Shown up by a Katana

menamestom

I had the 100 combo, it did sound pretty good, but cranked I wasn’t so sure.   Great for the price but ultimately I’d rather use my Princeton, 18 watter or something like a HRD.   The Boss is cheaper and not in competiotion with any of those amps, so it’s no slight on it.

Sold mine, haven’t looked back, but nice to know I could always pick one up for not much if I needed.   Switching back to a valve amp, I was like, ‘yeahhh, that’s it!!!!!!!’

JayGee

Danny1969 said:

Good points but the HRD and BS HT's are actually pretty much maintenance free for years .... I mean capable of hundreds and hundreds of gigs with no attention at all and that comes from personal gigging experience. I'm sure the Katana will be fine, Boss stuff is generally well designed but when it comes to fixing any of the 3 amps in question the Katana would probably be the biggest nightmare

I must say though I'm interested in trying one. I have played alongside another guy with one but I never paid any attention to how it sounded at the time

Mmmm... My Mesa 5:25 has gone 10 years without any attention at all (in fact I keep wondering if I ought to get somebody to have a look at it anyway, just in case) but the big Blackstar Series One is now on its second set of tubes after a couple of years hard gigging - while I’m sure it’s possible I think it would be wise to assume (and budget for) at least a set of power tubes now and again for any valve amp which sees regular hard use.

I think the fact you didn’t pay it any attention is probably actually a perverse kind of praise for amps like the Katana - it’s not life changing wonderful, it’s just a useful tool and once you’re over all the clever stuff and the crazy value for money it just sits there unassumingly providing a decent range of usable sounds without really drawing attention to itself. :-)

Neil

Paul_C said:

Neil said:

I can't believe the plaudits I have read for the Katana, seems like a fantastic amp and for very little money.

One question, is the 50w version OK for home volumes, is the sound still as good?

I've got the 50w combo and TBH for me the 1/2w setting is plenty loud enough in my lounge, let alone the 25w or 50w.

Thanks.

Didn't know it was scaleable TBH but that 1/2 watt setting sounds just the business for home stuff.

JezWynd

Maynehead said:

Vaiai said:

Boss actually shared my old band's recent vid as Steve the guitarists got a Katana. He has an white Bogner Uberschall but was getting fed up carrying it around! So he got the Katana and it's certainly loud enough!:

It sounds OK, but not amazing. Quite mid focused, nice for leads but makes the rhythm sound boxy and narrow. I like my amp to sound wide and open, with a crisp top end and a bit of umph in the bottom.

Might just be the settings, but I wouldn't say it was the perfect live amp.

That's exactly what I heard too. After all the plaudits I was expecting something special but it sounds like what it is; a 50w solid state combo. Perhaps it's unfair to judge on an iPhone recording and feel is a big part of any amp but I don't hear anything that would take me away from my little Laney valve combo.

darthed1981

dindude said:

I'm interested in trying the 50 as a fun "everything else" sound box compliment to my way-too-thought-out-and-expensive main rig.

I did pick up a Katana Mini a few weeks ago, I know not the same thing, but after the initial "that sounds pretty good for it's size" novelty has worn off, I think it sounds pretty poor TBH. Just sounds flat in clean and low gain and middy and honky in high gain. Probably best I don't sell it on here after those comments!

And I do have realistic expectations, for example I'm a fan of the Blackstar Fly.

Interesting point.

What puts me off the Katana Mini, apart from owning a Katana 50, a Fly and two ID Cores (I'm merely a home player, that is literally all I ever need), is the fact it is actually rather pricey.

It costs £90 but you need a £20 PSU for it, so it is actually £110 for a functioning amp if you don't want it totally portable, or still £30 more than the Fly 3 with extra speaker and PSU!  If you want a battery amp, and the Fly 3 is comparable for £40 less...

Crucially, it is only £60-70 less than a Katana 50.

ICBM

chrishill901 said:

Holy guacamole.

ive just jammed with a mates band for the first time with a view to joining them. I don’t currently have a ‘gig rig’ but thought my set up was good enough; I’ve got an AMT R1 rectifier preamp, a poweramp and I hired a Marshall 4x12 from the studio. It sounded pretty good I must say...


... but not Katana good. That little s*** drowned me out, and I don’t mean in volume. At the same volume level it sounded bigger, fuller and more present. It just sounded brilliant. We’re only talking the 50w combo here too. I used to rehearse in the same studio with my old band and between me and the other guitarist we must have owned and used about 12 different valve amps in that studio, yet that was the best sound I’ve heard in that room. And the worst bit? I sold him the Katana after I bought it at the Northern guitar show because I decided it sounded like a small amp compared to my Marshall SL5. I am an idiot. Katanas have gone up in price too, but I’ll happily buy one again and lose the money just to teach myself a lesson.

