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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2019 22:24:00 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2019 22:35:46 GMT
@defjef mate I know yours was the only Katana I actually tried and wasn't impressed by its sound/tone but Im hoping this might be the case of pickups rather than the amp itself as in some demos this amp really shines. Im saying this from my experience with my old Peavey Bandit and the rather lousy tone I've got from it using my no name alnico pups but when the guy I sold it to played his Jackson guitar with Seymour Duncan this Peavey Bandit suddenly sounded so bloody sweet. Yes the guy bought the amp and I've got an insight into "how pups can make something bad sound rather awesome". I hope my Ironstone and DiMarzio can make this amp sound good or at least good enough. I will know only if I try it.
I wondered if you ever tried to play a known pickup brand into this Katana of yours and if so have you noticed any difference in comparisson to your guitars?
I have no near by shops to try it out and the one closest is 50km away. The 2nd hand market has none of these at the moment and even when offered they are still close to the original price at Thomann.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2019 23:15:22 GMT
My mate was playing my favourite tele into it this evening and really liking the sound with clean gentle phasing whilst I played my Champ. The two together sounded really pleasing to me. Then again there were also drums and a keyboard playing!
Oh and I was playing my strat with the Ironstone neck pickup into it earlier and it sounded pretty much the same as my Yamaha Pacifica's.
I'm starting to like a lot more of the more extreme overdrives too, especially the Crunch and Brown tone. They seem to sound so much better than the Boss ME 70's drives. Still haven't found a good lead overdrive on that thing.
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Post by salteedog on Jan 4, 2019 11:49:42 GMT
Honestly there are so many EQ options on it that (barring option paralysis) it should be possible to get a favorable tone from it even if you don't like the default out of box set-up.
The sales figures and good press don't lie - its a very well priced, very functional amp that can sound very good. It's small and light enough not to be a major pain to move around while big enough to have some (not all) of that 12inch speaker projection. Bit of a Swiss army knife really. Hardcore modelling types would prefer to see more options on the panel and hardcore valve amp purists would prefer fewer bells and whistles, but it has fans across a wide swathe of the guitar playing community from the gain-rockers to the country pickers, including folks who use it primarily as a pedal platform.
Personally I think its default clean tone is a bit 'vanilla' but sometimes vanilla is exactly what you need in a clean tone.
But....if it doesn't inspire you, or if it's likely to annoy you too much then think carefully before you buy one.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2019 12:16:41 GMT
I agree totally with saltee. Not knowing what settings I've allocated to the effects knobs annoys me, and the fact that their functions are split is a bit of a tit too but, at home in a composing frame of mind, there is a heck of a lot that it will do if you can be bothered with connecting up your 'puter to it. Last night was a case in point when that was just not practical. I tend not to have chorus as an option on it but my mate fancied some. I didn't have a computer with me so no access to the Tone Studio thingy and I could see him looking a bit baffled as to why I'd need one. I selected a phasing or flanging setting instead (see, I can't even remember what I had allocated to it and there's no way of knowing without plugging it in to the Tone Studio) and he really loved the sound. So, sometimes, lack of options can be creative. We'd have probably spent an age finding the right chorus.
The new software release will probably improve some of these matters but you'll still not know what effects you've allocated to what knob.
I also agree that the clean is just very clean with no noticeable character of its own, so creating character is the owner's job and that can be seen as a curse or a blessing. And playing with the balance between volume and master volume is an interesting journey too.
The doughnut baffle mod was the cheapest, simplest and best thing I ever did to anything and was the one change that brought me happily back to the Katana after pretty much loathing it, along with taking off the nasty plastic badges - they unreasonably bugged the hell out of me. I'd rather look at the holes they left behind!
If you're a 'plug my pedals in and play' kind of guy then your only job will to be to find some good basic tonal characteristics for the amp models and get all of your other fun (and expense) out of your chain of metal boxes. And I can see some advantage in doing that. I don't though. I just use the Katana's armoury of sounds for simple portability and floor tidiness.
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Post by salteedog on Jan 4, 2019 13:02:30 GMT
I'm on the Katana Facebook group (yeah I know...I hate Facebook too) where there are 7500 members. Very few of them have reported problems and those that have, I would say 95% of them are about connecting the amp to their computer or downloading the software etc.. I would see that as an indicator of overall product quality and reliability.
