Jarick
Rock Star
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The Artist is quickly becoming one of my favorite amps now. The JCM800 and Bogner Uberschall patches are fantastic!!! Incredibly versatile amp!!!
What are your favorite amps in it? Where are you getting patches?
Review: Boss Katana Artist Mk II (vs Line 6 Catalyst & Katana 50)
- Thread starter Jarick
- Start date
What are your favorite amps in it? Where are you getting patches?
-BOOGIEMAN-
Roadie
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I purchased a couple of patch sets in the link below. Check out the boutique amps collection, that has something like 46 amps and see if some of those interest you. There were quite a few in there that I wanted to try. Lots of other patch sets to choose from. You can also hear some of them on his YouTube channel. There are also free patches in some of his video links. There is also a free sharing board but I can’t remember the name off the top of my head. I never tried those as these were exactly what I was looking for. Oh, the Studio Rats YouTube channel also has free patch links in some of their videos.
Jarick
Rock Star
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I spent a couple hours trying different pedals into the front of the Katana Artist, and honestly I prefer the Katana by itself. Then I spent a couple hours running the Axe FX 3 into the Power Amp In...and I still kind of like just the Katana by itself. It has a little more weight behind it and is just zero fuss to get at the sound.
The Crunch channel is really versatile, going from clean to edge of breakup to a medium crunch tone. Then I found if you set it to edge of breakup and the Booster to the front end, you get a a really nice modded Marshall sound.
Which is now causing my head to spin a bit, because I have like $5,000 worth of modelers and pedals but the $450 Katana Artist sounds basically as good, running through the same cabinet. With way less tweaking and no option paralysis.
Now a caveat that I'm playing at bedroom volumes at home, so definitely not saying it's the end all be all amp, but the fact it compares favorably to this mountain of gear that I have at home is just throwing me for a loop. Seriously, I went through half a dozen OD/drive pedals, several different modelers, three sets of studio monitors, a dozen or more headphones, etc. And I think the Katana might work as good or better than any of those for everything I do outside of recording.
Definitely need to return the Katana 50 and might pickup the matching footswitch to see how I like that. Also want to tinker around with running the HX Stomp in the loop for effects only.
The Crunch channel is really versatile, going from clean to edge of breakup to a medium crunch tone. Then I found if you set it to edge of breakup and the Booster to the front end, you get a a really nice modded Marshall sound.
Which is now causing my head to spin a bit, because I have like $5,000 worth of modelers and pedals but the $450 Katana Artist sounds basically as good, running through the same cabinet. With way less tweaking and no option paralysis.
Now a caveat that I'm playing at bedroom volumes at home, so definitely not saying it's the end all be all amp, but the fact it compares favorably to this mountain of gear that I have at home is just throwing me for a loop. Seriously, I went through half a dozen OD/drive pedals, several different modelers, three sets of studio monitors, a dozen or more headphones, etc. And I think the Katana might work as good or better than any of those for everything I do outside of recording.
Definitely need to return the Katana 50 and might pickup the matching footswitch to see how I like that. Also want to tinker around with running the HX Stomp in the loop for effects only.
Baba
Shredder
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Hey man, don't question it. I just pulled my old trusty Tech 21 Trademark 60 out of the closet to use on a gig, because, like I always have, I enjoy the tones. If it sounds good, it IS good.
Jarick
Rock Star
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I did a quick A/B comparison between the Katana 50 and the Katana Artist.
On the cleans, they were both pretty good and not far off between them. The Katana 50 had a nice clear tone without harshness although it didn't have as much fullness in the lows. The Katana Artist had a similar tone but without quite as much of a mid push and a fuller low end. Basically it's smoother sounding. But both were quite nice.
On the lead channel, it was like two completely different amps. The Katana Artist still had a balanced tone where the Katana 50 was thin, buzzy, and harsh. Again I had swapped the Kat 50 speaker for the Celestion V-Type which was already smoother, but the tone was just awful. The Artist had the fuller low end and still had bite. I also didn't really touch the EQ on the Artist from the clean to lead, still with a bit of bass cut and treble boost. On the Kat 50 I had to turn the treble down and boost the bass.