Buy the 100W one to replace it.

You will feel less foolish if you don't buy exactly the same amp again, the 100 should sound bigger than the 50, and if your mate gets too big for his boots you should have 3dB more headroom with which to repay the compliment .

simonk

darthed1981 said:

dindude said:

I'm interested in trying the 50 as a fun "everything else" sound box compliment to my way-too-thought-out-and-expensive main rig.

I did pick up a Katana Mini a few weeks ago, I know not the same thing, but after the initial "that sounds pretty good for it's size" novelty has worn off, I think it sounds pretty poor TBH. Just sounds flat in clean and low gain and middy and honky in high gain. Probably best I don't sell it on here after those comments!

And I do have realistic expectations, for example I'm a fan of the Blackstar Fly.

Interesting point.

What puts me off the Katana Mini, apart from owning a Katana 50, a Fly and two ID Cores (I'm merely a home player, that is literally all I ever need), is the fact it is actually rather pricey.

It costs £90 but you need a £20 PSU for it, so it is actually £110 for a functioning amp if you don't want it totally portable, or still £30 more than the Fly 3 with extra speaker and PSU!  If you want a battery amp, and the Fly 3 is comparable for £40 less...

Crucially, it is only £60-70 less than a Katana 50.

You don’t ‘need’ the Boss PSU... it works just fine with something cheaper of the same spec.

It sounds better than the Fly IMO, although it is still obviously a small, plastic bodied item.

Edit: actually I think the Fly sounds better across the board... the brown setting on the Katana Mini is a right laugh though.

Grumpyrocker

This thread reminds me to hurry up and sell my Ironheart 60 Watt head before everyone has a Katana instead.

Since I bought my Katana  100W combo I haven't touched any other amp or effects. 

BintyTwanger77

How does the Katana sound through headphones?

chrishill901

ICBM said:

chrishill901 said:

Holy guacamole.

ive just jammed with a mates band for the first time with a view to joining them. I don’t currently have a ‘gig rig’ but thought my set up was good enough; I’ve got an AMT R1 rectifier preamp, a poweramp and I hired a Marshall 4x12 from the studio. It sounded pretty good I must say...


... but not Katana good. That little s*** drowned me out, and I don’t mean in volume. At the same volume level it sounded bigger, fuller and more present. It just sounded brilliant. We’re only talking the 50w combo here too. I used to rehearse in the same studio with my old band and between me and the other guitarist we must have owned and used about 12 different valve amps in that studio, yet that was the best sound I’ve heard in that room. And the worst bit? I sold him the Katana after I bought it at the Northern guitar show because I decided it sounded like a small amp compared to my Marshall SL5. I am an idiot. Katanas have gone up in price too, but I’ll happily buy one again and lose the money just to teach myself a lesson.

Buy the 100W one to replace it.

You will feel less foolish if you don't buy exactly the same amp again, the 100 should sound bigger than the 50, and if your mate gets too big for his boots you should have 3dB more headroom with which to repay the compliment .

I was thinking the head and the same 4x12 cab I hired... I’d like to hear him over that!

midlifecrisis

The katana is loud enough for large pub gigs, unmicced but would i would say too, that a peavey bandit is loud enough but it does.nt seem to cut through as well as the katana. 

p90fool

JayGee said:

Danny1969 said:

I must say though I'm interested in trying one. I have played alongside another guy with one but I never paid any attention to how it sounded at the time

I think the fact you didn’t pay it any attention is probably actually a perverse kind of praise for amps like the Katana - it’s not life changing wonderful, it’s just a useful tool and once you’re over all the clever stuff and the crazy value for money it just sits there unassumingly providing a decent range of usable sounds without really drawing attention to itself. :-)

That's pretty much my feeling too, it's light and I don't need any pedals, power supplies, batteries etc, except for a tuner. 

It's not a gorgeous-sounding amp which will make all else redundant, unless your current valve amps are a Blues Junior and a Champion 600 obviously  

I have had two valve amps break down at a gig since 1979 and both were caused by my own teenage ignorance and neglect, so I don't need an immensely complex digital amp for the sake of reliability, in fact I'm more concerned about needing back up for my Katana than I was about my previous gigging amps.

I have about five grands worth (original rrp) of redundant digital gear from the last 20 years in my attic. Current resale value? Absolutely nowt.

