BOSS Katana amps-the next best thing?

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Re: BOSS Katana amps-the next best thing?

Postby roger bayliss » Sun Dec 02, 2018 10:07 pm

When I retired some years back I promised myself I would get me a quality acoustic guitar by Martin or other premium brand. I scoured the music shops trying a lot of guitars out but given the prices I was not really happy with the sounds of many I tried. I thought I would like a Martin D28 or maybe an 0028 .

I started looking further afield and came across Blueridge guitars made in China. They did a historic series with forward shifted x bracing and all the right solid woods. There was a story going around that they had bought up stocks of woods that Martin used for their guitars and Martin were not happy.

I ended up with a guitar that looks very much like a D45 , that's sounds fabulous and cost me £870 with hard case. The D45 were about £5000 + at the time. I still have that Blueridge and appears the new ones now go for £2000 approx. Whilst a proper D45 is a glorious guitar , I am very pleased with the choice and cost of the Blueridge and intend keeping it. The sound is great.

I also have a Boss Katana 100w Combo and find it's a great amp straight out of the box with a really good speaker.
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Re: BOSS Katana amps-the next best thing?

Postby Uncle Fiesta » Sat Dec 08, 2018 3:32 pm

A few years ago I sold my first Porsche and had a bit of money so decided I'd buy a nice old acoustic. I found a 1973 Martin D18 for £900, which was quite cheap as it needed some work done. So after spending another hundred or two I had a really good guitar, but I never felt it was much better than the one it had replaced, a Yamaha FG-160.

(Also, every time I played it I couldn't help seeing the photo of the Porsche glaring down at me accusingly, thus feeling extremely guilty.)

I now have another Yamaha, an FG-340 which to my ears sounds just as good. It can be heard at most of the Shadows Club meetings I attend, as it gets used extensively on my backing tracks.

So more expensive isn't always better!
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Re: BOSS Katana amps-the next best thing?

Postby dave robinson » Sat Dec 08, 2018 8:34 pm

Well I've been banging that drum all along about expensive gear not necessarily being better, or indeed the solution to guitarists problems. So much so that I heed my own advice and deliberately seek bargain priced instruments to prove the point. The latest example is the Vintage VA6 that I bought for £50 on eBay, which looks, plays and sounds every bit as good as my Gibson SG Standard that I sold on Thursday for twelve times that price. The only down side is the colour, which is black as opposed to my translucent cherry Gibson, but that's all.
Another example I witnessed last night when I went to see Daniel Martin and Adrian Fountain backing an American female country singer. The sound of the band was excellent with a perfect balance and Dan's guitar was noticeably sounding terrific.
He had what I believed to be his expensive custom built Telecaster playing through his Fender Blues Junior, but when I enthused about his guitar, he casually told me that he hadn't brought the custom job over from Ireland and it was his Squier Classic Vibe that was under the stairs in the cupboard at his parent's home. We bought those Telecasters together back in 2011-ish when he was a member of Past Masters and I still use mine.
He said it hadn't had new strings in two years which made me chuckle, as I have guitars in that very same situation. The point is, it was proved yet again that expensive gear is not THE cure for all our problems, which is why I still have mine and would never consider letting it go.
Another point I'd like to bring up is about guitars or other gear being an investment and going up in value.
I recently sold my Gibson ES-335 for £100 more than it cost originally, but that is a very rare occurrence, as I normally have to take a hit. It seems that high end Gibsons' can hold, or even make money, but Fenders' not so, unless you're talking something like my '63 which is valued ridiculously at around £15,000, but I don't agree with it being worth that, the reason being I have Fender Classic Vibe Strats, USA DeLuxe Strat, MIJ Premium and even a couple of Squiers that are all better playing than the old one and on a par sound-wise.
Today I did a PX deal with a guy for a Gibson Les Paul signature 120 year anniversary model, involving two of my Strats, the Eric Johnson and the black USA DeLuxe, with a good hunk of money back my way. I didn't really want another guitar, but I was offered a paltry sum for each of them in cash , so the only way to get the value out of them was a PX which I'm happy with because I really liked the Caribbean Blue Les Paul because it isn't a run of the mill model. I have added a Stetsbar to it and with the coil taps on each pickup, I get a Strat tone should I need it, as well as the 15db boost switch and of course the lovely PAF creamy Gibson sound. This Gibby WILL get played. ;)
Sorry for rambling on a bit, but I do think there's stuff mentioned that would be of interest to some. :)
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Re: BOSS Katana amps-the next best thing?

Postby Hank2k » Tue Dec 11, 2018 1:35 pm

Just another note in particular about modern gear. A few years back I had the full hank setup custom shop 56, tvs3 echo and vox ac30 with blues and it did sound fantastic at the gigs we did but that was it. If I wanted to record I had to mic it up and I could really use it at home as it would blow the walls out. I also couldn't run backing tracks through it etc and it took up loads of room as well as being heavy and expensive risking damage and theft etc. When I started using the katana and zoom g3 my whole guitar playing changed because I was able to get a consistent sound at home and live and recording and I wasn't worried about damage etc as I knew I could just pop down the local shop and replace it all easily. Music gear has greatly come along since the 60s and it's amazing what you can do with such limited money etc but I suppose it's a bit like classic cars. A focus is comfortable, reliable, faster and better on fuel but on a nice summer's day with plenty of time and no traffic id rather be out in the zodiac cruising along reminiscing.
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Re: BOSS Katana amps-the next best thing?

