Boss Katana vs Helix

Musicman20

This is bound to cause some controversy, but at one point I owned a Helix Floor and a Boss Katana 100 1x12 at the same time. I sold the Helix as I wasn't taking advantage of everything it did.

I've recently been temped by the Helix stomp, and I think I will eventually go for one when the pricing etc settles and stock is available, but I decided to test a Helix again with a friend.

Bizarrely, the Katana sounded REALLY good in comparison. I'm still impressed with it, and yes, it is much simpler than the Helix, but I'm starting to think I should just stick to an amp and pedals.

It just seems bizarre that an amp I bought for low volume at home is capable of such good tones. 

joetele

Musicman20 said:

This is bound to cause some controversy, but at one point I owned a Helix Floor and a Boss Katana 100 1x12 at the same time. I sold the Helix as I wasn't taking advantage of everything it did.

I've recently been temped by the Helix stomp, and I think I will eventually go for one when the pricing etc settles and stock is available, but I decided to test a Helix again with a friend.

Bizarrely, the Katana sounded REALLY good in comparison. I'm still impressed with it, and yes, it is much simpler than the Helix, but I'm starting to think I should just stick to an amp and pedals.

It just seems bizarre that an amp I bought for low volume at home is capable of such good tones. 

I'm in the Katana camp because it can do low volume / silent playing with the Phones / Rec out, as well as loud practices / gigs. I know you can plug a Helix into the PA but you have to have a PA at the venue for that. The tones compare well to any of the amps I've owned, especially the valve amps, and I can either use the onboard effects and patches and/or my pedalboard. 

I do appreciate you can do similar things with a Helix but the Katana is dirt cheap and fantastic quality. What you see is what you get. 

John_A

Having owned both, I think the Helix sounds a lot better than the Katana.  The Katana is very good for the money, but not in the same league IMO

menamestom

I found the Katana nice at home volumes but not so good at higher volumes.

It's hard to compare a Helix without talking about what the Helix is being amplified by, but I'd take a Helix and decent compact PA speaker over the Katana, but then again it would cost a lot more.

Not much touches the Katana for VFM, but I found the effect implementation too much of a compromise.
Plus there was no advantage to not grab my valve amp, which sounded better to me.

Maxx77

Helix into katana return

octatonic

John_A said:

Having owned both, I think the Helix sounds a lot better than the Katana.  The Katana is very good for the money, but not in the same league IMO

Agreed.
I own a Katana 50 and a Helix.
The Katana is great for what it is- I think I paid $289 SGD for mine.
The Helix was $1900.
It isn't really a fair comparison.

Musicman20

I honestly didn't hear the HUGE rift in terms of quality of tones. The Katana is certainly so much easier to use. Then again I love physical pedals so using the Katana lends itself to adding pedals. 

I only bought the Katana as my other two amps are tube amps and need cranking. The Katana is one of the best purchases I've made in terms of value. 

NelsonP

Maxx77 said:

Helix into katana return

Helix into Katana on acoustic setting?

Musicman20

NelsonP said:

Maxx77 said:

Helix into katana return

Helix into Katana on acoustic setting?

Think you can just use the Katana as a powered cab, essentially, by using the effects return.

timmysoft

Katana is great but Helix is absolutely devastating! My playing is 100x better since getting the helix 

Grumpyrocker

The Katana works brilliantly as a powered cab into the FX return. I've tried it with a Zoom G3 and Pod HD500. 

digitalscream

octatonic said:

John_A said:

Having owned both, I think the Helix sounds a lot better than the Katana.  The Katana is very good for the money, but not in the same league IMO

Agreed.
I own a Katana 50 and a Helix.
The Katana is great for what it is- I think I paid $289 SGD for mine.
The Helix was $1900.
It isn't really a fair comparison.

This.

I can imagine "not a million miles away" tone, if you're at low volume and restricting your use of the Helix to what the Katana is capable of. However, as soon as you start looking at fantastic amps like the Friedman, the four parallel signal paths, two/four effects loops, the potential for stereo-ness with a pair of valve amps and 7CM, the fantastic delays and reverbs, the entirety of the M-series effects, variable input impedance, noise gates, the new tuner, snapshots, spillover...etc etc.

Nope, it's not even close.

It's a case of what's appropriate, though. If all you want is what the Katana's good at, though...then more power to you and yes, the Helix could well be a waste of money (although the HX Stomp might be a more sensible buy).

octatonic

Grumpyrocker said:

The Katana works brilliantly as a powered cab into the FX return. I've tried it with a Zoom G3 and Pod HD500. 

Only the Katana 100 though.
The Katana 50 doesn’t have an effects loop.