Jarick
Rock Star
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Continuing with my trend of doing stupid things, I picked up a Boss Katana 50 Mk2 this week at a really nice discount, and thought I'd do a running review and comparison against the Line 6 Catalyst 60, which I've had for about six months.
Backstory: my tinnitus has been flaring up again which means no headphones, and I have not been happy playing through studio monitors either. I've found the Catalyst 60 to be kind of disappointing, and while I have a Yamaha THR10X, that's also been very underwhelming. I looked at all the current low volume practice amps on the market and figured I'd try the Katana 50.
Here's my early thoughts:
Size & Build Quality
The Katana 50 is noticeably smaller than the Catalyst 60. I'm measuring the Kat 50 at about 18" wide and 15" high, and the Cat 60 at about 20" wide and 18" high. The Boss is much closer to being a home/practice size amp where the Line 6 is about the size of your average 1x12" tube combo. They're both about the same weight though.
To me they are both about the same quality. They're sub-$300 amps packed with a lot of features, so you aren't getting something to hand down to your kids. Both do seem to have tight build tolerances at least physically.
Features
Really similar feature set between these two amps. They both have a handful of amp models ranging from clean to high gain, both have your basic EQ, both have built in effects, and both have adjustable power wattage. The Catalyst does add a presence knob though, as well as an effects loop and XLR direct output. The effects loop is a nice win for the Catalyst as you can run a looper pedal in there, but I can't see doing something like 4CM or a complex pedalboard with a $250 amp.
User Experience
Here I prefer the Boss Katana. While both amps have very similar features, the Katana is a lot easier to figure out how to use it. To select amps, the Katana has a rotary knob with a line pointing to the amp, where the Catalyst has an LED ring that lights up. However, the ring also illuminates the amps on either side, so it's more difficult to tell which is selected.
On the effects side, the Katana has two concentric knobs (boost/mod and FX/delay) plus a third for reverb, where the Catalyst just has three knobs (boost, effect, reverb). That means you can run two modulation effects plus delay on top of boost and reverb on the Boss, where the Line 6 limits you to one modulation effect (including delay) alongside boost and reverb. Now that may be different using app/editors but I'm not going to bother with those because this is an amp.
The other kicker, selecting effects on the Catalyst is less intuitive. You have to hold down the button for the effect or reverb until it flashes, but you can't see it flashing because your finger is covering the button. Then you have to select the model using the dumb LED ring which is hard to tell what is lit up. On the Boss you just push the button for the effect and the LED changes color. Done. Neither amp tells you what the models are though so you just have to guess.
One other thing, both amps have tap tempo, but it doesn't work well on the Catalyst at all. It randomly seems to set really long delay times even if I push it quickly. That's actually the thing that pushed me over the edge to get something else. The Boss works as expected.
Sound (Standalone Amp)
These two amps sound very different and I think it's due largely to the speaker and cabinet. The Catalyst generally has a big warm sound with relaxed midrange and high end. And the Katana generally has a more focused and punchy sound, but can be boxy with less low end and harsh highs.
Out of the box I think the Catalyst really sounds a lot better especially for playing/practicing by yourself. The clean channel is really nice and lush, especially with some delay and reverb. The low to medium gain sounds are fine, nothing special. They can be a bit dull or fuzzy at times, not like a cranked up Marshall or anything. The high gain sound kind of sucks, it's kind of muddy sounding but with an annoying fizz on top. Totally uninspiring.
On the other hand, the Katana as I said is kind of small sounding, but it's punchy. The midrange is much more present and direct than the Catalyst. For playing by yourself that's less appealing but I would guess in a band situation the Boss would cut through much better. However the small cabinet I think contributes to a much smaller sounding amp, so if you're at all wanting to play with others you should probably just get the 100 watt version which has a bigger cab and speaker (or the head and a better cab, or the Artist with the bigger/better cab and speaker).
