Purple rain amp settings — Boss Katana 50 MkII
The Prince guitar tone for “Purple rain”, dialed in for a Boss Katana 50 MkII with a Yamaha Pacifica 112V. Studio album/First Avenue recording (1984), iconic outro lead solo
Hohner MadCat Telecaster / Stratocaster into Boss SD-1, Boss DS-1, Boss BF-2 Flanger, Boss DM-2 Delay, Mesa/Boogie Mark II into Bag End D12-M cab
| Knob | Setting (0–10) |
|---|---|
| Gain | 7 |
| Bass | 5 |
| Mid | 7 |
| Treble | 6 |
| Reverb | 5 |
| Master | 6 |
01Jim Dunlop Cry Baby GCB95
Leave bypassed for the main outro solo, or rock heel-down slowly for specific vocal filter sweeps
02Boss Katana Onboard Booster (Blues Drive / Warm OD)
Tightens the low end and adds front-end push into the Lead channel
03Boss Katana Onboard Flanger (BF-2 style)
Subtle metallic swirl in the Katana FX section mimicking Prince's BF-2
04Boss Katana Onboard Analog Delay (DM-2 style)
Warm analog delay repeats to give the solo its soaring spatial depth
The Katana 50 MkII Lead voice captures the liquid sustain of Prince's Mesa Mark II cascading preamp. Since you do not own separate overdrive and modulation pedals, the Katana's internal Blues Drive booster, Flanger, and Analog Delay blocks replicate the original SD-1, BF-2, and DM-2 chain. Mids are boosted to 7 to recreate the thick vocal cut from the Pacifica's bridge humbucker while the tone knob is pulled slightly to 8 to tame excess top-end bite. Intro rhythm switch: select the Clean amp type and use the neck+middle single-coil split.
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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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