Why not dammit!!

cbilly22

Just picked up a Boss Katana from @John_A and I'm gonna be daft and gig it tomorrow night with about half an hours playing around with it under my belt. Sure it'll be fine

Voxman

Brave ..very brave! Hope you're taking a backup just in case.  

cbilly22

Voxman said:

Brave ..very brave! Hope you're taking a backup just in case.  

Nope, just my ears and the unfaltering belief that everything will be ok.

Voxman

cbilly22 said :

Voxman said:

Brave ..very brave! Hope you're taking a backup just in case.  

Nope, just my ears and the unfaltering belief that everything will be ok.

Hee hee... As Malcolm Reynolds said in an episode of Firefly..'you're my kind of stupid!'. 

I'm sure all will be well...Boss stuff is generally built like a tank, although tweaking an unfamiliar amp live can be 'fun' ...might not be a bad idea to take the manual just in case.  Good luck and keep us posted. 

cbilly22

Having a mid set break. Very impressed so far. Great sound, plenty of presence in the mix and very loud. Also takes pedals well. Fingers crossed for second set

Sassafras

You're on the fretboard mid-gig?
That takes commitment or else no-one there speaks English.
Get some drinks down you!

richardhomer

cbilly22 said:

Having a mid set break. Very impressed so far. Great sound, plenty of presence in the mix and very loud. Also takes pedals well. Fingers crossed for second set

@Gassage seems to be having a few issues with some old amp of his - perhaps one of these would be the answer for him?

ICBM

Voxman said:

Brave ..very brave! Hope you're taking a backup just in case.  

Unlikely that you'll need it… it's a Boss.

cbilly22

Sassafras said:

You're on the fretboard mid-gig?
That takes commitment or else no-one there speaks English.
Get some drinks down you!

Ha...I had a drink in my hand as I posted. I like 5 minutes on my own between sets to have a breather. On this occasion everyone spoke a kind of English, only a much younger version of the one I use.

Alnico

Sick Blood !

cbilly22

ICBM said:

Voxman said:

Brave ..very brave! Hope you're taking a backup just in case.  

Unlikely that you'll need it… it's a Boss.

My thoughts exactly, Boss stuff can't let you down, it's the law! Though to be honest it doesn't feel as robust as my old Cube 40xl, which once fell out the back of a car and had another one clip it into the road without so much as a moved control knob!

cbilly22

richardhomer said:

cbilly22 said:

Having a mid set break. Very impressed so far. Great sound, plenty of presence in the mix and very loud. Also takes pedals well. Fingers crossed for second set

@Gassage seems to be having a few issues with some old amp of his - perhaps one of these would be the answer for him?

I'll leave you to suggest that to him old chap. I'm not entirely sure it will be the answer he is looking for regarding his possessed Deluxe.

cbilly22

Righto, better do a proper field report.
In a nutshell, pretty bloody good! We do uptempo Dr Feelgood, 9 Below Zero R'n'B with a bit of classic rock and rock'n'roll thrown in so not the most challenging gig sound wise for an amp. As long as the basic sound is there I'll be ok and that's the thing, the basic sound was very good. I used the lead model with the gain set around 4, backed off the guitar to clean up and had my Blackstart LT Boost in the loop for a volume hike and a bit of fat during the solos. A smidge of reverb on the amp and I used delay from the amp for a couple of songs and my Ibanez mini delay in the loop for a couple more. 
The sound was big and really cut through the mix when needed, I actually had the master on about 3 1/2 and it was plenty. In a bigger room on Saturday so might use the 50 watt setting and push the master up a bit more safe in the knowledge I can always flick to full power if needed.
Does it (yawn) sound like a valve amp? Nope, probably not, but very nearly and much closer in feel than any modeller I've used outside of high end tackle (Kemper). Can you dial in a really good, perfectly usable tone in no time at all..Yup, you certainly can.
Seems to take pedals really well and it's nice and light. I think that with the all singing, all dancing footswitch I could probably dispense with my pedal board. 
I really like it and so did the band so all good

John_A

Excellent!  Almost wish I'd kept it !  Think I've just been spoilt with my Helix and in a way I'm pleased its not as good as that

The Katanas are certainly great value, loud and sound good, and the 12" speakers make them a great budget gigging option, I like the look of them too

Voxman

ICBM said:

Voxman said:

Brave ..very brave! Hope you're taking a backup just in case.  

Unlikely that you'll need it… it's a Boss.

cbilly22 said:

ICBM said:

Voxman said:

Brave ..very brave! Hope you're taking a backup just in case.  

Unlikely that you'll need it… it's a Boss.

My thoughts exactly, Boss stuff can't let you down, it's the law! Though to be honest it doesn't feel as robust as my old Cube 40xl, which once fell out the back of a car and had another one clip it into the road without so much as a moved control knob!

Guys, my ref to back up was aimed at familiarity & tone - not reliability.  I did say:

I'm sure all will be well...Boss stuff is generally built like a tank, although tweaking an unfamiliar amp live can be 'fun' ...might not be a bad idea to take the manual just in case.  Good luck and keep us posted.  

Voxman

cbilly22 said:

In a nutshell, pretty bloody good! 
I really like it and so did the band so all good

Really glad the gig & the new amp went down well! Been looking at the Katana details on line.  Looks quite impressive and very competitively priced at only £165 for the 50w.
But £79 for the footswitch sounds a bit high and disproportionate - that's virtually 50% of the amps price! 

cbilly22

Voxman said:

cbilly22 said:

In a nutshell, pretty bloody good! 
I really like it and so did the band so all good

Really glad the gig & the new amp went down well! Been looking at the Katana details on line.  Looks quite impressive and very competitively priced at only £165 for the 50w.
But £79 for the footswitch sounds a bit high and disproportionate - that's virtually 50% of the amps price! 

Agree with that, the footswitch is a little steep but you'd easily spend that on a delay, chorus etc so it doesn't bother me too much to be honest.
Having gigged unmiked last night I'd have to say the 50 would have been more than adequate, which makes that particular models price mindblowingly good.

John_A

Do you know you can use any old footswitch just to set it up as a 2 channel amp

cbilly22

Yeah saw that in the instructions, that would get you through many a gig.
On a side note, do any of the amps previous owners remember seeing the sticker to overlay on the GC-FA footswitch to make it Katana friendly. Probably would have been with the manual.

John_A

It wasn't there when I got it, it's not inside the manual is it?  I'm sure if you dropped an email to Roland UK they would sort you out

cbilly22

John_A said:

It wasn't there when I got it, it's not inside the manual is it?  I'm sure if you dropped an email to Roland UK they would sort you out

No, couldn't find it anywhere. Not to worry, it's done a fair few miles bless it. 
This will give you a little laugh though. I called Roland UK and the poor chap I spoke to didn't know what amp I was talking about. I had to spell Katana and he then asked me if it was a Cube. I should point out he was very helpful and nice but I was clearly the first call he'd had regarding the Katana range. Just goes to show we live in a very small corner of a much larger market for many big companies. We got there in the end but they don't have any in stock so hopefully he's sourcing one from Japan for me.