Has anyone tried the Boss Katana 100?

[Jaredio]

Hey guys!

Iv'e seen some reviews of this amp, and even tried it myself. I found it really good (for the money), it fits my style and seem to be good for practicing and jamming.

Has anyone else tried it? or can you recommend another amp in the same price-range? pros/cons?
I am not a tone-hunter, a solid-state/modelling amp works just fine for me.

[Number Of The Priest]

Try https://www.jcfonline.com/threads/15...ss-Katana-amps

and

https://www.facebook.com/groups/boss.katana/

Our fellow JCFer BenoA runs that Facebook group and is a wealth of knowledge!

[Jaredio]

Woah. Nice!
Im checking out the Facebook-group.

Thanks!

[Guitarkid8]

Fwiw when I played one in store I was impressed with almost every sound except high gain.

[Jaredio]

Thats about the same thoughts i had when i tried it. The high gain brown channel was OK, but maybe it just need some tweaking. The clean sound from it was very good.
After the jcf thread, watching reviews and trying it myself i ordered it yesterday. Its really not that expensive and i got a return deal on it anyway.
Hopefully i can get rid of my old heavy ass "rig"

[MountainDog]

I bought the Katana head mint used w/footpedal based on BenoA's JCF thread. Good for practicing/jamming as you mentioned you were looking for, but as BenoA stated, won't replace my Kemper & Helix. I wanted something to jam to/learn songs at the girlfriends and the head with the built in speaker and aux-in worked perfect. Guitar plus guitar cable and cable form my phone to aux in plus the 20lb head and I had a great way to jam for a while at the girlfriends place.

[BenoA]

Well, guys, thanks for the good comments!

It's been over a year since I got my Katana Head and still discovering new sounds with it. Most of my other amps are collecting dust and we're speaking: Marshall DSL50 head, Peavey 6505, Mini Rectifier & Traynor YCV40 combo. Will I sell them, hell no! I played the Marshall the other day and still diggin' it but the Katana is that good to my ears and it's a pretty cool all in one package: it's as loud as my Marshall, I did the video comparison, sounds good and gets the character out of each of my 17 guitars. Some other modelers out there make them sound all alike.

The Katana can also be a decent pedal platform. Lots of users are doing this with it.

Anyway, to those with a Facebook account and interested in the product, I invite you to join the group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/boss.katana/

Also, check out my Youtube page. Nothing pro, average Joe kind of videos but what you see & hear will be what you will get. No EQ or mastering tricks. Just plain BenoA playing the guitar: https://www.youtube.com/jbaubry

And as MountainDog said above, will it make you sell your Helix or Kemper? I don't think so but a few days ago, while I was working on something, I fooled myself with some audio tracks recorded direct & with mics and it made me do this lil' video quiz.

I invite my JCF friends to check it out And let me know in the video comments what they think.

[Jaredio]

BenoA: Accept me into the Katana group if you can, i sent a request to join a couple of days ago and tried again today.

I lived with the amp over the weekend and i like it a lot. For practicing its just superb for my taste. I'm really curious about how its gonna perform when jamming. For me the 0,5 w setting is a pot of gold, it does not change the sound a lot on low volume and I dont wake the kids (i cant stand playing with a headset on my ears)
I'm not selling my old crappy rig yet, but the Katana is great imo. Really glad i gave it a shot.

All the best.

[BenoA]

BenoA: Accept me into the Katana group if you can, i sent a request to join a couple of days ago and tried again today.

I don't have any members waiting to be approved so you should be part of the fun. If not, PM and we will see if there is a problem. I'm "Buddy LeChat" on FB, don't ask why, it is a long story!

I lived with the amp over the weekend and i like it a lot. For practicing its just superb for my taste. I'm really curious about how its gonna perform when jamming. For me the 0,5 w setting is a pot of gold, it does not change the sound a lot on low volume and I dont wake the kids (i cant stand playing with a headset on my ears)
I'm not selling my old crappy rig yet, but the Katana is great imo. Really glad i gave it a shot.

Which model did you try? But I can confirm, they are all loud. Even the 0.5w mode into a 2x12 can be loud when cranked.

These amps are for real. If you looked at my Youtube channel, I have done a few clips showing how loud they are and even compared it to my Marshall DSL50 Head.

[Jaredio]

I got "accepted" into the group just moments after i posted the last one, so no problem. (I had to answer 3 questions as to why i wanted to join in)
Gonna check out your Youtube channel pretty soon, i've just been testing the standard presets to get some kind of feel of the amp. I reckon the Tone Studio will open up a lot more possibilites.

I bought the Katana 100 and im really happy with it. I dont know anything about amps/speakers/cabs though, i just dial in the tone i want and think sounds good and play guitar

[d4rin]

Boss katana 100/50 is no good for personal home use, you still have to crank it to sound good.

I also found the bass response pretty bad, the cab was open-back so maybe that's why.

I have the Yamaha THR10 amp now and for personal use it blows away Katana for sound quality.

I'd use the Katana for band practice and for live too, even the 50 is damn loud.

[Giffin]

I didn't fall in love with the Brown channel either. I got the 50 combo. I think the clean channel is great for pedal use, better than any tube amp clean channel I played into. Yes Thr 10 can be said to be better in some ways - it is unbelievably good tube feel - but when I am playing in anywhere larger than a bedroom right in front of the amp, and I usually do so, Katana with full-size speaker and cab is probably better to have. I didn't play Thr in such setting since long, but it is designed not to fill a room with sound, but project the sound right in front to the player, so horses for courses. The 100 watts combo is said to come with a great speaker.

[BenoA]

Well, to each his own. I own both, a Yamaha THR5 and a Katana Head. Both sounds good but the Yamaha is limited to low volume playing. The Katana does that but can also be used as any regular amp to play in a band.

I don't use my Yamaha since I got the Katana. Also, the Katana has a bunch of interesting built-in FX the Yamaha doesn't have.

The 50w Katana is the best bang fof the bucks out there for a basement home player which want to jam with others occasionally. And for a lil' more $, the 100w gives a FX loop and the possibility to use the GA-FC foot controller.

It's been over a year for me with the Katana Head and I'm still diggin' the amp a lot. Is it perfect, NOT, but it does a lot for a very competitive price.

And add to that, that it gets the character out of your guitars in comparison to other modelers out there which will make them sound all alike.

I still own a Peavey 6505, Marshall DSL50 Head, Traynor YCV40 combo and Mesa Mini Rec but all are collecting dust right now. Will I sell any of them, hell no, but the Katana head is that good for me. YMMV