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Thunderpaws

Boss Katana

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Hey Guitarchat. My first look here. I drifted over from basschat. 

I have some vouchers. Play bass primarily but mess around with ideas and recording at home lately. 

Option 1) buy a Boss Katana 50 so I have a range of easily accessible tones at home. Are they as good as everyone says for the money?

Option 2) sell my PRS SE and use the vouchers plus what ever I make to buy a Telecaster as I’ve always wanted one. 

So, who here has a Katana and are you in love with it as much as YouTube?

cheers

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I don’t own a Katana but I’d say get the Tele, because you’ll get more joy from a guitar you’ve always wanted, rather than a new black box with knobs on. However, if an amp is what you need, also have a look at the Boss Nextone, they sound great on YT.

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I bought myself a Katana 100 212 as an early Christmas present.

It is a great amp for the money, I particularly like the fact that there's  a headphone jack and that it can run on 0.5, 50 or 100 watts so it really can do both home practice and decent sized venues.

As for the 'easily accessible tones', I'm finding there's a bit more of a learning curve involved than some online reviews imply, particularly with the effects section.

I need to spend some time with the amp connected up to the PC with the Tone Studio software to really get a handle on what it might be capable of.

 

 

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Katana has been the amp hit of the decade and all other manufacturers have been left in the dust. Our guitarist gigged extensively with a 50 and the sounds he got never ceased to amaze, especially at sub €200. He uses it to record too. He is however, very tech savvy so he really knows how to get the best out of one. That said, they still sound great straight out the box.

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I must have watched every YouTube video on the Boss Katana Mk2 amps before I made my mind up to get one a month ago.

I was going to get the 50 but decided on the 100 in the end (needed more grunt to annoy the neighbours) and it’s absolutely fantastic.

Its far exceeded my expectations and I’m so glad I bought it.

I have fitted 4 Ikea locking wheels to it so it’s easy to move about.

rill-locking-caster__0710301_PE727452_S5

Edited by Jazz Club
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Boss / Roland are generally on the money with modelling. I also really rate the Vox Valvetronix stuff (especially the early, blue cloth ones).

The only downside to a good modeller, imo, is if you won't get the benefit from it all. I'm gonig to sell my Vox AD120VT (the AC30 sized one) for the simple reason that I just don't need the variety it offers... these days, if I was puttnig serious money into an amp for gigging and recording, I'd actually be looking more at the Rooland bluescube type range: all the benefitsd of modelling, but with a simpler format. But that's just me - give me something that sounds like an old, tweed Fender and I'm happy. If you want the range, a modeller is a great way to get there.

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1 hour ago, EdwardMarlowe said:

Boss / Roland are generally on the money with modelling. I also really rate the Vox Valvetronix stuff (especially the early, blue cloth ones).

The only downside to a good modeller, imo, is if you won't get the benefit from it all. I'm gonig to sell my Vox AD120VT (the AC30 sized one) for the simple reason that I just don't need the variety it offers... these days, if I was puttnig serious money into an amp for gigging and recording, I'd actually be looking more at the Roland bluescube type range: all the benefits of modelling, but with a simpler format. But that's just me - give me something that sounds like an old, tweed Fender and I'm happy. If you want the range, a modeller is a great way to get there.

I played one of these when I bought my Fender SuperChamp X2, it was a close run thing and I probably should've gone Roland as I have a valve that occasionally 'sings'. If they were cheaper, the Fender Tone Masters would definitely be on my shopping list if I was looking for a new amp.

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Roland have done well with them. I 'd love too to try one of those Award Session BluesBaby amps that claim to get the tube sound but are all solid state.

One of the most interesting ideas I've seen in recent years has been the Vox 'Nutube' technology. Be interesting to see how that takes off.

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2 hours ago, EdwardMarlowe said:

Roland have done well with them. I 'd love too to try one of those Award Session BluesBaby amps that claim to get the tube sound but are all solid state.

One of the most interesting ideas I've seen in recent years has been the Vox 'Nutube' technology. Be interesting to see how that takes off.

The Tech21 Trademark 60 was very convincing and fooled hardened valve purists; I had 2 way back when (not at the same time).

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1 hour ago, Jazz Club said:

Just noticed this thread was started December 2018 so the OP is probably sorted by now.

Ah, but this is the joy of the various 'Chat' forums, the OP is dealt with and then we're away with the fairies, often changing the original theme into something else entirely. How we're not discussing samurai swords Vs broadswords is beyond me - we must try harder 😂.

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2 hours ago, ezbass said:

Ah, but this is the joy of the various 'Chat' forums, the OP is dealt with and then we're away with the fairies, often changing the original theme into something else entirely. How we're not discussing samurai swords Vs broadswords is beyond me - we must try harder 😂.

ezbass,

I guess that’s one way to explain a forum that doesn’t have much traffic 🙏

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On 29/12/2018 at 08:48, Thunderpaws said:

"So, who here has a Katana and are you in love with it as much as YouTube?"

The short answer is yes. Fantastic amp but I will say that after spending a lot of time with the software presets I found them to be a bit of a bottomless tone chasing rabbit hole and now I just dial in my own tones and save them. It also makes for a pretty good acoustic amp which for me is a big plus.

image.png.7c49d7917f74ec853016a277c8b427f7.png

 

 

Edited by PAPADON
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