Whats the verdict on the Boss Katana Mk 2 ?

maw4neu · January 2023

Stands back and awaits a torrent of abuse . . . .

ICBM · January 2023

A friend of mine has one. It sounds much less horrendous than the Mk 1.

Yes, I did say that

.

Keefy · January 2023

After months of unsatisfactory direct-to-PA arrangements (Sansamp pedal, line out from a Blackstar Fly - yes really), the singer / rhythm guitarist in a band I dep with has got one of these. Sounds ok so far.

midiman1962 · January 2023

Don’t know what the issue is? Just gigged with mine tonight. Does everything I need without any pedals. Only addition I’ve made is a 4 patch footswitch from eBay

Svennn · January 2023

I'm only using mine at home but I have been heard to say and I will stand by it "one of the best purchases I have ever made". I love it, very versatile and does give that proper driven feel at low volumes. I got it half price second hand but still sealed in box but I would be just as happy having paid full. Am preferring it to the mounds of other kit in the studio at present. Won't part with the Mesa/5150/Suhr or the Helix/Kemper etc. but for me it fills a gap brilliantly.

noisepolluter · January 2023

I bought one a few years back and quickly sent it back - I think it’s the only time I’ve done that with a piece of gear that’s not faulty, simply that I didn’t like it. I was up front about that with the retailer and was happy to pay the restocking fee.

I can’t really remember what it sounded like now. My amp taste has since shifted to Marshalls so maybe I’d like the Katana crunch sounds more if I tried one again.

darthed1981 · January 2023

midiman1962 said:

Don’t know what the issue is? Just gigged with mine tonight. Does everything I need without any pedals. Only addition I’ve made is a 4 patch footswitch from eBay

Well if you are going to bring common sense into it...

You can buy an amplifier for just over £200, far less used, that can do everything from home practice to gigs in one small LIGHT box. I was amazed the thing existed when I bought my Katana 50 Mk1 many years ago now - staggering amount of options for the money, but also great if you never plug it into a PC, Not pretending to be a fender or marshall but trying to do it's own sound?

If you have the budget and the space and the ability to make noise you need to get the best out of valve amps at home, plus a snobbish preference towards them (as someone pointed out the other day, Lee Anderton's reviews of digital gear are always cursory as he doesn't really like it much, hence hiring someone to do them) then you are going to buy valve amps.

If you are a lad with a guitar who wants to practice at home, shove his amp in the back of a Citreon C1 to go to his mates garage and play a few pub gigs... nothing but nothing beats a katana.

They also take pedals pretty well, so you can make a 50 more flexible with a small pedalboard if you want to.

If you already have valve amps you like then great, why would you buy one, but as a decent use of £200 for a new player, or someone who simply knows damn well that they want an easy life, they are hard to beat, IMHO.

I often consider getting a 100w Mk2 with a GA-FC, but ive not found myself where the 50 can't do it yet.

ICBM · January 2023

noisepolluter said:

I bought one a few years back and quickly sent it back - I think it’s the only time I’ve done that with a piece of gear that’s not faulty, simply that I didn’t like it. I was up front about that with the retailer and was happy to pay the restocking fee.

I can’t really remember what it sounded like now. My amp taste has since shifted to Marshalls so maybe I’d like the Katana crunch sounds more if I tried one again.

If it was a Mk1 I know what you mean. I tried one and absolutely hated it - it wasn’t the voicing as such, it’s that there was something hideously nasty and fatiguing about the sound, across all the settings and which couldn’t be fixed by any amount of tweaking. Genuinely one of the most horrible amps I’ve played through.

So I was quite surprised to find that my friend’s Mk2 is actually quite tolerable. I wouldn’t buy one, it still sounds rather flat and uninspiring, but I don’t mind playing through it if I’m there.

darthed1981 · January 2023

ICBM said:

noisepolluter said:

I bought one a few years back and quickly sent it back - I think it’s the only time I’ve done that with a piece of gear that’s not faulty, simply that I didn’t like it. I was up front about that with the retailer and was happy to pay the restocking fee.

I can’t really remember what it sounded like now. My amp taste has since shifted to Marshalls so maybe I’d like the Katana crunch sounds more if I tried one again.

