Boss Katana 50 - Dialing in a Jazz Tone

[charlieparker]

Trying to dial in a better jazz tone on my katana 50. I don't know much at all about amps.

There is a volume, gain, and then the master volume.

What do I use the volume on the left for as opposed to the master volume?

[DRS]

I have a Katana 50 gen 3. What model is yours?
On mine, with a humbucker guitar in the neck, I use the Clean channel. Set the master about 10 o'clock for now. I adjust the gain till it's full and just breaks up when you dig in. I keep the treble around 10 o'clock, mid 12 o'clock, bass around 10 o'clock. Start there. Fiddle with it a bit till it sounds good. Adjust the master till it's the volume you like. Sometimes I'll use the pushed channel but I end up in the same place because I set the gain lower.
But your ears are your guide, not my recommendations.

[dconeill]

Jens Larsen made a video on this. See

[charlieparker]

I have a Katana 50 gen 3. What model is yours?
On mine, with a humbucker guitar in the neck, I use the Clean channel. Set the master about 10 o'clock for now. I adjust the gain till it's full and just breaks up when you dig in. I keep the treble around 10 o'clock, mid 12 o'clock, bass around 10 o'clock. Start there. Fiddle with it a bit till it sounds good. Adjust the master till it's the volume you like. Sometimes I'll use the pushed channel but I end up in the same place because I set the gain lower.
But your ears are your guide, not my recommendations.

Thanks. I am just not clear on why there is theaster volume and the volume for the preamp? Do you keep the preamp volume on 10?

[charlieparker]

Jens Larsen made a video on this. See

I watched this video. It was helpful but he didn't really talk about the preamp volume a d what it's for.

[Jim Soloway]

However you dial it in, try the variation switch as well. It provides a different voicing that seems worth considering.

[garybaldy]

I watched this video. It was helpful but he didn't really talk about the preamp volume a d what it's for.

My pure guess is that you can store your preferred sounds using the Volume and Gain which could then have relative volume level differences and the Master Volume will give you your overall performance volume depending on where you are playing.

[charlieparker]

My pure guess is that you can store your preferred sounds using the Volume and Gain which could then have relative volume level differences and the Master Volume will give you your overall performance volume depending on where you are playing.

Yeah, I think this is basically the answer. It can also be used with auxiliary input to control the relative level of the guitar amp. Basically it isn't that important if you won't be switching channels or don't have an auxiliary input. That serms to be the consensus on the Katana forum.

[rpjazzguitar]

I always thought that the issue was how much dirt to add to the sound. That is, if you want to sound a little dirtier you crank up the preamp and lower the master if you want it cleaner you don't crank the preamp very high and you raise the master.

Is that not correct?

[charlieparker]

I always thought that the issue was how much dirt to add to the sound. That is, if you want to sound a little dirtier you crank up the preamp and lower the master if you want it cleaner you don't crank the preamp very high and you raise the master.

Is that not correct?

Not on the Katana since it is a modeling amp. They have an explicit gain knob for making it dirtier. Adjusting the "preamp" volume has no effect on that. As I understand it that volume control just controls the level of the signal that goes into the amp which is controlled by the master.

[olejason]

If you hook it up to the computer you can adjust the global EQ which is separate from the EQ controls on the amp itself. If you tame the high end a bit on the global EQ it works a lot better for jazz IMO.

[bluejaybill]

I have to say, the Katana is one of the few amps I couldn't get a good sound out, and not just jazz either. A real head scratcher to me.

If you want a great jazz sound, a DV Mark Little Jazz would get you there a lot faster. IMHO etc.

[jads57]

I think the newer Katana Artist sounds great. I wasn’t that sold on my older 100 watt’s Clean Tone, and stuck with my Quilter Aviator Combos.

[StormyMonday]

I have the Katana 100 MkII but mine has an Eminence Swamp Thang speaker in it. I use it with 3 different guitars (archtop, semi and nylon) plus a mandolin. Using the laptop and GAFC switch and putting a lot of time in I've been able to create patches that work for all of these.

Usually I have one of the guitars plus the mando on an A/B for gigs, and there are a couple songs we do where I switch between them in one song. The Katana is really good for that once you get it dialed in.

I would recommend going to the Boss Tone Exchange site and search Jazz. There are patches forJC120, Central Park West, Clean Archtop Tone. Load them onto the Katana and find the one that comes close, then use the editor to tweak EQ, effects, cabinet, etc. Just remmeber to save changes lol. It can take a while but worth the effort.

[StormyMonday]

Here's a follow up since I had nothing better to do today
From the Boss Tone Exchange I used the Jazz keyword, probably 5 or 6 came up, I downloaded 4 of them as some were for strats or teles and I already tried (and for me eliminated) the Dumble ones (although the Larry Carlton isn't bad for rock). I tried the All of Me, Central Park West, Beautiful Love and JC120 patches. Of the four the one I kept was the Central Park West patch. Using it with a Tacoma archtop I found it gave me a nice, Kenny Burrell type tone. Running it on 50W I found I had to use the editor to crank the Gain up to around 12 o'clock to match my other patches but it's a nice classic sounding patch. This is under the Katana MkII patches, not sure what Gen yours is, but worth a try. Sometimes crossing Gens works OK, others not so much but you have to try to find out. Good luck!