Boss Katana vs tube amps?

ledvedder

ledvedder

Well-known member
I honestly really like my Katana, but there's just something about my tube amps that can't be beat. I'm curious to hear everyone's thoughts on this age old argument.
 
Hey
I have the first series katana 100 head. It’s amazing for what it can do and sounds great but for me it doesn’t compare to my tube heads. I also have an HK black spirit 200 head and I prefer that over the katana
 
I dig my Katana ok. For what I paid and what I’m using it for, it suits me just fine. I’m only using mine for practice and as a quick and dirty back up, if needed. There is an inherent “harshness” to it that difficult to dial out (watch the treble/presence settings) which can be exaggerated depending on speakers used. I can see why some folks don’t like them. Here’s a crappy iPhone clip of mine. And no, it doesn’t touch my tube amps. There’s a “squishiness” that tubes amps have in the feel that SS just cannot duplicate, imho.

 
Mr. Willy said:
I dig my Katana ok. For what I paid and what I’m using it for, it suits me just fine. I’m only using mine for practice and as a quick and dirty back up, if needed. There is an inherent “harshness” to it that difficult to dial out (watch the treble/presence settings) which can be exaggerated depending on speakers used. I can see why some folks don’t like them. Here’s a crappy iPhone clip of mine. And no, it doesn’t touch my tube amps. There’s a “squishiness” that tubes amps have in the feel that SS just cannot duplicate, imho.

Click to expand...

Yup I agree… there’s something in the high end that I can’t stand. I was able to tame it a lot more when I plugged it into my laptop so I could access all the advanced settings. Seemed like the best think for me was running a global EQ. Think I did both a low pass and high pass filter and it was somewhat better for me.
 
My friend brings his Katana over from time to time. Guy tries to convince me I need one.
It just doesn't feel right under the fingers. I do alot of hammer-ons and bends and it doesn't translate what I'm doing in a way that feels good to play. If I start missing certain things, it isn't me, it's the amp.
I'm not against SS amps. I used a GK head w/ a Marshall 4x12 and pedals in the early 80's and guys thought I was using a Marshall.
 
Mr. Willy said:
I dig my Katana ok. For what I paid and what I’m using it for, it suits me just fine. I’m only using mine for practice and as a quick and dirty back up, if needed. There is an inherent “harshness” to it that difficult to dial out (watch the treble/presence settings) which can be exaggerated depending on speakers used. I can see why some folks don’t like them. Here’s a crappy iPhone clip of mine. And no, it doesn’t touch my tube amps. There’s a “squishiness” that tubes amps have in the feel that SS just cannot duplicate, imho.

Click to expand...

Sounds great! But oh man that soldano sitting next to it 🤤 nice!!
Yeah the SS stuff doesn’t have that squishiness under the fingers kinda feel. Although I think the black spirit has that squishy feeling or maybe it’s that Sag knob that’s tricking me idk.
 
The Katana sounds fine just riffing out and for practice. Trying to use it with a band is where things fall apart.
 
Yeahthat said:
Sounds great! But oh man that soldano sitting next to it 🤤 nice!!
Yeah the SS stuff doesn’t have that squishiness under the fingers kinda feel. Although I think the black spirit has that squishy feeling or maybe it’s that Sag knob that’s tricking me idk.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the Soldano is awesome. Here’s what it sounds like:
 
Mr. Willy said:
Yeah, the Soldano is awesome. Here’s what it sounds like:
Click to expand...

Man that sounds sick! Oh wet / dry setup too nice

Ya know I gotta say my boss katana head is actually really great for a pedal platform. Using the clean channel and getting all the gain with distortion pedals. Also sounds really good when using my ADA mp1 preamp in the loop and then I use the on board katana fx with it.
 
Let's take this argument to its logical conclusion. Why even buy a physical solid state amp when a plug-in will do for recording such bland vanilla tones that sound like they'll end up as background music for a chewing gum commercial?
 
thegame said:
Let's take this argument to its logical conclusion. Why even buy a physical solid state amp when a plug-in will do for recording such bland vanilla tones that sound like they'll end up as background music for a chewing gum commercial?
Click to expand...
What about truck commercials ?

Those have to be the worst guitar tones evar.
 
I had a Katana for a while but on first impression, I immediately knew it would never replace a tube amp. As fun as it was to play and jam on, it had that typical solid-state edge that irritate my ears after a couple of months. It was pretty good on high gain, but the clean and crunch tones were a bit anemic and didn't have a pleasing touch response to my fingers. There were only 2 effects that sounded halfway decent but the rest didn't even sound nearly as good as BOSS analog or digital stompboxes. The Katana just wasn't for me; however, I've heard some people sound way better than I ever could playing one.
 
I have been playing guitar since the 80s and have owned and gigged with tubes, solid state, digital, etc. I'm also a huge fan of the BOSS Katana and owned one until several weeks ago.

To me, all have their place. When I gigged back in the day with a Tube Works solid state power amp, Tech-21 PSA-1 and Marshall 4x12, it was some of the most killer tube sounds I ever had. The Katana is awesome but not to that level.

Tube amps are revered for a reason. Once tubes warm up, a combination of sustain, warmth, crunch, etc all come together and just has a "chug' "singing", etc, etc. It is easy to get close to that sound but needs many different aspects. That is just my opinion.

Tube amps can be a pain in the ass. For a gig, as an example, you have to predict failure, just in case it happens. Gotta have spare tubes or a spare amp, fuse, and they are heavier obviously. I'm just making sure I have a backup because I love my 5150-III tones that much. I'll probably get a Tech-21 product as a backup when I'm gigging but hopefully won't need it.

My Axefx had phenomenal tones into a computer and people are getting some great live tones with LINE 6, Fractal, etc. I like using my pedals and a 5150-III head right now. Maybe one day I'll go lighter.

As others mentioned, there was a harshness with the Katana that I knew would drive me batty eventually. I love the tones but they should tweak the EQ more.
 
I have a katana 100 head.
It does not compare to my tube amps.
However for the 375.00 I think it cost new when they came out it is hard to beat.
It is very loud and does fine in a band setting.
Plus it has a small speaker and can be used as a tiny practice amp.
It does quite a bit .
I really like the cleans on it.
 
The Katana is fun at low volumes but gets weird sounding when you try to jam with a band. The high end just isn't right and irritates me. I'm not anti-solid state by any means, these days more often than not I'm using a BluGuitar and extremely happy with them. That's most laziness because I can toss the lil bitch in a backpack. I gig with the tubes though and take it for backup since it nicely tucks away in my double guitar case.
 
i wish the katana existed when i was more budget oriented.
That said, i usually chime in to poop on them bc i think the distortion is TERRIBLE on them. But as a pedal platform its pretty darn good!!
 
The statement about the eq I agree with.
The Katana feeds back way too much at loud volumes.
But I have played and even recorded live at band levels.
Really it is just a cheap amp I use for practice.
 
It’s mostly about feel - how a tube amp responds to the notes. Something an emulator doesn’t have.
 
I think the Katana is great, and has great feel and dynamics for what it is. You can get all kinds of sounds if you tweak the internal EQs. That being said, it wont beat your favorite tube amp. It don't have that extra 3D-ness to it that they have.
 
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