Boss Waza amp ... anyone played it ?

cujo

cujo

Active member
So again I see clips of the new waza 75 watt amp. There is something so appealing in the tone?!
Has anyone actually played it or own one ? Yes it's solid state but who really gives a fuck if it delivers. After playing the katana n hearing my guitarist use it live night after night, and a ton of compliments n ppl can't believe the boss katana sounds like that, I wonder what the waza can do ?

 
I heard a guy jamming through one at Guitar Center. Sounded good, but not $2000 good, or whatever they wanted for it.
 
I haven't seen any reports of the waza amp, I think its just priced too high. Would love to see an AB with a Katana amp.
 
maggotspawn":3ky4mu05 said:
I heard a guy jamming through one at Guitar Center. Sounded good, but not $2000 good, or whatever they wanted for it.
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The 150w head was 2500
This new 75w is 1500

I would think a bit high, but after jammin' my Katana I'm a believer. This thing would be great for a touring guitar player.

Just saw now there's no fx, that's surprising :confused: Easy to put in a delay & verb
 
My guitarist only uses katana when we tour. He said fuck dragging all that gear n heavy heads. That katana rips night after night. Clean dirty lead and fix. No one ever said to him well wtf alex it's not a 3000 dollar tube head !

Now learning through the years a lot of the bullshit is in our heads or other ppl posts.
 
I think the biggest issue with the Waza price- even at 1500- is the Boss head at 350....closer to 300 with coupons

Great product. I want to try the Waza
 
His demo was not very good sounding. Would like to try one out, just too much money. Directly comparing the Katana and the Waza would be interesting.
 
cujo":azeyqmty said:
My guitarist only uses katana when we tour. He said fuck dragging all that gear n heavy heads. That katana rips night after night. Clean dirty lead and fix. No one ever said to him well wtf alex it's not a 3000 dollar tube head !

Now learning through the years a lot of the bullshit is in our heads or other ppl posts.
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Lots of truth. I still think my favorite tube heads are worth it though.
But the crowd truly doesn't give 2 shits what we are playing through, as long as it sounds decent and the band is good and tight.
Love cranking a good tube amp though, if only for my own satisfaction.
 
I'd like to try a Waza amp. It has a similar architecture to the Blues Cubes, with a focus on classic rock sounds (IIRC Marshall Plexi?) instead of blues sounds. They are supposed to have tone capsules for Waza, haven't seen/heard those, and they cost more.

I'd expect the feel and sound to be much better than Katana, but Katana has more tonal options (even more with the "sneaker amps and effects").

Question is, it worth the extra cost? Guess the answer is no for most who have Katanas, and haven't upgraded to Waza...I haven't seen one in the wild
 
as good as it seems, and they worked hard to get the price down....it still may not fly. The price can get you a Helix or ax8 or close to a Kemper....or many tube amps.

Make no mistake, Katana is great but tube amps blow them out for tone.
 
Do these sell? Any music shop employees here?

I can't imagine any guitar player going into a shop and dropping $1.5K-$2.5K on a solid state Boss amp when there are JVMs, BE100s, EVHs, and Diezels in the same room. Even the Diamond amps are cheaper and GC carries them.

I'm sure they sound fine... but it's still so bizarre.

Can any of our more amp-tech savvy members tell us why the amp warrants the price? Are the caps made of diamonds? Is there gold dust in the filtering? Or did they spend so much on R&D and production costs that they have to charge a lot?

EDIT: Should also add, I played the 50 watt Katana at GC and it was very good. And I'm pretty sure it was around $200 out the door.
 
crankyrayhanky":bm04dxuc said:
Make no mistake, Katana is great but tube amps blow them out for tone.
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I don't know man. I'm the consummate tube amp snob and it's not like I'm sticking up for some high-dollar amp I blew a bunch of money on. I think the Katana is a killer amp, period. I would personally put it up there with some of the best sounding tube amps, and that's with the stock sounds.

