NAD - Boss Katana

V8 · 2025-03-26T08:00:43+00:00

I was supposed to get a all tube late 60's ELK 15w combo, which had been modded/refurbished by JP le Roux to a fender princeton-esque spec. Gave it a couple test's and a slightly sick reverb aside, all was very good with the amp. Surprisingly loud, warm clean's, loads of headroom and a reallly sweet pedal platform (overused term, but in this case it's very true!) - the vibrato was one of the nicer one's I've heard too. But...wierdly, it didn't like bass guitar - it should have been fine but the attack on the notes was wierd. Even when I used a preamp to tame the bass it was odd. For sure, it's not a bass amp but it should be playable at bedroom volume. So with the reverb needing sorting and the uninspiring bass tone I had reservations...but still, I went to go and put down the $$$ and next to it was sitting a used Mk1 50w Boss Katana. 🤦♂️ I came home with a Katana. The Elk/Princeton sounds much better at the things it does well (loud & warm cleans) but the katana does everything acceptablly well with zero fuss. As reviewers have pointed out, there's a bit of flubby low-end and overly fizzy top's - but the mid's are pretty good. The acoustic amp model is better than a JC120 (for me) and the clean amp sim is better than a blues cube for that almost dirty yet clean tone. The rest of the amp sims are pretty good too. All a bit fizzy with the gain cranked (my guitar is naturally bright) but this can be easily dialed out by pulling back the treble (or dialing back the presence using Tone Studio on the PC). Plugging in a bass does reveal how guitar focussed the amp is - it sounds more like a amp voiced for guitar (duh) with a bass that it does with a guitar! But it's playable both fingerstyle and slap and I havn't even tried to dial in a tone really. Though it won't hang with a drummer with the bass plugged in, from experience I know it will with guitar. I've used a katana at a jam and messed around a couple times on one, but first time I've had to live with one. For the $, a used Mk1 is a ridiculous amount of amp - I havn't even plugged it into the PC yet to tweak and I'm happy. For me, it's simplicity is the main attraction guitar/bass -> amp and done. No pedals, no psu's & no fuss. Though it does handle a pedal's (I've got a rat clone that I tested on both amps, was excellent on the Elk and good on the katana) I think a Yamaha THR would still be a good choice if you wanted a diryt/clean with stellar reverbs & delays at lower volume or a PG Spark if you were super into the convienience of the mobile app. Otherwise I think the katana is the default choice for regular bedroom use and the rare jam.

V8

modulator Like you say, no easy solutions.

I've been eyeing the 100W Katana head (it has tiny speakers builtin, so can be used w/o cab) or the Positive Grid spark or the Fender Mustang Micro or... <insert cool gear thing-y here> - But...yes, all are compromises.

I've reminded myself again, gear is shop-able when there is a actual need for it 😅

« Previous Page