If it was a Mk1 I know what you mean. I tried one and absolutely hated it - it wasn’t the voicing as such, it’s that there was something hideously nasty and fatiguing about the sound, across all the settings and which couldn’t be fixed by any amount of tweaking. Genuinely one of the most horrible amps I’ve played through.

So I was quite surprised to find that my friend’s Mk2 is actually quite tolerable. I wouldn’t buy one, it still sounds rather flat and uninspiring, but I don’t mind playing through it if I’m there.

They barely changed the things... same fundamental amp, same speaker etc. etc....

They just added a couple of extra knobs to do what software can anyway, and a few software tweaks.

It's like calling your new Ford Focus "fundamentally nasty" because you forgot to spec heated seats!

maw4neu · January 2023

midiman1962 said:

Don’t know what the issue is? Just gigged with mine tonight. Does everything I need without any pedals. Only addition I’ve made is a 4 patch footswitch from eBay

Hello @midiman1962 ; . . . . . Any details on the 4 patch footswitch would be hugely appreciated :-)

ICBM · January 2023

darthed1981 said:

They barely changed the things... same fundamental amp, same speaker etc. etc....

It doesn’t sound the same though, the new one doesn’t have the same needle-in-the-ear fatiguing harshness.

Allegedly the Mk1 could be made to sound less horrible if you edited via a PC, but I never tried that.

maw4neu · January 2023

I've literally just picked up my new / second hand Boss Katana 50 Mk 2 at a cost of £150 . . . Its immaculate . . I tried it at the sellers house and it sounded OK . . just about to set off for Band Practice so lets see what all the fuss is about . . All I'm taking is the Amp, a Lead and my Guitar . . No pedals :-)

darthed1981 · January 2023

ICBM said:

darthed1981 said:

They barely changed the things... same fundamental amp, same speaker etc. etc....

It doesn’t sound the same though, the new one doesn’t have the same needle-in-the-ear fatiguing harshness.

Allegedly the Mk1 could be made to sound less horrible if you edited via a PC, but I never tried that.

I'm not saying they don't sound a bit different, I'm saying the fundamental bits that affect 99% of the "tone" most especially the speaker - and we both know cheap speakers are the number one cause of disappointing sound in combos - are the same.

The amp can't be fundamentally terrible if a small change in software dials out whatever the issue was which is what a lot of people have put across.

I'm only being a bit of a git about it based on my post above - these things are aimed at people wanting an amp that does amp stuff, a lot of amp stuff, pretty well, for not much money - not someone like yourself who has access professionally to a vast range of amps across the spectrum, or indeed many other TFB'rs.

There has been a bit of a charge on TFB against Katanas which may well have led to some poor purchases among beginners who would have been better off with a Katana and I personally found this forum while googling for info about Katanas, so what we say does get "out there".

We are sort of a bit responsible for being balanced, I'm not accusing you personally of not being so BTW, that's a general statement.

LuttiS · January 2023

Tonesnob boutique amp only guitarist in my band has an MKii for gigging & studio use.

nuff sed.

monquixote · January 2023

ICBM said:

darthed1981 said:

They barely changed the things... same fundamental amp, same speaker etc. etc....

It doesn’t sound the same though, the new one doesn’t have the same needle-in-the-ear fatiguing harshness.

Allegedly the Mk1 could be made to sound less horrible if you edited via a PC, but I never tried that.

It might be he had set up the EQ properly.

On the MKI I had it had a slightly grating frequency I dialed out and then it was quite reasonable.

Was best clean with pedals and my DSL sounds loads better but then of course it does.

GoFish · January 2023

@maw4neu ; - Sorry for the thread hijack, but this reminds me to ask your opinions on the Ampeg j20 that I bitterly regret not being able to take off your hands - particularly it's suitability at low volumes.

You do like tweed champ and early fender sounds, so I'd beinterested in your thoughts on the Katana 2, too.

maw4neu · January 2023

GoFish said:

You do like tweed champ and early fender sounds, so I'd beinterested in your thoughts on the Katana 2, too.

I absolutely love my Champ Clones, especially the Tube Amp Doctor Champ . . its just amazing for such a simple Amp on so many levels . . and its a 5w 1 x 8 . . crazy ! ! . . Honestly I'd put it against any Fender Champ Reissue . .

