NAD - Boss Katana - GuitarTalk Community

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...

NAD - Boss Katana

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I have been wasting time trying to read up on all this stuff.
It would seem the early THR 5 and 10 are loved. The bigger Cube's get some love. The Artist line is revered.
The Mini Katana or similar small Cube might be nice, when used with a better speaker. Need a Line Out to jack into the Hi Fi, and enjoy FRFR speakers, clinical clean tones...
The ideal unit will have enough knobs and switches to play with the presets, to avoid having to use any App to set up sounds you like. Initially, at least.

V8

kat-test.mp3

745kB

So in the interest of science, I finally got around to plugging the Katana into the PC to check out Tone Studio tweaking and a quick n nasty Repear recording. The clip above is the stock 'Texas Crunch' tone, untouched by me, with three sample takes on bridge (hot humbucker) the middle and neck (hot single coil). No post processing, just straight from amp USB -> Reaper (The katana as a audio device). What I hear from the recording is about what I'm hearing from the amp.

The Tone Studio tweaking was also cool - the functionality is > x10 with it. One thing I reallllllly liked was that there's a FX mix and a Direct Mix for pretty much every effect. IMO this is essential for Bass FX, albeit a nice to have for guitar.

The other thing I noted was that the FX I tried are hit n miss - the heavier drive's (Metal Zone, Fuzzes, Rat) are not great, I definitely prefer the pedal versions. The lighter ones (Blues Driver, Transparent OD, etc..) are good. Reverb's are bland, Delay's (the SDE3000 aside, which is good) are also a bit bland. I dug the touch wah too but didn't go much deeper into the FX than what I've mentioned. Oh, the EQ options are pretty good and useful!

For me - The Amp sims are pretty good, probably the best part of the katana package - cover the basics of what I'd want (Acoustic, Clean, Crunch, HiGain) and scratch my itch in each respect.

modulator I have been wasting time trying to read up on all this stuff.

My apologies for leading you down the rabbithole! I'm a long time multifx junkie, it's become second nature to me - also gotten to use/try a whole bunch of things so I'm ever curious about how they've evolved.

So I did try and dial in the Katana to be more fun w/o being plugged into the PC for Tone Studio. That'll be a iterative process - but given alllllll the options you've got plugged in and how little you can change when not plugged in - that might be tricky.

So far, I R satisfied with a old, cheap Mk1 Katana.

V8

A little update - The compressor on the Katana is reallllly good. - apparently modeled on the CS-3 - it's way better than any pedal version of the CS-3 I've used. Might have something to do with the deeper control using the Tone Studio app gives you, but maybe not. I''m feeling a musical nature to the ''squish' this compressor applies.

I like!

Also, I dated the amp from the serial - Feb 2019, made in Malaysia. No rattles or squeaks and the only thing I've noticed is a slightly scratchy master vol pot - which doesn't matter as I run the master @ 100% and adjust volume on the channel volume (it's a thing some katana users reccomend, YMMV)

V8

Been testing some pedals through the Katana - ProCo Rat clone, a Fuzzilla (https://community.guitartalk.co.za/d/8034-ashton-audio-fuzzsilla/33) and my old Digitech distortion factory.

The Rat clone sounds good with pretty much everything I've tried, any amp and instrument. Particularly satisfying on bass, but also good with guitar. If you like a fuzz/old skool distortion sound, the rat still rawks.

The fuzzilla is quite different, not nearly as gain-y but there's far less colour to the fuzz, almost like a DI tone if you dial the bias in just right. Pretty good paired up with other fx (like a touch wah) but the input does matter - doesn't like bass at all, sounds best on a guitar neck pup.

The distortion factory only really has two models I use the : TS and MT2. The MT2 is pretttttyyy damn good. I prefer it to the Katana's version - though to be fair I've been managing to get better distortion tones from the Katana this weekend...because

IMHO, the secret to getting more satisfying gain tones from the Katana is dialing in a bit of the onboard compressor. (Or perhaps using active pickups?) This just fattens up the gain (particularly higher gain) in a subtle but rather satisfying way. You notice when it isn't there but not so much when it is. It's not as good with the offboard pedals, seems pedal dependent :shrug:

I'd agree with the general sentiment that despite not having a effects loop, the ol' 50W Katana is a very usable pedal platform. The onboard fx do work well with the offboard stuff (distortions) I've used so far.

Also been playing some other fx's - Octavers & the synth - both track super well. Impressive, better than either pedal version. The Octavers don't sound nearly as nice as the pedal version(s) (imho) but track better. The synth has far less options than the pedal (SY-2) but also tracks FAR better, even bends were cool. I really dug the synth!

