Boss Katana - acoustic experiences

Bidley

I've posted this in the acoustic section, but I might get more response here...

Anyone used one to gig an acoustic? I'm thinking about sacking my pedalboard off and getting one. It'd be handy to use as a monitor as well as having it into the PA.

I notice only the 100w version has a line out. Can I put the headphone out into the mixing desk? Or is that not cool?

bluechargeboy

I've been looking into these for electric noodling at home and acoustic monitoring live. It seems the consensus is they are not as good as a proper acoustic amp, if you are using it as part of your sound. If I get one I will still be DI-ing into the PA, and splitting off the signal into the amp for monitoring (so not having it in the signal chain into the PA).

The light weight appeals to me; let me know if you try one out!

Trude

I've yet to try mine (1x12 100w combo) with one of my K&K equipped flat-tops, but I have used it live with a Gretsch squareneck resonator and a L6 Variax running acoustic sounds.
I can't say whether it'd satisfy for a whole acoustic set, but for the few songs I needed it sounded fine to me!

My thinking is that for festival gigs it's much easier to have all of my sounds coming out of a single speaker, rather than hassling the sound guy to set up an XLR line for the Variax (which invariably ends up too quiet in the monitor, if they even remember to unmute it) 

midlifecrisis

have not gigged an acoustic through it but playing around with it at home i prefer to put my acoustic through the clean channel rather than the acoustic channel. IMHO the acoustic channel sounds a bit dull whereas the clean channel gives it a bit more fullness, which may or maybe what you want.

Bidley

Thanks gents.

I use an outboard preamp (Radial PZ-PRE) so I was hoping the Boss would do as a preamp as well, so I could have everything (preamp, fx, monitor) in one box. Sounds like I might be better served just getting a 10" monitor.

@Trude if you get chance to try your flats through yours that would be really helpful - I would be running a K&K powered flat, probably through a 100w combo.

Bidley

Jesus christ this sounds dreadful!

Trude

@Bidley will do.  I also have an AER Alpha acoustic amp which I could compare to.

I normally use a Red Eye preamp when going direct, but I'd rather leave this at home when using the Katana.  My bands are such that I don't use my flat top acoustics on stage in combination with my electrics.  Maybe I should find a reason to do this just for the sake of testing it out...

Bidley

There's always a reason

I play mandolin live, I'd love to hear how that sounds through the Katana (with ridiculous amounts of gain obviously).

Trude

I play mando too.  I have an Eastman A-style with a McIntyre feather pickup.  I've always found it unbearably scratchy whatever I plug it into, so I imagine it would take some fairly deep EQ editing to get a good sound out if it with the Katana. 

Mind you, at least that's possible with the Katana, and it's something worth considering.  If you go into the Tone Studio software, there are some pretty powerful EQ options available, more so than in something like my AER where I'm limited to just turning down the treble control.  I would reserve judgement until you've tried tweaking it to match your specific pickup.  With the 100w you have the four preset slots, so it's feasible to reserve one for the mando and one for acoustic guitar.

Bidley

My main mando has one of those Mcintyre feathers in it too, and yeah, it's pretty tinny at the best of times (sounds fine with accompaniment though).

The preset thing is the thing that's attracting me though. That's why I use the PZ-PRE, only the shared EQ is a massive setback. The Boss potentially eliminates that.

Trude

I'll have to see what I can achieve in Tone Studio.  Would be cool if I can get something usable as I'd kinda shelved the mandolin for use in my country band (where I play mostly electric).  Maybe I could bring it out again with the Katana.

Grumpyrocker

Played my Yamaha APX500 through my Katana 100 acoustic channel. Sounded pretty good to me.

Be aware there's a whole effects block - which you can add with the Boss Tone Studio - specifically designed for tinkering with the acoustic sound.