Smells Like Teen Spirit amp settings — Peavey ValveKing 20
The Nirvana guitar tone for “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, dialed in for a Peavey ValveKing 20 with a Epiphone SG Standard. Studio version, Nevermind (1991), distorted chorus/riff sections
Mesa/Boogie Studio .22 preamp (clean-ish, Rhythm channel), Fender Stratocaster w/ Seymour Duncan JB humbucker, Boss DS-1 distortion, EHX Small Clone chorus
| Knob | Setting (0–10) |
|---|---|
| Gain | 5 |
| Bass | 4 |
| Mid | 8 |
| Treble | 6 |
| Presence | 4 |
| Reverb | 0 |
| Master | 5 |
01Boss DS-1 Distortion
RECOMMENDED — not currently owned. This pedal IS the Cobain distortion tone. Without it, the amp-only settings above approximate the character but lack the specific DS-1 clipping texture. A used DS-1 runs $30-40.
Your Epiphone SG humbuckers are hotter and warmer than Cobain's single JB in a Strat body, so I dropped treble from his 8 to 6 and kept bass restrained at 4 to prevent mud. The ValveKing has tighter, more aggressive mids than the Mesa preamp's looser voice, so I pushed mids to 8 to match his upper-mid bark (Mesa ran mid at 8, but voiced differently). Presence stays low at 4—Peavey presence gets fizzy fast. Without the DS-1, I set amp gain at 5 to provide grit, but the tone will sound more compressed and saturated than the original's raw pedal-driven attack.
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These settings are for a Peavey ValveKing 20. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.
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