Problem is that the volume is stored in the preset. This means if you crank you master and and turn down the volume you'll be good for the preset you're on, but when you change presets you'll blow out your windows.
Then go into the tone studio or save the volume settings from the top of the amp to be the same across all the presets and then use the master to control the volume for the room.
@@slingpeace - As I understand it, that is exactly how it was designed to be. I create the tone I want with the volume level of that to set by the "volume" control, save the preset. Then I adjust the "master" to whatever sound level I want for the particular listening sound level. It has always worked perfectly for me and I believe is actually the way it was specifically designed to be operated. Most of the time my "volume" is around 80-90% and the "master" is set to the correct listening volume.
@@squidly2112 So you are setting the volume at a high setting and leaving it alone and using the master volume to meter your desired volume,...correct ?
@@stricknine8623 - yes, and more specifically, I use the "volume" to set the volume of each individual patch and use the "master volume" to control how loud I want to play overall. That way, when I switch between patches with my footswitch, the volume is correct for all of my patches, I don't have to adjust any volume settings to match the overall volume (master) that I want. I believe this is exactly the intended behavior in the design of this amplifier. It works quite well to use it in this fashion. I have downloaded a lot of tone patch files and all of them have different "volume" settings. Some of those are quite loud (over powering) and some are quite soft. I re-adjust the "volume" setting so they are all compatible and then re-save the patch file. Again, so when I am playing and I switch between tones the volume is correct for the patch I am using.
Really useful to see it tested. I play live so I need volumes between different tones to be pretty much the same. Best way I’ve found is to use channel volume to set relative levels and master volume to set volume appropriate to the room. That said, aside from other guitarists, I guarantee that the average audience gives not one shit about what guitar you play, through what amp and with what settings as long as they can dance and have a couple of drinks. 😉
Yup. I've been saying that forever. People in ths audience could care less about your gear as long as they like your sound and are being entertained! Only other musicians stress over these things. I don't any longer.. I just twist knobs until it sounds great for where I am playing. Done!
I use the Volume to balance the levels of the patches. The Wattage and Master to set the overall volume for where or when I am playing. With the idea to keep the master as high as possible and choose the most appropriate watt setting.
I use the Channel Volume to match volume between presets with varying levels of gain. Otherwise, presets with more gain will be a lot louder than cleaner sounds. I want to switch between my presets without huge changes in volume. The Master Volume is there to control overall volume. I think what Boss were actually saying initially was that higher levels on Master Volume would introduce the equivalent of output stage distortion, as opposed to pre-amp clipping. If you are after that sort of "Marshall stack on 10 sound", it follows that you would want that sort of output stage distortion. However, I don't think Boss ever said that you should have the Channel Volume lower, or to use Channel Volume to control the overall volume of the amp, to balance the Master Volume on 10. What they did say was to make full use of the Power Level setting (0.5w, 50w, 100w) to get the volume you need. Incidentally, I don't find that the Master Volume on 10 will actually achieve the "driven output valve" sound. I think a lot of the misconceptions came from the original "Guitarist" magazine review of the Katana when Neville Marten and Richard Barrett suggested they had "heard" that that this was the way to set the Channel and Master Volumes. As I recall, they then set them the other way around for the demo, and later reversed the advice in the review of the Mark 2!
You're bang on the money Nigel, it's in black and white really (literally actually). Sounds and tones in general can be adjusted and incremented with the help of the volume knob. On the end then are knobs which control the overall volume of everything already adjusted (MASTER). Then the knob controlling output by increasing the watts, which I use all the time and find it makes a major difference, meaning, when I get adjust for my preferred tone and only then increase the output from 5 watts to 25w to 50w (50w amp), it comes out with the tones I chose at 5w but now at 50w has a power that lifts the roof. And it's still defined. Adjust the the Master down to suit or dare to increase it and shatter a few windows. Using the Master should be the final adjustment in my opinion, this is relative from the bedroom to the stage. I practically repeated a lot of what you said Nigel, sorry about that. I think things get more confused these days with info overload, so I was just glad to see it summed up like that.
Well said... also great name, I too am a Nigel 😆, and my last names Kennedy, but I play the guitar not really violin lol. I also thought that if you are cranking the master volume to full then you are pushing the amp and controlling the full output of the amp with the normal volume which seems like a bad idea if you apply that to valve amps etc...
I did the same recently with my Hot Rod Deluxe, 40W tube amp and the results were: Volume on 1: I hear nothing Volume on 2: man, that's loud! Volume on 3: the walls start shaking Volume on 4: my ears start bleeding Volume on 5-8: same with distortion coming in Volume on 9: seismographs send tsunami alerts Volume on 10: bring out the steak and let's cook them on the amp.
Buy a JHS little black amp box for $40 put it in the fx loop(dead last) crank the amp and use the black box to find the volume you like. This saved me on every tube amp I have owned. I can play at any volume and it sounds as good as cranking the amp up
That perfectly sums up the Hot Rod. I finally sold mine. Great amp, but way too loud for what I do and people warned me about that before I even bought it, but of course I didn't listen...and now I can't listen...because I'm deaf.
Great video. Personally I can't imagine a scenario that Boss would design this with the notion that the best tone comes from such an extreme setting on really any of the knobs. From a gigging standpoint, you would adjust each patch volume to be equal relatively speaking and then adjust Master to the room/stage. Seems so logical.
I guess this just shows the wonderful thing about the Katana, a lot of settings really work for a whole lot of people. I personally do it by having the Channel vol on max, and the Master free for adjustments. But whether you prefer one setup or the other, we can all agree that Tele is damn fine.
The thing that has worked for me is to find my 8 preset tones I want for the footswitch--- Put my Master where I want it for overall volume then go in to the parametric EQ for each preset and set the level to a point where every single patch is pretty close to equal volume... So every time I switch to a different patch w the switch, I'm not getting blasted out the door. When I build a patch myself, I always start with max volume and a very low master and just tweak from that point. I think the reason there is a lot of confusion is that there are several videos about the Katana that say different things about what is the right approach. But I'm in agreement that the difference seems minimal. Just get your volumes regulated across the board with all of your patches with that parametric EQ---And I think you're probably okay to just tweak Master from there for the overall volume level of everything! Then you take the volume question out of the picture entirely. (At least for presets) That's a Juca Nery tip that has worked great for me so far. Awesome vid!
