Riff Tone

Come As You Are

Nirvana

Guitarrock1990s

Original Gear

Guitar1991-1992 Japanese Fender Jaguar (modded with DiMarzio DP103 PAF in neck, DiMarzio DP100 Super Distortion in bridge, black finish, chrome hardware)

AmpMesa/Boogie Studio .22 Preamp into Crown Power Base 2 Power Amp, Marshall 1960AV 4x12 Cabinet

PickupsDiMarzio DP100 Super Distortion (bridge), DiMarzio DP103 PAF (neck)

Amp Settings

gain6

bass5.5

mid6

treble6

reverb0

presence5.5

Effects & Signal Chain

distortionBoss Boss DS-1 Distortion

chorusElectro-Harmonix Electro-Harmonix Small Clone Chorus

Notes

Studio recording for 'Nevermind' (1991); distorted riff tone. Guitar is the modded Japanese Fender Jaguar with humbuckers. Amp is Mesa/Boogie Studio .22 preamp into Crown power amp and Marshall 4x12 cab. Effects are from pedals, not amp. No evidence of amp reverb or built-in effects used.

Tone Character(10)

watery modulation swirlthick, saturated distortionmid-heavy punchaggressive, compressed attacktight low endslightly scooped but present midsraspy, crunchy overdriveprocessed, not dry amp tonedistinct chorus shimmerstudio-recorded, not live

Difficulty

The riff is rhythmically straightforward but requires tight picking and muting to avoid noise with high-gain and chorus effects. The modulation makes timing and note separation more challenging than a basic power chord riff.

Sources

Kurt Cobain's Guitar Rig, Gear & Pedalboard | Equipboard Kurt Cobain's guitars, amps & pedals: the definitive guide | Guitar World Come as you are : r/guitarpedals - Reddit How do I play “Come As You Are” like the album version? : r/Nirvana Need help finding the best settings to sound like nirvana (on guitar)

This tone has been researched 35 times by the community

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