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Nevermind coverSmells Like Teen Spirit · Nirvana

Smells Like Teen Spirit

Tone for HOTONE Pulze Mini · by @faldy · Humbuckers · Eb standard · updated 11 October 2026 · Made with AI

Captures Kurt Cobain's explosive Nevermind rhythm tone, blending an aggressive orange distortion pedal with a punchy Mesa-style preamp and Marshall 4x12 cabinet.

Plays it on your Pulze Mini without changing your saved presets.

On the Pulze Mini

Every block in the order the signal goes through it. Dial these in by hand, or play it on your Pulze Mini above to send them all at once.

DYN

Gate 1

Threshold
18
PRE

Smooth

Based on classic Japan-made orange dirt pedal

Gain
58
Tone
50
Volume
58
AMP

Petrus Clean

Based on Mesa/Boogie® JP-2C™ amp

Gain
30
Presence
52
Master
55
Bass
46
Middle
48
Treble
54
CAB

UK 4x12A

Based on Marshall® 1960AX cabinet

Volume
50
Low Cut
95
High Cut
7000
EQ

V-EQ

Based on Mesa/Boogie® 5-band graphic EQ module

80Hz
+2
240Hz
-2
750Hz
-8
2.2kHz
+4
6.6kHz
+3
FX1

Chorus

Off

Based on Voodoo Lab® Analog Chorus

FX2

Room

Mix
18
Pre Dly
10 ms
Decay
35
Low Damp
50
Hi Damp
55
Mod
30

How it works

  • PRERunning the Smooth distortion (Boss DS-1) into the Petrus Clean preamp recreates Kurt's core studio signal chain of a DS-1 feeding a Mesa/Boogie preamp into a Marshall 4x12 cab.
  • EQBecause your humbuckers have thicker mids and higher output than Kurt's Mustang single-coil, pedal Gain is kept at 58 and the Mesa V-EQ dips 750Hz while boosting 2.2kHz and 6.6kHz to prevent muddiness and restore raw top-end bite.
  • DYNGate 1 clamps down on extraneous hiss so the iconic rhythmic chucks and abrupt pauses stay dead quiet.
  • FX2A touch of Room reverb recreates the natural acoustic space of Sound City's famous tracking room without washing out the attack.

Tuning

EbAbDbGbBbEb

The record is in Eb standard, low to high: Eb Ab Db Gb Bb Eb.

Tune your guitar the same way. Or make your version above, say how yours is tuned, and your Pulze Mini shifts it to match.

On the guitar

Made for a humbucker guitar (Les Paul / SG style).

Chorus & Heavy Riffs

NeckBridge123
  1. 1Pickup Bridge
  2. 2Volume 10
  3. 3Tone 9

Full guitar volume on the bridge humbucker unleashes the full wall-of-sound grunge explosion.

Verse

NeckBridge123
  1. 1Pickup Neck + Bridge
  2. 2Volume 7
  3. 3Tone 9

Rolling guitar volume back cleans up the grit for the understated two-note verse riff.

The original rig

Kurt Cobain achieved the song's dynamic contrast using a modified Mustang into an EHX Small Clone for watery verse cleans and a Boss DS-1 pushed into a Mesa/Boogie Studio Preamp and Marshall 4x12 for explosive, double-tracked choruses.

Kurt Cobain (Rhythm and solo): 1969 Fender Mustang, Boss DS-1 Distortion, Electro-Harmonix Small Clone Chorus, Mesa/Boogie Studio Preamp, Marshall 1960B 4x12 Cabinet, Guitar Doubling, Room Ambience

See the full original rig, with every setting and its sources

Playing it

  • Attack the strings with an aggressive, downward-driving strum across the power chords for the main riff.
  • Relax your fretting hand over all six strings between chord shifts to nail the signature four-click scratching rhythm.
  • Lean hard into the dynamic contrast between quiet verse picking and heavy chorus explosion.

More tones

Browse the songs

Shared by @faldy under CC BY 4.0: use it, share it and change it, crediting @faldy. Version 1, updated 11 October 2026.