amp model (Fender Twin/Clean Preamp model)BRIGHTonBOOSToff

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	2
Bass	5
Mid	7
Treble	6
Reverb	0
Master	7

Don’t have a hotone pulze mini? See this song on other amps → Match your own rig →

Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE10 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Boss DS-1 (or built-in Orange Dist model)

RECOMMENDED — enable the DS-1 distortion block in the Pulze app

Tone 4 · Level 8 · Dist 7

02EHX Small Clone Chorus

RECOMMENDED — enable for clean intro/verses, bypass during heavy chorus

Rate 4 · Depth 8

Why these settings

Cobain used a Boss DS-1 running into a clean Mesa preamp channel, meaning the distortion comes entirely from the pedal rather than amp overdrive. To match this on the Hotone Pulze Mini, select the clean American amp model with gain kept low at 2 to avoid muddy double-gain, and engage the internal DS-1 distortion block. The Ibanez bridge humbucker closely mirrors Cobain's Duncan JB bridge pickup, so keeping the guitar volume and tone wide open provides the right amount of output and treble bite.

PRO TIPHit the muted four-stroke scratch strums with aggressive, loose-wristed down-up motions across all six strings while fretting flat over the strings to replicate the percussive attack of the main hook.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a hotone pulze mini. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

Get ToneAdapt on Google Play

More tones for the hotone pulze mini

TumiLevel Five

Find your amp

Browse

hotone pulze mini settingsALL SONGS FOR THIS AMP Smells Like Teen Spirit on other ampsSAME SONG, YOUR AMP Nirvana tonesALL SONGS Tone libraryEVERYTHING

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.