3,968 posts
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Post by salteedog on Jan 20, 2019 18:59:26 GMT
Crikey, that's one big cat at 2:53!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2019 19:11:18 GMT
Nah, just a tiny amp  |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2019 19:53:46 GMT
I think these Kat amps can sound very good IF you have good pickups. This guy plays into some underwound vintage pups and thsi amp sounds AWESOME! Can't wait to get my KAT 50 tomorrow. In case Im generally happy with it but it lacks some of that fullness I hear in these 100 demos I might return the 50 and order the KAT 100 instead. But lets wait and see.
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Post by blindwilly3fingers on Jan 20, 2019 21:14:10 GMT
Happy birthday for yesterday @chedapapa
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2019 22:35:49 GMT
Cheers!
Here is another normal clean demo without all the shredding and mindless distortions. This Swede plays some clean Strat and Tele on a Kat 50 and it sounds very good to my ears.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 21, 2019 12:00:01 GMT
It arrived today! It sais on the box "Version 2" whatever that means!   popular names from 1960Played it for an hour! This is a really good digital solid state amp! It really is good at emulating digital solid state tones! Well done BOSS! I really love when hey try to make digital amps sounding digital as that is what they trully are. Digital. And Solid State. The EQ is useless as per usual on Solid State amps. I managed to find the "sweet spot" and if I move just even so sligtly up and down the tone becomes utterly unusable. This is not the case with tube amp's EQ. On Katana, if I move the Bass just a bit up the tone becomes muddy, if I go up with Mids just a bit it becomes very boxy and nasal, if I go just a bit up with Treble it chops my head off like a skilled Samurai with its Katana sword  I find Acoustic and Clean to be the only ones "usable" (strong word here). All the others introduce huge amounts of gain hiss (I think they cloned Blackstar here). Still the tone of the amp is very 2D as Solid State amps should sound, so well done BOSS. The FX ... well they give me the same feel I once got from BOSS Chorus pedal (which I sold asap as it was making my tone very thin and taking away the dynamic range). Maybe some prefer such amps with such a tone but I've got a slight headacke after playing ti for an hour. I did plug my pedal baord into the clean setting and the CKK Gears compressor did soften the tone a bit. I did crank up that Compressor ; Attack on full, Mix on full and the voicing switch to Fat as the Katana sounds very thin generally speaking. Still, even with this Comp softening "Katana's attack" is hard to bear. @defjef , nothing wrong with your pickups mate  as your Katana sounds as life-less as the one I have and my pups certainly can't make it sound better. Yours sounds less trebly as you have that sponge infront of your speaker but thats about it. Life-less is still life-less. When I think of a word to describe Katana , Zombie comes to mind. Its kind of alive but really is more dead than alive ...   Not trying to insult anyone but it seems to me that there are people out there who simply can't hear the difference between a tube amp and Katana. Or maybe some are not as sensitive? I dont mind digital SS amps being sold as such, sounding digital and solid state, but man it really gets to me when I read that these amps perfectly emulate tube amps! What a bunch of .... ! The EQ on this amp is the same kind of EQ I had on me old Kustom SS 20 watts amp. And the dynamic range is the same. They both have 12" speakers in a small box. That said, I could hear more dynamics on my low output Strat Ironstone pickups than on my Tele medium output pups which can growl. Do I want to keep an amp that has so much to offer and yet I can only use the Clean setting and maybe the Room Reverb? And even this makes me want to fiddle with EQ all the time to try and make the tone softer, tone that isn't causing me a headacke. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 21, 2019 12:21:43 GMT
Maybe it depends on which tube amp they think the Katana sounds like. In it's stock setup it sounded very like a Blackstar HT-5R to me. And definitely better when using humbuckers. But I don't like the Blackstar HT-5R or use humbuckers very often. I also found that the Blackstar Dual Drive responded better to humbuckers to get that headache top out of it.
It's worth delving in to the massive eq options inside the software, checking out the effects and playing with humbuckers if you are after a different sounding amp to your V55. Come to think of it, have you tried humbuckers in to your V55 to get more aggressive breakup? And I don't think I'd have gelled even slightly with mine if I hadn't done the sponge donut fix.
