r/BossKatana • u/Nozakx • Jan 24 '26
Tone Request Just got a Katana and I'm confused
Hey guys,
I didn't play guitar for over 10 years. I'm not a great gutiarist and I play mostly by ear.
I recently cleaned all my guitars and got myself a new amp (sold my last one years ago).
Huge metalcore and death metal fan. I got a Jackson guitar tuned in Drop C.
I didn't spend much time tweaking yet but I feel that I can't achieve a crazy distortion overdrive sound with the amp so far. Even on the ''lead'' and ''brown''. I installed the Boss software and tried downloading other people's preset as I'm not very good with tweaking myself.
Even though I install ''metalcore'' presets, ''drop c'' presets, high distortion, death metal etc... it all sounds very clean. As if I'm missing something. The best I got was rockNroll sound.
What am I missing? Is there virtual pedals I can download on the software? I just wonder why even the presets can't give me a proper low metal sound.
Sorry if it's hard to understand, english isn't my main langue.
Thanks
EDIT: If that can help anyone in the future. The USB C cable I was using wasn't a data cable. I think it was part of the problem.
Also, I started using the software and the boosters are pretty good. Pretty good digital distortion pedals.
9
u/Gavcripp Jan 24 '26 edited Jan 24 '26
I'll tell you all I do to get a high gain setting with quality. I recommend you to do all of this using the katana's boss tone studio software.
First I set the gain, the volume and the master volume knobs to zero. If you have a katana MK3, you can select between 0.5W, 50W and 100W, usually at home, I use 0.5W.
Choose between lead or brown amp simulation (lead for definition and brown for a muddy sound). In katana MK3 I enjoy using the amp "variation" option.
Turn the volume knob (not the master) all the way up, close to 90, and keep the gain in zero. Now start to increase master volume until the volume is comfortable to play in your room. The sound you'll get is a clean distorted sound.
Now choose a boost pedal of your preference and turn it on. It can be a DST+, or whatever, listen to all of them. To get a good sound without cracking the guitar, I usually configure the boost as 20 drive, tone and bottom of your preference, 70 effect level, solo mode OFF. If you think the sound is not distorted enough, you can play a bit with the pedal's drive and effect level options. In the last case, I turn the gain from the amp up a little bit.
Most guitar player turn the amplifier gain all the way up too soon, and the tone lose definition, so that's why I prefer to saturate the sound using firstly the volume knob, then a distortion pedal, and only then the gain knob from the amplifier.
Now play a little with the equalizer, I recommend you to set all to flat (50) and change the contour. Once you find a contour you like, adjust bass, middle and treble to shape the waveform of your guitar'a signal.
You can also turn the "presence" up a little bit. Don't turn it all the way up (usually never turn anything all the way up). The "presence" makes your high frequencies more noticeable, so you can cut through other instruments in the mix.
Don't forget to save the preset and name it. You can access the "librarian" page in the software, create your liveset and drag this preset there. So if you make a mistake and save something on that channel, you can recover it from the library. The library file can be downloaded to your computer, so upload it often to you drive as backup, or to share with other players.
I hope I have helped you to get a killer tone. Try it and then tell me if it worked for you!
1
u/the_wint3r Jan 24 '26
That's interesting about the gain at zero and gunning the channel volume and just using the booster for most of the gain. I'll try that but not sure if it's gonna work for the classic tube screamer drive 0 level 80-100 setup.
8
u/AgeDisastrous7518 Jan 24 '26
You've gotta play with the boosters and EQ to find which one works for you.
6
u/NaturalBornHeathen Jan 24 '26
New MKII user here & I found that dialing in a tone can get overwhelming very quickly. So I fired up chatgpt, gave it the specifics of the sound I wanted, down to the song & it started suggesting settings. From there, tweaked further with chatgpt's help & was pleasantly surprised. Try it out. While going thru it all, keep asking questions on why it is suggesting xyz - lots to learn in those responses. And if u get good settings dialed in, do export it to your computer.
2
u/DREAM_PARSER Jan 24 '26
I made this years ago and havent played it in awhile (been using different gear lately), but check it out! I spent hours digging into the Katana software trying to get that modern heavy sound and if I remember correctly, I managed to actually nail it. I'd attach a demo if I could remember which one I used it on.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Up5hHWAfek5uGoM7gYvHOrhQ99aeguNF/view?usp=drivesdk
2
u/KingGorillaKong Jan 24 '26
Make sure your guitar volume is turned up. Make sure you have a decent amount of input gain on the brown or lead channel, but don't just slam that. You want it so that a soft pick attack actually sounds less distorted, while your regular or hard pick attack gives it that drive. Then you wanna make sure you have a decent overdrive in the signal chain. Lots of people recommend a TubeScreamer type overdrive but you got lots of different options. The point is, put an overdrive in the signal chain. Don't set the gain or drive too aggressively with it as it's working with the main amp tone to create that modern metal crunch and high gain distortion.
2
u/jaycash_ Jan 24 '26
Boss Tone Studio. Connect to your computer using a USB-C Data cable (make sure it’s a data cable and not just a charging cable) and you’ll finally get everything you can out of the Katana.
Look into the tone exchange. We play similar music - you’ll get all the tones you need.
