Like the old version, there is an acoustic setting too, so you can use acoustic electrics with this as well. There might not be quite enough gain on tap for super heavy metal or djent players, but classic metal and heavy rock players will have more than enough to play around with. It does high-gain tones very well, without ever sounding fizzy or harsh.
#Boss katana amps plus#
The amp feels and responds really well too - is it exactly the same as playing through a tube amp? Probably not, but it isn’t far off, plus you’ve got a lot of extra versatility here. The Boss Katana 50 MKII has a good amount of low end too, so it’s sometimes easy to forget that you’re only playing through a 1x12” combo amp. Middle? past 12 o’clock equals more mud and the bass was just a woofiness control really.Gradually increase the gain knob and you’re right into classic rock territory. On the BOSS Katana, you’re always fighting the EQ, too much treble and it’s like a buzzsaw, too little and you’re lost in the mix. It sounds inconsequential but the EQ on that amp was so musically predictable it made all other amps look like toys. I’m going to use my old Cornford Roadhouse 30 as an example here. Although nobody will ever prove it, the better you feel, the better you play.
The bottom line is you’re going to feel a lot better gigging (or recording) with a £2k boutique valve amp than a £200 BOSS Katana. Confidence is the obvious one, but in general, how you feel has a lot to do with your guitar playing. And the bigger the brand and the price tag, the better it feels.īut there’s more to it than that. This is going to sound shallow, but owning the real thing: an expensive valve amplifier, feels good. The BOSS Katana aims to emulate this with its solid-state technology, and indeed the tone does break up at higher volumes, but the effect lacks impact. Many guitarists swear by this, as the character is much more natural-sounding than the fizzier pre-amp overdrive. Valve power amp overdrive is a beautiful thing, occurring when a valve amp is pushed towards the max volume and imparting a uniquely organic overdrive to your tone. Tonally, the BOSS Katana is always a bit of a compromise and needs more fiddling to get right. There’s always that slightly buzzy top-end to dial out, which more often than not ends up producing mud.
Sounds are notoriously difficult to describe, but the BOSS Katana, although it can match the volume and gain levels of valve amps, can’t match their intrinsic warmth. The BOSS Katana is just not capable of doing that. So much so, I felt compelled to write songs around it. Bad design (it ran stupidly hot and melted its own circuit board) which made it a no-no for gigging, but it introduced me to the most beautiful, sweet low-gain Les Paul neck pickup tone I’d ever heard. Yes, it’s inconsistent, unreliable, and, at times, a downright pain, but it’s that unpredictability that provides the creative spark the Katana sadly lacks.Ĭase in point: My old Marshall JCM2000 DSL 401 combo. It’s a predictable black noise box as opposed to a valve amp which is an instrument in itself. I’ve mentioned before that the BOSS Katana got me to my ballpark tone I need to gig with, which it achieves with the minimum of fuss, but the point here is, the Katana’s not giving me any new ideas, it’s not inspiring me. Most players prefer the mysterious blue glow of glass to a box of transistors. The BOSS Katana is the best musical instrument purchase you’ll ever make.
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