If you're going to be switching between patches on the fly, having those patches already preset to an appropriate relative volume is far more important than that tiny difference having the master volume dimed and twiddling channel volume each time makes.
I gig my katana's with the master up full as the amp has more depth and punch. I use the master down at home. I use whichever power amp size suits the room. Sounds superb...who needs valves eh..
I heard that maximizing the MV was the way to go as well but I think you are right! It makes sense that when the room conditions change it easy to make that adjustment with the MV. I have been struggling with volume channel fluctuations and I think you are on to something here! Thanks so much for the insight!
They all sounded the same to me... I never turn the master to full incase a setting changes by accident (switching presets) and all of a sudden I've blown out both the wall behind me and my eardrums lol
I have the channel volume up nearly full. I also have the Master up as high as is feasible. I then use Gain to determine level. This works for clean jazz tone; it fills out the sound, gives it much more body.
This is a great relief, Paul, as I had been playing with MV all the way up at home and wondering how I was going to quickly reset the volume on all of my presets next time I play out somewhere. The answer is that I’ll do the logical thing you suggest and not worry about it. Cheers.
I'm a little late to the party on this one but I notice a real difference when using higher gain settings. You can really hear it when using the head and its little speaker. With the master at a lower setting it sounds more flubby. Turn the master up and the channel volume down it tightens the bottom up. I don't turn the master to full but I do open it to around 12-1 o'clock to start. Maybe I'm wrong I'm sure everyone will let know.
this is another one of those more myth and legend than reality. You summed it up really well in your post below. A lot of misinterpretation of the original article on this.
Thank you Paul for doing this, as a new Boss Katana Owner I was wondering what difference there would be because I have seen so many differing opinions on this subject. I did notice a slight difference but it was so slight that at live level with the rest of the band I am pretty sure you really wouldn't be able to hear a difference at all. Keep up the good work we appreciate it.
Good idea. But wasn't the point to crank the volume and have the master low to see if theres a difference? I've been using a 100 watt 1×12 as a practice amp since the week the mk1 was released. I've tried tons a variations and what sounds best to me is, 50watt mode ,master cranked and volume down ( or up,depending if my wife is home or not lol).
On a Mesa amp there's a setting where you switch it to one side, it feels and basically sounds spongy and switched to the other sounds and feels tight. That's essentially what channel volume and master volume knobs do. They really should be called Channel volume = Preamp tube volume. Master volume = Power amp tube volume. With the channel volume low and master high....spongy. With the channel volume high and master low....tight. With this said Channel volume low/master high is better for blues, Rock etc. With that said Channel volume high/master low is better for Metal. If you haven't guessed it yet....the reason why channel volume high/master low is better for metal is because you are upping the amount of distortion through preamp volume. The preamp tubes are technically where heavy tight distortion comes from...not the power amp. The power amps job is to create loudness. Therefore, setting the channel volume high and master low pushes those preamp tubes harder and it's the opposite effect with channel volume down and master up....which then drives the power amp tubes harder instead of preamp tubes giving a spongier loose feel. It's all about taste and feel and what you want in your sound, not what some random youtuber says is better...he probably likes completely different music from you! If he likes say rock like say 70's Rush, channel volume low and master high will sound better to him than the opposite so his opinion is colored in that direction.
@@TheStudioRats I guess that would be the case given this as a solid-state amp, but boss claims that they set up the preamp and the power amp of this amplifier to behave like fenders valve amplifiers... And with that said my boss Katana seems to react very similar in this way despite it being a solid-state amplifier. You will noticed this effect very transparently if you use the clean Channel and listen to it start to break up as you raise the channel volume as it pushes the "tubes" harder just as a valve amplifier would... These are just my observations from spending a lot of time with this particular amplifier.
Ok, so I know this will sound crazy, but here is the way I use the amp. Playing live (just clean amp) I send my line out of the Katana via direct box to the mixer. The volume determines the amount of 'signal' to the mixer. The Master volume does not affect signal out so I can set my amp at desired volume to hear on stage without messing with FOH. My multi FX pedal does all the rest as far as clean vs dirty, or any other effects I may use. The built in tones are my backup live in case my pedal craps the bed.
Controling relative loudness between presets is a lot more important to me than this myth. My first preset is a clean one with volume at 50% and others have volume a little higher or lower than that. I use the Master and Power Control knobs to adjust overall volume as makes most sense to me since master and power settings are not saved with presets. Good test though thank you!
To add to my previous comment, the setting with Master lower and volume higher did sound better to me as well. Slight difference in the highs but in thw low mids too. A bit fuller sounding and the Katana being a bright amp to begin with, loosing a little high end is OK by me (andnothing a slight EQ tweak won't fix if you want that high end). It's a small difference in any case.
At gig it's so much easier to set the master volume for your overall level for me it's around 10 o'clock on the 50watt setting with the 100 watt head , and use the channel volumes to set the desired level of each "patch"
For me, the volume knob of my katana 50 has a huge impact on gain. My main crunch/distortion tone is the brown channel with the gain at about 25% with the volume up all the way. I find that the volume on the katana is like the preamp knob on a jcm800.
What i believe is that the volume is the volume of the preamp and the master is the amp volume .what works for.my ears is preamp volume max and play with the master.
Ive used this amp through line out to a PA , it's inconvenient to have the channel volume too low as that is what controls the output of the line out signal
You didn't really run a volume at full, dial back the master example for the 50/100w settings. Honestly with the Katana, the Channel volume is to get all your presets volumes relative to one another, and the master to is to set all of them for the venue. Getting a better sound with the master turned up as opposed to the volume when recording is more likely to be about pushing the speaker than the tonal qualities of adjusting Volume Vs. Master. But it's easy enough to test like Paul did here, even without a Looper pedal just make sure your levels going into your DAW are hitting the same mark and you're golden.
