Another Katana thread - my questions

thecolourbox

Hi all, despite trying to clear down my stuff I've been considering an amp again to double as my at home guitar noise maker and also as a monitor in case I get to play out in public anywhere. The Katana gets a lot of mentions as we all know but I've a few questions for those in the know.

I'll be watching some demos tonight hopefully which may answer some questions. I've got somebody potentially offering me one in return for my guitar for sale.

- Will I need to install Sneaky Amps in order to get a White Stripes style crunch rhythm tone (not the big muff sound)? And how does it respond to drive/boost pedals going into it on the Sneaky Amps compared to the proper amps? When I've heard it the clean has sounded more like Jazz Chorus clean and the Crunch has sounded more Marshall, so not sure how close one could get those to the "boosted to buggery" sound he uses.

- Can you do a line out with speaker sim on it?

- On the 50, it looks like switching can't be done with Midi, only with the footswitch. Should my Digitech FS3X work for this if switching mostly between two presets? (Google will probably answer this for me on the train home but thought I'd ask anyway.

- Is it easy to remove the Boss/Katana logos without marking it?

Mostly it'll be for home use or solo with no band (maybe backing tracks if I ever get my stuff together) so will need to sound fairly full and perhaps therefore does not need so much by way of "fitting into the mix" I think, so hoping that could be a good move.

Thanks all

fretmeister

I've never used the Sneaky amps, but even without you can get a WS sound easily enough. It takes real pedals very well. I use an SD-1 and my Thorpy Veteran with mine and I'm very happy with both.

I've never felt the need to remove a logo from an amp (even when it was a Solex 10W piece of shit) so I don't know - but it looks very well glued on. I wouldn't risk it. If you are genuinely embarrassed that it is a Boss amp then tape over it, I reckon.

They are great amps.

thecolourbox

I've listened to a couple of general Demos and a preset specific one on my train home but the crunch channel sounds Marshall or at least British based though, is that the case? How much can you change that with the software?

Yeah I am vain enough for the general ugliness of the amp to bother me, removing the terrible logo would at least just turn it into a black box

fretmeister

The stock driven amps do seem to be more Marshall influenced but at the same time the EQ stack is far more powerful than you'd find in a vintage Marshall so it can be manipulated far more.

I'm not really a fussy person when it comes to amp types. Even with my Helix I don't care what the name of the amp is, I just care whether I like the sound or not.

Sounds like you need to get to a shop that has one set up properly for tweaking with the software.

thecolourbox

fretmeister said:

The stock driven amps do seem to be more Marshall influenced but at the same time the EQ stack is far more powerful than you'd find in a vintage Marshall so it can be manipulated far more.

I'm not really a fussy person when it comes to amp types. Even with my Helix I don't care what the name of the amp is, I just care whether I like the sound or not.

Sounds like you need to get to a shop that has one set up properly for tweaking with the software.

Yeah that's it, I don't like the Marshall type drive sound it does nothing for me, that's why I suspect I may need Sneaky Amps as my old Gt100 had a couple of drive amps I liked. But I can't try that in a shop, not that I would really want to anyway as it's a bit cheeky when I've no intention of buying from them!

fretmeister

Apparently the Crunch amp is Bassman!

http://haveguitar.com/wp/2017/11/10/boss-katana-sneaky-amps-original-amp/

thecolourbox

fretmeister said:

Apparently the Crunch amp is Bassman!

http://haveguitar.com/wp/2017/11/10/boss-katana-sneaky-amps-original-amp/

Blimey who knew eh! From that list though it was the Deluxe Reverb and the Twin I think I used on the gt100

darthed1981

If you use one of the drive pedals in front of the clean or crunch channels you have an enormous amount of flexibility, the Katana lets you put a TS, Rat, BD2 etc. in front of the amp, which is really cool.  I haven't tried sneaky amps as I think the best thing about a Katana is plug in, twiddle knobs, and you are off.

The line out is emulated, so it does emulate some kind of speaker...

On the 50, there is no midi, and no GA-FC socket for the Boss switch, so the footswitch can be anything 1 or 2 button latching to switch patches.

We have used them at Fretboard jams and gigs, a lot of us have them at home, they really are superb bits of kit.  They won't ever replace a boutique valve amp, but they will provide a really portable box with a decent sound for very little cash.

The head might be more up your street?  It has midi, a mini speaker for praccy at home, and you can plug it into a 4x12 if you like for wall-shattering.

fretmeister

I've got the 100W 1x12 with the foot controller and it's very flexible.

That being said I do have a massive itch to scratch and I do expect to be putting it up for sale purely because I've never owned a JCM800 and everyone needs a stupid amp at some point in their lives.

thecolourbox

darthed1981 said:

If you use one of the drive pedals in front of the clean or crunch channels you have an enormous amount of flexibility, the Katana lets you put a TS, Rat, BD2 etc. in front of the amp, which is really cool.  I haven't tried sneaky amps as I think the best thing about a Katana is plug in, twiddle knobs, and you are off.

The line out is emulated, so it does emulate some kind of speaker...

On the 50, there is no midi, and no GA-FC socket for the Boss switch, so the footswitch can be anything 1 or 2 button latching to switch patches.

We have used them at Fretboard jams and gigs, a lot of us have them at home, they really are superb bits of kit.  They won't ever replace a boutique valve amp, but they will provide a really portable box with a decent sound for very little cash.

The head might be more up your street?  It has midi, a mini speaker for praccy at home, and you can plug it into a 4x12 if you like for wall-shattering.

