Riff Tone

Lake of Fire (Live Acoustic)

Nirvana

Guitarrock1990s

Original Gear

Guitar1959 Martin D-18E acoustic-electric

AmpFender Twin Reverb (used as monitor, not direct to PA)

PickupsBartolini 3AV soundhole pickup (wired direct to output, DeArmond pickups bypassed)

Amp Settings

gain3

bass6

mid6.5

treble6.5

reverb3.5

presence5

Effects & Signal Chain

No effects used for this tone

Notes

Live performance, MTV Unplugged in New York (1993). Guitar was run through the Bartolini 3AV pickup directly to the amp, bypassing the original DeArmond pickups and onboard controls. No evidence of additional pedals or effects used for 'Lake of Fire' riff section; chorus and distortion pedals were used on other songs but not this one.

Tone Character(10)

warm and woodyslightly gritty edgemidrange-forwardpercussive strummingdynamic response to pickingnot fully clean, slight breakuparticulate attacknatural acoustic resonanceno modulation or time-based effectsamp coloration present

Difficulty

The riff requires energetic, percussive strumming and dynamic control to achieve the slightly gritty tone, but uses basic open chords and straightforward rhythm.

Sources

Nirvana MTV Unplugged in New York Guitar Tone | Amp & Pedal Settings The Gear Used on Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged in New York album | Guitar.com Kurt Cobain's Guitar Rig, Gear & Pedalboard Gear Rundown: Kurt Cobain

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