Thank you for this video. While I do love my Katana, I have to admit that the huge differences in volume/loudness when switching channels causes headaches for me. I play in a coverband, so want to be able to switch between various channels regularly (from very clean to heavy distortion and everything in between) depending on the song, using presets. But as mentioned in another comment below already, switching from the clean channel to lead or brown while leaving the gain and volume buttons unchanged will blow your eardrums/windows out. The only way (at least, which I figured out) is to prepare patches in different channels and adjust the volume and gain buttons (higher for clean tones, lower for distorted tones) for every channel in such a way that when you switch between presets, the overall volume stays more or less similar (or a bit louder when distorted). Consequently, while playing live, your volume button is no longer useful to adjust the overall volume/loudness of your sound, you only have the Master button left to manually adjust that. Or has anybody else found another way to manage the volume changes between channels?
I find that I had the same problem switching between lead, brown, crunch and clean. I normally keep the amp itself on clean and save the setups that I need to the amp, or in boss tone studio.
Judging the logic tonelab is also built with, to me makes more sense to crank the volume and control the loudness with the master. The volume control is in the app too and is still part of the amp modeling stage, while the master volume is supposed to be a master volume.
Thanks so much for this demo! I have wondered about this and all the differing opinions. I use my Katana MKii for live performance so I equalize all the volume settings between patches and use the master volume as a master the way you talk about this in the intro. Good to know that this creates a smooth tone.
I have been gigging my Katana head for 4 years now and since day 1 have run the master at about 3 o'clock (almost cranked) All I did was set my volumes in BTS it wasn't that hard. I use 6 patches at a typical gig. Master way up feels and sounds much better to my ears. I use 50w mode almost 100% of the time. It's just as much about "feel" as it is tone for me. It feels much better with the master up.
I find the difference is most noticable in high gain settings. If the Channel Volume is very low, the simulated tube distortion doesn't saturate as much as if you increased it to noon and dialed back on the Master Volume to keep the same loudness. So for bedroom playing, I put it on Lead, Channel Volume and Gain to noon and then set the Master to whatever is comfortable for that room (usually around 11 o'clock at 0.5w). From there, I leave the Master Volume alone and then adjust Channel Volume on each patch as needed.
I have the Mk1 old regular 50 watt. I’ve kept the OS updated to version 3. I use the line out into a BBC Sonic Maximizer, then into a Boss RV6 Stereo Reverb, then into a small stereo mixer and monitor (5” ones) set up. I keep the amp on the Standby setting so I get nothing from that speaker. I use an old laptop to control the amp via USB. The whole setup was less than a cheap tube head... it’s mainly Boss so it’ll never break, I’ll have it forever. Which is good because it sounds ridiculously good at even the lowest volume levels... I keep BOTH volumes on the amp cranked to 10, and control the monitor volume via the mixer. I can shred in a “stadium” at 2 in the morning at low levels that don’t even wake up my cat. If I played live, I’d do this same thing into the soundboard and call it done. My mixer EQ settings are just flat zero no boost or cut, just one channel pan left and one pan right. Don’t go too cheap on the little mixer, but you only need the first 2 channels, so don’t get some 24 ch thing, but get a good 4/6/8 ch and you’ll be set with extra channels for your beat lab and keyboard. Best regards to all! jr
I've tried to experiment with this at home as well, but it's really hard to get an apples to apples comparison. I haven't found anything in trying that makes me see any real benefit. The first time that I forgot that I had it setup this way, and switched to a patch that had the patch volume high while the master was still high was the very last time I will try cranking the master!
I've never really noticed any difference on mine when I've tried this. And I agree that you would want some room to move on the master when playing live. If someone "thinks" there is such a big difference, then simply adjust the patches accordingly so you can keep the master down.
I feel my Katana Artist sounds better with volume up all the way and using master adjust. Also when recording thru usb if my volume is low then so is the recording
Well its a solid state and i get how that arguement- different master/volume settings thing, would be true for tubes but not for the katana. Great vid tho
Hey todd, I played one of those Karana amp heads, and I really liked the tone, and I liked the tone you were getting on the video. I was wondering if the Katana has any really really low-end . A lot of my original music is tuned to E flat with a drop C#. How would the low end sound would it sound real deep or very bright deep.
The Equalizer knobs on the Katana, attenuate (lower the volume) of their respective frequencies, they do not boost or increase their volumes. Some other amps boost as well, meaning that turning the knob from 5 to 0 lowers the frequency while 5 to 10 boosts it. If you start with them all set at the halfway mark, you are really setting it for the same tone as them at max but you have lowered the volume of the signal as it goes through the equalizer, lowering the overall volume as well. This can also increase volume differences between patches. So, for the Katana, you should start with them all set to max rather then 12 o'clock or halfway as is the case with many other amps when setting up a tone.
Master up, volume to control it in my setup. I don't use preset patches in my rig, just use the amp to plug gear into. The foot pedal to add reverb, delay, modulation or boost.
I reluctantly purchased a MK2 100 a few months ago after selling a (heavy as hell) multi channel "expensive" tube amp I had for years. I went into this digital modelling kicking and screaming, however, this Katana is the best musical purchase I believe I have made to date. After dialing in my tones over the weeks it actually sounds and "feels" better than any of the tube amps I have owned in the past ... and that includes a 63' blond piggyback Bassman! Granted, I'm running into a Keeley 4 knob comp. and a Soulfood before the amp but that's standard for me anyway. For the price, features, tone and presets it's unbeatable. The first thing I did was change those 4 big chrome screws on the grill face to smaller black screws. Now I can actually look at it and be happy to. Try it you'll like it!
I think I made a comment yesterday on one of these vids about this!?!?!. ;) I have a Mk2 Head, its all about headroom. To my ears as long as you have it on the 50 or 100w mode and the master above 11 o’clock the detail is there. The .5 mode is a little dull and feels kinda power starved which sorta makes sense.