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bass.mp3

627kB

A sunday bass test - first attempt at tweaking for a bass tone. Clip is of a slap tone (very old strings!) - just the clean amp with a bunch of EQ. Got sum thump, but I'm hearing a clackiness that's not quite right - too much high end and should add a limiter.

I snuck a synth tone in the clip - sounds okay, but doesn't work quite as well as it does on guitar. The sensativity & decay feel a bit odd for the bass, lots of glitchy (f)artifacts if you arn't djenty-perfect on the damping. But still fun 😁

Also tweaked a fingerstyle tone using a bit o' compressor. (not in clip). The comp works fine for bass, though I had to dial down the sustain and go light on the attack.

Experimenting with amp types next - finally got the freeware katana Editor (fxfloorboard) to work - which unlocks more amp types and gives more options in pedal placement in the chain. Not expecting a big difference, but we'll see.

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How many fuzzes is too many? In the pic there are 7, but I think the answer is 3. 😁

2 Fuzzes on the katana, 1 on the distortion factory - but these ''emulated' (software) fuzzes never sound any good to me. Always sound like a DS-1 trying to be a fuzz. Eww.

There's a ProCo Rat clone, which is a fuzz that thinks it's a DS-1 but in a good way. This clone is a very gain-y version of a rat, doesn't really clean up like a legit US era Rat, but definitely delivers a higher gain rat ''n roll sound - fantastic sustain! QOTSA, Black Sabbath vibes 😀

Three fuzzilla's that I'm testing for a mate - they all work, which was surprising! What is a bit odd is that they all have slightly different pot values so while you can dial in a almost idetical sound out of them - the range of sounds sounds depends on which one has the differing pot values. I liked the one that is a bit gain-y-er than the rest, but then I would. Does a lovely lighter touch sensative fuzz, perfect for 'Sprit in the Sky'

This week I learned, there so much more to the world of fuzz sounds than a EHX Big Muff - if in any doubt, try a decent Rat (or clone thereof).

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V8
I have never learned to play "dirty", and still do not really grasp the how-to of it. I have a DS-1, which I cannot get a decent sound from. I guess I should use it as a "Boost" and not try to make it an Overdrive (which it is not, but I did not know anything about that when I bought it). I cannot say I like Fuzz. A question of amplifier settings, no doubt.
So much to learn yet.

V8

modulator I guess I should use it as a "Boost" and not try to make it an Overdrive

Yeah, most pedals seem to work best as a colour to the underlying amp tone rather than the source of the tone. There's some amp in a pedal solutions out there too.

Though I think what most guitar players unconsciously like is the little bit of natural compression you get from a boost/OD pedal. I'm using a bit of compression on the katana and it's my new goto pedal to make things sound a little 'less thin'

I'm still using that distortion factory with the katana. The metal zone patch does actually sound a bit lot like a amp in pedal (a bunch of very fizzy bee's) 😁

V8

dyt-111-bass.mp3

2MB

Been doing a bit more recording with the Katana, felt brave enough to try a multi-tracking effort. Havn't really dialed in a recorded guitar or bass tone to my taste, but do really enjoy how easy the katana is to use. Also, I'm getting fairly consistent results recording,..if I remember to save the tones in the Boss Tone Studio app. 🤦‍♂️

One thing I was trying to figure out was how to get the effect'ed track and the dry track reorded at the same time. From what I see they are present as two seperate audio interfaces (Primary = wet, Secondary = dry) in the O/S (in my case windows). DAW's want one audio interface so you've got to figure out how to aggregate the two katana one's somehow. Apparently ASIO4ALL can do this, but I havn't figured out how (yet).

Finally, can't fault the katana for how sloppy my timing is! Ye 'ol 'metronome still doesn't pull any punches. 😬

V8

Finally got around to figuring out how the channels worked on the katana - it wasn't super obvious )how to get to the 2nd bank on the two channels. Had to read the manual 🤣

But took the time to dial in a few tones using some of the Tone Studio presets for a couple SRV and a Jimi tones. I had to do a one from scratch for the Bass.

I'm still really enjoying the ease of use - the recording interface side of it is underestimated, so easy to plug in and record what you're hearing out the amp. 👍️

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It looks as if this technology would be very handy if one wants to record sounds. Or, just replicate some nice sounds... I should look into it when I grow old and grey, maybe.

V8

modulator I think I'm the particular use case that the Katana addresses 😅

Ease of use & versatility.

The tones are not AMAZING, but good enough for me. The clean & acoustic channels are pretty good, though a AC10/Fender Princeton would likely be a tone purists choice! A decent tube amp does a better dirty/breakup sound. From what I've tried, the pedal versions of the FX are usually preferrable to the onboard FX.

As a all in one box that can do all guitar sounds, a usable bass sound, loud enough to hang with a drummer and easy to record with - it does a fine job. I'd get another if I had to replace this one, probably a 100W head (more functionality).