Postby neil2726 » Tue Dec 11, 2018 8:08 pm

Going back to Dave Robinsons reply - it seems quite a few Pro guitarists use Squier guitars. Milton McDonald of Jeff Lynne;s ELO and Take That is one. He has several Squire Strats!
Good to hear Danny Martin is doing well - surely one of the best guitarists around, who can play many styles and not just Shads stuff. I will never forget his brilliant performance with Bruce at the last Shadowmania - so confident and at ease!
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Re: BOSS Katana amps-the next best thing?

Postby chaddman » Wed Dec 12, 2018 8:03 pm

There is nothing wrong with most Far East made equipment nowadays. If the quality control is up to its job the stuff made is as good as anywhere else. They were making stringed instruments in China when we were still living in Mud Huts. If the Amp/Effects pedal etc was not made in the Far East some if not most of the components in it probably were.I have several guitars that were made in China 2 Harley Bentons and 1 roundback Electro Accoustic, The only problems I had with them were poorly cut plastic nuts and plastic saddle, Tarnished/Rusty strings and Frets that needed a good polishing. So for about £5. and a few hours work per Guitar you end up with a good playable Instrument for between £100-£200. I have an American Special Strat and a Mexican Modern Player Strat. After changing the Pickups on the Mexican one with a set of Partscaster Vintage Alnico V it sounds just as good as the American one. As a footnote on Quality I had more problems with the American Strat than any of the other Guitars I own. It had an Intermittent fault for a long time, I had to wait until the fault showed up constantly then I could sort it out. It is a good Guitar now but it cost more than double what the Mexican one cost :D .
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Re: BOSS Katana amps-the next best thing?

Postby Vincent » Wed Dec 12, 2018 10:04 pm

Hank2k wrote:Just another note in particular about modern gear. A few years back I had the full hank setup custom shop 56, tvs3 echo and vox ac30 with blues and it did sound fantastic at the gigs we did but that was it. If I wanted to record I had to mic it up and I could really use it at home as it would blow the walls out. I also couldn't run backing tracks through it etc and it took up loads of room as well as being heavy and expensive risking damage and theft etc. When I started using the katana and zoom g3 my whole guitar playing changed because I was able to get a consistent sound at home and live and recording and I wasn't worried about damage etc as I knew I could just pop down the local shop and replace it all easily. Music gear has greatly come along since the 60s and it's amazing what you can do with such limited money etc but I suppose it's a bit like classic cars. A focus is comfortable, reliable, faster and better on fuel but on a nice summer's day with plenty of time and no traffic id rather be out in the zodiac cruising along reminiscing.



Reading this, you say it's improved your playing..what do those amp simulations/ downloads & effects actually sound like? Are they 'synthetic' in feel? Can it sound like a good Fender or Marshall ? . The 100w has a better spec I guess you could run it at 50W- at home or garage. From what I have seen, these are computers with big speakers rather than traditional amps. Blackstar do something similar as do other brands. Whether they sound better is debatable
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Re: BOSS Katana amps-the next best thing?

Postby David Martin » Fri Dec 14, 2018 9:54 am

Yes... Katana sounds as good as a Fender or Marshall, depending on how good your ears are in setting it up. You can get good sounds just twiddling the knobs, but the REAL plus with these amps is that, via the Boss Tone Studio, you can delve deep into the guts of your amp and achieve the exact result you're looking for. Again, it depends on how good your ears are, and how much time you are prepared to spend learning the subtleties of the system in order to achieve the result you want...

As an example, for me, the Holy Grail of Les Paul tone, is Clapton on the Beano album.... After some work I've achieved that. It works at any volume, it cleans up if I reduce volume on the guitar. Via the GA-FC foot control, I can switch in an authentic 60s tremelo, an authentic reverb, and, for when our drummer gets too enthusiastic, a clean boost to lift my sound above the usual volume level...

And at the touch of the foot controller, switch to any of the other patches I've created.

Well worth the time invested...
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Re: BOSS Katana amps-the next best thing?

Postby Vincent » Fri Dec 14, 2018 10:49 am

Going by that you should get a good Vox voicing from them...I assume you are referring to the 100 W model? that takes the foot switch you refer to and has effects loop & line out; though the 100 may be too loud to play in the lounge or garage as i do, although you can scale it down to half. As I've said these are not guitar amps in the normal sense, more like computers with a power section that can drive a big speaker...similar in a way to things like Audio fractal Axe FX & others ...
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Re: BOSS Katana amps-the next best thing?

Postby sixtiesman » Fri Dec 21, 2018 3:35 pm

Katana 50

I have not done much with my Katana 50 yet other than to use it like an ordinary amp.
I haven’t done anything with the software either, yet.

Thought I would start with the pre-set channels. Mine is the version 2 which should give me 4 channels which can be pre-set.

After some research I am led to believe that the volume level can be part of a saved pre-set,
according to the official Katana demonstrator, easily found on youtube.
I haven't tried it myself yet.

There are four pre-set channels.
They can be selected by pressing buttons on the top panel or by a footswitch.
The official footswitches are varied and expensive from 30 to 70 pounds....
Two latching footswitches will do the job at 9.99 each. ( together with the correct cable. A stereo jack to two mono jacks, sometimes known as a Y cable, sometimes as an insert cable )
I dug out an old peavey double footswitch I've had for 30 years and it looks like it will do nicely.

It would seem that the mode of operation is:-
You select your volume, gain, treble, middle, bass and several effects then you save all this as a pre-set.
I need to try all this out.

Can any owner confirm all of the above before I jump in?
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