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I’d probably agree it’s not enough for gigging unless the room is really tiny or your just background music.
Originally Posted by DanielleOM
That said, I’ve been using S-Gear and a Yamaha DRX-8 pa speaker and it’s a really nice setup. Granted, I’m twiddling knobs again, but Im pretty sure that’s a sickness I was born with.
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06-19-2018 11:40 AM
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I enjoy the Katana since I took the time to dial in the desktop based EQ. I mostly use the default Clean pre-amp and very few of the pedals; a clean boost and the built in dly+rev.
It took a couple of tries to get the EQ to my liking. Set it, play with it for a month or two, tweak again.
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I got my KTN-100 combo ~10 days ago. I play jazz, clean, with archtop guitars. So far, I love Kat a whole bunch. Lot's of great classic and vintage jazz sounds, especially if you dig into the Tone Studio and Sneaky amps. I still can't believe the sound quality you get here compared to the Kat's price and size. Just awesome.
Also, I don't think the amp is bright, as has been posted by others. Regardless, the EQ is very powerful.
The one thing that I don't like about my Kat, however, is the sound I get through the headphone Out. I have a nice pair of Sennheiser phones. The sound of my archtop here is terrible; plinky and nasal. It sounds nothing like what I get from the speaker. It sounds like there is no speaker sim being applied to the headphone out signal (but, this should always be there....it is not defeatable on the Kat). I tried to EQ the headphone sound extensively, but could not correct this problem. (Also tried the Air Feel and Resonance settings as well; no luck).
Any ideas here? Is there something wrong with my Kat (unlikely)....or perhaps it is sensitive to headphone type (impedance mismatch??).
Thanks!
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I use my Blue Mo-Fi phones with the headphone out. No issues. I think they are 50ohms.
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I have a Katana 50 and it is a great amp...but... I find I am always fiddling with it and always searching for the "better" sound. This means I don't seriously practice when I am plugged into the thing. So much so that I have put it in storage and presently play an Orange 35 RT. It has two good sounds... warm clean and a slight tube scream sound on the dirty channel. Both are easy to dial in. In truth, it sounds better and more natural than the Katana and I don't fiddle with it. It has a nice reverb too and you don't need to mess with it. If you need to do a pile of different sounds for a show band gig the Katana may be for you but the Orange sounds fantastic for your key foundational sounds. I have Blues Cubes, Peavey and Hughes and Kettner tube amps but, for practical purposes, I choose the Orange over and over again. Of course, it is light too
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I tested both the Katana and the Roland Blues Cube in a store. IMO the Blues Cube killed the Katana for bold clean and breakup tones. It even killed the stock modern Fender tube amps they had. Of course it's also more expensive than the Katana.
I'm seriously thinking about getting a blues cube.
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60w isn't enough for large gigs though. Originally Posted by MikeTT
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There's a head version with 100w, but it's quite expensive.
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I had my Katana 50 out last Sunday night at my usual Sunday destination. The bar seemed to have the a lot more ambient noise than usual and the bass player suggest I turn up. Not sure I liked what I was hearing. It just seemed to me things started to sound more compressed with less detail. (It's probably not the best place to judge. Glass windows on one side with plenty of spinning overhead fans.)
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I've used my Katana 50 for about a year. It's everything I need in my living room.
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Another addition to this thread.... I am back to the Katana since the Orange developed a nasty cabinet resonance that I can't (to date) remedy. So, I loaded the sneaky amps into my Katana 50 and now play exclusively on the JC sound. Good tone (not the best) but light and reliable. it is a compromise but a good one for the time being. Originally Posted by Roberoo
I have a Katana 50 and it is a great amp...but... I find I am always fiddling with it and always searching for the "better" sound. This means I don't seriously practice when I am plugged into the thing. So much so that I have put it in storage and presently play an Orange 35 RT. It has two good sounds... warm clean and a slight tube scream sound on the dirty channel. Both are easy to dial in. In truth, it sounds better and more natural than the Katana and I don't fiddle with it. It has a nice reverb too and you don't need to mess with it. If you need to do a pile of different sounds for a show band gig the Katana may be for you but the Orange sounds fantastic for your key foundational sounds. I have Blues Cubes, Peavey and Hughes and Kettner tube amps but, for practical purposes, I choose the Orange over and over again. Of course, it is light too
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Used my K50 last night and, as usual, it did a fine job. My only complaint is that it has so many features that are wasted on me. I turn it on, set it to the room in a way that sounds like me and play the gig - that's all. I'm not a 'knob turner' and I just want to sound like me. Life is too short (IMHO) to waste a lot of time chasing someone else's tone from a vinyl record made in a now defunct recording studio from 50 + years ago. I'm just happy to have something that makes my guitar loud enough for the audience to hear - add a little reverb/delay and I'm a happy camper. I guess, if fiddling with knobs your hobby, that's cool.
I'm thinking of retiring it in favor of my DV Mark Micro 50 Jazz head - super simple - no 'drive' or 'gain' knob, built in reverb or effects loop - same power and I can use whatever speaker cabinet I want. Having one thing to carry is a plus, though.
For the $$$ - hard to beat.
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I'm curious about the power requirement for "large" gigs.
Apologies in advance for the thread-hijack.
