Tone library / Nirvana / Smells Like Teen Spirit

Smells Like Teen Spirit amp settings — Marshall G10 Gold

The Nirvana guitar tone for “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, dialed in for a Marshall G10 Gold with a Harley Benton DC-580 CH Vintage Series. Studio version, Nevermind (1991)

Original rig

Mesa/Boogie Studio preamp (Rhythm channel clean), Crown Power Base 2, Marshall 1960B 4x12, Fender Stratocaster w/ Seymour Duncan JB humbucker, Boss DS-1, EHX Small Clone chorus

Scooped verses with watery chorus, explosive mid-forward distortion on choruses with upper-mid bite around 2.5-3kHz

Amp settings — Marshall G10 Gold

CHANNELClean (Overdrive channel OFF)

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	2
Bass	4
Mid	7
Treble	6
Reverb	0
Master	6

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE8 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Zoom G1 Four — Distortion (DS-1 model: 'DistOne')

Use the 'DistOne' model on the Zoom G1 Four — this is a Boss DS-1 emulation. Engage for pre-chorus, chorus, and solo; bypass for clean verses.

Tone 4 · Dist 7 · Level 10

02Zoom G1 Four — Chorus (Small Clone model: 'Chorus' or 'AnalogCho')

Use the analog chorus model. Keep ON for verses (clean + chorus). Leave ON during distorted sections for authenticity — Cobain stacked both effects.

Rate 5 · Depth 7 · Mix 6

Why these settings

Your Marshall G10 is a solid-state practice amp with a naturally bright, mid-forward Marshall voice. Cobain's Mesa preamp was run clean with mid-heavy EQ (Mid: 8 on original). Your G10 already has Marshall mids, so I set mid to 7 — any higher gets honky on small Marshalls. Bass stays at 4 to avoid muddiness through the small speaker. The Zoom G1 Four's 'DistOne' patch replicates the DS-1 that provided ALL the gain — keep amp gain minimal (2) so the pedal does the work.

PRO TIPCobain's attack was loose and aggressive — downstroke the open power chords hard with your pick angled slightly, and let the strings buzz against the frets. That slop is the tone. Roll your guitar's tone knob to 8 to tame the ice-pick high end the DS-1 can produce through a bright Marshall.

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These settings are for a Marshall G10 Gold. 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.