Riff Tone

Pennyroyal Tea

Nirvana

Guitarrock1990s

Original Gear

GuitarFender Mustang (left-handed, early 1970s, likely Competition Blue)

AmpMesa/Boogie Studio Preamp into Crown power amp and Marshall 4x12 cabinets

PickupsStock Fender single-coil pickups

Amp Settings

gain0

bass6

mid7.5

treble6

reverb1

presence5

Effects & Signal Chain

No effects used for this tone

Notes

Studio recording, 1993, In Utero sessions at Pachyderm Studio. Clean tone sections (verses) likely used the Mustang's neck pickup and the Mesa/Boogie preamp set for a clean sound. No evidence of pedals or effects in the clean section; distortion pedals (SansAmp, DS-2) were used for heavy parts only.

Tone Character(10)

warm and roundedclear and articulateslightly compresseddynamic and percussiveminimal breakupsubtle amp reverbno modulation or delayneck pickup fullnessopen, unprocessed soundmedium attack

Difficulty

The riff requires steady, dynamic strumming and clean chord transitions, but uses basic open and barre chords without advanced techniques.

Sources

How to get the tome for pennyroyal tea? : r/Nirvana Nirvana: Super Fuzz Big Muff | Guitar World Nirvana – In Utero - Gear & Equipment Used on the Album

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