What the Dead Men Say amp settings — Boss Katana 50 MkII
The Trivium guitar tone for “What the Dead Men Say”, dialed in for a Boss Katana 50 MkII with a Esp Ltd Alexi-200. Studio version, What the Dead Men Say album (2020)
Peavey Triple XXX II head, Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer (clean boost mode), ISP Decimator, Epiphone MKH with Fishman Fluence Modern pickups
| Knob | Setting (0–10) |
|---|---|
| Gain | 7 |
| Bass | 6 |
| Mid | 4 |
| Treble | 7 |
| Presence | 6 |
| Reverb | 0 |
| Master | 5 |
01Boss ML-2 Metal Core
Use as a clean boost/EQ shaper to mimic the TS9's role—Dist at 0, Level pushing the amp. This adds the mid-push and tightness Heafy gets from running a TS9 with gain at zero into the Triple XXX.
The Katana's Brown channel approximates the 5150/Triple XXX voicing. Your ESP with passive humbuckers has less output compression than Heafy's Fishman Fluence actives, so gain stays at 7 instead of lower. The ML-2 with Dist at 0 functions as a clean boost like the TS9 setup—it adds the mid-hump and input saturation that defines this tone.
Get this tone on your amp
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.
Get ToneAdapt on Google PlaySong, artist and gear names are used to identify the tone being matched; ToneAdapt is not affiliated with or endorsed by the artists or manufacturers mentioned. Settings are AI-generated starting points — trust your ears.