21 Guns amp settings — Boss Katana 50 MkII

The Green Day guitar tone for “21 Guns”, dialed in for a Boss Katana 50 MkII with a Epiphone Les Paul Special II Les Paul Special II. Studio version, 21st Century Breakdown (2009)

Original rig

Marshall 1959SLP Plexi Super Lead 100W, Gibson/Epiphone Les Paul Junior with H-90 pickup, Boss BD-2 Blues Driver for solo boost

Warm, mid-forward crunch with controlled gain — cleaner and more open than typical Green Day punk tracks, slightly rolled-back edge-of-breakup tone

Amp settings — Boss Katana 50 MkII

CHANNELCrunchBOOSToff

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	5
Bass	5
Mid	8
Treble	6
Presence	5
Reverb	1
Master	7

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE7 VOLUME10

Why these settings

The Katana's Crunch channel approximates a pushed Plexi. Your Les Paul Special II has dual humbuckers vs Billie Joe's single H-90, so I dropped gain from a typical 6 to 5 and rolled tone knob to 7 to tame the extra high-end thickness. Mids stay cranked at 8 — this is the core of Green Day's cut-through tone. The original recording is relatively dry, so reverb sits at 1 for subtle room ambience.

PRO TIPPick closer to the neck pickup for the verse arpeggios to get that warmer, more open quality heard on the record — then move back toward the bridge for the power chord chorus to add bite without touching any knobs.

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These settings are for a Boss Katana 50 MkII. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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