Boss Katana Original and Official Irrational Love and Hate Thread™

[Alex Kenivel]

I had a Katana 100 and it was just okay. Swapped the speaker and it was still okay. I have a Cat 60 and it’s just okay. Swapped the speaker and it’s still just okay.

I'm only happy with my Katana after a speaker swap and a gratuitous amount of tweaking. I assume I wouldn't be able to tweak the Catalyst like I tweak the Katana so I'm not too hot to trot..

 

[TubeStack]

I love my Katana 100 head. Super useful, light, and fun head and crazy value. Perfect backup in the van for my Mesa at gigs and practices. Also makes a great power amp for my FM9. Sounds really good on its own too, with very little tweaking. I basically turned it on, adjusted a few things, and had a sold rock crunch tone going.

Nice job on the DIY closed cab! I love stuff like that but am too lazy/not-handy to even try it.

 

[TubeStack]

Bet it will sound so much thighter...

Thighmaster-approved!

 

[Jarick]

I'm only happy with my Katana after a speaker swap and a gratuitous amount of tweaking. I assume I wouldn't be able to tweak the Catalyst like I tweak the Katana so I'm not too hot to trot..

You can’t unfortunately. I didn’t like screwing around with the amp hack or whatever it was, actually didn’t like plugging the amp into the computer at all.

I think the Cat has better cleans but anything over a crunch sounds nasty. Katana was better there especially Brown.

I’ll probably sell the Cat at some point and try a different amp honestly. It’s nice as a powered speaker but that’s about it.

 

[Bob Zaod]

Don't mind the snakes, I know where they're all going.

Heh..I had to do so much meticulous cable management at my job for the past 20+ years or so, that it actually feels good to just let them all hang out LOL. Mine looks the same.

Is the Mosky dual switch for the Stomp? I have been considering switching to a stomp from my LT. I set up 8 patches on my LT using the spillover mode on LT to see if I could get along with having one path and did it successfully. I figure a Stomp would do the trick too if I had at least 2 more switches.

 

[Bob Zaod]

Here's my 1st love/hate thing with the Katana.

I love most of the compressors in it but I hate how much noise they introduce. Though I will admit I am used to the way the helix noise gate works, the Built-in noise gate on the Katana requires experimentation. I feel like I should not have to set it all the way up to 55 on a rhythm patch.

 

[Alex Kenivel]

Heh..I had to do so much meticulous cable management at my job for the past 20+ years or so, that it actually feels good to just let them all hang out LOL. Mine looks the same.

Is the Mosky dual switch for the Stomp? I have been considering switching to a stomp from my LT. I set up 8 patches on my LT using the spillover mode on LT to see if I could get along with having one path and did it successfully. I figure a Stomp would do the trick too if I had at least 2 more switches.

I'm really into making things neat and orderly, but nothing is ever too permanent in that arena so wrangling them all in doesn't make sense if I'm going to change it all up in a few weeks anyway and there are no tripping hazards so I know my music professor is smiling somewhere.

Yes that's the Mosky Dual, wired backwards from the factory but surprisingly still hasn't broken down on me since the beginning of 2019.

Here's my 1st love/hate thing with the Katana.

I love most of the compressors in it but I hate how much noise they introduce. Though I will admit I am used to the way the helix noise gate works, the Built-in noise gate on the Katana requires experimentation. I feel like I should not have to set it all the way up to 55 on a rhythm patch.

I think the gate is okay, not a lot of options to tweak but just enough to get by, same with compressors, while the chorus OTOH is very tweakable.. The TS boost adds a ton of noise too.

A lot of just okay, fine and get you by in a pinch -style FX

 

[Bob Zaod]

You can’t unfortunately. I didn’t like screwing around with the amp hack or whatever it was, actually didn’t like plugging the amp into the computer at all.

I think the Cat has better cleans but anything over a crunch sounds nasty. Katana was better there especially Brown.

I’ll probably sell the Cat at some point and try a different amp honestly. It’s nice as a powered speaker but that’s about it.

My exact sentiments. I spent a good amount of time testing the 100 and the 200 at a GC on several separate visits and though the cleans were good, I was not impressed with any of the gains or distorted sounds. I'd venture to say I have my clean for the Katana set up quite nicely and am getting there with the gain sounds. Even though not quite happy with the gains yet on katana I still find it much better than anything I heard come out of the Catalysts and I did test them with my number 1 guitar every time.

 

[-BOOGIEMAN-]

Hallelujah!!! Today I was finally able to update my Kat 50 and get the tone studio to work. I could not get it work since I’ve owned it. Found a video and finally figured it out. Definitely makes a difference in how this amp sounds. Now my interest in the Artist has grown big time…I’m not even kidding…

 

[Baba]

Okay, so i'm not crazy, that I didn't find anything special about the Katanas I tried in stores and certainly nothing that would dethrone a good tube amp, right?

 

[Bob Zaod]

Okay, so i'm not crazy, that I didn't find anything special about the Katanas I tried in stores and certainly nothing that would dethrone a good tube amp, right?

I love my Katana but on pure tone, no it will not replace a good tube amp. What it does replace is a pedalboard littered with pedals. If your chief concern is the tone and feel of a tube amp, that's not gonna happen with a Katana. It's more of a jack of all trades, master of none deal and that works perfect for someone like me who needs to cover a ton of ground between 3 different bands.