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Due to all the buzz about the Boss Katana amps last year, many forum members bought one (or two). My question is, now that you’ve had a chance to use them a bit, are you still happy with them?
i am still enjoying mine and using my recently acquired 50 daily. I play the 100 quite a bit too. At this point, I have dialed in some gorgeous tones. These amps stand shoulder-to-shoulder with my vintage Fender amps and they’re dead quiet. Crazy value. I like ‘em. You?
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01-15-2018 01:40 AM
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underpowered , extremely bright, terrible overdrive tones. In the clean fender amp model, the treble / presence is not centered correctly so it's hard to dial out brightness with a bright archtop.
I Still like it and I think it's set the bar for SS amps that will make it increasingly difficult to justify $1200 SS jazz amps in the future but it's definitely not perfect.
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Originally Posted by jzucker
Spot on Jack ( not interested in the overdrive tones ). Otherwise - will not be parting with it
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Those seem like fundamentally negative comments, yet you both still like it and want to keep it.
The solid state digital rigs that I've tried are always too bright and sharp for me. I never buy them for that reason. I once had a Fender Jazzmaster Ultralight and hated it for its high-mid sheen that I could never dial out, and a sense that it had an unnatural boosted compression of sorts.
I play through a '79 SFPR or a Clarus 2R/Redstone setup, and haven't made changes to that pair in many years.
I would like a small SS amp that sounds like 80% of a Princeton and doesn't have too much extraneous crap on it. Possible?
Interested to hear more...
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The BOSS software allows access to both multi-band and parametric EQs. Can't these be used to trim the "brightness"?
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I'm only interested in what I can edit live on the amp as opposed to tweaking something in the software. I need to be able to quickly edit as needed. Haven't tried tweaking the paraq for that reason. the brightness sounds good on some guitars and horrible on others so tweaking via the software would not be a good solution for me. Originally Posted by maggles55
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That's a really important point. If you do any editing, the actual knobs can take on different meanings, and making changes on the fly can be perilous. What happens when you turn left of 0 can be a completely different setting than a right turn. If you switch to one of the other 2 amp settings, the meanings change again. If you're serious about using these amps live, you have to print out a map of the current setting that will be legible in the moment, on a gig. If you don't, you'll be flying blind. Thing is, the map is much more complex than a list of effects and a number, and might be more than you'd want to navigate on the gig. Originally Posted by jzucker
Last edited by unknownguitarplayer; 01-15-2018 at 01:23 PM.
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That is one of the things (of which there are many) that the Fender Mustang GT amps did better. I have had students get Katanas but for me I got a GT100 because I don’t want to have to plug into a computer to access everything that’s available. Everything is right on the amp and it is even easier to get to (since there are only so many knobs and buttons to control non standard settings) using the phone app that controls it. I still use that amp every day when I practice despite having a Bud, a Polytone and some other nice options. The Bud does go to gigs more though.
The lack of external controls actually makes it more appealing for students though. The kinds of students I have had get a katana would have been totally overwhelmed by the options on the GT amps.
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Had the 100 1x12 for a year. Works great for my needs of versatile, cheap, and good enough.
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Interesting feedback about the brightness. I find the controls to be very effective. I’ve never plugged it into a computer and I get very good sweep of treble, middle and bass controls. I’m running the clean channel settings approximately as follows: bass at 11 o’clock, middle at 12 o’clock and treble at 9 o’clock. Master and channel volumes at about 3 o’clock and gain at 9 o’clock. Then, I use the power level to find a suitable volume then use channel vol to fine tune. Back off on the guitar volume if it's boomy then back off the tone control on the guitar (or amp) until you arrive in Wesville. To my ear, probably due to the larger speaker) it’s meatier than any of my 3 Princeton Reverbs (‘64, ‘65 and ‘67). And, I prefer it over my mini brute II-which sounds muffled in comparison. But, then again I like the Roland clean sound.
Had a friend over Friday and he used my BFSR (‘66) with an ES-175. Voice of angels. I thought, wow there is nothing like a good Fender tube amp and a 175. But later that evening, I was using the Katana and felt that the sound stacks up real well, at least to my ears. I haven't played with the distortions much so no opinion there. Great to hear your observations. I learn a lot from you guys.Last edited by rolijen; 01-24-2018 at 11:44 AM.
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I am still fond of the Katana 100 1x12 Loud enough, clean, a hint of reverb and - reliable and portable-. All I need in my bigband situation. At home late night I switch it to 0,5 Watt. Me happy
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I like the top end sizzle on my barney kessel but not on my seventy seven hawk so if you paraq the top end out then how do you add it back without connecting it back up to the editor if you are using it live?
Originally Posted by unknownguitarplayer
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You have 3 independent amp setting you can get to with a single button push, so you could toggle between the 2 guitars pretty easily. Originally Posted by jzucker
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How is the katana 50 with electrics, say a strat or a tele? No treble would mean bad tones where these are concerned, and if this amp can do a decent compromise between darker tones that work for jazz, and more bright tones that work for other stuff, it 'd be great. For example i always thought the Roland cube 40 was great at that, a costing-next-to-nothing portable amp you can use for everything.
