Boss Katana Mini settings
A 7-watt practice amp that runs on six AA batteries. Every sound is a knob position: three amp types, a three-band tone stack and a delay, with no reverb and no way to store a sound.
⚡ Match a tone on this amp- Gain
- Type
- Volume
- Bass
- Middle
- Treble
- Delay Time
- Delay Level
How do you dial in a specific tone on a Boss Katana Mini?
Solid-state amps hold their voicing steady across the volume range, which makes the Boss Katana Mini far more predictable to dial in than a valve amp and is exactly why some of the most aggressive rhythm tones ever recorded came off solid-state heads. The trade is headroom before the EQ starts to sound brittle, so on this amp the treble control does more damage than the gain control does.
Name the song you are chasing and Tonelify returns the settings for this exact guitar amp, not the settings the original artist used. Those are two different things: the recording was made on gear most players do not own.
Settings for this amp only ever use controls it actually has, because its front panel is stored in our gear database. You will not be told to set a knob that is not on the amp.
Starting settings on the Boss Katana Mini
Positions on a 0 to 10 scale, with 5 at twelve o'clock. They are where to begin, not Boss's numbers: pick the amp type first, then move one control at a time from here.
Clean
Clean type, Gain 2 to 3, Bass 5, Middle 5, Treble 6, Delay Level off to 2. Set the loudness with Volume rather than Gain, so chords stay clear.
- Gain 2 to 3
- Bass 5
- Middle 5
- Treble 6
- Delay Level off to 2
Crunch and classic rock
Crunch type, Gain 5 to 6, Bass 5, Middle 6 to 7, Treble 6. BOSS voices Crunch to respond to the nuances of your picking, so dig in for more grit, and play lighter or roll the guitar's volume back to clean it up.
- Gain 5 to 6
- Bass 5
- Middle 6 to 7
- Treble 6
Metal
Brown type, Gain 6 to 7, Bass 5, Middle 5, Treble 6 to 7, delay off. The Mini has no booster, so Gain is its only drive control, and past 7 it adds fizz faster than weight. Keep Bass near the middle: a 4-inch speaker has little low end to give, and extra Bass mostly blurs palm mutes. To tighten it, put a drive pedal in front and lower Gain a step.
- Gain 6 to 7
- Bass 5
- Middle 5
- Treble 6 to 7
- Delay Level off
Lead with delay
Brown or Crunch, with Middle one step higher than your rhythm sound, Delay Time short to medium and Delay Level about 3, low enough that the repeats sit behind the note. Time sets the gap between repeats and Level sets their volume.
- Delay Time short to medium
- Delay Level about 3
What controls does the Boss Katana Mini have?
The Boss Katana Mini has 8 controls on its front panel: Gain, Type switch, Volume, Bass, Middle, Treble, Delay Time and Delay Level.
Boss Katana Mini specifications
- Power
- 7W
- Speaker
- 1x4"
- Voicings
- Brown, Crunch, Clean
- Front panel
- Gain, Type switch, Volume, Bass, Middle, Treble, Delay Time, Delay Level
- Released
- 2017
What the Boss Katana Mini panel means when you dial it in
7W through a 1x4". At that rating it is built for practice and small rooms rather than for keeping up with a drummer. There is no presence control on this panel, so everything above the treble band has to come from the treble control and the guitar's own tone knob. A setting copied from an amp with presence has to be rebalanced here. Drive and volume have separate knobs, so the amp can sound driven at a volume that is liveable. Where a tone sits between the two is part of the answer, not a detail. The selectable voicings are Brown, Crunch and Clean. Picking the voicing comes before the knob positions, because the same numbers land somewhere else on each one.
Boss Katana Mini questions
Does the Boss Katana Mini have reverb?
No. Its one effect is a delay, with a Time knob for the gap between repeats and a Level knob for their volume, and a short delay at a low Level is the closest it gets to room sound. The Katana Mini X, its 2024 successor, has reverb and spring reverb on its Rev/Dly knob.
What amp types does the Katana Mini have?
Three, on the Type switch. BOSS describes Brown as a cutting-through rock lead sound inherited from the BOSS Waza amp, Crunch as a fat crunch sound that responds to the nuances of your picking, and Clean as a clean and natural sound. The Gain knob sets how much distortion each one has.
How long do the batteries last in a Boss Katana Mini?
BOSS rates it at about 7 hours on six AA alkaline batteries and about 9 hours on 2500 mAh rechargeable Ni-MH cells, depending on use. It also runs from a BOSS PSB-series AC adaptor, sold separately, and BOSS suggests leaving the batteries in so the amp keeps playing if the adaptor cable is pulled out.
Can you use headphones with the Katana Mini?
Yes. The Phones/Rec Out jack takes headphones or feeds a recorder, and BOSS describes its sound as cabinet voiced, as if you were hearing the guitar through a speaker. Plugging in mutes the Mini's own speaker. The Aux In takes a phone or music player to play along with.
What is the difference between the Katana Mini and the Katana Mini X?
The Mini X is larger and does more: 10 watts into a 5-inch speaker against the Mini's 7 watts into 4 inches, a built-in rechargeable battery instead of six AAs, a Variation button for each amp type, a Mod/FX knob with seven effects, reverb on a Rev/Dly knob, a tuner and Bluetooth audio. The Mini has a delay only. Both have the Brown, Crunch and Clean types and a three-band EQ.
What are good Katana Mini settings for metal?
Brown type, Gain 6 to 7, Bass 5, Middle 5, Treble 6 to 7 and the delay off. These are starting points rather than BOSS's numbers. There is no booster on the Mini, so if it needs to be tighter, lower Gain a step and put a drive pedal in front rather than turning Gain up.
Does Tonelify support the Boss Katana Mini?
Yes, and its front panel is stored, so settings only ever reference controls this guitar amp has: Gain, Type switch, Volume, Bass, Middle, Treble, Delay Time, Delay Level. You will not be told to set a knob that is not there.
Sources
Panel, specifications and dates checked against these on .