I've had the Katana for a little while now but I was exclusively using it with my Epi Les Paul. However, in the last little while, I've acquired three new guitars with vastly different pickups and builds.

I hadn't used Tone Studio very much because I could always dial in a tone I wanted right off the panel on LP. However, I am having lots of difficulty dialing in a tone for my LTD Viper 400 with EMGs and my Schecter 006 Extreme. Both sets of pickups are very hot and produce lots of noise. I tried using the noise gate but it just kills the sustain.

I am wondering if anyone has pointers on how to properly set up the gate, how to use EQs (never really had to use one before) and getting the amp to useable.

I tend to play alt rock, metal and other like-genres.