That aside the Katana was excellent at Practice today, annoyingly good . . Within 5 minutes I had a great clean / crunch tone and I stuck with that for 2 hours . . . The clean + a little gain + a little reverb really worked for me . . the only downside was the lack of a Tuner . . so I had to tune at the same time as the other Guitarist which was OK I suppose . . Tone and Soundwise though, the Katana was bloody great . . Decent volume and Clarity . . . for £150 . . . great value for money . . . No complaints

Yorkie · January 2023

To me, the fundamental difference between the MKI and the MKII models is the “variation” switch. It gives you access to warmer and more responsive versions of the standard amp voices. I had that on all the time (had the amp for two years). I found the standard (MKI) voices to be lacking, possibly worse than COSM (?).

In the end, I sold the amp for the very reason I had bought it: the use of software to customise the sound. I use a computer for work every day, and was finding it hard to disconnect and simply enjoy playing and practising. I use an all-analogue setup now, and I love the simplicity of it. I don’t mind using the Marshall CODE we’ve got downstairs because I can tweak settings on the phone. The Katana had four presets but only two were easily accessible. So for me it was laptop, laptop, laptop then maybe play for five minutes, and it was killing my joy.

Jon

midiman1962 · January 2023

darthed1981 said:

midiman1962 said:

Don’t know what the issue is? Just gigged with mine tonight. Does everything I need without any pedals. Only addition I’ve made is a 4 patch footswitch from eBay

Well if you are going to bring common sense into it...

You can buy an amplifier for just over £200, far less used, that can do everything from home practice to gigs in one small LIGHT box. I was amazed the thing existed when I bought my Katana 50 Mk1 many years ago now - staggering amount of options for the money, but also great if you never plug it into a PC, Not pretending to be a fender or marshall but trying to do it's own sound?

If you have the budget and the space and the ability to make noise you need to get the best out of valve amps at home, plus a snobbish preference towards them (as someone pointed out the other day, Lee Anderton's reviews of digital gear are always cursory as he doesn't really like it much, hence hiring someone to do them) then you are going to buy valve amps.

If you are a lad with a guitar who wants to practice at home, shove his amp in the back of a Citreon C1 to go to his mates garage and play a few pub gigs... nothing but nothing beats a katana.

They also take pedals pretty well, so you can make a 50 more flexible with a small pedalboard if you want to.

If you already have valve amps you like then great, why would you buy one, but as a decent use of £200 for a new player, or someone who simply knows damn well that they want an easy life, they are hard to beat, IMHO.

I often consider getting a 100w Mk2 with a GA-FC, but ive not found myself where the 50 can't do it yet.

Just for clarification,It’s not a Citroen c1 , it’s a beige Skoda fabia estate automatic though personally I call the colour “cappuccino “

midiman1962 · January 2023

maw4neu said:

midiman1962 said:

Don’t know what the issue is? Just gigged with mine tonight. Does everything I need without any pedals. Only addition I’ve made is a 4 patch footswitch from eBay

Hello @midiman1962 ; . . . . . Any details on the 4 patch footswitch would be hugely appreciated :-)

Email sent

Rocker · January 2023

I played a few Epi SGs through a Katana earlier this week and TBH, it didn’t sound too bad. Initially it sounded awful but when I eased down the gain for a cleaner sound, it was good enough. Good enough to highlight the difference between a standard SG and a custom SG. My friend was out to buy a guitar and I was brought along for a second opinion.

The volume we played was low, no idea how the Katana might sound in a band situation.

Onpar · January 2023

I'm actually considering a mkii myself. Had many boutique amps and nothing can beat them but these do look fun and I recently saw a great covers band with an exceptional guitarist who was using a Katana with a few pedals. His tone was fantastic but I think the room also had something to do with it (and obviously his fingers).

Previously had the mki 50 as shown here. Comments seemed to focus on the pickups rather than the katana though!

If I buy one I will probably regret it but I'm a gigging guitarist and the audience don't care about guitar tone (apart from guitarists). I care about guitar tone but the room acoustics make a huge difference when playing live + your tone sounds totally different in a band mix + if running through the PA the audience hears the PA speakers and not the amp + as soon as I put my ear protectors in I lose so many frequencies and everything is muffled anyway

What's better...... Katana combo or head through a decent cab?

