Riff Tone

Drain You

Nirvana

Guitarrock1990s

Original Gear

GuitarFender Stratocaster (likely 1965, as used by Kurt Cobain on Nevermind sessions)

AmpFender Twin Reverb (Silverface, studio recording, 1991)

PickupsStock Fender single-coil pickups

Amp Settings

gain0

bass5.5

mid5.5

treble7

reverb2.5

presence5.5

Effects & Signal Chain

No effects used for this tone

Notes

Studio recording, 1991. Clean intro/verse sections tracked with Stratocaster into Fender Twin Reverb. No evidence of pedals or modulation effects on clean part. Overdubs and distortion parts used Jaguar and pedals, but clean section is Strat + Twin Reverb only.

Tone Character(10)

bright and glassyarticulate single-coil clarityslightly scooped midsclear, percussive attacksubtle spring reverb ambiencedynamic and touch-sensitivewarm but present highsopen, uncompressed feelno audible modulation or delaystudio-recorded clean

Difficulty

The clean riff is straightforward but requires precise picking and muting to maintain clarity and dynamic control; exposed clean tone makes mistakes more obvious.

Sources

Song specific gear : r/Nirvana - Reddit Nirvana – Live And Loud - Gear & Equipment Used on the Album | Equipboard

This tone has been researched 10 times by the community

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