Anyways, cleans on the Katana sound crisp but a bit bland as they aren't as thick as the Catalyst. I think I prefer that for practice purposes as you can hear what you're doing better, less covered up. As you add gain it gets more annoying and harsh sounding in the high end. But it does remain punchy, so there's that. I found myself turning the treble knob way down which helped a bit but as there's not much low end, you're just left with a bunch of mids.
Effects are fine for both amps, nothing special. I'm not adding more than a little delay and reverb with a practice amp. Neither amp is going to fool you into thinking you have some really nice pedals or do the Jazz Chorus 3D thing or anything.
So both amps have decent to good cleans, the Catalyst is warmer and fuller sounding but can be too dark, and the Katana is punchier and brighter sounding but can be too bright.
What happens when we swap speakers? I'm an extremely normal person, and like any normal person I of course pulled apart both amps (including one that I used for about an hour) to try an aftermarket upgrade.
Speaker Upgrade
I got a Celestion V-Type last year to try in the Cat 60. Now the factory speakers in both amps are 4 ohm where the Celestion is 8 ohm, but as I'm using at very low volumes it really shouldn't matter much.
Swapping speakers in both amps is pretty easy. On the Catalyst, you need to remove the bottom back wood panel which is five screws, then unplug the terminals and unscrew the speaker from the cab. Technically the speaker can be removed without touching the back panel but I couldn't get good leverage with the screwdriver and spent the extra couple minutes to do it right. On the Boss, you need to actually remove the entire amp, which is four screws on the back panel and two on top. Then the speaker terminals are not quite standard size so I clipped the small one onto the side of a tab rather than the entire thing. For gigging you'd want to change the terminal or cut down the tab so it's more secure.
In the Catalyst 60, the difference is very subtle. There is a little bit more lows and a little smoother highs with a little clearer midrange, but I think it's in the 5-10 percent difference. Not enough to change the character of the amp. But in the Katana 50, the difference is very big. All that harshness on top gets cleared up substantially, so you have a much more balanced sound. I no longer had to take the treble way down on the amp and it was much more enjoyable to play.
However, you still aren't getting a lot of low end out of the Katana. The Catalyst is still a lot richer sounding, again I think due to the larger cabinet. There's a boxiness still in the Katana that I think are reflections of the cabinet size.
Sound (Powered Speaker for a Modeler)
Both of the amps have an input specifically for amp modeler usage that basically turns them into powered speakers. For both amps, you can use the master volume control and the wattage control to fine tune the volume, which is a big improvement compared to the days of plugging into an effects loop return which is full volume. Also, with both amps, the preamp, EQ, and effects are disabled so you get "clean" power into the speaker.
So I plugged my HX Stomp into each of the amps, using amp and effect blocks from the Stomp and no cab simulation. And both amps sounded very different. The Catalyst as expected was fuller and warmer sounding but with kind of a muddy/subdued midrange, and the Katana was more direct and punchier sounding with less low end.
I will say that with both amps, I prefer the sound of the Stomp amps/effects over the onboard amps/effects. The Catalyst is supposed to be Helix based but maybe I prefer the models I pick for the Stomp. And compared to the Boss, the Stomp amps just seem more pleasing.
Summary / Next Steps
Right now I've got three cheap practice amps sitting in my basement (the Katana, Catalyst, and Yamaha). It probably would make more sense to get rid of them and get something better, but I don't see a lot of nice midrange options that work well at very low volumes. There's a part of me that would be curious to try the Katana Artist which has the bigger cabinet and upgraded speaker, along with some other features. But that amp is significantly bigger, and I kind of like the small size of the 50 watter. Plus I already have a nice speaker upgrade for it.
Anyways, the point of the amp in the first place is to have something to plug into for practicing and learning songs primarily, not to sound amazing. And the whole reason I picked it up was I wanted to learn some King's X songs and not fuss with a modeler, and the Cat 60 and Yamaha both sounded like complete ass trying to play along with the track. The Cat 60 was kind of a wash of low end and the Yamaha was a can of bees.
