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New Amp Day - Katana 50


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I picked up a deal on a used Boss Katana 50 on Facebook Marketplace today.  Others here have raved about these amps, and I've recommended them based on reputation alone, but I finally pulled the trigger on one today and wow, should have done this a while ago.

Those familiar with my background know I've pretty much converted from a tube amp guy to a digital modeling guy and have been playing through a Line 6 Helix LT modeler for the past couple of years (still love my Tube amp when I can be loud).  Lately,  for home practice, I've been playing through my PC using Helix Native modeling while my Helix LT pedalboard was left at our band rehearsal space.  

However, my PC is aging and was not particularly powerful start with. Also my practice room set up required it to both stream my backing tracks and process the guitar signal chain.  I guess the PC's age is catching up, but recently latency and drop out were becoming frequent and infuriating so I'm stoked about this Katana coming along at a price I couldn't pass up.  

I've only scratched the surface of the amps capability, but on the clean setting with the gain pretty low and a touch of reverb, it delivers the Fender-y clean I'm looking for.  Crank the gain on the clean setting and you find that  "amp about to blow up" classic rock break up.  I already have a full pedalboard and will mainly use that with the clean tone of the amp, but the onboard effects are pretty impressive.  All in all I think the amp lives up to the hype and would definitely be my recommendation for someone looking for a versatile, fairly simple amp that works for bed room level but also good for a jam or gig.

 

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Congrats @Six String Ive also heard they are a very versatile (and popular) amp.

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@Six String you have made a great choice. The Boss Katana 50 is versatile, light and as boomy as you want to make it. There is now a version 4 update on the patches with Boss Tone Studio. I am thoroughly enjoying mine and it matches well with the Boss MD-80.

Henk

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32 minutes ago, Oldjock said:

@Six String you have made a great choice. The Boss Katana 50 is versatile, light and as boomy as you want to make it. There is now a version 4 update on the patches with Boss Tone Studio. I am thoroughly enjoying mine and it matches well with the Boss MD-80.

Henk

Yep.  Buying used I didn't get a chance to try it out and haven't studied up on the product like I normally do.  I just knew I needed something.

I'll go online to find a manual today and figure out the all the features today.  

 

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Good to know, @Six String.  Great review.  Thank you.  But now you are confusing me even more😉  And you know what I mean!  🤣

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1 hour ago, matonanjin said:

Good to know, @Six String.  Great review.  Thank you.  But now you are confusing me even more😉  And you know what I mean!  🤣

Didn't mean to throw anyone for a loop.  I still think the Line 6 modelers are awesome including the HD500X and Pod Go as well as the flagship Helix products.  

Looking at your gear list you sort of have the same bases covered as I do. A nice tube amp, which to me still can't be beat when you are free to play loud, and you have the HD500X, power block and cab, that you can dial in great sounds at any level from bed room to stage, similar to my Helix LT (admittedly that might take some learning to do).  

I had also bought the software version of Helix that works as a plug in to a DAW.  So I was going in to the PC via a Presonus interface and back out to a PA speaker to practice with backtracks at home.  I had essentially that same tones (no foot switch ability) on my PC at home, as I had on my Helix, which I left at our drummers house. This worked for a while but the software just started overloading my PC when also streaming a backing track, so it wasn't working for what I was doing.  Basically, Helix Native was a failed experiment for what I was doing, but the actual Helix is still my favorite. Native is probably awesome for recording but haven't started down that path much yet.

So, my gear quiver is now stocked with the Helix LT(No. 1), Tube Amp (No 2.) and Katana (No. 3).  When/If the band ever gigs again, I'll take either 1 or 2 as primary and (after hearing how awesome it sounds) toss the Katana in the car as a backup gig saver if 1 or 2 lets me down.  

 

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