Tone library / Nirvana / Smells like teen spirit

Smells like teen spirit amp settings — Vox DA5

The Nirvana guitar tone for “Smells like teen spirit”, dialed in for a Vox DA5 with a Jackson JS22 Dinky. Studio version, Nevermind (1991)

Original rig

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

Pedal-driven aggressive distortion on choruses, clean chorused shimmer on verses — raw mid-forward grunge with dynamic contrast

Amp settings — Vox DA5

CHANNELNU METAL or BOUTIQUE OD voicing (closest to pedal-into-clean saturation)

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	7
Bass	4
Mid	8
Treble	6
Presence	0
Reverb	0
Master	6

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE7 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Boss DS-1 Distortion

RECOMMENDED — not currently owned. This pedal is essential to the tone; Cobain ran a clean amp and used the DS-1 as his dirt source. Without it, use the amp's gain but know it won't have the same splatty, aggressive character.

Tone 4 · Level 10 · Dist 7

02Chorus (any basic analog-voiced chorus)

RECOMMENDED — not currently owned. Used on clean verse sections only. Cobain's Small Clone was set to slow rate with depth switch up. The DA5 has no built-in chorus, so this is needed for the verse tone.

Rate 5 · Depth 7

Why these settings

Your Jackson's humbuckers are hotter than Cobain's JB, so gain is dropped from original settings. The Vox DA5 is a small modeling amp without the Mesa's mid-forward punch — push mids to 8 to compensate for the Vox's naturally scooped voicing. Without a DS-1, use the amp's gain, but the tone will be smoother and less raw than the original.

PRO TIPCobain's dynamic contrast was the song's secret weapon — he played the verses soft and let the chorus explode. Dig in hard with your pick on the chorus power chords and back off your attack on the clean parts. The tone shift is as much about playing dynamics as gear switching.

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These settings are for a Vox DA5. 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.