The only other issue I recall reading about on that group more than a few times is folks complaining that there's a weird 'chirp' from the spring reverb. Which I find amusing since real physical spring reverbs are prone to chirping too. (Anyway that can be solved by reducing the spring sensitivity in the settings).
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2019 13:15:04 GMT
And not one complaint about the badges? Staggering.  Anyone made a doughnut baffle? I will go in search of the 'chirp' and see if it helps me match the spring reverb on my Champ. Then I'll write a tune using it. I'll call it Cheepy Cheepy Chirp Chirp. Ooh...or write a song about Twitter. I am so used to Roland/Boss stuff being utterly reliable that the thought hadn't entered my mind that the Katana might die. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2019 13:33:03 GMT
Just did a comparison. It's most noticeable at maximum clockwise for my chosen spring reverb setting. Lazily I have no idea what that setting is or if I can get rid of it because that would entail me plugging in my computer....
But it is still there at noon too, especially with very hard picking attack; a sort of trebbly, chirpy, squelch like somebody's walked onto the squash court with new trainers on. It seems separate to the overall reverb.
I tried it on my Champ's spring reverb and couldn't replicate it no matter how hard and unmusically I twanged a string with a finger or a plectrum.
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Post by salteedog on Jan 4, 2019 13:33:12 GMT
I think a few folks have removed/changed/personalised the badges alright. I don't recall any bafflement posts though but it could have slipped by me un-noticed as I'm not religious about Facebook. Been on that group recently though assessing how the s/w upgrade is goinf down. (Boss had to issue a patch as there was a small bug in the V3.0 software in relation to the expression pedal settings).
Speaking of which that is a new feature in V3.0 that sounds like it could be very useful indeed - linking the expression pedal to any of the effect 'virtual' knobs. Even on the panel I found it very handy to be able to assign the knob for the T-Wah to 'frequency' instead of 'Mix level'.
...must be me a (cheap) expression pedal for use with the Kat. Any recommendations? I know nothing about such pedals.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2019 13:35:49 GMT
I just noticed I'm a member of that Boss Katana group too. Never visit it. I don't find these groups very navigable but that's probably just me and my Luddite nature again.
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Post by salteedog on Jan 4, 2019 13:37:29 GMT
Just did a comparison. It's most noticeable at maximum clockwise for my chosen spring reverb setting. Lazily I have no idea what that setting is or if I can get rid of it because that would entail me plugging in my computer.... But it is still there at noon too, especially with very hard picking attack; a sort of trebbly, chirpy, squelch like somebody's walked onto the squash court with new trainers on. It seems separate to the overall reverb. I tried it on my Champ's spring reverb and couldn't replicate it no matter how hard and unmusically I twanged a string with a finger or a plectrum. I could replicate it to some extent on my Vaporizer spring reverb. Just a response to a sharp string attack. In any case it's doesn't appear on the Katana if spring sensitivity is reduced. and of course there is also Plate and Hall reverbs to use too if Spring is too springy. |
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Post by salteedog on Jan 4, 2019 13:39:30 GMT
I just noticed I'm a member of that Boss Katana group too. Never visit it. I don't find these groups very navigable but that's probably just me and my Luddite nature again. Nope. Facebook is a really terrible platform. One could be reading a post, scroll down, screen refreshes and what you were reading is now lost forever in a sea of motivational crap, fake news clickbait, and ad rubbish. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2019 13:46:27 GMT
I have a Zoom FP02 and a Bespoco VM12. They are both plastic and cheap but the Bespoco feels sturdier. Not sure if mine will control the Katana but I would imagine so as I bought one of them to control my Boss AutoWah, think it was the Zoom one. Bespoco do a variety of pedals that may suit you. Maybe this one: |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2019 13:52:27 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2019 14:03:14 GMT
 thanks lads for chiming in as the more you talk about it the less desire there is to buy it all the tweaking and Tone Lab stories scare the heck out of me  I am mostly after a clean tone with slight break up. Sure I can get that from my CKK Lunar Drive and even use all my pedals up front if so desired but I would need this amp to give me more modulation and other effects. I would also LOVE to get a Bassman '59 tone , or something resembling it. I sure could get this with my old Digitech RP255 pedal. Is there an option in the Tone Lab for this amp sim?
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