YellowLedBetterMan · January 2023

I think they're not bad. Not particularly great, but not as bad as Mk I.

For the purpose of making a guitar loud enough to be heard in a band, they're more than good enough - although I suspect that a 100w would be better than the 50 for this application.

CaseOfAce · January 2023

Recently there was a thread on another guitar forum about how guitar players in Nashville bar bands were gigging 50 watt mkIIs with upgraded speakers.Lightweight, cheap as chips, durable(?) - ok...I need a backup -
so intrigued I tried one at a local store and yikes - dreadful.

the 50 watts go for just over 200 quid... but to have the footswitch (add 90 quid) compatible to change amp models and effects - you need the 100 watt - which is £350 - but then if you spring for that you may as well go for better sound - which is the Artist - which is 600 notes... At which point you take a bite out of a reality sandwich and get a decent channel switching tube amp.

To gig the katana mkII 50 watt - I'd select the "crunch" channel and ride the volume knob on the guitar... and grit my teeth and try and make the best of it.

Boss aren't stupid - they don't want people buying the 50 watts to gig... that would cannabilse sales of the £££ models...

So it's a no from me.

Caveat - obviously there are Jedi masters out there who can edit software and plug into an empty can of baked beans and make it sound like a Dumble (though not in the numbers some on here would suggest) but I'm not of that calibre...

ICBM · January 2023

CaseOfAce said:

Caveat - obviously there are Jedi masters out there who can edit software and plug into an empty can of baked beans and make it sound like a Dumble (though not in the numbers some on here would suggest) but I'm not of that calibre...

I'm not a Jedi master, but I can normally get a usable sound out of anything, even terrible old solid-state amps, but I really couldn't with the original Katana no matter how I tried - not with the onboard controls. It wasn't the settings that were the problem, it was an overall horrible grating hardness - not 'harsh' EQ or anything - that was even present on the clean sounds. Difficult to describe, but very fatiguing - it literally made my ears itch and had a slight after-effect of being able to 'hear' it after I'd stopped playing. Not as bad as the Orange Micro Terror which has the same problem, but quite uncomfortable. I spent about half an hour with it - which is about ten times as long as it would take to get a workable sound out of any old analogue solid-state piece of junk - and in the end just turning it off was a huge relief.

flying_pie · January 2023

ICBM said:

CaseOfAce said:

Caveat - obviously there are Jedi masters out there who can edit software and plug into an empty can of baked beans and make it sound like a Dumble (though not in the numbers some on here would suggest) but I'm not of that calibre...

I'm not a Jedi master, but I can normally get a usable sound out of anything, even terrible old solid-state amps, but I really couldn't with the original Katana no matter how I tried - not with the onboard controls. It wasn't the settings that were the problem, it was an overall horrible grating hardness - not 'harsh' EQ or anything - that was even present on the clean sounds. Difficult to describe, but very fatiguing - it literally made my ears itch and had a slight after-effect of being able to 'hear' it after I'd stopped playing. Not as bad as the Orange Micro Terror which has the same problem, but quite uncomfortable. I spent about half an hour with it - which is about ten times as long as it would take to get a workable sound out of any old analogue solid-state piece of junk - and in the end just turning it off was a huge relief.

I tried the mk1 head and 100w combo on a number of occasions as they were the house amps at Pirate studios in the hope I could carry less gear to rehearsals. No success with the Katana. I hated it and was really disappointed.

I'm sure there are people who it suits but I'm not one of them. I could get a more useable tone from the god awful Marshall MG heads

maw4neu · January 2023

As the recent owner of a Katana 50 Mk 2, and the originator of this amusing thread, I can only say that at Band Practice in the Rehearsal Room it sounded great . . . I play rhythm and I found the Clean and Crunch settings really useable and for once in a long time, I could hear myself clearly . . The Clean with Reverb tone reminded me of a Princeton I tried out ages ago . . It really cut through without being overly bright . . I'm not the best player in the world so I like simple things and I found it genuinely easy to dial in a great tone within 5 minutes . . . I have tried it at home, only today, with my Acoustic Guitar and it it did a half decent job of that too . . . I reset the Amp to Factory defauts and tried it with my Telecaster but, in the house, I genuinely prefer the warmth of my TAD Champ Clone . . Truth be told, if anything, the Katana is making me wish I had a nice little Fender Princeton :-)

Deadman · January 2023

Arghh! Every time I’m thinking of buying the 50 watt mk2 something stops me. Nah, I really appreciate it. I need to upgrade from my massive Fly 3 twin. I’m now thinking I need to get a Princeton TM or a decent tube amp and an attenuator. Seriously, why is it so hard to try and select the perfect home amp?