So I'll tinker with the Katana 50 for now and see if it grows on me or goes back to the store.
Backstory: my tinnitus has been flaring up again which means no headphones, and I have not been happy playing through studio monitors either. I've found the Catalyst 60 to be kind of disappointing, and while I have a Yamaha THR10X, that's also been very underwhelming. I looked at all the current low volume practice amps on the market and figured I'd try the Katana 50.
Here's my early thoughts:
Size & Build Quality
The Katana 50 is noticeably smaller than the Catalyst 60. I'm measuring the Kat 50 at about 18" wide and 15" high, and the Cat 60 at about 20" wide and 18" high. The Boss is much closer to being a home/practice size amp where the Line 6 is about the size of your average 1x12" tube combo. They're both about the same weight though.
To me they are both about the same quality. They're sub-$300 amps packed with a lot of features, so you aren't getting something to hand down to your kids. Both do seem to have tight build tolerances at least physically.
Features
Really similar feature set between these two amps. They both have a handful of amp models ranging from clean to high gain, both have your basic EQ, both have built in effects, and both have adjustable power wattage. The Catalyst does add a presence knob though, as well as an effects loop and XLR direct output. The effects loop is a nice win for the Catalyst as you can run a looper pedal in there, but I can't see doing something like 4CM or a complex pedalboard with a $250 amp.
User Experience
Here I prefer the Boss Katana. While both amps have very similar features, the Katana is a lot easier to figure out how to use it. To select amps, the Katana has a rotary knob with a line pointing to the amp, where the Catalyst has an LED ring that lights up. However, the ring also illuminates the amps on either side, so it's more difficult to tell which is selected.
On the effects side, the Katana has two concentric knobs (boost/mod and FX/delay) plus a third for reverb, where the Catalyst just has three knobs (boost, effect, reverb). That means you can run two modulation effects plus delay on top of boost and reverb on the Boss, where the Line 6 limits you to one modulation effect (including delay) alongside boost and reverb. Now that may be different using app/editors but I'm not going to bother with those because this is an amp.
The other kicker, selecting effects on the Catalyst is less intuitive. You have to hold down the button for the effect or reverb until it flashes, but you can't see it flashing because your finger is covering the button. Then you have to select the model using the dumb LED ring which is hard to tell what is lit up. On the Boss you just push the button for the effect and the LED changes color. Done. Neither amp tells you what the models are though so you just have to guess.
One other thing, both amps have tap tempo, but it doesn't work well on the Catalyst at all. It randomly seems to set really long delay times even if I push it quickly. That's actually the thing that pushed me over the edge to get something else. The Boss works as expected.
Sound (Standalone Amp)
These two amps sound very different and I think it's due largely to the speaker and cabinet. The Catalyst generally has a big warm sound with relaxed midrange and high end. And the Katana generally has a more focused and punchy sound, but can be boxy with less low end and harsh highs.
Out of the box I think the Catalyst really sounds a lot better especially for playing/practicing by yourself. The clean channel is really nice and lush, especially with some delay and reverb. The low to medium gain sounds are fine, nothing special. They can be a bit dull or fuzzy at times, not like a cranked up Marshall or anything. The high gain sound kind of sucks, it's kind of muddy sounding but with an annoying fizz on top. Totally uninspiring.
On the other hand, the Katana as I said is kind of small sounding, but it's punchy. The midrange is much more present and direct than the Catalyst. For playing by yourself that's less appealing but I would guess in a band situation the Boss would cut through much better. However the small cabinet I think contributes to a much smaller sounding amp, so if you're at all wanting to play with others you should probably just get the 100 watt version which has a bigger cab and speaker (or the head and a better cab, or the Artist with the bigger/better cab and speaker).