This whole issue with the master volume applies to tube amps. You don't have the same issue with a solid state amp, so it makes perfect sense that there wasn't much of a change, if any. Here's the problem. In the standard tube head or combo amp, there are 2 power amplifiers. The one in the preamp and the one in the power amp. In the preamp you get your overdrive/distortion by applying too much gain to the input tubes. The excess gain is what causes the tubes to break up and the signal becomes distortion. A volume control is transparent and can't have any effect on the signal regardless of where you set it. Its a passive device. Since you don't have a way of overdriving the tubes with gain like in the preamp, you have to use volume. And since volume can't distort the signal directly, you increase the volume until the tubes fail. Its no different than going to your home or car stereo and turning it up until it breaks up. Its not the signal that gets distorted, you're just turning the volume up to a point where the system can't keep up. Same thing in a guitar amp. Using volume to get power tube distortion means you usually have to play the amp very loud. The reason this only applies to tube amps, is solid state, or transistors, sound very different when overdriven or pushed to failure. Tubes sound good when overdriven because they produce what's called even order harmonics. Do the same thing to a transistor and you get odd order harmonics. Odd order harmonics sound terrible. In a tube amp, master volume is used to give you more control in how you distort the power tubes. For a solid state amp, it just doesn't apply. You always want the amp to play clean, and make distortion some other way, like with a pedal. I don't think the industry wants to promote any information that will educate the average person what the differences are between gain and volume. Once you know that, it makes solid state amps much harder to sell. The main method used to make a guitar amp sound good, makes a solid state amp sound really bad. That's why its been taking decades to make enough progress to where solid state is starting to sound really good. Its easy to get a good clean sound out of a solid state amp. Roland makes some of the best clean sounding amps on the market, and they happen to be solid state. Trying to emulate the sound of a tube breaking by applying too much gain is another matter entirely. Its a very difficult problem to solve, and only in recent years, has the industry has finally made some big progress.
04:15 Did I get the comparison wrong? I thought you would keep the volume knob to max and only lower the over all volume with the master knob in the second part of the video 🤔
Totally agree for this amp the difference is minimal. For a Tube amp say a Blues JR master up definately a difference (better IMO). Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for making this video I’ve been doing it with my master print all the way up and controlling my channel volume for a while it’s just a pain in the ass when you’re actually playing a lot of good it throws off all your settings so my opinion is if it’s not that major of a difference anyway, Just go with what’s easiest for you to play the gig with , If it was really a tube amp maybe I can see but for the little bit of difference that’s a easy easy to fix possibly thank you sir
I agree with the findings here. I giggle my katana with hi vol low master and as described I have easier control of stage mix with the master without having to tweak every patch. Simples 😎🎸🤘🏻
Paul - what about the amp fully "open" - both volume knobs at "full", and controlling the volume from your guitar? I know I have heard and saw some Fender amps work best this way.
Seems like when comparing full channel volume with the master turned down, you would have left the channel volume up full and adjusted the master volume for different power settings.
i have noticed a difference between the Panel & Channel. Panel is full bright as if Master is full on, to fix the Channel settings slight darker sound, bring up the volume level on the internal EQ so that the Panel is slightly too bright, and the Channels will be clear at lower Master volume.
It seems like a touch more compression/sustain boosting channel volume to between 50 to 80% for high gain settings but for clean and mid gain the master boosted and channel volume to taste.. more presence boosting master, and smoother slightly darker tone on high gain
Very useful video - thank you. Does anyone know what the 'gain', 'volume' and 'master volume' are modelled as controlling? In a tube amp we pay attention to pre-amp distortion and power-amp distortion. I'm curious, in particular, whether that is something the Katana is modelling with those controls. I generally just play around with the settings until I get something I like...but...it would be good to actually understand what is 'supposed' to be happening when I change those settings. Boss doesn't seem to have published anything on this (e.g. the Manual pretty much just says volume = volume). If the answer is nobody knows that's fine. There are a number of people online (no this video) referencing info from Boss but I haven't seen a source. Grateful for any thoughts. Thanks all, M.
I have always been told to run the Katana (I have a 50w Mk2) with volume at around 80-90% and set the master to the desired listening volume. I have not been able to tell the difference in sound between the different wattage settings at the same listening volume. I mostly run 0.5w since I am usually playing in my little studio room, anything higher would blow me out of my chair anyway. But, I have tested the same sound level with the wattage in each position and I cannot tell any difference in the sound itself.
I use master as my amp volume and level my patches. Main reason is that live (without the software) I can see where my master volume is set...my channel volume starts different on each patch because other effects affect overall volume besides the (channel) volume. Additionally, if I Line Out to the board, my master volume does not affect board mix, but my channel volume does. As my ears get "stage deaf" during the show, I turn up a bit and it doesn't affect the mix on the board...so the sound guy is happy. Just my amateur opinion.
Thanks for the demo. This might have been pointed out, but isn't the dilemma to max the master volume and adjust amp volume with the pre amp volume vs maxing the pre amp volume and adjust amp volume with the master? But I think it would be interesting to see how this compared to both volumes near noon.
I prefer the amp/channel volume 100% all the time - and I use the master volume to adjust volume. I think the volume on my guitar has more influence on tone.
All this is fine, however if you want to use the line out (for stage or recording) the master volume doesn't work. Personally, I use the clean setting (which is warm and very natural sounding), channel volume on max, gain to taste and additional drive from pedals. I only use the master for overall volume when playing live. Used this way, I find that the amp sounds and feels as good as any valve amp!
I have no volume channel adjustment on my acoustic channel. Cranked up it barely makes a difference… unless I crank the gain, but then it’s not acoustic. Al my other channels work fine. I’m stumped. never had problems before. Any clues? I do know how to make adjustments and save them. My acoustic channel is screwy.
