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Unlike the Sauron-Ra Orcestra, who did not.
Originally Posted by christianm77
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08-15-2018 02:40 PM
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Notorious for their slightly menacing hit number, 'The Night has a single Eye'. Originally Posted by grahambop
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I'm very happy because I can't hear any difference between the two speakers... Originally Posted by Durban
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I guess the Katana 100 trumps the Blues Cube 30 and the DV Mark Jazz ?
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For some people, yes. For others, no. It's mostly a subjective decision.
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I bought the Katana 50, but swapped it for the single speaker 100 with its' heavier speaker magnet that I feel gives better bottom and fullness. I also found the factory default voicings too bright, but have easily tailored what I feel are several ideal jazz tones using the BOSS Tone Studio software. No need to accept the factory settings if you find them too bright. The configuration parameters are very broad and deep on this amp and I am still absolutely thrilled with mine. I'm convinced that you can find any sound you want if you take the time to learn the software interface. I haven't plugged my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe in since I brought my Katana home 1.5 years ago. It can do any clean sound the Fender can, and more.
As to loudness - 100 watts is WAY more than I can stand - it can and will cause permanent ear damage if cranked up too far. It is much louder than my Fender Hot Rod (which is rated at 40 watts).
As a reference, I am a professional cellist, so my concept of tone may be a bit different from many full time guitarists.
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You may, in fact, have an actual concept of tone, not necessarily a plus in guitar world. Originally Posted by fencible
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way too bright even with the treble on zero. Switched to quilter and dv mark
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I have the Katana 100w head with 2x12 cab, and the Blues Cube 80. I tried out the DV Mark 1x12 at GC, but didn't buy it. Originally Posted by jzucker
In my opinion, the Katana is a GREAT amp, but it doesn't have the crystal-clean Jazz tone that the Blues cube and DV Mark have.
I had a difficult time choosing between the Blues Cube and the DV Mark. Both were SO GOOD with my Gibson Tal Farlow, but they were different sounding--and in the end, I just preferred the Blues cube.
Pretty sure I would have been very happy with the DV Mark.Last edited by dickbanks; 06-25-2019 at 04:24 PM. Reason: spelling
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Having good luck with the Katana 100 watt head and 1x12" closed back Egnater cab loaded with a Celestion Neo 12"300 watt 8 ohms.
Only wish it had a on board tuner built in.
Pretty hard to beat at around $300
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I have the 50. Plenty loud for (drummer-less) gigging in small clubs and restaurants (my bread and butter). I have spent some time working with the software and the "sneaky amps" patches but eventually reset the amp to stock settings and worked to get a tone I like just by using the parameters on the amp itself.
In short, I think it is a fantastic, no fuss, amp.
I do roll up the bass to 1 or 2 pm, mids down to 10 or 11 am, and the treble to 10 or 11 am (all dependent on the guitar I am playing and the room). I run the gain between 10 and 11. Master volume all the way up and guitar volume between 3 and 6. The other volume is adjusted according to circumstance.
I also play gypsy jazz and use the acoustic setting on the amp with a 57 mic. I run it flat (eq) and my acoustic sound is very natural and devoid of any annoying digital sizzle. With the mic there is none of the annoying piezo snap, spank and sizzle.
Both musicians and audience members have approached me to say they are impressed by the sound. Even my wife likes it and comments on the tone. Rare kudos indeed.
I tried the Katana Artist and thought it sounds somewhat better than my 50. That is no surprise really. A Twin Reverb with two JBLs sounds even better than the Artist but I am not lugging a Twin around nor am I interested in hauling and Artist up and down stairs for small jazz and gypsy jazz gigs.
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I like a 57 for gypsy jazz. Interesting to hear of someone using that set up.
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Two and a half years on with the Katana 100watt 1x12. I get amp GAS reading this forum but... it’s good enough for me. Haven’t used the software in over a year. There are probably new firmware updates but it works fine as is. I have one preset for the 175 and another for the Strat. There are 6 more slots available but unused.
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Katana 50 or old roland cube 40xl which is better for a classic jazz sound (jim hall, etc)
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i dumped mine because it was way too bright and the treble control even at zero didn't really help.
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Dumped the Katana as I got into flat tops and couldn’t stand the Katana acoustic offering. Got a ToneMaster Twin for the electrics and a Mesa Rosette for the acoustics and occasionally the 175.
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What model katana? I have the 50 and the artist, and they are very different amps, the artist's has lots more bass, different contours for the sound, a presence control and sounds just about any way you'd want it for electric guitar, hollow or solid with humbuckers. The 50 is perfect on my Godin SAS nylon string, my classic with k&k disks, and my steel string with Fishman, and is a great amp for acoustic guitars, but the Artist isn't very good on acoustics, maybe it could be, but it has so many settings, and I think the speaker is too bass heavy, I don't want to mess with it. Originally Posted by jzucker
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As I posted in another thread, I picked up a Katana 50 MkII to use with my Eastman AR610ce. I’m very pleased with it. The settings I’m using for base jazz tone:
Amp type: Clean (or Acoustic, both work well)
Volume: almost full up
Master: almost full up
Bass, Mid, Treble: all essentially flat
Reverb: present, but not intrusive
Having the Volume and Master controls nearly full up fattens the sound. I’m using the Gain control for overall volume.
I’ve set up a dual switch from a Marshall amp to operate the unit for patch changes. It works, but has limitations and of course cannot control effects.
While “jazz tone” typically is not associated with effects, the amp comes with many - and the modulation effects and delays/reverbs sound good. So I just ordered the AirStep KAT. It functions as a patch selector AND as an effects selector.
Who knows… maybe the big effects pedalboard I currently have, with a bunch of discrete units and power distribution (and the associated hum/noise!), could become a thing of the past.