I'm not sure if it's all cabinet/speaker or if there's some different magic in the amp models, but it's night and day.
On the cleans, they were both pretty good and not far off between them. The Katana 50 had a nice clear tone without harshness although it didn't have as much fullness in the lows. The Katana Artist had a similar tone but without quite as much of a mid push and a fuller low end. Basically it's smoother sounding. But both were quite nice.
On the lead channel, it was like two completely different amps. The Katana Artist still had a balanced tone where the Katana 50 was thin, buzzy, and harsh. Again I had swapped the Kat 50 speaker for the Celestion V-Type which was already smoother, but the tone was just awful. The Artist had the fuller low end and still had bite. I also didn't really touch the EQ on the Artist from the clean to lead, still with a bit of bass cut and treble boost. On the Kat 50 I had to turn the treble down and boost the bass.
I'm not sure if it's all cabinet/speaker or if there's some different magic in the amp models, but it's night and day.
JiveTurkey
Goatlord
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If you mount any of these amps on a pole; we are staging an intervention!
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Haha! I have a Buddy who does that. His high-frequency hearing loss has to be immense.
Mic stand mounted Galaxy Audio Hot Spot (for vocal monitoring) into one ear and on the other side his
pole-mounted Katana. WT actual F?
Great band, but he's got the old man shrill tone down in spades.
JiveTurkey
Goatlord
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- 21,512
Haha! I have a Buddy who does that. His high-frequency hearing loss has to be immense.
Mic stand mounted Galaxy Audio Hot Spot (for vocal monitoring) into one ear and on the other side his
pole-mounted Katana. WT actual F?
Great band, but he's got the old man shrill tone down in spades.
Jarick
Rock Star
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Returned the Katana 50 today, so that's done.
Comparing the Katana Artist with the Catalyst is a little closer. The Artist still has a lot more extended low end and is much warmer (darker?) overall. The Catalyst is noticeably brighter, not quite as shrill as the Kat 50, but not as full in the lows. Both amps can have some fizziness in the upper highs, not sure if that's a speaker or amp model thing though. For the Catalyst it comes off as a bit of an EQ annoyance while the Katana it sounds more like digital artifacts. I could be wrong though.
I'm sure I'll end up selling off the Catalyst at some point and sticking with the Katana Artist as my go-to physical amp or powered cab. I may try swapping in the Celestion V-Type though to see how that sounds.
Comparing the Katana Artist with the Catalyst is a little closer. The Artist still has a lot more extended low end and is much warmer (darker?) overall. The Catalyst is noticeably brighter, not quite as shrill as the Kat 50, but not as full in the lows. Both amps can have some fizziness in the upper highs, not sure if that's a speaker or amp model thing though. For the Catalyst it comes off as a bit of an EQ annoyance while the Katana it sounds more like digital artifacts. I could be wrong though.
I'm sure I'll end up selling off the Catalyst at some point and sticking with the Katana Artist as my go-to physical amp or powered cab. I may try swapping in the Celestion V-Type though to see how that sounds.
dronerstone
Shredder
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Re: Katana 50 "shrill"
I know you've returned it already, but did you ever try the global EQ? The stock setting sounds harsh, due to excessive treble.
Applying a high cut around 5 kHz works wonders, seriously.
I know you've returned it already, but did you ever try the global EQ? The stock setting sounds harsh, due to excessive treble.
Applying a high cut around 5 kHz works wonders, seriously.
Jarick
Rock Star
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Re: Katana 50 "shrill"
I know you've returned it already, but did you ever try the global EQ? The stock setting sounds harsh, due to excessive treble.
Applying a high cut around 5 kHz works wonders, seriously.
No, I didn't really mess around with that. For my use case, I'm using the amp both standalone and as a powered amp/cab for another modeler. So I wanted to the best tone without any EQ or anything under the hood. I'm just keeping the amp in my office, so size and weight aren't much of a concern. And since I was within return policy and I got the Artist used, it was only $200 to jump up to that model.
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My Katana 100w with just a few EQs active turns it into a very versatile powered guitar speaker (using the FX return). I need less of that EQ to dial back the shrill when I put the Creamback in but there's not a sound I can't get out of the box or with another box plugged into it.