I direct from the amp at home I'm using the mxr dookie mod pedal. I definetly notice that with the volume know very low and the master up it sounds like the modded marshall it's supposed to emulate with the volume up and the master down its sounds like that mixed with the natural sou d of the katana.
I have master on full because it was just easier to match the volume on all my presets when i go from clean to high gain. The difference in volume isnt too drastic by adjusting and saving the individual channel volume for each preset.
Thank you! I’ve heard so many different opinions on this topic, it’s good to have this video to clear it up. I gave up on the full master level when I switched from the Katana 50 to the 100 MkII, but this was great.
On SS master volume amps, I always found the amp sounded better with the master volume at 3 O’clock. The power amp is adequately fed but not pushed into the fizzy full-volume setting.
There's really only one way to keep overall volume even between channels and it's by varying channel volumes with master for loudness. I use the HM2 and Metal Zone effect though in tone studio and it does make a big difference by maximizing the channel volume instead of the master, it's ass backwards if you ask me.
I use the JHS little black amp box with the katana line I would a tube amp and it allows me to really tweak the tone the way I want without having to consider overall loudness weekend playing at home. Best $40 I ever spent
Great video! I heard the same thing you did; it seemed just a bit brighter or clearer when you had the Master dimed. You're right that it's a subtle difference. Just out of curiosity, is your experience the same on the other channels? On my own Katana 100 MKII i felt like the Crunch channel sounded a little better in the room with the Master cranked.
Will it damage the amp to run the gain at 80% at bedroom volume and slightly higher? Just bought the Katana cab and head and it is my first cab set up. Don't wanna blow it any sooner than I have 2 🤘
On my MK2 I have all channels set at the same volume. I use master volume to control level. Then I use the solo boost as a volume boost when needed... simples
If i set the volume and master level to those here shown in the video, i get severe troubles with my neighbors, even im living in a really big house ;) additionally i get - even with the clean tones some unwanted hiss - any suggestions (i have the latest firmware, good cables, no problem with grounding, etc.) - would be very thankful, cause i really like my katana 100mk2!
I wanted to like this amp, since I was looking for something that I could use for practise as well as small gigs. Unfortunately, the Katana sounds thin, muddy and boxy. If you dial up the Gain and Presence, you can get something close to a Vox, but that's about it. There’s virtually no bass, and when you hike up the bass, the amp sounds like it’s muffled, as though a blanket has been thrown over it. A far better choice is to save up another $700 and buy a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe.
The master volume vs the regular volume just until a big enough difference to matter to me being a bedroom player. I've tried it and the difference isn't very if at all noticeable to my ears. The new Centa booster is great though.
I think I actually preferred the volume on 100% and the master lower. But neither convinced me to change from my usual method of starting at 50% on the volume and adjusting each patch for balance. Do you know if you can set a volume/expression pedal connected to the ga-fc so it can control the "amp" volume instead of the "guitar input" volume?
I tend to like the master noon or higher. I have started making my own patches and have some pretty close Fender black panel tones using the parametric EQ. I keep my channel volumes matched and I’m good to go.
What I found that is if you keep the master volume down low and set your presets high your presets overdrive the power amp and some bass notes will create and awful distortion.
Adjust your master 1st then bring up your volume to desired level within master level is proper way of using master volume.. Some ppl use master crank full blown wide open only then adjust volume level to desired level ..
Brilliant, thanks so much for doing this. I've always used the master as a master for exactly the reason you described, ie when I get to a gig, I don't want to be going in and editing the individual channel volumes and hoping I've still got them balanced right. But the number of posts saying that you should max the master and use the channel volume to control overall level always made me feel I might be missing out on something special. So it's a relief to know that I'm probably not., or at least not special enough that I'd want to forego the convenience of using the master volume. It does bring up a point of design, not just about the Katana, but about any amp that has programmable presets. If you did max the master and use channel volume to control overall level, then unless you're prepared to take a laptop to a gig, you're faced with changing a channel volume using the panel controls. So if a channel preset has its volume programmed to 9 o'clock, but the physical volume knob is sitting at 3 o'clock, the moment you touch the knob the volume is going to jump to 3 o'clock. If you just wanted the channel a bit louder (eg, 10 o'clock), you've lost your reference point (ie, 9 o'clock). The same applies to any of the other preset controls. If the sound engineer comes up to you in a break and says that your levels are great, but when you switched to your blistering lead preset for a solo, it was a bit thin and could have done with more mids. You go to your lead preset to give the mids a bit of a nudge, but how do you know what it's set to and therefore what setting would give you "a bit more"? The moment you touch the Mid knob, the mid level is going to jump to wherever the knob happens to be sitting. I'm sure I've seen amps that have LEDs around each knob that show the current value of that control. The knobs rotate infinitely without a start and stop point. So if your lead channel has the mids programmed to 12 o'clock, then the 7 o'clock through to 12 o'clock LEDs would be lit. Rotating the knob clockwise a little would also light up the 1 o'clock LED, giving you a bit more. I think Kemper controls are like this, suggesting it's not cheap to do, but I'm sure I've seen something like a Line 6 Spider with the same feature.
Ye, master at full while adjusting the volume knob sounded more bright But it's really unnecessary, just EQ a lil bit with the treble knob and you are good to go
In rooms where the master at 50% or more while in 50-watt mode is adequately loud, I find that things just “feel” warmer or punchier if I switch to 100-watt and turn it down.
hi guys and hi Paul ! :) Thanks for a video. In my opinion volume around 80-90 and then playing with master - it just makes more sense i was wondering if you could tell me cuz I literally was following your advices on distortion and eq settings to create some metallica / thrash metal sound and my tone when recorded is extremely sad. a lot of hissing and a lot of weird noises. I have solar 2.6 nearly new. Is it possible that my settings are so very wrong or I just "cant play" :D thanks
@@TheStudioRats I'll say again that guitar is nearly brand new so that is weird but also what even weirder that my volume pot start crackling. But I dont think that affect it?
