All Apologies
A soft, clean electric strum that sounds almost acoustic.
What is the All Apologies guitar tone?
The All Apologies guitar tone is a soft, clean electric strum that sounds almost acoustic, heard on Nirvana's 1990s grunge recording. It is a clean riff tone, and Nirvana reportedly tracked it with a clean electric guitar rather than an acoustic: Ground Guitar says even the In Utero songs that sound acoustic, this one and Dumb, were played on clean electrics, and suggests the Fender Jaguar or Steve Albini's aluminum Veleno for this one without settling it; the album's amps are reported two ways, with Guitar.com naming Kurt Cobain's Fender Twin Reverb as his main amp and a clean amp built by his tech Earnie Bailey as used for clean electric guitar on the album, and Ground Guitar naming a 1970s Fender Quad Reverb with broken power tubes, which it quotes Albini as saying featured on pretty much every song; Guitar.com gives his main guitar for the album as a 1965 Jaguar with DiMarzio humbuckers; Albini recorded the song at Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, on 14 February 1993, the second day of the sessions, when it was still called La La La; Kera Schaley, a cellist friend of Albini's, improvised most of the cello part and learned one line Cobain asked for, and Cobain liked the deep, groaning low notes enough to have her hold them; Albini liked the song as a lighter contrast to the album's aggressive ones, and Scott Litt later remixed it, with Heart-Shaped Box, to bring up the vocals and bass; it closes the US edition of In Utero, released in September 1993, and topped the US Modern Rock chart. Here the guitar is a clean electric played softly enough to pass for an acoustic, so headroom and a light strum matter more than any drive, and the cello carries the low end.
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.
All Apologies amp settings: a starting point
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 2, Bass 6, Middle 4, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 3, with the neck or middle position.
- Gain 2
- Bass 6
- Middle 4
- Treble 6
- Presence 5
- Reverb 3
- Signal chain
- No drive: a clean electric guitar
- The control that matters most
- Gain, turned almost all the way down. The record sounds acoustic but is a clean electric guitar, so use a clean channel with plenty of headroom, ease the treble back a little and strum lightly. The cello's long, low notes carry much of the weight under the chorus, so one guitar sounds sparser than the record.
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.
What gear did Nirvana use on All Apologies?
A clean electric guitar rather than an acoustic: Ground Guitar says even the In Utero songs that sound acoustic, this one and Dumb, were played on clean electrics, and suggests the Fender Jaguar or Steve Albini's aluminum Veleno for this one without settling it; the album's amps are reported two ways, with Guitar.com naming Kurt Cobain's Fender Twin Reverb as his main amp and a clean amp built by his tech Earnie Bailey as used for clean electric guitar on the album, and Ground Guitar naming a 1970s Fender Quad Reverb with broken power tubes, which it quotes Albini as saying featured on pretty much every song; Guitar.com gives his main guitar for the album as a 1965 Jaguar with DiMarzio humbuckers; Albini recorded the song at Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, on 14 February 1993, the second day of the sessions, when it was still called La La La; Kera Schaley, a cellist friend of Albini's, improvised most of the cello part and learned one line Cobain asked for, and Cobain liked the deep, groaning low notes enough to have her hold them; Albini liked the song as a lighter contrast to the album's aggressive ones, and Scott Litt later remixed it, with Heart-Shaped Box, to bring up the vocals and bass; it closes the US edition of In Utero, released in September 1993, and topped the US Modern Rock chart.
Sources: Wikipedia: All Apologies, Ground Guitar: Kurt Cobain's In Utero guitars and gear, Guitar.com: the gear used on In Utero
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.
How do you get the All Apologies tone on your own amp?
Tell us your guitar, amp, and pedals
AI researches the original tone of All Apologies
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All Apologies tone questions
What amp settings do you need for All Apologies?
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 2, Bass 6, Middle 4, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 3, with the 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. 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 soft, clean electric strum that sounds almost acoustic from different positions.
What is the most important control for the All Apologies tone?
Gain, turned almost all the way down. The record sounds acoustic but is a clean electric guitar, so use a clean channel with plenty of headroom, ease the treble back a little and strum lightly. The cello's long, low notes carry much of the weight under the chorus, so one guitar sounds sparser than the record.
Can you get the All Apologies tone without the original gear?
Yes. The original was tracked with a clean electric guitar rather than an acoustic: Ground Guitar says even the In Utero songs that sound acoustic, this one and Dumb, were played on clean electrics, and suggests the Fender Jaguar or Steve Albini's aluminum Veleno for this one without settling it; the album's amps are reported two ways, with Guitar.com naming Kurt Cobain's Fender Twin Reverb as his main amp and a clean amp built by his tech Earnie Bailey as used for clean electric guitar on the album, and Ground Guitar naming a 1970s Fender Quad Reverb with broken power tubes, which it quotes Albini as saying featured on pretty much every song; Guitar.com gives his main guitar for the album as a 1965 Jaguar with DiMarzio humbuckers; Albini recorded the song at Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, on 14 February 1993, the second day of the sessions, when it was still called La La La; Kera Schaley, a cellist friend of Albini's, improvised most of the cello part and learned one line Cobain asked for, and Cobain liked the deep, groaning low notes enough to have her hold them; Albini liked the song as a lighter contrast to the album's aggressive ones, and Scott Litt later remixed it, with Heart-Shaped Box, to bring up the vocals and bass; it closes the US edition of In Utero, released in September 1993, and topped the US Modern Rock chart, 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 All Apologies a rhythm or a lead tone?
It is a riff part with a clean character, from Nirvana's 1990s grunge 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 it takes a plan, charged when you subscribe: 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.
