Heard a boss katana yesterday

ThePrettyDamned

Everyone knows I love peavey bandits, but I think there is a new winner for the best budget amp (although it is still about three times the price of an old bandit). 

Low noise, great sounds (far, far better than expected - even taking into account the rave reviews), loud and dynamic. 

It was a 2x12 combo I heard at a rehearsal space. I heard it through the door and had to find out what the amp was. 

Nikko

I think these will surprise a lot of people. Eventually, they may even surprise the people that refuse to believe that an amp of this nature could possibly sound...well...really good.

Love mine.

ThePrettyDamned

Nikko said:

I think these will surprise a lot of people. Eventually, they may even surprise the people that refuse to believe that an amp of this nature could possibly sound...well...really good.

Love mine.

Yup. Before this, I always liked the vox valvetronix modelling, on the older blue models and the first chrome front ones - it sounded great and if you couldn't make it sound decent, it ain't the amp's fault! 

But I've had to reassess and the boss I heard was fantastic. Really dynamic and punchy, and really sounded like the telecaster was going into a Marshall. 

sweepy

I have the 50w 1x12 Katana as a pick up and go jam session amp etc, my usual rig is an Axe-Fx marshall 20/20 Yamaha FR/FR or a Sound City 50 with 4x12 and I have to say for £169 its the bargain of the century

beowulf

Still can't decide if I should go for the 50w or 100w. 50w is enough grunt for me for sure, but I've heard a few things hinting the 100w gives a better sound as it has a bigger (and maybe better spec.) speaker. And the 4x presets rather than 2x on the 50w is interesting too. I guess if I knew the tonal qualities were the same I'd go for the 50w, can anyone offer an opinion?

sweepy

There seem to be no 100w 1x12's about, the 50w is pretty poky and unless you want the 4 presets you might as well save £80

clarkefan

The 3 100w options have an FX loop if you one, the 50 doesn't.

beowulf

FX loop and 4 presets are 'nice to have's, but I really want them

Nikko

beowulf said:

Still can't decide if I should go for the 50w or 100w. 50w is enough grunt for me for sure, but I've heard a few things hinting the 100w gives a better sound as it has a bigger (and maybe better spec.) speaker. And the 4x presets rather than 2x on the 50w is interesting too. I guess if I knew the tonal qualities were the same I'd go for the 50w, can anyone offer an opinion?

I thought it was the same speaker in the 50 and 100...

...I could be wrong, but I thought that was the case.

HAL9000

I was looking at the Roland Cube amps on the net yesterday and see that the 40W (Cube 40GX) has been discontinued. I assume because it's being superceded by the Katana 50. Does this mean that the 80GX might soon be discontinued for the same reason?

I must admit that I had pretty much discounted the Katana as an amp I'd be interested in. I don't want or need USB connectivity, stored patches, etc, and had just automatically assumed that this would be yet another amp with too many options (99% of which would be unusable).

However, a quick look at the manuals and reviews shows something that is more like a logical evolution of the Cube series. It appears straightforward and intuitive to use with just a handful of amp models/sounds, plus effects that haven't been parameterised into submission. OK, I'd rather not have the USB connectivity or the tone banks but at least they appear to be 'extra' rather than something integral to the concept. At least the USB connectivity can be much more easily ignored than it could on, say, Fender's Mustang where the FUSE software is very much a component of the Mustang concept. 

OK, to be fair I've yet to hear a Katana in the flesh but if they're even half as good as has been suggested then I could definitely be interested.

menamestom

The Katana amo do work as very simple plug and play amps, I don't think the extra features should put anybody off.  You can simply ignore them as the basic sounds are good enough.

One frustration for me are the effects.  They sound good but they are arranged on 3 knobs, one of which is always reverb.   So if you use the the others as boost/drive and delay, then you can't have modulation.   It would have made much more sense to have 4 slots (perhaps doing away with the presence controll on the 100)  Boost/Drive, FX1, Delay, reverb.  Seems a bit of a unnecessary compromise to me.   

ThePrettyDamned

I have not tried one yet but I'm really interested in trying the head with it's built in speakers. Smaller than a combo and would do for practice!