I haven't found a huge (significant) difference. I use my Katana for gigging in a cover band, using 4 patches. Having an expression pedal to control the master volume is extremely helpful and far outweighs the difference between the volume knobs. (Mk1 100w)
The volume knob on the Katana shouldn't be used to lower the overall volume. The volume knob is used to lower the volume from the pickups. If you have low output pickups which are very clean maxed on full volume the Volume knob should be like maxed out. The overall volume should be changed with the Master Volume knob.
Problem is that the volume is stored in the preset. This means if you crank you master and and turn down the volume you'll be good for the preset you're on, but when you change presets you'll blow out your windows.
Then go into the tone studio or save the volume settings from the top of the amp to be the same across all the presets and then use the master to control the volume for the room.
@@slingpeace - As I understand it, that is exactly how it was designed to be. I create the tone I want with the volume level of that to set by the "volume" control, save the preset. Then I adjust the "master" to whatever sound level I want for the particular listening sound level. It has always worked perfectly for me and I believe is actually the way it was specifically designed to be operated. Most of the time my "volume" is around 80-90% and the "master" is set to the correct listening volume.
@@squidly2112
So you are setting the volume at a high setting and leaving it alone and using the master volume to meter your desired volume,...correct ?
@@stricknine8623 - yes, and more specifically, I use the "volume" to set the volume of each individual patch and use the "master volume" to control how loud I want to play overall. That way, when I switch between patches with my footswitch, the volume is correct for all of my patches, I don't have to adjust any volume settings to match the overall volume (master) that I want. I believe this is exactly the intended behavior in the design of this amplifier. It works quite well to use it in this fashion. I have downloaded a lot of tone patch files and all of them have different "volume" settings. Some of those are quite loud (over powering) and some are quite soft. I re-adjust the "volume" setting so they are all compatible and then re-save the patch file. Again, so when I am playing and I switch between tones the volume is correct for the patch I am using.
@@squidly2112
Thankyou for the detailed reply.
Really useful to see it tested. I play live so I need volumes between different tones to be pretty much the same. Best way I’ve found is to use channel volume to set relative levels and master volume to set volume appropriate to the room.
That said, aside from other guitarists, I guarantee that the average audience gives not one shit about what guitar you play, through what amp and with what settings as long as they can dance and have a couple of drinks. 😉
Yup. I've been saying that forever. People in ths audience could care less about your gear as long as they like your sound and are being entertained! Only other musicians stress over these things. I don't any longer.. I just twist knobs until it sounds great for where I am playing. Done!
Yep - it's not rocket science. It's party central.
I use the Volume to balance the levels of the patches. The Wattage and Master to set the overall volume for where or when I am playing. With the idea to keep the master as high as possible and choose the most appropriate watt setting.
I use the Channel Volume to match volume between presets with varying levels of gain. Otherwise, presets with more gain will be a lot louder than cleaner sounds. I want to switch between my presets without huge changes in volume. The Master Volume is there to control overall volume. I think what Boss were actually saying initially was that higher levels on Master Volume would introduce the equivalent of output stage distortion, as opposed to pre-amp clipping. If you are after that sort of "Marshall stack on 10 sound", it follows that you would want that sort of output stage distortion. However, I don't think Boss ever said that you should have the Channel Volume lower, or to use Channel Volume to control the overall volume of the amp, to balance the Master Volume on 10. What they did say was to make full use of the Power Level setting (0.5w, 50w, 100w) to get the volume you need. Incidentally, I don't find that the Master Volume on 10 will actually achieve the "driven output valve" sound. I think a lot of the misconceptions came from the original "Guitarist" magazine review of the Katana when Neville Marten and Richard Barrett suggested they had "heard" that that this was the way to set the Channel and Master Volumes. As I recall, they then set them the other way around for the demo, and later reversed the advice in the review of the Mark 2!
You're bang on the money Nigel, it's in black and white really (literally actually). Sounds and tones in general can be adjusted and incremented with the help of the volume knob. On the end then are knobs which control the overall volume of everything already adjusted (MASTER). Then the knob controlling output by increasing the watts, which I use all the time and find it makes a major difference, meaning, when I get adjust for my preferred tone and only then increase the output from 5 watts to 25w to 50w (50w amp), it comes out with the tones I chose at 5w but now at 50w has a power that lifts the roof. And it's still defined.
Adjust the the Master down to suit or dare to increase it and shatter a few windows. Using the Master should be the final adjustment in my opinion, this is relative from the bedroom to the stage. I practically repeated a lot of what you said Nigel, sorry about that. I think things get more confused these days with info overload, so I was just glad to see it summed up like that.
Awsome coment .thanx for the info .very well said an thanx
Well said... also great name, I too am a Nigel 😆, and my last names Kennedy, but I play the guitar not really violin lol.
I also thought that if you are cranking the master volume to full then you are pushing the amp and controlling the full output of the amp with the normal volume which seems like a bad idea if you apply that to valve amps etc...
I did the same recently with my Hot Rod Deluxe, 40W tube amp and the results were:
Volume on 1: I hear nothing
Volume on 2: man, that's loud!
Volume on 3: the walls start shaking
Volume on 4: my ears start bleeding
Volume on 5-8: same with distortion coming in
Volume on 9: seismographs send tsunami alerts
Volume on 10: bring out the steak and let's cook them on the amp.
But.... you didn't take it to 11!
@@FSDraconis only Marshalls owned by Nigel go to 11.... ;-)
Buy a JHS little black amp box for $40 put it in the fx loop(dead last) crank the amp and use the black box to find the volume you like. This saved me on every tube amp I have owned. I can play at any volume and it sounds as good as cranking the amp up
That perfectly sums up the Hot Rod. I finally sold mine. Great amp, but way too loud for what I do and people warned me about that before I even bought it, but of course I didn't listen...and now I can't listen...because I'm deaf.
@@theguitargamer3372 I bought a few parts and made my own for about $15, but yeah, that was the best way to make it remotely bedroom playable.
Great video. Personally I can't imagine a scenario that Boss would design this with the notion that the best tone comes from such an extreme setting on really any of the knobs. From a gigging standpoint, you would adjust each patch volume to be equal relatively speaking and then adjust Master to the room/stage. Seems so logical.
