Clean Tone

Lithium

Nirvana

Bassrock1990s

Original Gear

BassGibson Ripper Bass

AmpAmpeg SVT (likely SVT-400T or SVT Classic, with Mesa/Boogie 2x15 cabs)

PickupsDual humbuckers (passive, series/parallel/single options)

Amp Settings

gain0

bass5.5

mid5.5

treble5.5

presence5

compression3

Effects & Signal Chain

No effects used for this tone

Notes

Studio recording, Nevermind sessions, 1991. Krist Novoselic tracked bass for 'Lithium' in the studio; live rig was similar.

Tone Character(9)

deep and thumpyclear low endslightly scooped midstight, punchy attackno audible drive or fuzzarticulate note separationfull-bodiedsubtle compressionclassic rock/alt bass presence

Difficulty

The bassline is straightforward, mostly root notes with a steady pick attack and little technical challenge beyond maintaining tight timing and articulation.

Sources

Krist Novoselic Krist’s gear at ‘live at the paramount’. I love this show, and I love krists tone here even more, so I’ve been finding out exactly what he used on this occasion (see captions for detail) : r/Nirvana Lithium live guitar tuning : r/Nirvana - Reddit

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