Boss Katana

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Howdy folks. I've been thinking of picking up a Boss Katana as a practice amp which, hopefully, will also help ease me into the guitar aspect of the home recording world.

I see spoderman has one of the heads, I'm looking at either the 50 or 100w combo version. YouTube reviews are positive and "sound" pretty damn good. Any of you lads used them? And what about the difference between 50 and 100w versions? Is the extra €70 for the latter a no-brainer?

Cheers.

[The Heretic]

I have the 50 combo and it's the business. My 100 watt Blackstar head is gathering dust. Haven't heard the 100 watt version but the 50 is plenty for me as its only home use. Got the Katana mini as well which I find just ok as long as you keep telling yourself that its just a practice amp...

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Cool man, cheers. One of the advantages with the 100w (and I guess the 50w has a similar feature) is that you can toggle the power output between .5, 50, and 100w, so although I'd never need 100w at home, who knows when it might come in handy in a live setting (even though the chances of me playing anything live in the near future are slim to none). Supposedly, the optional footswitch for the 100w offers more stomp options too (but again, here I'm still thinking as a live musician, which I'm simply not any more!)

[if6was9]

They're becoming incredibly common at gigs. Both the 50 and 100. Both work well but the footswitch paired with the 100 watter combo seems to be the business. Sounds great and is super versatile, especially if the player delves into the software that it's paired with and builds patches to pair with their footswitch. There's a slew of addition parameters to adjust if you go this route.

I do sound for a few players who've sold their much more expensive amps and a bunch of their pedals to go with this setup. It's light, small, powerful, flexible and sounds good. Doubles as a handy home setup and then it's cheap as fuck to boot.  If you're not arsed with pedals and tubes then it's the way to go

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

That confirms and goes beyond what I've heard so far. Just ordered the 100w there...will let ye know how I find it!

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Straight out of the box, sounds fucking sweet. I think definitely a good choice. Will be a couple of days before I try to fiddle about with the online platform and choose my own effects, but the standard settings and controls are top notch.

[Moandersin]

That's good to hear. I've looked at those before and wondered how decent they were. Combos are usually the best way to go, that I know, and have always had that rig setup myself.4

[Ollie]

Resurrecting this...
I'm looking at possibly getting a Boss Katana or a Blackstar. Would you still recommend them?
Does it makes sense to get the head only or get the combo?

[StoutAndAle]

Also interested in hearing reports on the Katana/alternatives and how they play with analogue pedals. My little Orange Crush RT20 is not cutting the mustard for me at all.
 

[ochoill]

I have never used one but by all accounts they are decent once you go for the larger ones (50W and 100W), combos anyway.  Seen them used live plenty (but not with metal bands), seen them in various pedal groups online recommended for live and home use.  Tempted to see if there's one in Steamboat here to try out just to sate my curiousity.

Definitely the workhorse amp in that price range anyway.  Would probably look for a 2nd hand Peavey Bandit 100w if I wasn't in a rush, having used them before - similar price range, hauled it out with an extension cab for live use with Third Island before but it was loaned to me so I had to hand it back eventually, unfortunately lol.  Always loved it.

[Ollie]

So I was talking to a fella in work and he said I could go one better and get this pedal which is actually a head also. Plugs straight into a cab if you wanted
https://www.gear4music.ie/Guitar-and-Bass/Blackstar-Amped-3-100W-3-Channel-Amp-Pedal/5JGW?utm_campaign=surfaces_across_google&srsltid=AfmBOopJZd6bGDOALDoKyxRJMPRk_0TI3_Uj6K4TDYz2hkWxu_kd50nRenA

[Ollie]

And it has plenty of modelling options and is suited to heavy metal

[ochoill]

So I was talking to a fella in work and he said I could go one better and get this pedal which is actually a head also. Plugs straight into a cab if you wanted
https://www.gear4music.ie/Guitar-and-Bass/Blackstar-Amped-3-100W-3-Channel-Amp-Pedal/5JGW?utm_campaign=surfaces_across_google&srsltid=AfmBOopJZd6bGDOALDoKyxRJMPRk_0TI3_Uj6K4TDYz2hkWxu_kd50nRenA

Seen a few yokes like that before but generally ones like the Victory Duchess or Quilter Superblock - didn't know Blackstar had one and that's not a bad price for it either.  Looks fairly deadly, must look up a few demos of it.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Sorry, just noticed this thread bump now. Yeah, I'm still happy out with my Katana 100w combo anyway, would recommend. If I had the cash and the space to go back to an Engl stack, I probably would, but failing that, def recommended.

[Eoin McLove]

You working on any music these days, Chris?