I m actually trying one this week, will buy it if i like it. Not so much for jazz guitar, but for electric guitar use, when i don't want to carry tubes. I 've played gigs with a friend's cube 40 and a tele and it worked for me (with a drummer), so i hope the katana 50 is not quieter than the roland cube.
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for my taste, it's ok but nothing special. An order of magnitude better than the other jazz SS amps but I never found any really great strat or tele sounds with it that knocked me out, mainly because the plexi and brown channels just don't sound anything like the real thing to me. Granted, I'm comparing this to an axefx which is 100x better but i think with a couple good pedals, you could get some decent strat or tele sounds. I just find the gain structure kind of lame on it and not pleasing.
But, for $300, it's hard to beat. I'll take it and use a pedal if I want overdriven tones.
Originally Posted by Alter
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So just my take after playing one several times at a local music store 100 watt 2x12" version. Best bang for $ out there that I've tried. Incredibly versatile, and can be very deep if one takes the time to explore it's possibilities. I think it sounds very good w/out too much editing, but agreed like the JC 120 it can be a bit bright.
One solution that I found works on JC 120's was to just turn the dist knob on to it's lowest setting. Truly at 1 or below. I think this will help warm up the Katana as well if you can do a similar knob function. Also run the Master at Full and Pre a bit hotter,then use the Level at the end to control the overall volume.
Try not to approach this amp like a tube Fender type of thing. For me unlike Jack Z, I found the Quilter Aviator to be the best alternative for a great Clean Platform amp. But the Katana is definitely a lot more versatile, and a great choice!
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Maybe a speaker swap could reduce treble?
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FWIW I just ordered a 100 combo. I've had the 50 since spring and, like many amps, it sounds great at home or duo level volumes. But I had a very bad gig experience in jazz club on a busy night and at some sessions with drummers. The only way to get volume with the 50 is to turn the gain up, which is exactly the overdriven sound I was hoping to avoid. All told, I do like the Katana sound better than the Clarus / Raezer or the Polytone I have.
Last edited by unknownguitarplayer; 06-19-2018 at 06:57 AM.
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even with the 100, i have to keep the gain at 12 O'Clock to get enough clean volume with a loud jazz drummer. I think its power is at least 2x overrated. It's about as loud as a 50w ss amp IMO Originally Posted by unknownguitarplayer
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I know you're right, Jack, but here's the sad fact. Being a "gentleman of a certain age", the first number I look at is the weight. It's come down to poundage over wattage, and these amps are amazingly light. I guess I'll just kvetch about the sound and roll with it. Originally Posted by jzucker
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I use mine with a Strat, 6.7k pups, and a PRS, HOT humbuckers, and have no trouble finding pleasing tones. Usually with Clean amp with some gain and maybe the built in Boss Blues Driver. The Crunch amp is also quite nice. The Lead and Brown amps just aren’t me. One advantage of the 100 over the 50 is the Presence knob on the panel is very useful to get some sparkle out of a slab. Originally Posted by Alter
with the Gibson 175 I get lost in how good it sounds.
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I still like and gig with my 50 - does everything I need it to do. I've set up two presets for odd things that I might want to do during the evening (surf and fat jazz) - otherwise, I just set it up from the panel for the mostly clean pop oldies stuff that my duo does. I don't use distortion at all and don't really need anything but the 'clean' setting. I have not been able to locate the parametric eq that folks talk about, though. Also, I've seen screen shots showing the actual Boss stomp boxes but have not been able to find that either.
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I never tested a Boss Katana so my comment is necessarily off topic.
I have several amps (several SS, one valve and an 80s Polytone) and my favorite tone comes from a second generation Roland Cube 60. I have it on the "Tweed" amp sim with a particular setting of knobs. I tried to dial that same setting on several other Roland amps that have the same amp sim and EQ options with no avail.
My point is this: amps are a far more particular and sensible tonal area than, for instance, guitars and pickups. At one time I had over 40 guitars and that amp/setting drove the best out of each one. So what my advice is for anyone interested in an amp to try that amp whenever possible ... I know, this sounds so basic and naive. But still I think its paramount.
Someone above mentioned the need to be able to dial settings in real time, in a live situation. +1 on that - and I feel it goes along the same lines. Amps must be intuitive and predictable in their response to input settings. If I'm playing with my band it would be lame having to say "ok, just give me 5 minutes so I can figure out out to change this (or that) on my amp".
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Yes. Version 2 of the firmware includes global and per-patch para EQ. I agree the amp tends to the brighter side, and I agree it’s kind of a pain to tweak inside a computer. But in the end, for me, it’s worth the hassle. Originally Posted by maggles55
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Footswitch and two different presets: One with EQ and one without. Or, one preset with EQ on the FX slot. Turn the effect on and off as needed with the footswitch. Originally Posted by jzucker
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