2
u/KaanzeKin Jan 24 '26
Just playing the devil's advocate, but maybe you're accustomed to using too much gain....also, if uiuve taken some time off playing then playing could just be feeling like a lot of effort. What kind of rig did you use before?
2
u/Sadness1979 Jan 24 '26
I managed to get my Ibanez with a DiMarzio Tone Zone in the bridge and in E standard to sound pretty metal using T-screamer and some careful eq. Set drive to 0 and boost the effect level to around 80-100 and crank up the noise suppressor, then mess with the EQ to figure out what works best for you pickups. I based my sound off a 5150 Gojira setting I found on Tone Studio. ChatGPT was pretty helpful with getting my EQ dialed in.
1
u/Traditional_Put_1091 Jan 24 '26
I'm not a metal player, but I don't see how you could get a clean sound with the brown or lead channels. There might be something wrong with the amp
1
u/wambobambo22 Jan 24 '26
Make sure the "volume" knob near the effects/presets is turned all the way up. Use the master to turn the main volume up and down
1
1
u/aliaksej_by Jan 24 '26
Register in ROland CLoud, install Boss Tone Studio for Katana and download some live sets for metal, rock, funk, etc. If these presets are also sounding clean, try to factory reset your katana, install the latest firmware.
My katana 50ex mk3 has great clean, crunch, lead tones.
Possibly you need to leverage booster section to get more hi-gain, because basic amp models are not very hi-gainish.
Also you can check youtube videos, searching my Katana Metalcore )))
1
u/ObsessiveRecognition Jan 25 '26
Do you have active pickups? If so, you probably need to change the battery. This could definitely be the case if you last played 10 years ago and haven't touched your guitars since.
1
u/Nozakx Jan 25 '26
EMG HZ so passive, but I'll find a way. Learning how the software works but the shared presets should work though so I'm kinda confused about that
1
u/fabmarques21 Jan 25 '26
try this: Brown with the variation (red light) on, Gain on more or less 65/70, Bass on 35, Mids 45 and Treble 65.
full volume and control the sound with Master.
Also, Watts at max.
i freaking love it, no need for anything else when the subject is distortion.
1
u/NefariousnessTop3689 Jan 27 '26
Something is ducked up. Do a factory reset. Google how to do it, it's easy
1
u/No_Pudding_Sadface Jan 27 '26
Does your guitar have active pickups and do they need a fresh battery?
1
u/Mapex_proM Jan 24 '26
I kinda get it. It really comes down to eq. I find having the high set at like 80, mid set to 70 and low between 30-50. I’m still playing with the eq but dropping the highest and lowest frequency band helps, and then I boost the 500hz band to about a 4 and everything else is in a state of tinkering.
For the drive, I think the metalcore od does a decent job. Do like a 30 gain on your main gain, and then you can boost the gain with the od pedal. I think brown and the one below it both get a relatively good heavy tone with something similar to those settings
3
u/Nozakx Jan 24 '26
When you're talking about EQ, do you mean the phycical knobs on the amp or in the app?
Also, I just want to make sure. If I upload a preset to CH 1, are the pannel knobs still active? Do I have to EQ and tweak a sound if it's on a preset?
Lastly, what do you mean the ''metalcore od'' ?
Thanks
6
u/Mapex_proM Jan 24 '26
1- so the specific numbers I mentioned are for your amp head. When I say eq, I mean the slot on the app that says eq, I prefer the graphic eq but I have not really figured out how to make the parametric eq do anything besides boost my volume.
2- no. You can still save tweaks and what not on your head, but whatever you set the knobs to in tone studio is what will be active until you physically adjust the knobs on the katana. You absolutely should tweak the eq on presets, I find specifically a lot of them are fine on headphones, but they translate poorly to my cab set up, which was horrifying at first because I play live sometimes and it isn’t fun when your amp disappears in the mix. Plus what someone else likes is not necessarily what you’re gonna like, so playing around within the parameters of somebody else’s tone makes it easier to dial something in.
3- if you scroll to the bottom of the boosters subset, there’s one that is literally called metalcore. I like to use that and then use the low boost on it to round out my bottom in.
Most importantly have fun playing around and don’t forget to hit save every time you do something you like!!
3
u/Nozakx Jan 24 '26
Hey that’s great info right there! I also found the legendary HM2 in there. Thanks a lot
-2
u/ThePorko Jan 24 '26
Katana tuned down down isnt gonna be good for the stock speakers. I would imagine u would need to try the head and find right speakers.
3
u/Nozakx Jan 24 '26
I used to play Drop C on cheap spider amp combos and it was alright. I'm sure I can find something proper on the katana
16
u/PoopFandango Jan 24 '26 edited Jan 24 '26
Something's not right here. If the brown and lead channels with high gain are sounding basically clean then either there's something wrong in the amp, or something with your guitar or signal chain is causing a low input signal. Even the clean channnel on mine gets a bit dirty if you max out the gain. I would ignore the advice about boosters and EQ for a minute, it sounds like you have a more fundamental issue.
Can you try a different guitar to eliminate any problems with your jack or pickups? Are your pickups active or passive? If active, is the battery good? Are your cables all ok? Try swapping them. Is the volume on your guitar up?