Tone library / Nirvana / Smells like teen spirit

Smells like teen spirit amp settings — Stagg 15 GA DR UK

The Nirvana guitar tone for “Smells like teen spirit”, dialed in for a Stagg 15 GA DR UK with a Acoustic Solutions Not sure. Studio version, Nevermind (1991)

Original rig

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

Clean chorused shimmer on verses, aggressive midrange-forward distortion on choruses with upper-mid bite around 2.5-3kHz

Amp settings — Stagg 15 GA DR UK

CHANNELClean (use distortion pedal for dirt)

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	2
Bass	4
Mid	7
Treble	6
Presence	0
Reverb	0
Master	5

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE10 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Distortion (user's unspecified unit)

Cobain used Boss DS-1 with Tone at 4, Distortion at 7, Level at 10. Your pedal may have different knob names—match the functions. Kick this OFF for the clean verse, ON for chorus/solo. Level set to 8 to avoid overpowering a small practice amp.

Gain/Distortion 7 · Tone 4 · Level/Output 8

02Chorus (RECOMMENDED — not currently owned)

RECOMMENDED — Cobain used EHX Small Clone for the clean verse shimmer. A Boss CE-5 or any basic analog chorus clone will get you close. Leave ON for verses (with distortion OFF), can stack with distortion on pre-chorus.

Rate 5 · Depth 7

Why these settings

The Stagg 15 GA DR is a budget solid-state practice amp with limited headroom and a naturally scooped, fizzy character. I pushed mids to 7 (Cobain's Mesa was set to Mid 8) to compensate for the Stagg's weaker midrange and kept gain at 2 so the amp stays clean—all grit must come from your distortion pedal. The 'Acoustic Solutions' guitar is likely a budget Strat-style with single coils; this will be brighter and thinner than Cobain's humbucker-loaded Strat, so I dropped treble slightly from the original 6-7 range.

PRO TIPThe verse-to-chorus dynamic IS the song. Practice clicking the distortion pedal on precisely as you hit the first downstroke of the chorus power chord—Cobain's timing on this was surgical. If your amp has a built-in drive channel, ignore it; run the amp clean and use only the pedal for dirt to replicate his signal path.

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These settings are for a Stagg 15 GA DR UK. 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.