I don’t need high gain stuff for my Jam stuff. I’m lost.

noisepolluter · January 2023

Deadman said:

Arghh! Every time I’m thinking of buying the 50 watt mk2 something stops me. Nah, I really appreciate it. I need to upgrade from my massive Fly 3 twin. I’m now thinking I need to get a Princeton TM or a decent tube amp and an attenuator. Seriously, why is it so hard to try and select the perfect home amp?

I don’t need high gain stuff for my Jam stuff. I’m lost.

Do you really need the sound of a pushed valve power section at home? Or would a moderate wattage valve amp with a really good clean channel and a judicious sprinkling of pedals do?

Or for that matter, a valve amp with preamp drive and a really good master volume - I’m currently playing a 2x12 50w Marshall JVM in the tiny spare room at perfectly civilised volumes, really pleased with the crunch sounds. Should add that I was gearing up to buy a DSL40CR but the JVM came up at a price I really couldn’t ignore.

Deadman · February 2023

noisepolluter said:

Deadman said:

Arghh! Every time I’m thinking of buying the 50 watt mk2 something stops me. Nah, I really appreciate it. I need to upgrade from my massive Fly 3 twin. I’m now thinking I need to get a Princeton TM or a decent tube amp and an attenuator. Seriously, why is it so hard to try and select the perfect home amp?

I don’t need high gain stuff for my Jam stuff. I’m lost.

Do you really need the sound of a pushed valve power section at home? Or would a moderate wattage valve amp with a really good clean channel and a judicious sprinkling of pedals do?

Or for that matter, a valve amp with preamp drive and a really good master volume - I’m currently playing a 2x12 50w Marshall JVM in the tiny spare room at perfectly civilised volumes, really pleased with the crunch sounds. Should add that I was gearing up to buy a DSL40CR but the JVM came up at a price I really couldn’t ignore.

Conscious that I don't want to hijack the thread and turn this into yet another bedroom amp discussion, but your thoughts are the type of things that go through my head daily. I hear great things about the DSL40 and it's been on my list for a good while. I'm not afraid to run a big amp at home and am in that camp of thought. The best sound I ever made at home was with a Fender Twin, although I obviously struggled somewhat with overdriven sounds/window shattering/earth movement.

Never looked at the JVM but will now. And you're so right about a 'really' good master volume. BUT. Do I need a valve amp? Oh God, it's happening again

noisepolluter · February 2023

Deadman said:
Conscious that I don't want to hijack the thread and turn this into yet another bedroom amp discussion, but your thoughts are the type of things that go through my head daily. I hear great things about the DSL40 and it's been on my list for a good while. I'm not afraid to run a big amp at home and am in that camp of thought. The best sound I ever made at home was with a Fender Twin, although I obviously struggled somewhat with overdriven sounds/window shattering/earth movement.

Never looked at the JVM but will now. And you're so right about a 'really' good master volume. BUT. Do I need a valve amp? Oh God, it's happening again

Taking the thread hijack into a nerve shredding second day…

It does occasionally feel faintly absurd playing the JVM at home, especially as I’m not using for anything which the DSL40 wouldn’t do equally well. I only use the ‘middle’ four gain modes, roughly corresponding to those on the DSL.

However, my other half also plays and is firmly supportive of it being there. It’s not substantially bigger than the DSL (about 2 inches wider), though admittedly the extra speaker does make it punchier and therefore I have to be very precise with balancing the master volumes.

On the non-rational side, I’ve never owned a big/biggish Marshall before and it seemed churlish to pass up the opportunity to have this experience given the low price and local seller.

Maybe eventually the sensible side of me will win out and I’ll feel compelled to downsize slightly. In the meantime I’ve just put some fresh EL34’s and a pair of Creambacks in there so may as well get my money’s worth out of them, and see how I get on over the course of the year.

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Whats the verdict on the Boss Katana Mk 2 ?

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