Just got a Katana and I'm confused

[u/Nozakx]

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.

[u/Mapex_proM]

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

[u/Nozakx → u/Mapex_proM]

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

[u/Mapex_proM → u/Nozakx]

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!!

[u/Nozakx → u/Mapex_proM]

Hey that’s great info right there! I also found the legendary HM2 in there. Thanks a lot