In praise of the lowly Boss Katana
Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2021 2:15 am
For $229, better than it has ANY right to be. Far, far better.
I dragged a Mk2 Katana 50 with me to the Mojave for a week of recording and ritual Work - was intending minimal just for the challenge ot it. I ended up being a little more minimal than planned as I forgot the bag with my Ebow and Pest Tattern, but I made do. i can say this much, I never felt a lack.
One desert, one guitar, one amp, one mic, one little 8 track recorder. I could honestly live with this and be happy (even if I'd want a little destroyer fuzz action in my soul) - the new firmware with the faux HM-2 made a good thing better.
It feeds back like a banshee musically in a way no solid state amp I've played does - and better than some tube monsters.
I didn't even bring a laptop with to edit the thing, the whole week was just with the effects I had programmed in before leaving. "Booster" was either a Rangemaster fake, the HM-2, or a Dist+ (I hate the real pedal, but..the one in the Katana and I get alone well?), and a phase/flange/trem in the modulation section. Reverse delay, fake Space Echo, or fake SDE-3000 in the delay section. Reverb either a spring or fake plate.
Mic was the classic and venerable Sennheiser 906, which is grand for a 'tiny pack' rig because it needs no stand and just drapes in front of the speaker/cab.
I brought my #1 Les Paul with, as much as I hate to travel with it - it went with to every hotel, and it was never unaccompanied in the car. No bad things ensued.
But the star of the show was the little Katana that could - it honestly isn't like using a digital amp at all when it's not hooked up to an editor. Gets louder than sin, and does everything I asked of it.
Sort of sad that it *could* replace a few thousand in gear all by its lonesome, and that's without using the fake Metal Zone that would undoubtably add $22 to the price if I turned that patch on!
But honestly, pound for pound, dollar for dollar, don't think I've ever played a better little piece of kit.
Obligatory recording in the tile corner (with the plants used to absorb a little of the reflection until I was happy) shot. I ended up using the Zoom R8 as a DI toy in a couple hotel rooms on batteries and once in the desert proper because I could, but the vast majority of my time was with the little Katana and in the middle of the desert miles from anything wished I could have been using it instead.
The thing that really astonished me though was how similar it sounded at the .5 watt setting versus the 50 in the right room - other than pure SPL, it recorded identically. I really only hit the 50 watt mode when I wanted to play with feedback, or shake the world because I could.
If you haven't played one or picked one up, you owe it to yourself to try one out, even if you never ever hook it up to a computer.
I dragged a Mk2 Katana 50 with me to the Mojave for a week of recording and ritual Work - was intending minimal just for the challenge ot it. I ended up being a little more minimal than planned as I forgot the bag with my Ebow and Pest Tattern, but I made do. i can say this much, I never felt a lack.
One desert, one guitar, one amp, one mic, one little 8 track recorder. I could honestly live with this and be happy (even if I'd want a little destroyer fuzz action in my soul) - the new firmware with the faux HM-2 made a good thing better.
It feeds back like a banshee musically in a way no solid state amp I've played does - and better than some tube monsters.
I didn't even bring a laptop with to edit the thing, the whole week was just with the effects I had programmed in before leaving. "Booster" was either a Rangemaster fake, the HM-2, or a Dist+ (I hate the real pedal, but..the one in the Katana and I get alone well?), and a phase/flange/trem in the modulation section. Reverse delay, fake Space Echo, or fake SDE-3000 in the delay section. Reverb either a spring or fake plate.
Mic was the classic and venerable Sennheiser 906, which is grand for a 'tiny pack' rig because it needs no stand and just drapes in front of the speaker/cab.
I brought my #1 Les Paul with, as much as I hate to travel with it - it went with to every hotel, and it was never unaccompanied in the car. No bad things ensued.
But the star of the show was the little Katana that could - it honestly isn't like using a digital amp at all when it's not hooked up to an editor. Gets louder than sin, and does everything I asked of it.
Sort of sad that it *could* replace a few thousand in gear all by its lonesome, and that's without using the fake Metal Zone that would undoubtably add $22 to the price if I turned that patch on!
But honestly, pound for pound, dollar for dollar, don't think I've ever played a better little piece of kit.
Obligatory recording in the tile corner (with the plants used to absorb a little of the reflection until I was happy) shot. I ended up using the Zoom R8 as a DI toy in a couple hotel rooms on batteries and once in the desert proper because I could, but the vast majority of my time was with the little Katana and in the middle of the desert miles from anything wished I could have been using it instead.
The thing that really astonished me though was how similar it sounded at the .5 watt setting versus the 50 in the right room - other than pure SPL, it recorded identically. I really only hit the 50 watt mode when I wanted to play with feedback, or shake the world because I could.
If you haven't played one or picked one up, you owe it to yourself to try one out, even if you never ever hook it up to a computer.