I've yet to use my Katana live as, just when I think I will, I bottle out and take the reliable old Champ instead.
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3,968 posts
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Post by salteedog on Jan 21, 2019 13:25:10 GMT
I was underwhelmed with mine when I first got it but it's overall convenience for my needs trumps its drawbacks. I found there was initial harshness that dissipated after some weeks with presumably speaker break in. Alternatively as Defjef said, there are a zillion options to adjust EQ on the amp. Version 2 refers to the firmware version loaded. You can update to V3 by following the instructions here. www.boss.info/us/products/katana-50/downloads/Also - another tip, try it on the 25watt setting with volume and master vol adjusted as required. I find I prefer that for clean and soft crunch than the 0.5w setting. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 21, 2019 14:46:31 GMT
Tried all that with Master-Volume-Gain-Attenuator. Nothing makes it soft.
Don't get me wrong, this amp sounds as a Solid State amp, which always sounds too much in your face, and 2D.
I will not fall into the trap of "wait for the speaker to break in" or "go into the software and EQ it" as I would like to use my free return which is 14 days from the delivery day.
I'm talking about the amps nature which will never click with me. No Tone Studio can change that.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 21, 2019 15:13:14 GMT
@defjef I'm not after humbuckers. I'm a single coil player. Need the basic nature of the amp to be ok-ish so to give extra EQ a try.
I also dislike too much amp breakup hence trying to stay bellow 8Kohm pups. My V55 has a Jensen style speaker which gives you chunky loose low end and that can sound nasty if too distorted. I think the Turbosound has more of a tight round low end for a more balanced distorted sound.
My DiMarzio bridge Humbucker is voiced as a singlecoil and is only about 5K output so not really a Humbucker but my Tele N+B in Series is a full on Humbucker tone WITH clarity and it does not sound good into Katana.
Funny I tried my new Behringer BDI 21 into the Kat 50 and it gave the amp more low end. Plus the CKK Gears to give it some tube sag and still the rather 2D tone was still there. This amp sounds as it should; like a solid state amp with digital modeling and fx. Will never be my cup of tea. I only hope to learn a lesson once and for all.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 21, 2019 15:16:11 GMT
My respect for the Laney CUB 10 has gone up after this experience. If only it's Tone knob wasn't giving off noise it would be a perfect amp to give me something V55 could not do. Shame really.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 21, 2019 15:20:35 GMT
Interesting how you were liking the tones on those YouTube clips, although I think you preferred the 100 watter.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 21, 2019 15:31:59 GMT
The demos were recorded. It's not the same when you are in the room listening to what comes from the speaker.
I need to live with this amp without a mic being between us. Also we never know what was done to those recordings in the DAW.
I hope folks don't get me wrong here. There are amps out there that sound good but different. Then there are amps out there that sound bad. And all this is subjective as some folks can't hear the difference between SS tube emulated amps and tube amp, and then there are those who can but are ok with both and then there are those who are hypersensitive.
Each to his own.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 21, 2019 16:55:51 GMT
EQ cranked all the way with Gain set to Zero, Volume full on and Master to whatever needed might be a useable gigging tone to be shaped with stomp pedals as the onboard FX and drives are just too digital sounding. The Reverb is really bad I find.
Sounds better with my Fender Marine Layer or even with Mooer Reecho delay.
Btw, a Compressor pedal would be a must for me on this amp but this gives it a bit too much snap of course.
To me this amp is far from being versatile as most of the settings and FX are poor sounding. Only my personal view and should not be taken seriously as my experience with amps is indeed limited.
This amp is going back. But I'm keeping the Behringer BDI 21 preamp for Bass as it sounds very good.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 22, 2019 10:19:09 GMT
Katana has left the building! Bye bye little swordy!
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as your Katana sounds as life-less as the one I have and my pups certainly can't make it sound better. Yours sounds less trebly as you have that sponge infront of your speaker but thats about it. Life-less is still life-less. When I think of a word to describe Katana , Zombie comes to mind. Its kind of alive but really is more dead than alive ... 
