NAD Boss Katana 100W Combo

Grumpyrocker

Ah. Found something I don't like.

It's the placement of the FX Loop.  Its fixed position is before the Katana's own internal effects. This is fine for most use. You may have a clever delay pedal but are happy with the Katana's own reverb.

But where it does get tricky is if you want to user a looper pedal. Because if you engage a delay on the Katana then that's going to add delay to your loop playback.

Now I've just been using my Zoom G3 in the Katana's FX loop for my looper. And so I could just kick in a delay on the G3 to avoid this issue. But if I was using my Boss RC3 Loop Station this wouldn't be an option, I'd have to keep  the Katana's own delay off.

Edit: The FX Loop always comes directly after the pre-amp block. And as the amp allows three types of chains there is chain where the delay block is moved in front of the pre-amp. Which is fine if you're using internal dirt pedals but if you want lots of pre-amp gain you may not want the delay there. 

I do suppose though that if I wanted to use my Boss RC 3 I'm likely to just use the board it's on, and that has delay and reverb pedals on it anyway. 

midlifecrisis

you can move the fx loop in the tone studio software. ive done that so the looper comes in after the fx

Grumpyrocker

midlifecrisis said:

you can move the fx loop in the tone studio software. ive done that so the looper comes in after the fx

You can't move the loop on its own. In the Tone Studio software you can move the amp block which contains the loop, but that does mean you have the delay before the amp, which is not always desired.

GrahamG

Have you tried Gumtowns floorboard software with the K100?,it gives a lot more options,including up to 128 amp models ala GT100.

Grumpyrocker

I have tried it. But have decided not to continue using it. I like the simplicity of the Katana - one of the main reasons I bought it - and I don't want to be faffing with myriad "sneaky amps" and other controls.

monquixote

Grumpyrocker said:

I have tried it. But have decided not to continue using it. I like the simplicity of the Katana - one of the main reasons I bought it - and I don't want to be faffing with myriad "sneaky amps" and other controls.

I think I'd take the same approach. If you want that kind of thing then you should just buy a Spider V.
The Katana is for people like me who can't be arsed with menus. 

Grumpyrocker

I do like tech stuff a lot. But I find the included regular amps and effects in Katana enough for me.  I've used the Tone Studio to get it set up to the point where I won't have to plug it into the PC again for a while, unless there's a particular effect I want to swap out.

I have read rumours of a big 2.0 firmware update on the way. Be interesting to see what's in that.

One thing I'd like them to add is an "off" option on the effects button press. Currently the effects lights go Green >> Red >> Yellow then around again. I'd prefer Green >> Red >> Yellow >> Off - so we didn't have to turn the effect knob around to an off position. That way one could turn effects on and off without changing any parameters - we can do that with the GA-FC footswitch - but not currently with the amp panel.

midlifecrisis

sorry, yore correct , you can only move the amp block but for me that seemed ok. i agree, it can get overcomplicated and too many options, im enjoying it as a great sounding amp. im off gigging it this evening, no effect pedals, just the katana and gafc and boss tuner. my zoom g3 is in my spares bag just in case

BloodEagle

I got one of these (Katana 100 1x12) and I'm really really impressed so far - I have only had about an hour of fiddling but first impressions are it sounds great and it's really easy to use. I did get the Sneaky Amps thing as well, and maybe I'll look at it at some point, but there's already so much to play with I'm not interested at the moment. 

Trude

Real men don't use loopers. 

Grumpyrocker

NM

MagicPigDetective

Been looking for a good demo of what it can do and how they work and the best I've found is this from India. His English is far better than most uk and us guitar youtubists! I'm seriously thinking about getting a K100 in place of my Orange CR60. It has so many functions and uses and I might not need as many pedals. 

GrahamG

Grumpyrocker said:

I have tried it. But have decided not to continue using it. I like the simplicity of the Katana - one of the main reasons I bought it - and I don't want to be faffing with myriad "sneaky amps" and other controls.

Suit yourself ,I just mentioned it for info,i had a K50 for a while & didn't use it 

paulmapp8306

ICBM said:

I have actually wondered if the head with its 5" speaker at 30W might be enough for tiny gigs, especially for an acoustic.

The Fender Acoustasonic 30 is 30W with an 8" speaker, and the old Trace Elliot TA35 is 35W with two 5"s… and both of those are.

after trying one at the Leicester Jam - No.  Its fine for practice, but its not loud, and theres no content under 100hz at least.  Sticking into a Harley Benton 2x12 - and it was fabulous for the outlay.

ICBM

Thanks, that's what I needed to know!

andyoz

Yeah, the head speaker is quite boxy sounding. Only good for light noodlng.

Moodzician

Grumpyrocker said:

So my GA-FC footswitch just arrived and I was really keen to see if it would do something I had been thinking about.

Normally if you move the FX controls on a saved patch this can alter several parameters that you had set in the editor studio. And while these changes weren't saved it meant  you couldn't turn off an effect save, the patch, and be sure you'd get the same settings again by turning the control.

However I'm delighted to discover the GA-FC solves this and works just as I had hoped. So I had this patch on channel 2 using the crunch amp, plus delay and reverb. What I wanted to be able to do is save this patch in the third slot but add a Tubescreamer effect. Then what I wanted to do was use the  footswitch to switch off the effects - the screamer, delay and reverb - and then I would save the patch again.

What I hoped would happen then was that my effects parameters would still be saved even though the effects were toggled off. But I could then switch to the patch with the GA-FC then turn on these saved effects when wanted. And yes, this works.  Without the footswitch one would tend to save the patch with the effects on, but being able to have them saved in the background is just what I wanted.

For example I want to set up a lead tone with the wah pedal (controlled by my M-audio expression pedal). But I'd want to change to this patch with the wah off as default. Now I'll be able to do this. 

Oh you wonderful chap. I was worried because I've been setting up my Katana today but having no way to prepare the effects but then turn them off until needed. I have ordered a footswitch but you'd think Boss would put this function in the editor, there must be lots of people wondering the same thing!