About a Girl
Jangly, Beatles-inspired chords on a clean amp that turn rawer and noisier as the song goes on.
What is the About a Girl guitar tone?
The About a Girl guitar tone is jangly, Beatles-inspired chords on a clean amp that turn rawer and noisier as the song goes on, heard on Nirvana's 1980s alt rock recording. It is a clean riff tone, and Nirvana reportedly tracked it with Kurt Cobain's Univox Hi-Flier with its stock humbuckers, which producer Jack Endino remembers as looking sort of like a Mosrite and which Cobain played through the whole of the Bleach sessions, into Endino's own Fender Twin Reverb, because Cobain's solid-state Randall was in the shop at the time; Endino had modded the Twin, a silverface model as his assistant engineer has pointed out, with a Bassman-style phase inverter and larger coupling caps for more low end, and it ran into Cobain's sealed-back 2x12 cabinet with 70 or 75-watt Celestions, miked with a single Shure SM58, the same microphone Cobain sang through; the song was recorded in December 1988 at Reciprocal Recording in Seattle, one of the nine songs from the 30-hour, six-day session that made up Bleach, released in June 1989, and Endino recalls the band doing songs in one or two takes; Cobain wrote it in 1988, reportedly after an afternoon of listening to Meet the Beatles!, and worried that a jangly pop song would put off the band's grunge audience; the verses rock between open E minor and G chords, and when Endino set the Twin up for the song again in 2023 he used a Boss DS-1 for the overdriven parts. The sound depends on compression and pick attack more than on gain, so a lightly driven amp with the tone rolled back gets closer than a high-gain setting.
You do not need that exact gear to land in the same place. What carries this sound is the gain structure, the EQ curve, the pickup choice and the order of the effects, and all four can be rebuilt on equipment that costs a fraction of the original. The numbers change from amp to amp, because a clean channel on a modelling combo and a small practice amp reach the same voicing from different knob positions. That translation is what Tonelify works out for the rig you actually own.
About a Girl amp settings: a starting point
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 2, Bass 5, Middle 5, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 3 for the clean verses, with the neck or middle position. There is a second setting for the overdriven parts below.
- Gain 2
- Bass 5
- Middle 5
- Treble 6
- Presence 5
- Reverb 3
- Signal chain
- Clean Fender Twin Reverb, no pedal on the verses
- The control that matters most
- Headroom. The verses are open E minor and G chords on a clean Fender Twin Reverb, and the guitar grows rawer and noisier as the song goes on, so keep the amp clean and loud and let a distortion pedal bring the drive for the louder parts, as Endino did with a DS-1 when he set the amp up for the song again in 2023.
These positions are free and they are a starting point. A Katana, a Spark and a valve head reach this voicing from different knob positions, so Tonelify rewrites every value above for the amp and guitar you own. Your first match is free with an account, and needs no card.
Adapt these to my amp- Pickup
- Neck or middle position
These are positions on a generic five-knob amp with gain, bass, middle, treble and presence, each running 0 to 10. They are a starting point, not the settings used on the record, and they will not transfer unchanged to an amp with a different gain structure or EQ voicing. If you tell Tonelify which amp you own, it rewrites every value above for the controls that amp actually has.
Second sound
About a Girl amp settings for the overdriven parts
For the overdriven parts, start at Gain 3, Bass 5, Middle 5, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 3, with the bridge pickup.
- Gain 3
- Bass 5
- Middle 5
- Treble 6
- Presence 5
- Reverb 3
- Signal chain
- Boss DS-1 distortion into the Twin
- Where the song switches
- The guitar grows rawer and noisier through the track, and when Endino set his Twin up for the song again in 2023 he used a Boss DS-1 for the overdriven parts.
- Pickup
- Bridge pickup
The same reference as the panel above: positions on a generic five-knob amp, a starting point rather than the settings on the record.
What gear did Nirvana use on About a Girl?