I'll download the software and see what drives are there perhaps but I'd prefer an amp sound I like and then just add the clean booster in front of it, like you might with a traditional amp.

The emulated line out is a negative though unfortunately, I wonder if there's any way to turn that off anywhere? 

I currently use a Digitech GSP1101 so no boutique amps to compare with - though having said that the Digitech replaced a Princeton Reverb and is much more preferable to that so maybe I'm cloth eared

It's the 50 I've been offered in a trade, the 100 is above what I'd pay for one anyway and I don't cope very well with volume so probably best I stay with the 50 (though could use the fx loop the 100 gives you to use it as a slave amp for something else)

Thanks all

thecolourbox

Oh no! I can't even install the Katana tone editor thing because it requires an Adobe Air update which apparently is not possible on my computer! Great

Edit, inexplicabily it's now working, despite me changing nothing. Bizarre

p90fool

I have a feeling the badge is mounted with proper screws from the rear, but not 100% sure. 

I thought I saw some when I replaced my speaker anyway. 

noisepolluter

fretmeister said:

I've got the 100W 1x12 with the foot controller and it's very flexible.

That being said I do have a massive itch to scratch and I do expect to be putting it up for sale purely because I've never owned a JCM800 and everyone needs a stupid amp at some point in their lives.

How luggable would you say the 100w 1x12 is @fretmeister ? I keep wavering between the 50 and 100.
Respective weights are 25lbs vs 33lbs, but I’d like to be able to use the GA-FC and have the extra presets and the presence control. (although the Bright Onion 4-way switch would bridge that gap slightly...)
At the same time I need to be able to carry it about 1/4 mile to my mate’s house and still be in a fit state to play afterwards. 

Estheroid’s blues junior must weigh 32+ lbs as it’s got a G12H in it. Maybe I should march up and down the garden with it a few times.

fretmeister

@noisepolluter ;

It's quite a compact box and it's balanced - it's not like the old Marshall combos where all the transformer weight seemed to be at one end!

1/4 mile walk should be fine for a strapping your man like yourself!

(Mine's now up for sale in the classifieds.. with the pedal. Ahem!)

darthed1981

The other thing to consider is that the 100w has 0.5/50/100 settings and the 50 has a more useful 0.5/25/50 setting, so if you do a lot of small praccy rooms, the 25w is surprisingly useful.

noisepolluter

Aaaargh! I may kick myself but I think I’m going to stick with the 50 as portability is the main thing. Appreciate the heads up though. And the use of the words ‘strapping’ and ‘young’ - I’ll buy you a pint of Scruttock’s Old Dirigible next time I see you.

noisepolluter

darthed1981 said:

The other thing to consider is that the 100w has 0.5/50/100 settings and the 50 has a more useful 0.5/25/50 setting, so if you do a lot of small praccy rooms, the 25w is surprisingly useful.

Thanks for the tip - it will mostly be jamming and rehearsal at low-to-moderate volumes. Drummer sometimes present but not always, and in a summer house/man cave rather than soundproofed studio.

fretmeister

I use the 0.5W setting in the house. And even then the volume is only about 1/3 up.

They are loud amps, but the Master volume is well sorted. No silly volume jumps.

p90fool

noisepolluter said:

Aaaargh! I may kick myself but I think I’m going to stick with the 50 as portability is the main thing. Appreciate the heads up though. And the use of the words ‘strapping’ and ‘young’ - I’ll buy you a pint of Scruttock’s Old Dirigible next time I see you.

I ditched my 100w Katana as I just couldn't get it to work in a band situation at all, then six months later used a borrowed Katana 50 in a jam band and it worked very well, so maybe there's something in the speaker/cabinet combination which just sits in a mix better than the 100?

I'm often tempted to pick up a cheap, used 50 for home. 

noisepolluter

p90fool said:

noisepolluter said:

Aaaargh! I may kick myself but I think I’m going to stick with the 50 as portability is the main thing. Appreciate the heads up though. And the use of the words ‘strapping’ and ‘young’ - I’ll buy you a pint of Scruttock’s Old Dirigible next time I see you.

I ditched my 100w Katana as I just couldn't get it to work in a band situation at all, then six months later used a borrowed Katana 50 in a jam band and it worked very well, so maybe there's something in the speaker/cabinet combination which just sits in a mix better than the 100?

I'm often tempted to pick up a cheap, used 50 for home. 

That is interesting. I can only offer uninformed speculation that it was more mid-focused?

Legionreturns

I personally wouldn't bother with the 50. The advantages of the 100 for a tiny price and size difference are huge. FX loop, GAFC compatible, line out etc.

Re tones and Sneaky Amps; I've never touched it and I've had 3 Katanas now. My current one is still on V2 as I don't need to update it. I do have some presets saved using Tone studio but more often than not I only use the first 2, 1 is clean with a chorus and delay on it if needed, switchable from the GAFC, the other is a crunch channel, with an EQ tweak and an OD pedal and delay, again switchable. It took me all of ten minutes to set them up and they sound exactly how I want them to. 

If I change from my Strat to the LP or vice versa, I make a slight EQ tweak and resave the patches by long pressing on the channel switches on the amp. Piece of piss. 

Loud or quiet, as desired, light, portable and I can store the footswitch, power lead and guitar cables in the back. Walk in to a gig with a guitar on my back, another in my hand, and a 100w, fully giggable amp in the other hand. One trip from the car and no back issues!