A bunch of players in my area who used to gig with their expensive tube amps and/or modelers (including myself) have switched to the Katana and it isn't just for portability, ease of transport or to protect their expensive amps. Mine would have remained relegated to "emergency backup" status if couldn't hang. That's just my opinion/observation.

I'm with you on the Waza. I've been interested in it since it came out and would love to try one in person. While cost is certainly a factor, for a gigging guitarist, if the amp sounds great, does what the player needs, lasts for decades being transported and banged around (crap-shoot ATM), and never needs a tube change, definitely something I'd consider. I've conservatively spent over $2,000 since the late 90's just retubing my main gigging amp.
 
correction: I just saw the Steve Vai Legacy tone capsule for Waza Amps is available.


 
the Katana has the same DNA as the Wasa so you are basically getting the same amp for 1/3 of the price. I know a guy who works for Roland/Boss and he says the same thing....Katana all the way (he has stopped gigging his SLO in favour of the Kat
 
I did. They had one at Guitar Center for about $2400. Someone actually bought it. It blows the Katana away. There is something really cool about it, but it doesn't take more than 10-15 minutes to feel like you're playing through a solid state amp. Short of having the tube magic, it has everything else and then some. I did't mess around with anything except basic clean and dirty sounds. The cleans were less frustrating than the Katana, and the drive sounds were just better overall. It has a less hollow solid state feel than the Katana. It has kind of a tube emulation thing going on in the tone that I can't really describe with any articulation, but it's something that kind of gives it a little more organic quality than the Katana. It's very punchy and gets VERY loud. If I ever came across one for $400-500, I'd buy it.

The Katana is very impressive (for the price) for the first day or two, but it loses its appeal once you plug into a tube amp. That's my honest personal opinion about it even though I think it's a great amp because it offers a LOT for the money and has some outstanding effects options. Compared to the Katana, the WAZA brings a lot more to the table. Whether it brings $2000 more, I doubt, but it's substantially better in my opinion. I spent 20 minutes with the WAZA, but I spent a few weeks with the Katana, and I came to this conclusion based on that. I think the WAZA is pretty cool, but it sounds better in person than it sounds in most videos.
 
WAZA is just way too expensive.
BOSS needs to justify that pricetag. They need to explain WHY it is at that price-point.
SS circuitry is cheap these days. If the price is all in R&D costs, nothing you can do about that.
Companies have been trying for many years to engineer an SS circuit that perfectly replicates tubes.
I think they might be getting closer, but still not there yet.
As long as the cost is the same as a real tube amp, most purists will buy the real thing.
This is why KATANA is in a different class.
It gets CLOSE to a tube amp, ( from what everyone says about it ), yet it is only $350.
It's also packed with features and on-board effects.
It doesn't have to sound EXACTLY like a $4,000 boutique tube amp. Because... it's only $350!

Has anyone ever disassembled their KATANA and actually looked at the circuits?
Someone on the TGP forum did. Not much in there!

The KATANA is so successful, I fully expect a "KATANA Mark II" to show-up in the near future.
I think the reason it is so successful is... the PRICE. Bottom line: people want "value".
 
people want value from solid state / digital, which is why few pay for quality solid state. Other than the possible less maintenance not having to replace tubes, chasing tube tone with solid state digital seems to be a fool's errand in the high end market IMO, which relegates solid state / digital to "copying".

When faced with the choice of a high end tube amp vs solid state amp around the same price, nearly 10 out of 10 guitarists (maybe not jazz players) will go with the tube option.

too bad Boss didn't make something solid state / digital with the Waza that was it's own thing not a wanna be tube amp...then again, 11 out of 10 guitarists want the same old sounds / amps as always...looking back in time not forward. :yes:

IMO
 
Katana just isn't price ... that lil fucker rips , its loud as hell, tight not fizzy, the editor really let's you set it up very well, deeper editing makes the amp shine even more. Night after night on stage it delivers, quick set up w their little pedal board, a lot of metal players ( not all) use very little patches, making this excellent for that aspect. Also beats dragging an 80 lb head n 2ton rack around. But play it through a great 4x12 w v30s it just rips.
 
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