TTBZ

Want to give one a go as everyone has been raving about them but so far I haven't heard any demos that would convince me to buy one. Still sounds like a modeller to me, albeit a good one. 

menamestom

TTBZ said:

Want to give one a go as everyone has been raving about them but so far I haven't heard any demos that would convince me to buy one. Still sounds like a modeller to me, albeit a good one. 

They sound good for the money, nice cleans, but not as sweet as a good valve amp when pushed.  They sound more like a good solid state amp to me, rather than a digital modeller.  

ThePrettyDamned

TTBZ said:

Want to give one a go as everyone has been raving about them but so far I haven't heard any demos that would convince me to buy one. Still sounds like a modeller to me, albeit a good one. 

Sounded like a good amp to me. It was a pushed Marshall ish tone with a Tele.

Not fizzy or flubby. Which is better than most new valve amps under £800.

If blindfolded I wouldn't have guessed it was a modeller, not solid state, nor valve. Just a good amp. 

The player was decent too.

clarkefan

I liked the GAK demo of the 50w on youtube,  sounded great to be honest.

shaunm

ThePrettyDamned said:

TTBZ said:

Want to give one a go as everyone has been raving about them but so far I haven't heard any demos that would convince me to buy one. Still sounds like a modeller to me, albeit a good one. 

Sounded like a good amp to me. It was a pushed Marshall ish tone with a Tele.

Not fizzy or flubby. Which is better than most new valve amps under £800.

If blindfolded I wouldn't have guessed it was a modeller, not solid state, nor valve. Just a good amp. 

The player was decent too.

It's that bottom sentence. If the player is good the amp will sound good. 

Jeff beck could gig any amp in the world and sound amazing. 

ThePrettyDamned

shaunm said:

ThePrettyDamned said:

TTBZ said:

Want to give one a go as everyone has been raving about them but so far I haven't heard any demos that would convince me to buy one. Still sounds like a modeller to me, albeit a good one. 

Sounded like a good amp to me. It was a pushed Marshall ish tone with a Tele.

Not fizzy or flubby. Which is better than most new valve amps under £800.

If blindfolded I wouldn't have guessed it was a modeller, not solid state, nor valve. Just a good amp. 

The player was decent too.

It's that bottom sentence. If the player is good the amp will sound good. 

Jeff beck could gig any amp in the world and sound amazing. 

I largely agree. Give a good player a squier and a peavey bandit and you'll get good music. 

The tone may not be the best, but unless you're being critical, you won't mind because the music is good. 

With that said, the tone I heard was good. I'd take it over plenty of valve amps. Not all. 

shaunm

ThePrettyDamned said:

shaunm said:

ThePrettyDamned said:

TTBZ said:

Want to give one a go as everyone has been raving about them but so far I haven't heard any demos that would convince me to buy one. Still sounds like a modeller to me, albeit a good one. 

Sounded like a good amp to me. It was a pushed Marshall ish tone with a Tele.

Not fizzy or flubby. Which is better than most new valve amps under £800.

If blindfolded I wouldn't have guessed it was a modeller, not solid state, nor valve. Just a good amp. 

The player was decent too.

It's that bottom sentence. If the player is good the amp will sound good. 

Jeff beck could gig any amp in the world and sound amazing. 

I largely agree. Give a good player a squier and a peavey bandit and you'll get good music. 

The tone may not be the best, but unless you're being critical, you won't mind because the music is good. 

With that said, the tone I heard was good. I'd take it over plenty of valve amps. Not all. 

I wasn't meaning that the amps don't sound amazing, I bet they do, I'm yet to hear one. 

menamestom

Nikko said:

beowulf said:

Still can't decide if I should go for the 50w or 100w. 50w is enough grunt for me for sure, but I've heard a few things hinting the 100w gives a better sound as it has a bigger (and maybe better spec.) speaker. And the 4x presets rather than 2x on the 50w is interesting too. I guess if I knew the tonal qualities were the same I'd go for the 50w, can anyone offer an opinion?

I thought it was the same speaker in the 50 and 100...

...I could be wrong, but I thought that was the case.

Looks different to me on the photos?  The magnet looks smaller on the 50, but it could just be the photo.

Nikko

As I said, I could be wrong. I haven't physically seen the 100 to be able to compare unfortunately.