BOSS Katana amps-the next best thing?

[dave robinson]

I think that because these amps are aimed at the majority of largely more modern users, the speakers are not expected to be scrutinised by players such as we, who prefer crystal clean tones. The downside of the amp for me is the narrow option of clean headroom, though it is there if you look for it. It’s when you want powerful clean tones at a high volume, that the speaker gets found out and it can sound shrill. Most guys will use some sort of overdrive and tame the shrillness with the tone controls, giving a nice bluesy tone, so for Boss it’s job done.
I have heard talk amongst music shops that Boss have introduced the Katana Artist because they want to show folks that it is a better amp than the earlier models have you imagine. Problem is that it costs to make those kind of improvements and it is reflected in the price of the Artist model.
I’m happy with mine now and I’ve been working on it getting more clean headroom by using the software controls and effects. It was mentioned earlier in the thread that these may not be a true hundred watts in valve power terms and I tend to agree, but plenty loud enough to do my job.

[Iain Purdon]

We did two days of rehearsals this week using Katanas on both lead and rhythm guitars. Sounded terrific.

[dave robinson]

As I mentioned a few days ago I had the Katana head in the house to set up our show on the GA-FC in the way I set up my Line 6 Helix to do the job.
I purchased the Boss FV-500L pedal to go with it for a modest £50, so happy days.
For very little cash layout, I have got the sounds, tones, echoes and FX that I need for our theatre sets, including the three main Shadows echoes, Shadoogie, W Land & Apache. These pattern do 90% of what I need for a Shads set. I can alter the intensity of the reverb by foot, to give a wetter sound should it be needed as well as TAP TEMPO the heads should I not be satisfied. I sat with my Hall & Collins playing through the entire Shads repertoire, comparing my Katana patches with Charlie’s and got something out of the Katana that I wouldn’t have believed possible. OK there are only TWO taps, but with smart use of the reverb and the controls you can get a resemblance to the real deal on stage in a live environment.
The trick it to make sure the two taps are the ones you hear mostly on the record.
On the second bank on my GA-FC I have Duane Eddy, Gary Moore, an acoustic patch for my Martin, Gibson or Vintage Gordon Giltrap, that actually works like the AER Acoustic amp, it isn’t a simulator for solid guitars to sound acoustic.
My final patch is a slapback Scotty Moore sound, but I can edit the echo length, add a bit of ‘blues’ with the OD of fuzz, all on the footswitch.
I haven’t gone into the octave thing that I have on the Helix, but it’s there if needed. Amongst other effects in my patches are chorus/flange on a footswitch if needed.
If desired, you can take a line out straight from the Katana into the PA which is really useful, I briefly tried it on our PA and it works well, you just need to get the monitor mix right, you don’t even have to have the speaker on if you don’t want, so great for recording too.
So last night I gave it a try and it’s looking like I may have a Helix for sale, but I’m going to cover all angles before doing anything drastic. The audience feedback though was very encouraging.

[AlanMcKillop]

After having moved on my Katana 50 as I felt it was a tad underpowered, I had the opportunity to get the 100 w Katana Artist from my brother, who had his for sale on a local Buy & Sell Facebook page. It came with the GA-FC, so I look forward to getting to grips with it very soon and despite it being heavier than I would have liked, it has a great ‘out of the box’ sound without using the Boss software.

[dave robinson]

My friend Terry Clark who is a member here uses a Katana Artist having upgraded from the 100w.
It was he who inspired me to investigate which led to my current rig. I sold the the Line 6 Helix getting my money back.