I guess this just shows the wonderful thing about the Katana, a lot of settings really work for a whole lot of people. I personally do it by having the Channel vol on max, and the Master free for adjustments.
But whether you prefer one setup or the other, we can all agree that Tele is damn fine.
I do the same. Works better for me with master for adjusting volume.
The thing that has worked for me is to find my 8 preset tones I want for the footswitch--- Put my Master where I want it for overall volume then go in to the parametric EQ for each preset and set the level to a point where every single patch is pretty close to equal volume... So every time I switch to a different patch w the switch, I'm not getting blasted out the door. When I build a patch myself, I always start with max volume and a very low master and just tweak from that point. I think the reason there is a lot of confusion is that there are several videos about the Katana that say different things about what is the right approach. But I'm in agreement that the difference seems minimal. Just get your volumes regulated across the board with all of your patches with that parametric EQ---And I think you're probably okay to just tweak Master from there for the overall volume level of everything! Then you take the volume question out of the picture entirely. (At least for presets) That's a Juca Nery tip that has worked great for me so far. Awesome vid!
Awesome tip, thanks for sharing
Agree Exactly the way to manage it.
If you're going to be switching between patches on the fly, having those patches already preset to an appropriate relative volume is far more important than that tiny difference having the master volume dimed and twiddling channel volume each time makes.
The master all the way up sounded better to me. Definitely more clarity... It was a little more than subtle to me lol.
I gig my katana's with the master up full as the amp has more depth and punch. I use the master down at home. I use whichever power amp size suits the room. Sounds superb...who needs valves eh..
I heard that maximizing the MV was the way to go as well but I think you are right! It makes sense that when the room conditions change it easy to make that adjustment with the MV. I have been struggling with volume channel fluctuations and I think you are on to something here! Thanks so much for the insight!
They all sounded the same to me... I never turn the master to full incase a setting changes by accident (switching presets) and all of a sudden I've blown out both the wall behind me and my eardrums lol
I have the channel volume up nearly full. I also have the Master up as high as is feasible. I then use Gain to determine level. This works for clean jazz tone; it fills out the sound, gives it much more body.
This is a great relief, Paul, as I had been playing with MV all the way up at home and wondering how I was going to quickly reset the volume on all of my presets next time I play out somewhere. The answer is that I’ll do the logical thing you suggest and not worry about it. Cheers.
I'm a little late to the party on this one but I notice a real difference when using higher gain settings. You can really hear it when using the head and its little speaker. With the master at a lower setting it sounds more flubby. Turn the master up and the channel volume down it tightens the bottom up. I don't turn the master to full but I do open it to around 12-1 o'clock to start. Maybe I'm wrong I'm sure everyone will let know.
I just twist knobs until I get the sound I want... Versatile amp that's sounds great IMO...
this is another one of those more myth and legend than reality. You summed it up really well in your post below. A lot of misinterpretation of the original article on this.
Thank you Paul for doing this, as a new Boss Katana Owner I was wondering what difference there would be because I have seen so many differing opinions on this subject. I did notice a slight difference but it was so slight that at live level with the rest of the band I am pretty sure you really wouldn't be able to hear a difference at all. Keep up the good work we appreciate it.
anytime.
Good idea. But wasn't the point to crank the volume and have the master low to see if theres a difference? I've been using a 100 watt 1×12 as a practice amp since the week the mk1 was released. I've tried tons a variations and what sounds best to me is, 50watt mode ,master cranked and volume down ( or up,depending if my wife is home or not lol).
On a Mesa amp there's a setting where you switch it to one side, it feels and basically sounds spongy and switched to the other sounds and feels tight. That's essentially what channel volume and master volume knobs do. They really should be called Channel volume = Preamp tube volume. Master volume = Power amp tube volume.
With the channel volume low and master high....spongy.
With the channel volume high and master low....tight.
With this said Channel volume low/master high is better for blues, Rock etc.
With that said Channel volume high/master low is better for Metal.
If you haven't guessed it yet....the reason why channel volume high/master low is better for metal is because you are upping the amount of distortion through preamp volume. The preamp tubes are technically where heavy tight distortion comes from...not the power amp. The power amps job is to create loudness. Therefore, setting the channel volume high and master low pushes those preamp tubes harder and it's the opposite effect with channel volume down and master up....which then drives the power amp tubes harder instead of preamp tubes giving a spongier loose feel.
It's all about taste and feel and what you want in your sound, not what some random youtuber says is better...he probably likes completely different music from you! If he likes say rock like say 70's Rush, channel volume low and master high will sound better to him than the opposite so his opinion is colored in that direction.
Although thats very valid on valve amps, this is a solid state power amp and reacts very differently.
@@TheStudioRats I guess that would be the case given this as a solid-state amp, but boss claims that they set up the preamp and the power amp of this amplifier to behave like fenders valve amplifiers... And with that said my boss Katana seems to react very similar in this way despite it being a solid-state amplifier. You will noticed this effect very transparently if you use the clean Channel and listen to it start to break up as you raise the channel volume as it pushes the "tubes" harder just as a valve amplifier would... These are just my observations from spending a lot of time with this particular amplifier.
Ok, so I know this will sound crazy, but here is the way I use the amp. Playing live (just clean amp) I send my line out of the Katana via direct box to the mixer. The volume determines the amount of 'signal' to the mixer. The Master volume does not affect signal out so I can set my amp at desired volume to hear on stage without messing with FOH. My multi FX pedal does all the rest as far as clean vs dirty, or any other effects I may use. The built in tones are my backup live in case my pedal craps the bed.
Controling relative loudness between presets is a lot more important to me than this myth. My first preset is a clean one with volume at 50% and others have volume a little higher or lower than that. I use the Master and Power Control knobs to adjust overall volume as makes most sense to me since master and power settings are not saved with presets.
