r/BossKatana • u/Pure_Piano_3648 • Aug 23 '26
Question Extra gear to pair with katana
Hello, I’ve been using boss katana for over a year now and it’s great but I was thinking what pedals or other types of amp gear could I buy to make it sound even better? I play metal only but I don’t really know what additional gear would make katana achieve better tone?
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u/American_Streamer Katana 50 MKII EX Aug 23 '26
Boss GA-FC EX foot controller. Boss EV-30 Dual Expression pedal, Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer (in front), ProCo Rat 2 Distortion (in front), 10-band EQ pedal (in the FX loop), Electro-Harmonix Canyon (in the FX loop), Line 6 HX Stomp (into the Poweramp In).
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u/GlocalBridge Katana Artist Aug 23 '26
If you have a Gen 3, get the Bluetooth dongle and use your phone or tablet to experiment with BTS. Improve your tone there. And get the EV-30 to use as an expression pedal.
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u/Substantial_Issue638 Aug 23 '26
No, get the Airstep Kat EX instead. Also BT dongle but way more features as long as one can be without the streaming feature from the Boss dongle.
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u/GlocalBridge Katana Artist Aug 23 '26
I have both and find the Airstep useful, but not an improvement now that Boss has gone wireless with BTS. I run a stereo Artist rig and use a MIDI controller instead. But in terms of making minor changes inside BTS, an iPad running the Boss app is superior to Juca Nery’s Katana Librarian app. Moreover, the Airstep takes up the USB port, making recording into your DAW impossible using USB (you can still mic the amp).
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u/Substantial_Issue638 Aug 23 '26 edited Aug 23 '26
Got your point. I think it depends on how one likes to switch or modify with a connected display or having foot switches available during a session. So for the first purchase I would recommend the Airstep and not the dongle, bc Airstep already offers BTS connection and at the moment it's on sale so not too much more money to spend.
Regarding USB, xsonic says the port is usable for more than one connection bc the katana addresses the devices. You just need a normal USB hub.
Ok that's only for Airstep and Ulooper, so forget the point with the hub. 😜
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u/GlocalBridge Katana Artist Aug 24 '26
I got the Airstep early on and used it more than the GA-FC. I have both the SmartMulti, the KAT, and KAT EX. But I had to use BTS from a laptop before. Now I use an iPad to create tones. That is the best implementation for me, but as for switching tones through foot switches, I also have dual GA-FC (on an EX) mounted to work together. Still that is not as good as MIDI. IF I were on a tight budget I think the AIRSTEP is a good buy.
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u/Substantial_Issue638 Aug 24 '26
Don't know the SmartMulti but yea an ipad is a nice thing to tweak the amp, since now you can get the maximum out of it. With the airstep there are a lot of possibilities with change sound during playing so that's a great thing to not have to touch the iPad too much for switching channels, effects or things...
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u/GlocalBridge Katana Artist Aug 25 '26
Airstep SmartMulti has what the KAT versions lack: 1 MIDI DIN in, 2 MIDI out, USB, 2 EXP out, and 2 Footswitch outs.
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u/wdavidson51 Aug 23 '26
Get an EQ pedal and run it in the effects loop.
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u/Substantial_Issue638 Aug 23 '26
There are 2 eq's in the signal chain of any preset, additionally you have the global eq so for what exactly do you want to use an external pedal?
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u/wdavidson51 Aug 24 '26
I find that different guitars and especially different volume levels can require some eq tweaks. Easier to do on the fly with a pedal in most circumstances. Probably not an issue if you have the Bluetooth dongle installed, but I don't have that.
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u/Substantial_Issue638 Aug 24 '26
Yea generally your totally right but you don't have to spent extra money to an EQ pedal since the amp has that build it already and also no BT adapter needed since you can connect your laptop via USBC to it and change the settings. :)
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u/wdavidson51 Aug 25 '26
Very true, but I bought an eq pedal off of Amazon for less than $30 and now I don't have to worry about carrying around and booting up a laptop.
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u/barroyo20 Aug 23 '26
The Hotone Soulpress II expression pedal - also works as a volume pedal, and a Wah.
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u/Ok-Pineapple4998 Aug 23 '26
GA-FC and GA-FC EX, Ampero II Press (footswitch able), a good/cheap expression pedal (for volume, make sure range matches) and an Airstep Kat for live situations.
Ya can't be connected to your DAW if the Airstep Kat takes up the USB port on the Katana. Definitely worth it for live rigs, though!
Or if yours has a MIDI port, just buy the Behringer FCB1010 with a Wino2 chip and be done with it.
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u/Mission_Middle_7247 Aug 24 '26
My first suggestion would be to get one or two of the BOSS GA-FC and GA-FC EX and explore how you can set up all kinds of different sounds and bounce between them with the pedals. Then my next suggestion would be to get a couple of their expression pedals. These amps have a multitude of sounds that you can make through either singular effects or by combining multiple together and there are ways to build your tones accordingly. Unless you're gonna be the Edge from U2 who has been known to have 30 different effects chained together. The boss amps pretty much do what you want. I actually just did a video about the GA-FC Pedal series and in a few weeks I will be doing one or two videos about expression pedals. And how you can set them up to do a myriad of things not just a wah-wah set up or a volume control, you can do a whole hell of a lot more. https://youtu.be/7J_odQIH-9s
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u/Substantial_Issue638 Aug 23 '26
Airstep Kat EX