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01-22-2018, 06:37 AM #51Dutchbopper GuestThat's about it. I've had mine for over 6 months now and the honeymoon is definitely over. Too bright and no match for my Mambo amp, which sounds so much better and warmer.
Originally Posted by jzucker
Stil, for 199 bucks (euro in my case) it's hard to beat. But I do not take it to gigs and I do not record with it. I use the Katana only at home for practising. And the price/quality ratio is still amazing. But I do not consider it to be a pro amp.
Regards,
DB
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01-22-2018 06:37 AM
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So many people rate the Mambo I'm going to have to give it another try.
I liked the Katana clean channel a lot... I normally play a PRRI...
Not saying this is directly relevant to DB etc... Often I've noticed Polytone players seem to dislike clean sounds that I like - I think more blackface voiced amps? For instance I'm perfectly happy with things like the Roland Cubes on Fender mode, while a some players hate them....
(I'm not really a polytone fan myself.)
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Good point. After gigging with a Roland JC 77 for years, I got a chance to demo a Polytone. I liked it and bought it. I soon began to lament that decision—no matter how I adjusted it, that amp was dull and uninspiring. I gladly sold it to a guy who loves that muddy, boxy sound. Originally Posted by christianm77
Starting with the JC, amps I have gravitated toward are my BFPRs and more recently, SCXDs and the Roland Cube. Now, with the open backed Katana clean I’m in JC territory with some of the vibe of a Fender. Using Panel mode, I have dialed in sounds that work best for me with various guitars and saved them to the presets. It’s wonderful to plug in and not have to fiddle around much. In my opinion, these Katanas are useful as jazz amps, particularly the 100w version.Last edited by rolijen; 01-23-2018 at 08:29 AM.
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no, it still sounds terrible IMO. But then again, I have pedals that sound decent so it doesn't matter too much. Originally Posted by kenhan
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I’ve been patching Mainstage 3 into the effects loop on the Katana. Impulse response reverbs sound light years beyond any traditional digital reverb I’ve tried. Especially the Katana. Terrible sounding reverbs.
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Had time to A/B the K100 and K50. I used the same EQ settings on both and was surprised—they sound quite different. I’m having a much harder time finding the richness of the 100 in the 50. I use the clean channel only. Either the tone stack is slightly different or the speaker used in the 50 is not nearly as good as the one in the 100. I still think the 50 is a great value, but I prefer the 100. Over-brightness is not an issue on the 100 w ch vol and master vol both cranked to 75% and gain anywhere from 25-50%, then using the amp’s power control and my guitar vol to get the overall volume I want. The 50 is brighter and harder for me to dial in.
Last edited by rolijen; 01-24-2018 at 11:32 AM.
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The speaker in the hundred has a beefier magnet.
Boss released the Katana Artist at NAMM this week. It appears to be a re-worked 100 combo with a better speaker, "improved" amp voicings, more headroom on the Clean, more control knobs, new outputs, and a 60% price increase.
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Unexpectedly, I just decided to sell my K50 after several somewhat enjoyable months. It is a great amp for the price, but I eventually realised its not what I need - for two reasons:
1. I bought it because most of the time I am trying to play with headphones - so, solid state is just what I need, right ? No ! The Phones/Recording Out on the K50 is fine as long as you are playing clean, but let it have a whiff of overdrive and the high frequencies are unacceptable. I partly tamed this with a graphic equalizer between the Phones Out and the mixer that it was feeding. I basically removed everything above 8 kHz to keep the fizz manageable, but that seems to unbalance the rest of the spectrum, so that when playing relatively clean, the tone is just too dull (and thin !?). I went back to my Super Champ Head which sounds great thru a Cannabis Rex and found a Koch gadget (Koch Amps Dummybox Home – Thomann UK) which combines DI, attenuator and dummy load in one box at a great price - this thing is brilliant. I can now get the tones I want either whisper quiet thru a speaker, or load thru headphones. I dare say if the K50 speaker were not hard-wired in, I could use the Koch box to substitute for the Phones Out with good results, which suggests I should buy the Katana Head and try that, but......
2. I spend too much time playing with all the options on the Katana via Tone Studio and not enough time playing tunes. Hence back to the Super Champ with 3 or 4 well chosen pedals, the Koch box and some good 'phones.
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I'm pretty happy with my katana 100.
I've sold my twin reverb and still no regret.
to me it's not bright at all.
I can easily manage my semi and my archtop.
I've already attached this video in another katana thread: maybe it could help...
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Sounds fantastic. Originally Posted by gianluca
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This guy has posted quite a few videos of the Katana in a jazz context.
Miguel Granada
- YouTube
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These are my babies:
When I cannot bear the weight of my longtime companion, veteran of many a dance hall and honky tonk, BFSR, the K 100 is my other favoritest most bestest amp. Warm and tight and dripping with sweetness. They both get me where I wanna go. Still a big fan. K 50 not as much. Still nice but in a different league, tone wise.
