Boss Katana

[Jeff Donnell]

Considering purchasing this amp.Can anyone share their PSG settings so I have a starting point?Is the acoustic setting for an Acoustic guitar,or is it just the “effect” of an acoustic through a Tele or Strat?

[Larry Dering]

Jeff, the acoustic setting will work for all guitars. It was the preferred setting for some steelers. I like the clean better but you need to explore both. I would snap a picture of my control panel but as you will learn, the settings can be saved and each of your channels can have different eq. That said I save several and often don't remember what they were. Also on the Katana librarian app available on Google play is in my tablet and with the proper cable I tweak it from there. Start with your eq at noon and try from there. You may want to watch the YouTube video done at Steel guitars Nashville where they did some stuff to explain the amp with steel. I will try to find my settings and post by tomorrow.

This was posted by Ron Hogan around 2016.
Setting start at:
Acoustic setting, but also try clean setting.

Bass all the way on.
Middle at 3 O'clock
Treble at 1 O'clock.

[Fred Treece]

The Acoustic setting seems to emulate an acoustic guitar amp, rather than make your instrument sound like an acoustic guitar. The gain knob can be set fairly high before any noticeable breakup. I can’t say if the tone controls operate over narrower eq bands, but they don’t seem as touchy in that mode as they are for other amp model settings. Starting bass/mid/treb at noon is usually a pretty good idea, but in Acoustic mode it gave me big fat muck. You can really tweak em!

Here are my basic Acoustic amp model EQ settings (0-100) for a Williams S12 with a GeorgeL 12-1 pickup:

GAIN............45
VOLUME.......90 (might as well go to 100)
BASS............30
MID..............40
TREB............60
PRESENCE.....50
MASTER.......Whatever I can get away with

Like I said, I think it is possible to get much more radical with EQ in this mode without killing the basic idea of clean classic tone, although Bass all the way up doesn’t work for me no matter what I do with mid and treble.

In CLEAN amp mode, you are dealing with an EQ/Gain structure similar to Fender, but the spectrum of amp types in that mode seems to run the gamut of all Fenders - from squeaky clean Twin to an overdriven Bassman. So you have to be very selective with the Gain setting.

Probably too much info already, so I’ll stop there.

[Bill Dobkins]

I love mine.

[Paul Mozen]

It's funny cuz you thnk of "clean as completely unadulterated with nothing added. But in the world of digital you're always modeling something. Our image of the sound we want is still not the signal that comes out of the guitar... Perhaps you more electronically knowledgeable can tell us about this...

2 Carter D10's
Boss Katana
Fishman mini

[Fred Treece]

"clean as completely unadulterated with nothing added.

Only if you are running your instrument straight into a power amp, or a PA mixer out to a full range speaker system. I never expect that when plugging into a guitar amp.

With modeling systems, I have learned that “clean” is a relative term, as it probably should be. The Katana is very workable in that regard. Since originally posting here, I have moved on from that Acoustic model setting to some more classic and modern steel guitar sounds in the Clean channel, thanks to the “Sneaky Amps” in Tone Studio.

[Larry Ball]

Hi Jeff,

I just purchased the amp (100 MK 11 version) recently after hearing the tone that coming from it while “John Lacey” was playing . I was looking for something to replace my Peavey Nashville 112 which was becoming a bit a back breaker for my aging back. I realize that John, being a great player that a lot of his tone was being generated through years of experience. I did have the opportunity to sit with John and discuss the amp which then lead me to purchasing one, which has exceeded all of my expectations.

Remember Jeff, amps are selected by players that have certain requirements so research and choose wisely..