The Katana sounds good, is light and breathtakingly cheap, but perversely my 50s-tech amps are way more future proof IMO.

As @JayGee says, it's a useful tool, but it's also immense fun.
 

darthed1981

BintyTwanger77 said:

How does the Katana sound through headphones?

I use it through headphones quite often, its fine.

I tend towards my little ID Core 10 for phones however as the jack is positioned better and you don't need an adapter.

olafgarten

p90fool said:

JayGee said:

Danny1969 said:

I must say though I'm interested in trying one. I have played alongside another guy with one but I never paid any attention to how it sounded at the time

I think the fact you didn’t pay it any attention is probably actually a perverse kind of praise for amps like the Katana - it’s not life changing wonderful, it’s just a useful tool and once you’re over all the clever stuff and the crazy value for money it just sits there unassumingly providing a decent range of usable sounds without really drawing attention to itself. :-)

That's pretty much my feeling too, it's light and I don't need any pedals, power supplies, batteries etc, except for a tuner. 
 

The lack of a tuner is a bit of an oversight, even a basic tuner would mean that you would only have to take the guitar and amp. Now you need a tuner + batteries/power supply

amarok1971

olafgarten said:

p90fool said:

JayGee said:

Danny1969 said:

I must say though I'm interested in trying one. I have played alongside another guy with one but I never paid any attention to how it sounded at the time

I think the fact you didn’t pay it any attention is probably actually a perverse kind of praise for amps like the Katana - it’s not life changing wonderful, it’s just a useful tool and once you’re over all the clever stuff and the crazy value for money it just sits there unassumingly providing a decent range of usable sounds without really drawing attention to itself. :-)

That's pretty much my feeling too, it's light and I don't need any pedals, power supplies, batteries etc, except for a tuner. 
 

The lack of a tuner is a bit of an oversight, even a basic tuner would mean that you would only have to take the guitar and amp. Now you need a tuner + batteries/power supply

ive only just mentioned this on the facebook page today and got shot down in flames! i also mentioned a 9v out would be nice too.

Legionreturns

olafgarten said:

p90fool said:

JayGee said:

Danny1969 said:

I must say though I'm interested in trying one. I have played alongside another guy with one but I never paid any attention to how it sounded at the time

I think the fact you didn’t pay it any attention is probably actually a perverse kind of praise for amps like the Katana - it’s not life changing wonderful, it’s just a useful tool and once you’re over all the clever stuff and the crazy value for money it just sits there unassumingly providing a decent range of usable sounds without really drawing attention to itself. :-)

That's pretty much my feeling too, it's light and I don't need any pedals, power supplies, batteries etc, except for a tuner. 
 

The lack of a tuner is a bit of an oversight, even a basic tuner would mean that you would only have to take the guitar and amp. Now you need a tuner + batteries/power supply

Nah! Just whack a snark in your guitar case.

midlifecrisis

am wondering how repairable these are if/when they go wrong out of warranty

darthed1981

midlifecrisis said:

am wondering how repairable these are if/when they go wrong out of warranty

Depends what goes wrong, no doubt you can get replacements for blown speakers or fuses.

Ultimately not as repairable as wires and tubes with your soldering iron in the garage of course, but then less likely to go wrong in the first place.

ICBM

midlifecrisis said:

am wondering how repairable these are if/when they go wrong out of warranty

It depends very much what goes wrong, but if the fault is in the digital section and especially if involving a custom chip it's usually game over. Even if the parts are available it may be tricky to do economically.

That said I can foresee a time when some of the parts used in even the most basic hand-wired valve amps become hard to get, especially high-voltage electrolytic caps, if valve amps do go out of general production. Unlikely in the next ten years, but who knows after that… some of the tipping points are remarkably fast once a new technology overtakes an old one - two I can think of are film cameras and CRT monitors.

I wouldn't worry too much though, since as long as the amp has been designed well it *shouldn't* break at all - there are many analogue solid-state amps that are thirty or forty years old which still work fine and have never had a single part replaced. (Although electrolytic caps are finally becoming an issue for them, too.)

chrishill901

Neil said:

I can't believe the plaudits I have read for the Katana, seems like a fantastic amp and for very little money.

One question, is the 50w version OK for home volumes, is the sound still as good?

Well I’ve just bought one and ive been playing it until 11pm tonight at tv volumes and I’ve got to say it sounds fantastic! What I will say is that it sounds WAY better if you set the master volume high and use the channel volume as your overall volume. I know it sounds counter intuitive but to my ears it sounds a lot better