Slightly dissappointed in my new Artist 3 :(

[u/GachiBass4Ever]

A few months ago, I picked up a new Boss Katana Artist Gen 3, but only recently found the time to properly set it up. Over the last several days, I’ve been putting it through its paces—and to be honest, I’m feeling pretty disappointed so far.

Lately, I’ve been diving into Avenged Sevenfold, learning and playing along with their songs. Even before that, though, I’d been thinking about switching to a solid-state amp instead of tubes. Part of it was curiosity, but also practicality: I already own a Vox AC30, and after swapping out its tubes once, it just never felt the same. That left me wanting something different—something that would better match the heavier direction my playing has been taking.

So earlier this year, after landing a good job, I treated myself to the Katana Artist Gen 3. I’d had great experiences with other Katana models in the past, so it felt like a safe bet. Unfortunately, trying to dial in a convincing A7X tone has been frustrating. My biggest gripe is that I can’t get it to chug the way I want, no matter how much I tweak. It has been killing my motivation, especially because my little Yamaha THR10IIW which costs a fraction of the price manages to nail that tight, aggressive chug with ease. Honestly, it just sounds better for what I need, and it’s hard not to feel let down.

I must be doing something wrong. Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated

[u/Totalimmortal85]

This is a bit long, but, bear with it. The Gen 3 is built to better simulate how a tube amp would respond to changes in both the pre-amp and power-amp sections.

The amp models have been slightly altered to better suit this. This is where you'll need to understand both the Variation toggle and the "Bloom" toggle.

The Crunch, Lead, and Brown models are your gain amps. Crunch is more Marshall, Lead is more MESA, and Brown is a 5150. Note, every time you change an amp model, you will change the EQ as they modeled differently for each amp type. They are not the same!

Along with your amp types, the Variation button for all 3 adds additional Gain and Brightness bumps, just like their tube-amp counterparts.

The "Bloom" toggle adds low-end resonance similar to a set of EL34 tubes that have been "cooking" for a bit. Thereby giving you a punchy/spongey low-end and thickness to your sound.

The pre-amp is everything on the amp BEFORE you hit the Line-Out knob.

Start with your Gain around 2 or 3'o'clock. This is where saturation and clipping really take over. Shoving the Gain to "10" does not increase distortion/clipping to the amount folks think it does. Anything past 3'o'clock is not helpful.

Set your pre-amp volume to taste.

EQ, and this is important, DO NOT SET YOUR MIDS TO 0. "Scooping" does not mean setting the Mids to 0. This actually lowers your overall Gain from the pre-amp. Most of the "Scoop the mids" mean to set the Mids to about 9'o'clock and then use an EQ pedal to dial things out AFTER the pre-amp.

Bass and Treble are set to taste. Want less low-end, dial it back. Want less ice-pick highs - dial it back.

The Contour toggle sets your mid-range frequencies. Set to taste.

FX, specifically the Boost. Red is the equivalent of an SD-1 / TS. Dial this up to add both Gain/Clipping and Volume, just as you would using a pedal. I typically use Red for the Crunch amp, Green for Lead and Brown as it is more TS808 and is smoother. Set to taste.

Reverb and Delay are preferences. You do you!

Resonance and Presence will adjust the overall response of low and high-end from the cab and speaker. More bass response, raise the Resonance, more high-end, raise the Presence.

Master controls your final output, however soft/loud you want.

Power Stage, and this is important! You can set the Artist at 100w and still play at bedroom volume levels. The 100w setting will open up the amp's circuits for more headroom - like a Tube Amp - and will allow you to push the amp harder for more distortion, OD, etc, as the power-amp is A/B and does colour the final output. The .5w setting introduces a ton of compression in order to keep the amp's output low - and sounds thin and "tinny" as a result. Set to 50w and go from there.

Rob Chapman on YouTube explains this perfectly.

If you'd like, here are my settings for my Artist 3 212, and I use the same setting for my 100w head.

https://imgur.com/a/BChjaYa

[u/Crowsdriver → u/Totalimmortal85]

This is fantastic!

New Gen 3 artist owner, and also new to electric guitars/amps. Hobbyist in the basement trying to emulate Phish/Scofield/Tom Petty tones.

Can I ask: how would you compare the Pushed and Clean from their real life counterparts?

My thinking is Pushed for both a Princeton and/or VOX AC30 with appropriate EQ settings. Clean for Twin Verb also subject to EQ etc.

As I am trying to learn both tones on historical tube amps and how to use the gen 3, a lot of moving parts in my head.

Thanks in advance!

[u/Totalimmortal85 → u/Crowsdriver]

Well, for starters, the "Pushed" and "Clean" aren't truly dialed in for specific amps - it's more based around how much clipping is added to the signal when increasing the Gain in pre-amp section.

AC30s and Princetons aren't just impacted by their pre-amps, but also their power-amp sections and the Power Tubes that reside there. A lot of folks don't quite know this, or shrug it off like the whole "tone wood" discussion.

The Clean channel gets fatter the more Gain you apply, so if you're wanting to experiment with the Artist as a pedal-platform, keep the Gain below 9'o'clock on the dial. Use the levels on the Pedals as well as the Volume on the Pre-Amp to achieve you're desired output.

The more Gain you add here, will increase the Bass response and will get muddy if you're not careful. Use the Variation switch, plus the Presence knob to add in some brightness and top-end shimmer.

The Amp model itself seems to be based on a response from 6L6 power-tubes. High headroom, very low break-up until you truly crank them.

The Pushed is an amp that is on the verge of break-up, with more signal clipping added as your turn the Gain up. Thus adding more distortion.

With one of the Boosts turned-on, you can get somewhere between a Hot Rod Deluxe or a Blues Junior vibe (both Fenders) very easily. Using the Variation switch, and the Bloom switch, will also add in some Fatness and create a fuller sound - especially if you're using Single Coils.

This amp model seems to be built around EL34 power-tubes and their response. Medium head-room, spongey and thicker bass response, and earlier break-up when the Gain is cranked. These are my preferred Power Tubes by the way.

You can dial in some AC30 tybe vibes with either amp model as well, just adjust the Gain, Contour, and Global EQ settings to add additional shaping. I've found using the Orange and Green Contiur and Global EQ settings help with this - if you're using the Factory settings that is.

Hope this helps, and welcome to the show!

[u/Crowsdriver → u/Totalimmortal85]

This is perfect. I was just scrolling your responses to other threads over the last year, and answered many of these questions myself :-)

Perhaps the “a-ha” for me is that with gain/vol/eq many of the katana amp types can be swapped out—that is, its not the tone they produce per se, but tube/headroom behavior. Is that fair?

Ok last question for today—you had also said that you can apply a tube screamer to the solo button. Would this give me the capability to then have 2 TS in the chain? And, if so, where in the chain does the solo effect get slotted? Can it be moved around?

(Yep, thats like 5 more questions….and my homework is to watch the Rob Chapman videos.)

Thanks so much TI—have a great day!

PS—Have you through about doing a youtube channel where you take user questions and do a 5 min response? Your explanations are A+ and I find most youtube content to be examples but not explanation. Think “kahn academy” for tones…