Boss Katana 50 MK II

[KuruPrionz]

Hello All, my foot is healing nicely and now looks like a foot. Meanwhile, just before the surgery I took delivery of a new Boss Katana 50 MK. It took a while before I could get to doing anything with it.

 

I've played it a bit and so far I like it better than the Katana 100 Combo that I sold. There are more controls for all the effects and it's 7 pounds lighter and smaller. I have gotten some great tones with it so far.

I want to use the Boss Tone Studio software and program 4 great sounds. I have the footswitch.

 

Tonight I discovered I need to update firmware to run the programs for OS Catalina. Fine, I start in. Boss has everything, mostly. I got stuck and frustrated. Then I searched Sweetwater for Katana Firmware Update and the article made it super easy. https://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/articles/boss-katana-firmware-update/

 

While I still love the tones of my Peavey Vypyr VIP amps, the Katana sounds fantastic in it's own right and the design is more gig friendly in my mind. Once I dial this in, I can just play. All the toys are in there.

 

I'm curios how the sound quality is recording from the USB port. The 100 had a fantastic sounding line out. Anyway, FUN!

[Caevan O’Shite]

Come, Wattson! Trouble is a foot! Ehrr... yeah. Sorry.

 

Seriously, glad that your foot is getting better. No more foot jokes but you could start a podcast about it. Wait, NOW no more foot jokes.

 

Glad you're liking the new Katana and thanks for the reports!

[wraub]

Glad you're liking the 50... I play through mine a few hours a day, usually on a preferred setting. I try out the other stock sounds, all good, but I have a sound I'm very happy with and usually leave it there.

 

It's surprisingly versatile, pretty responsive, and, fwiw, at 25 watts I found a set-up that feeds back and breaks up a lot like a tube amp, and it's my happy tone zone- but, usually when the house is otherwise empty.

They don't know what they're missing.

 

Speedy recovery on the foot, get better soon.

[RABid]

Thanks for the link. I have not updated mine yet. Also have a Vyper that I have not played since I got my Katana. Will probably donate it to my high school band.

[Larryz]

Glad you like the new amp as well as the bigger version Kuru and to hear that your foot is getting better. 7lbs lighter in a smaller amp will make it easier to hop from gig to gig with LoL! +1 on Caevan's no more foot jokes... Amp weight is always a big factor for my amp purchases!

[Larryz]

+1 Wraub, I find my sweet spot and leave it there...

[KuruPrionz]

Glad you're liking the 50... I play through mine a few hours a day, usually on a preferred setting. I try out the other stock sounds, all good, but I have a sound I'm very happy with and usually leave it there.

 

It's surprisingly versatile, pretty responsive, and, fwiw, at 25 watts I found a set-up that feeds back and breaks up a lot like a tube amp, and it's my happy tone zone- but, usually when the house is otherwise empty.

They don't know what they're missing.

 

Speedy recovery on the foot, get better soon.

 

I programmed my Katana 100 Combo with tones that work well in the band I play with, we are going on 6 years now.

We had one outdoor gig where I needed more than 1/2 of one watt and the next increment on the 100 is 50 watts. That was LOUD, it got the job done.

I haven't tried 25 watts yet but it sounds to me like it would be a better choice. Since I NEVER used the 100 watts and 4 different tones is all a really NEED, I figured the 50 was a solid choice so I sold the 100and bought the 50. If all goes well, I'll program it a little later today with my gig tones.

 

Last night, I was surfing the 4 presets from the updated firmware and there was one I LOVED for just hanging out and jamming on my guitar. In the context of the band it had too many delay repeats and a very spacious hall reverb that would just sound messy. At home, FUN!!!!! Gig? No fun, go home.

 

I keep my Vypyrs around because they sound great and because I can get really fun solo sounds with them and not worry about using them at gigs. I find the Sanpera pedal board was not designed for a 15 EEE foot to navigate, once I turned the looper on and did not realize it (at a practice). Things got pretty weird for a bit there!!!!!

[KuruPrionz]

I've got my basic sounds written into the amp now. There will be a bit of volume and EQ tweaking in post, it's easy to change the preset in the amp without the computer.

 

One:

A: Cleanish - just a bit of breakup if you push it. A touch of spring reverb and the mids are down a little. A Fender-ish tone.

B. More overdrive, a bit more reverb and mids. This sings, good for a basic lead tone.

 

Two:

A. Cleanish but with a rotary speaker and spring reverb.

B. Distortion with a single delay and fairly short reverb time. I'll have the amp up on a stand where it is easy to get to the Tap button and adjust the delay to the song.

 

That's it, nothing fancy. Bread and butter tones I can use in multiple genres and compliment an acoustic guitar. I do a lot of my volume/gain control with pick attack, these are all touch sensitive. I don't like too much gain, you lose dynamics and start to sound really "Guitar Center" if the gain is too high.

[Larryz]

"Guitar Center sound" is a cool description LoL! You walk in and every electric guitar player has the same sound going until a sales rep cuts them off or cuts them down in volume LoL!

[CEB]

I"d like another original Kat100 112 combo to add to the pedal steel rig and goes stereo out of the Lexicon. I don"t need but dang that would be lush as heck and the redundancy is great backup. I used to use two Nashville 400s stereo out the Yamaha SPX90. No more those things are heavy.

[KuruPrionz]

I"d like another original Kat100 112 combo to add to the pedal steel rig and goes stereo out of the Lexicon. I don"t need but dang that would be lush as heck and the redundancy is great backup. I used to use two Nashville 400s stereo out the Yamaha SPX90. No more those things are heavy.

 

The MKII series does have some nice refinements. I hear ya on the stereo amps, now that I've gotten the smaller Katana I am considering combining it with another amp - only I want a different amp so I have more combinations. I do have a Roland Cube 40gx that would go well and leave me with only 4 total footswitches on the floor and simple hook up.

I'm also thinking maybe my Peavey Vypyr VIP 1, I put a 10" Scorpion speaker in it and it's a baby monster now. The Sanpera 1 pedal has 4 footswitches plus a switchable Wah/Volume pedal that would add some versatility. Plus a few truly weird sounds like the "synth" sound.

 

I hear you on the Nashville 400s, I gigged a Peavey LA 400 for years. Same amplifier, a combo with a Black Widow 12" speaker in it. Heavy as hell and probably the loudest amplifier for it's size ever made. It was capable of terrifyingly loud loudnesses!!!!!

[KuruPrionz]

Did some minor tweaking of my presets and lost my low feedback on the delay on one setting. Will have to plug it back in and get that back. I had one repeat and it was too loud. I think 2 or 3 repeats at lower volume is about right.

 

Got the tone controls and volume settings pretty well sussed out, it won't take long at the first gig to finish it up.

 

I have the Boss FS-6 footswitch, another thrift store find and exactly the correct pedal for my amp. I watched the lights on the channels on the amp and the A switch selects between Banks A and B, the B switch selects between channels 1 and 2. If you are in channel 1 in Bank A and switch to Bank B you will be on channel 1 in Bank B. I saved my presets with that in mind so I'm glad it turned out to be true.

 

Any way I set it up, there are going to be times when I need to switch 2 switches to go from the channels/Banks that I want. No biggie, there are only two switches total so it isn't confusing.