Tone library / Nirvana / Smells like teen spirit

Smells like teen spirit amp settings — Yamaha THR30II

The Nirvana guitar tone for “Smells like teen spirit”, dialed in for a Yamaha THR30II with a Fender Player Telecaster. Studio version, Nevermind (1991) — riff/chorus sections with DS-1 distortion

Original rig

Mesa/Boogie Studio Preamp (clean, Rhythm channel) + Crown Power Base 2 power amp + Marshall 4x12, Fender Stratocaster with Seymour Duncan JB bridge humbucker, Boss DS-1 Distortion

Aggressive, mid-forward grind with scooped low-mids and upper-mid bite — raw but controlled saturation from the DS-1, not amp distortion

Amp settings — Yamaha THR30II

CHANNELCRUNCH — set to lowest gain within this voicing to simulate clean platform receiving pedal distortionBOOSToff

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

Don’t have a Yamaha THR30II? See this song on other amps → Match your own rig →

Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE7 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Boss DS-1 Distortion

RECOMMENDED — not currently owned. This pedal IS the tone; Cobain ran his amp clean and used the DS-1 as his dirt source. A DS-1 clone or Boss DS-2 works identically. Without this pedal, use the amp's built-in distortion as a fallback (see adaptation_note).

Tone 4 · Level 10 · Dist 7

Why these settings

Cobain's original rig used a CLEAN amp platform with the DS-1 providing all gain — the THR30II lacks a true pedal-platform clean channel loud enough to stay clean at volume, so I set CRUNCH at gain 2 to approximate a clean-ish foundation. Your Telecaster's single-coil bridge is brighter and thinner than Cobain's JB humbucker, so I dropped treble from his 6 to your 6 (no change needed) but raised mid +1 to compensate for the Tele's natural mid-scoop. Without the DS-1, push amp gain to 6-7 on CRUNCH — you lose the pedal's specific clipping character but get close.

PRO TIPCobain's pick attack was hard and consistent — dig in near the bridge with a heavy pick (0.88mm+) angled slightly, and palm-mute the low E aggressively on the riff's chugs to replicate the percussive chunk heard on the record.

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These settings are for a Yamaha THR30II. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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