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To all who are enjoying their Katanas, more power to you, make beautiful music together. But for me, I just don't see (hear) it. After raves here I went to store about a year ago and demoed the 50 and 100 and thought they were thin and tinny and didn't like their emulations. After reading this thread I tried again with the same reaction. A year ago I bought a used ZT Club and felt it was much better. Now for the same price as a new K 100 I just bought a used Quilter Micropro 200 (1st gen) with a 12 inch speaker and to my ears there is no comparison. The Quilter sounds so much better. But, to each his own.
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I hear that a lot. A guy at work has the K50 and says it’s thin and raspy. He’s selling it. I must have gotten lucky because my K100 sounds really good. I find excellent clean tones similar to my old Jazz Chorus amps. Those amps had the world’s worst distortion but took pedals really well. I think the Katana distortion is quite a bit better but still not great. In experimenting, I found the OD on mine isn’t very good but the distortion is useable. None of that matters much as I only use the clean amp setting. For the $280 I paid for it, this is a great amp that doesn’t weigh a lot. Again to get the fat clean tone both channel vol and master vol have to be turned up to 75% or higher. For me, I like the gain at 50% and set the power level to achieve output needed. Mine doesnt sound thin or tinny.
Maybe some of the love/hate has to do with a player’s preference for open-back or sealed amps/speaker cabinets. Both amps mentioned in the previous post have a sealed cabinet and will sound very different from the open back Katanas.
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I bought Quilters twice - I really tried to like them but thought they sounded 'boxy'. I returned the second one to SA and demo'd the K50 and bought it on the spot. It's still my main gigging amp - I only use the 'clean' setting and set up a preset for my occasional 'surf' gigs. Otherwise, I just dial it in to fit the room I'm in. Great sounding amp. I found that I don't like sealed cabinets at all and built an open back cab for a 10" to go with my new DV Micro 50 Jazz head and it sounds great, too, but I still use the K50 mostly.
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Sold my Katana last week. I’m too much of a knob spinner. I’m back to my two-knob 5F2A clone and loving it.
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Didn't bond with my Katana 100. Too much work, for me, to get a sound.
Good amp, but not for me.
Currently using a DV Mark Micro 50 with a 1x12 Eminence Cannabis Rex.
So easy to dial in a great sound, with any of my guitars.
Love this combination!
YMMV
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Having had the Katana 100 for a while now, I'm still very happy with it. I must say though, if I hadn't dipped into Tone Studio, I probably wouldn't be as happy with it. There are just so many tonal options in BTS, it's pretty mind blowing
For playing different genres and guitars, it's very handy to have 8 amp presets through the ga-fc foot controller.
It's not going to replace my Deluxe Reverb, but it's what I use day in, day out in the practice room. I can leave it on all day and there's no noise, no hiss, no heat. For less than $300, I find it pretty compelling.
Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk
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The Katana 50 got gigged for the first time last weekend in a 9 piece combo. It performed great, I was very happy with the stage sound. I should have waited till after this gig to order the Quilter!
The stage wasnt too crowded, a seated gig, with the Katana at arms reach to my rear right hand side and tilted up with its little retractable foot. I brought along my e906 mic and that was plugged into some kind of Bose tower PA in the centre. It wasn’t pointed my direction but I got a nice blend between my amp on the right and the PA speaker to the left.
It just worked as a clean amp for the arch top. Clean channel at 50W setting, no reverb.
It might seem strange, but at the next gig I’ll be trying to recreate that Katana stage sound with the Quilter!
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How does the Katana compare with the amp line from Boss' sister company - Roland Blues Cube (the new ones). To me, it seems they would be better suited to jazz. More money but used pretty reasonable.
I am curious though I don't have a dog in this fight - I get all I need from my Mesa MkV25.
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At times I feel like a real novice when it comes to amps with programmable settings. I brought my Katana out on Sunday night and found myself struggling with the sound, gain and volumes. I took a closer look at things the next day and realized I had been inadvertently using it the night before with a Tweed sneaky amp.
I find the amp still seems to work best for me in clean mode, no effects, and tone flat.
I was experimenting with the reverb effects build into the amp. I probably should look at this again. My perception was that even the slightest amount of reverb seems to have an effect on the tone of the amp. It actually has me wondering if an external reverb pedal would work better with the Katana 50.
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Strange, A friend of mine keeps telling me that the Katana 50 is the wrong amp for me and I need to get a Tweed Princeton. I am just not convinced that am amp that small would work for the small bar room open mic I go to. I usually play with bass player that brings her (2) 10 cab with her. Originally Posted by wzpgsr
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i still like mine but i'm a bit disappointed in how bright it is, even with the treble all the way off it sounds like a bright switch is on. Good for wes or benson style stuff but can't quite get the jim hall / metheny tone. Still for the price, nothing else can touch it.
i've never bothered hooking it to the computer. Not interested in that on this amp...
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Maybe you could dial out the brightness on the computer based parameters? Originally Posted by jzucker
I found the program for the Mustang III was super easy to use and really helped get a good baseline for your tone. I found the L6 HD500 was a PITA to use - took me a long time with a lot of on-line tips to finally dial it in. Then I lost interest.
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