I've been gigging with an octet, 4 horns and rhythm section. Up until a few weeks ago we had a residency at a restaurant the size of a big barn. Ceilings a couple of stories high. Main room not quite a rectangle but think 100x150 feet.
I played the gig with a JC55, which is 2x25 watts. Not through the PA. I put it on a stand about 20 inches high.
I had to be careful not to play too loud and I never even approached the upper limit of the amp.
Then, there's the issue of how loud you can play without blasting yourself out to the point where you can't hear the other instruments.
And, one last point. Horns can be pretty loud unamplified. The JC55 will match a loud horn. Why would I need to play any louder than that? If the horns are mic'ed, I can go through the PA too.
What am I missing here?
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I think a lot of folks on here are talking in terms of large venue shows with more of a rock feel - at least that's my take on it. I've never heard a jazz group so loud that a twin reverb was not enough. We steel players tend to use high wattage amps but that's for headroom, not raw power. Personally, I like to have enough power to do the job without the need of mic'ing my amp which I hate. I recently did a 39 show theater run in which they forced me to mic my amp and I hated every minute of it because I couldn't control what I was hearing on the stage - not sure what was getting to the house. I've seen film of the Basie band and you could hear Freddie Green over all those horns even without an amp. I heard once (not sure if it's true) that a 120 piece brass marching band generates something like 15 watts - guess it depends on how close you measure the SPL. Played in a cover rock band in bars for awhile years ago using using two Super Reverbs wide open - my ears are not over it yet. I think you just have to do what works for you and not worry what everyone else is doing. Originally Posted by rpjazzguitar
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The Basie band played to the level of the rhythm guitar. Imagine that.
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I have owned the head version since it first became available. I am definitely not a "knob turner" but I will spend the time to get the sound I like then forget about it. I own a couple of tube amps (SF Pro Reverb and a Fargen MiniPlex Mark II) and the amount of time I spend tweaking them for different guitars and different tones and pedals are required isn't much more than I spent with the Katana head. I also own an 11 Rack and a Kemper and I've spent more time with those than with any of the above.
I only use the Katana head in clean mode with slight delay and reverb. I did access the BTS to turn off the default noise gate and tweak the EQ. I don't play out but the head coupled with my ported 1X12 cab is pretty loud. Not as loud as my 40 watt Pro at 6+ nor as loud as my Kemper with my Atomic CLR....that can hurt your ears. But having played in a band situation years ago, it should be loud enough for a small club combo.
I purchased my Katana head for a couple of reasons. I like the reliability of SS and Boss products. I like that it is very quiet and can in a pinch double as an acoustic amp. The price was reasonable and Boss will be around for a while i.e. I have owned my fair share of products that have been orphaned by acquisitions or business failure e.g. Genz Benz, Polytone etc.
The delays and reverb are serviceable and the head has the advantage of being very portable and has a small speaker for practice. I don't use the K as my primary acoustic amp (nylon). For that I use an Elite Acoustic model which is head and shoulders above the Katana for providing a transparent realistic nylon tone.
In short, given the price I'm very happy with my Katana head.
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I bought the 100 1/12 not long after they released. All I do is play around the house and it sounds really good to me. Clean and flat with a little reverb and add a little gain when I feel rambunctious a bit. Sold a DR Z and bought the Kat and an Eastman 372 with money left over
. Now if I could step up a little from the 372
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you can see the sizes of speakers and fitting, a C Rex would be good in many amps,
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Still happy KTN100 year and a half later
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I had a better evening today. I used the Katana 50, using the panel controls (no sneaky amp), clean, power switch on 50w, volume, gain, and master at about 50%. Things seemed to work better this time.
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It's one thing to hear Freddie Green on film -- presumably, they put a mic somewhere near him.
I never heard them live. Did they expect Freddie to be heard without putting a mic near his guitar?
More generally, it seems to me that there has to be a point where your amp is just too loud -- in terms of stage volume. For standards based jazz, that doesn't require an enormous amp.
My hearing is far from perfect, but when things get too loud, I start hearing a dull roar rather than sonic detail.
I don't see why I should ever have to play louder than the horns in the band. If they need to be mic'ed, then so do I.
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Once again, I encourage you to indulge in the Tolkien-esque fantasy of a band that actually plays to the level of the rhythm guitar. The Baisie band, apparently, did this.
In terms of FG's projection - well he was playing a big guitar with super heavy strings and action and archtops have a tendency to throw their sound outwards and his posture and stance directed the F-holes upwards, and I think that helps.
The truth is, so much depends on the other musicians. If players don't play to the level of the guitar, it doesn't really matter what you do. I have met a small number of musicians who can do this. For everyone else they blame you for not being loud enough. (And then blame you when you are too loud lol, no pleasing some people.)
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Love the expression "Tolkien-esque fantasy of a band that actually plays to the level of the rhythm guitar."
A dream to live for.
Can't remember the source(s), but I've heard/read/seen that when FG tried using an amp the other band members
gently and repeatedly objected by loosening the tubes until FG got the message. Also remember a quote from
a former and later bandmate that FG was there for THE BAND and really not the audience.
However, it has been well proven that my memory is not an authoritative resource.
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I heard that story too and hope it’s true :-)
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Ah, my dream band - the Bilbo Baggins Big Band with Frodo Green on guitar, playing their arrangement of 'Baggins Groove'. Originally Posted by christianm77
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