If there were no EQ effects in the Katana 100w I would have sent it packing the day after I got it.
If there were no EQ effects in the Katana 100w I would have sent it packing the day after I got it.
Jarick
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You know what, I just was tinkering with the HX Stomp into the power amp in and I found that putting a high and low cut block after the amp set at 80 Hz / 8 kHz drastically helped smooth things out for a lot of different amp models.
There's some kind of harshness in there, not sure what the frequency is, but it's not just the Katana Artist. The Kat 50 had it to a much higher degree, even after a speaker swap. The Catalyst has it too. I'm not sure if it's all guitar speakers/cabs or just the ones I have, or if it has to do with modeling vs a tube amp (I don't have the latter to test against).
Anyways, the simple low/high cut seems to really simplify the EQ of the amps, and I'll likely try the same thing with the Axe FX at some point.
Stratzrus
Roadie
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That was my concern about the Katana and while reading your review I wondered if you'd come to the same conclusion.
The boxy nature of it was a deal breaker for me. The same with the Pro Jr. at volume.
Jarick
Rock Star
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Yes, and that seems like 100% the cabinet. The speaker change helped the high end, but the cabinet never was able to reproduce the low end.
Forever ago I was into car audio and spent a lot of time reading about subwoofer cabinet design. I believe that smaller cabinets push the peak frequency higher and likely with a sharper peak. If you put a speaker in a very small cabinet, it will have a big peak in the upper bass or lower mids, possibly making some low notes a lot louder than others.
With the bigger cab, it should push the peak frequency lower, into the deep bass, and if properly matched to the speaker, should make it much more balanced without a big peak note. That seems to be the case more with the Katana Artist.
dronerstone
Shredder
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I wonder if the shag carpeting of certain older cabs affected the sound in some way (Tube Works, Ampeg, among others).
Baba
Shredder
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Can't cheat physics, and there's no replacement for displacement, yadda yadda.
Stratzrus
Roadie
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- 921
Absolutely.
That's why I used three cabinets for my bedroom rig. The 1x12 is pointed right at my head when I'm playing in bed. The 2x12 is pointed at the bed rolling off some of the highs but providing a solid mid-range.
The tone with just the two is really nice and I wouldn't need anything else but at 3AM volumes the bottom end is significantly lacking. In order to get a full tone you need to turn the volume up.
But by adding the subwoofer you can fill out the bottom end even at really low volumes so you still get a satisfying tone a 3AM.
I've tried a bunch of bedroom rigs but at the time of this photo I was using a Mesa TC-50, Fender George Benson Hot Rod Deluxe Extension cab with a Celestion Century Vintage Neo, A Fryette Fatbottom 2x12 with Eminence P50Es, and a Rivera Sub 1 with 300 watts pushing a 12" speaker. I dial in the sub by turning it up until I can just hear it then dial it back just a tiny amount. Set like that I can use the amp's bass knob to make adjustments as needed.
It was a great rig, the best I've ever had in my bedroom, and I think having a speaker cab for each frequency range made a big difference. Very balanced and far from boxy.
Jarick
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I'm definitely finding that the high cut (and low cut) help with high gain tones. Running the Axe FX 3 into the power amp in, I honestly can't hear much difference on the cleans or low gain stuff, but with high gain it makes a big difference. Even just a simple 80 Hz / 8 kHz cut with 12 db/octave. So right now just going to leave that on all the time and dial around it.
Jarick
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Ordered the Boss GA-FC EX footswitch for the Katana Artist this morning, and should pick up later today.
Honestly, all these pedals I've got sitting around me right now are causing me some headaches and option anxiety, and I'm thinking about a big purge.
What I need to do is get to a point of really only having the plug and play amp, and then the modeler. Not much else, otherwise I start screwing around with the gear too much.
Honestly, all these pedals I've got sitting around me right now are causing me some headaches and option anxiety, and I'm thinking about a big purge.
What I need to do is get to a point of really only having the plug and play amp, and then the modeler. Not much else, otherwise I start screwing around with the gear too much.