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I have to make a followup post. This amp is incredible. I received the AirStep KAT. I downloaded and installed the Boss Tone Studio. The depth of configuration is staggering.
So what I’ve done is to work with just one channel (patch) so far. I set up my base jazz tone. Then I configured Clean Boost on that channel. It has just a small bit of ‘drive’ and a slightly brighter tone than the base. So it’s almost like hitting a pickup selector. The change in overall tone is almost imperceptible, while the character is different enough to make single-line playing stand out just a little by comparison.
The Booster is like magic. I’m treating the amp (50 MkII) as having four channels, each with its discrete effect settings, with two sounds per channel. The Booster, with its own tone and other controls, is what allows this to happen. So having the Booster switch on the AirStep controller, along with controls for the channel effects, puts everything right at your feet in uncluttered fashion. And even for someone new to it, this is intuitive.
That one channel covers my jazz needs for the moment. Next up I’ll do a rock channel. The ones provided don’t work for me too well, but I’ve heard some out there that show it can do what I want.
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Which amp type are you using for your base jazz tone? Acoustic, Clean, or Crunch? Originally Posted by coyote-1
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I tried a Katana MkII about a month ago; I couldn't get a good sound out of it. Sounded like a can of angry bees.
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So, after starting this thread, my Katana journey has come full circle.
I started out very impressed with the 100w mkI. I was able to dial some great, fat jazz tones with my L-5 WesMo and a couple ES-175s. It became my daily driver for a while.
I later had a chance to pick up a 50w mkI very reasonably from a co-worker who didn’t bond with it. Trying to dial that amp in did not yield as nice of results.
Not long after that, I acquired a Tone Master Twin Reverb and it became my daily driver. Both Katanas found their way into the hands of other local players (no need to keep them).
Fast forward a year or two and in a moment of weakness, I snatched up 100w mkII in the local classifieds for a song. This thing is really versatile and I took the time to access some of the effects using my laptop. For my rock rig, i use a vintage Marshall and a pedalboard. With the new Katana 100mkII, I am getting excellent rock tone and good enough effects (actually many of the built-in drive pedals and modulation pedals are very good—the Univibe is particularly outstanding). I found a video Rob Chapman had done recently where he shares his recent discovery that the Katana design really benefits from using the 100w mode, cranking the master volume, setting the gain for the amount of break up, then using the Volume knob to control sound output. Wow. This has fattened up the tone considerably. It sounds great. I’m experimenting with clean tones for jazz, but the master volume up trick really helps. Needless to say, the K100 mkII sits next to my Twin Reverb and is now getting used in every lesson. And will be used at the next gig. It will be great to not have to deal with a pedal board.
So, I’m back in the Katana pool. Water’s fine!Last edited by rolijen; 05-31-2023 at 04:10 PM.
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Clean. The ‘standard’ one, not the Variation (which is more treble-forward). And after a couple weeks with it, the tone on my Eastman is moving further toward full-open. It sounds great. Originally Posted by rolijen
I’ve also been playing with the multiple Boosters available. Between those and the Solo function, any one channel has five different sounds available. Not applicable too much in my jazz context, but as I delve further into a rock patch/channel I’ll be seeing what can happen with that.
6/3 edit: not working for single coil with ‘rock’ tones. The buzzing is out of control when the gain is pushed up. Will try in a different room at a later time
6/6 edit: it is, however, working wonderfully for my jazzbox. The three booster settings, plus solo setting, per channel turns out to be dandy! So many different jazz tones, at the click of a footswitch!Last edited by coyote-1; 06-06-2023 at 11:09 PM.
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Old post is old. Time for a new one.
I had a few hours to myself this evening, and spent a significant portion of them working on Katana presets. I’m very happy with the Jazz channel. I also set up a channel for my classical guitar that sounds like the guitar, only louder. Which is exactly what it should be.
My third channel is a Blackmore-sounding setup. Certainly not as good as my old Marshall Major going thru a pair of 4x12s, but for a little thing it’s close enough. I took out my Strat with the stacked humbuckers, and the noise was far less than with the single-coil Strat.
(The only problem with trying for that sound is that the Major has this magic thing where picking softly plays clean at low volume without having to lower the volume knob, while hitting it harder gets this awesome window-rattling crunch that’s still sorta clean. I’ve never been able to duplicate that response on any other amp.)
I will at some point pick up the external speaker contraption for it; going thru a 2x12 cab plus its own speaker should go a ways toward improving that channel.
My final ‘stock’ channel will be a Beatle-esque thing, trying for something that can approximate both their early Vox sound and their later Fender type studio sounds. But it will take some time to get that right. So it’ll happen another day. In any event, I’m finding this amp to be very useful.
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Nice to hear you’re getting great sounds from your Katana!
I’m back in the deep end of the pool now. Been having so much fun with the Katana 100 mkII, I ended up ordering a Katana Artist mkII combo.
The 100 is great. But, the artist is next-level. The larger cabinet and the Waza speaker make such a difference. I know others complained about the Katana having excessive treble or sounding like angry bees. But, the Katana Artist has bottom-end like crazy. On the clean channel with the tone settings at B:3, M:6, T:4 it’s fat and juicy. Smooth and buttery. I tweaked the tone a bit further using the parametric EQ in the App and saved it in the amp and it sounds almost as good as my twin.
In addition to the Twin sound, I added very convincing JCM800, Driven Deluxe Reverb, and Plexi tones to the four presets in Bank A. I’ll have to figure what to put in the other 4 slots.
Loving having the variety of tones and effects I use all accessible through the footswitch. As hoped, haven’t touched the pedalboard since getting the Kat. Kid in a candy store.
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