Kurt Cobain's Univox Hi-Flier with its stock humbuckers, which producer Jack Endino remembers as looking sort of like a Mosrite and which Cobain played through the whole of the Bleach sessions, into Endino's own Fender Twin Reverb, because Cobain's solid-state Randall was in the shop at the time; Endino had modded the Twin, a silverface model as his assistant engineer has pointed out, with a Bassman-style phase inverter and larger coupling caps for more low end, and it ran into Cobain's sealed-back 2x12 cabinet with 70 or 75-watt Celestions, miked with a single Shure SM58, the same microphone Cobain sang through; the song was recorded in December 1988 at Reciprocal Recording in Seattle, one of the nine songs from the 30-hour, six-day session that made up Bleach, released in June 1989, and Endino recalls the band doing songs in one or two takes; Cobain wrote it in 1988, reportedly after an afternoon of listening to Meet the Beatles!, and worried that a jangly pop song would put off the band's grunge audience; the verses rock between open E minor and G chords, and when Endino set the Twin up for the song again in 2023 he used a Boss DS-1 for the overdriven parts.
Sources: MusicRadar: the Fender Twin Reverb Kurt Cobain used on Bleach, Guitar.com: the guitar gear used on Bleach by Nirvana, Wikipedia: About a Girl (Nirvana song)
Tonelify reads that chain and translates it to the amp and guitar you already own, returning gain, bass, mids, treble and presence values along with a pickup position.
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About a Girl tone questions
What amp settings do you need for About a Girl?
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 2, Bass 5, Middle 5, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 3 for the clean verses, with the neck or middle position, and at Gain 3, Bass 5, Middle 5, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 3 for the overdriven parts, with the bridge pickup. These are positions on a generic five-knob amp with gain, bass, middle, treble and presence, each running 0 to 10. They are a starting point, not the settings used on the record, and they will not transfer unchanged to an amp with a different gain structure or EQ voicing. Tonelify rewrites the same values for the specific amp and guitar you own, because a high-gain head and a small solid-state combo reach the same jangly, Beatles-inspired chords on a clean amp that turn rawer and noisier as the song goes on from different positions.
Does About a Girl use one amp setting or two?
Two. The guitar grows rawer and noisier through the track, and when Endino set his Twin up for the song again in 2023 he used a Boss DS-1 for the overdriven parts. On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 2, Bass 5, Middle 5, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 3 for the clean verses, and at Gain 3, Bass 5, Middle 5, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 3 for the overdriven parts.
What is the most important control for the About a Girl tone?
Headroom. The verses are open E minor and G chords on a clean Fender Twin Reverb, and the guitar grows rawer and noisier as the song goes on, so keep the amp clean and loud and let a distortion pedal bring the drive for the louder parts, as Endino did with a DS-1 when he set the amp up for the song again in 2023.
Can you get the About a Girl tone without the original gear?
Yes. The original was tracked with Kurt Cobain's Univox Hi-Flier with its stock humbuckers, which producer Jack Endino remembers as looking sort of like a Mosrite and which Cobain played through the whole of the Bleach sessions, into Endino's own Fender Twin Reverb, because Cobain's solid-state Randall was in the shop at the time; Endino had modded the Twin, a silverface model as his assistant engineer has pointed out, with a Bassman-style phase inverter and larger coupling caps for more low end, and it ran into Cobain's sealed-back 2x12 cabinet with 70 or 75-watt Celestions, miked with a single Shure SM58, the same microphone Cobain sang through; the song was recorded in December 1988 at Reciprocal Recording in Seattle, one of the nine songs from the 30-hour, six-day session that made up Bleach, released in June 1989, and Endino recalls the band doing songs in one or two takes; Cobain wrote it in 1988, reportedly after an afternoon of listening to Meet the Beatles!, and worried that a jangly pop song would put off the band's grunge audience; the verses rock between open E minor and G chords, and when Endino set the Twin up for the song again in 2023 he used a Boss DS-1 for the overdriven parts, but the parts that define the sound are the gain structure, the EQ curve, the pickup position and the effects order. Those translate to other equipment, which is what the adaptation step does.
Is About a Girl a rhythm or a lead tone?
It is a riff part with a clean character, from Nirvana's 1980s alt rock catalogue.
Does Tonelify cost anything to try?
Your first match for your own gear is free with an account, and needs no card. After that both plans start with a 7-day free trial: Stage is $6.99 a month for 20 matches, Headliner is $10.99 a month for unlimited matching within a fair use limit of 150 new matches a day, and yearly billing works out cheaper on both. Reading this page and the rest of the library costs nothing and needs no account.