Anyways, cleans on the Katana sound crisp but a bit bland as they aren't as thick as the Catalyst. I think I prefer that for practice purposes as you can hear what you're doing better, less covered up. As you add gain it gets more annoying and harsh sounding in the high end. But it does remain punchy, so there's that. I found myself turning the treble knob way down which helped a bit but as there's not much low end, you're just left with a bunch of mids.
Effects are fine for both amps, nothing special. I'm not adding more than a little delay and reverb with a practice amp. Neither amp is going to fool you into thinking you have some really nice pedals or do the Jazz Chorus 3D thing or anything.
So both amps have decent to good cleans, the Catalyst is warmer and fuller sounding but can be too dark, and the Katana is punchier and brighter sounding but can be too bright.
What happens when we swap speakers? I'm an extremely normal person, and like any normal person I of course pulled apart both amps (including one that I used for about an hour) to try an aftermarket upgrade.
Speaker Upgrade
I got a Celestion V-Type last year to try in the Cat 60. Now the factory speakers in both amps are 4 ohm where the Celestion is 8 ohm, but as I'm using at very low volumes it really shouldn't matter much.
Swapping speakers in both amps is pretty easy. On the Catalyst, you need to remove the bottom back wood panel which is five screws, then unplug the terminals and unscrew the speaker from the cab. Technically the speaker can be removed without touching the back panel but I couldn't get good leverage with the screwdriver and spent the extra couple minutes to do it right. On the Boss, you need to actually remove the entire amp, which is four screws on the back panel and two on top. Then the speaker terminals are not quite standard size so I clipped the small one onto the side of a tab rather than the entire thing. For gigging you'd want to change the terminal or cut down the tab so it's more secure.
In the Catalyst 60, the difference is very subtle. There is a little bit more lows and a little smoother highs with a little clearer midrange, but I think it's in the 5-10 percent difference. Not enough to change the character of the amp. But in the Katana 50, the difference is very big. All that harshness on top gets cleared up substantially, so you have a much more balanced sound. I no longer had to take the treble way down on the amp and it was much more enjoyable to play.
However, you still aren't getting a lot of low end out of the Katana. The Catalyst is still a lot richer sounding, again I think due to the larger cabinet. There's a boxiness still in the Katana that I think are reflections of the cabinet size.
Sound (Powered Speaker for a Modeler)
Both of the amps have an input specifically for amp modeler usage that basically turns them into powered speakers. For both amps, you can use the master volume control and the wattage control to fine tune the volume, which is a big improvement compared to the days of plugging into an effects loop return which is full volume. Also, with both amps, the preamp, EQ, and effects are disabled so you get "clean" power into the speaker.
So I plugged my HX Stomp into each of the amps, using amp and effect blocks from the Stomp and no cab simulation. And both amps sounded very different. The Catalyst as expected was fuller and warmer sounding but with kind of a muddy/subdued midrange, and the Katana was more direct and punchier sounding with less low end.
I will say that with both amps, I prefer the sound of the Stomp amps/effects over the onboard amps/effects. The Catalyst is supposed to be Helix based but maybe I prefer the models I pick for the Stomp. And compared to the Boss, the Stomp amps just seem more pleasing.
Summary / Next Steps
Right now I've got three cheap practice amps sitting in my basement (the Katana, Catalyst, and Yamaha). It probably would make more sense to get rid of them and get something better, but I don't see a lot of nice midrange options that work well at very low volumes. There's a part of me that would be curious to try the Katana Artist which has the bigger cabinet and upgraded speaker, along with some other features. But that amp is significantly bigger, and I kind of like the small size of the 50 watter. Plus I already have a nice speaker upgrade for it.
Anyways, the point of the amp in the first place is to have something to plug into for practicing and learning songs primarily, not to sound amazing. And the whole reason I picked it up was I wanted to learn some King's X songs and not fuss with a modeler, and the Cat 60 and Yamaha both sounded like complete ass trying to play along with the track. The Cat 60 was kind of a wash of low end and the Yamaha was a can of bees.
So I'll tinker with the Katana 50 for now and see if it grows on me or goes back to the store.