Good test though thank you!
exactly...the master all the way up is the WRONG setting. but to each their own
To add to my previous comment, the setting with Master lower and volume higher did sound better to me as well. Slight difference in the highs but in thw low mids too. A bit fuller sounding and the Katana being a bright amp to begin with, loosing a little high end is OK by me (andnothing a slight EQ tweak won't fix if you want that high end). It's a small difference in any case.
than you so much,i will definitely buy you a coffee after Christmas
At gig it's so much easier to set the master volume for your overall level for me it's around 10 o'clock on the 50watt setting with the 100 watt head , and use the channel volumes to set the desired level of each "patch"
good tip.
Yep
For me, the volume knob of my katana 50 has a huge impact on gain. My main crunch/distortion tone is the brown channel with the gain at about 25% with the volume up all the way. I find that the volume on the katana is like the preamp knob on a jcm800.
Agree so much Paul.. I did a very similar experiment but without a looper pedal... came to the same conclusion
What i believe is that the volume is the volume of the preamp and the master is the amp volume .what works for.my ears is preamp volume max and play with the master.
Ive used this amp through line out to a PA , it's inconvenient to have the channel volume too low as that is what controls the output of the line out signal
Max Salas - I agree!
You didn't really run a volume at full, dial back the master example for the 50/100w settings.
Honestly with the Katana, the Channel volume is to get all your presets volumes relative to one another, and the master to is to set all of them for the venue. Getting a better sound with the master turned up as opposed to the volume when recording is more likely to be about pushing the speaker than the tonal qualities of adjusting Volume Vs. Master. But it's easy enough to test like Paul did here, even without a Looper pedal just make sure your levels going into your DAW are hitting the same mark and you're golden.
Thank you for this video. While I do love my Katana, I have to admit that the huge differences in volume/loudness when switching channels causes headaches for me. I play in a coverband, so want to be able to switch between various channels regularly (from very clean to heavy distortion and everything in between) depending on the song, using presets. But as mentioned in another comment below already, switching from the clean channel to lead or brown while leaving the gain and volume buttons unchanged will blow your eardrums/windows out. The only way (at least, which I figured out) is to prepare patches in different channels and adjust the volume and gain buttons (higher for clean tones, lower for distorted tones) for every channel in such a way that when you switch between presets, the overall volume stays more or less similar (or a bit louder when distorted). Consequently, while playing live, your volume button is no longer useful to adjust the overall volume/loudness of your sound, you only have the Master button left to manually adjust that. Or has anybody else found another way to manage the volume changes between channels?
I find that I had the same problem switching between lead, brown, crunch and clean. I normally keep the amp itself on clean and save the setups that I need to the amp, or in boss tone studio.
Judging the logic tonelab is also built with, to me makes more sense to crank the volume and control the loudness with the master. The volume control is in the app too and is still part of the amp modeling stage, while the master volume is supposed to be a master volume.
@@GCKelloch bs
Thanks for another great video Paul
Glad you enjoyed it
Thanks so much for this demo! I have wondered about this and all the differing opinions. I use my Katana MKii for live performance so I equalize all the volume settings between patches and use the master volume as a master the way you talk about this in the intro. Good to know that this creates a smooth tone.
Great to hear!
I have been gigging my Katana head for 4 years now and since day 1 have run the master at about 3 o'clock (almost cranked) All I did was set my volumes in BTS it wasn't that hard. I use 6 patches at a typical gig.
Master way up feels and sounds much better to my ears. I use 50w mode almost 100% of the time. It's just as much about "feel" as it is tone for me. It feels much better with the master up.
I find the difference is most noticable in high gain settings. If the Channel Volume is very low, the simulated tube distortion doesn't saturate as much as if you increased it to noon and dialed back on the Master Volume to keep the same loudness. So for bedroom playing, I put it on Lead, Channel Volume and Gain to noon and then set the Master to whatever is comfortable for that room (usually around 11 o'clock at 0.5w). From there, I leave the Master Volume alone and then adjust Channel Volume on each patch as needed.
I have the Mk1 old regular 50 watt. I’ve kept the OS updated to version 3. I use the line out into a BBC Sonic Maximizer, then into a Boss RV6 Stereo Reverb, then into a small stereo mixer and monitor (5” ones) set up. I keep the amp on the Standby setting so I get nothing from that speaker. I use an old laptop to control the amp via USB. The whole setup was less than a cheap tube head... it’s mainly Boss so it’ll never break, I’ll have it forever. Which is good because it sounds ridiculously good at even the lowest volume levels... I keep BOTH volumes on the amp cranked to 10, and control the monitor volume via the mixer. I can shred in a “stadium” at 2 in the morning at low levels that don’t even wake up my cat. If I played live, I’d do this same thing into the soundboard and call it done. My mixer EQ settings are just flat zero no boost or cut, just one channel pan left and one pan right. Don’t go too cheap on the little mixer, but you only need the first 2 channels, so don’t get some 24 ch thing, but get a good 4/6/8 ch and you’ll be set with extra channels for your beat lab and keyboard. Best regards to all! jr
I've tried to experiment with this at home as well, but it's really hard to get an apples to apples comparison.
I haven't found anything in trying that makes me see any real benefit.
The first time that I forgot that I had it setup this way, and switched to a patch that had the patch volume high while the master was still high was the very last time I will try cranking the master!
I've never really noticed any difference on mine when I've tried this. And I agree that you would want some room to move on the master when playing live. If someone "thinks" there is such a big difference, then simply adjust the patches accordingly so you can keep the master down.
I feel my Katana Artist sounds better with volume up all the way and using master adjust. Also when recording thru usb if my volume is low then so is the recording
Well its a solid state and i get how that arguement- different master/volume settings thing, would be true for tubes but not for the katana. Great vid tho
Hey todd, I played one of those Karana amp heads, and I really liked the tone, and I liked the tone you were getting on the video. I was wondering if the Katana has any really really low-end . A lot of my original music is tuned to E flat with a drop C#. How would the low end sound would it sound real deep or very bright deep.
The Equalizer knobs on the Katana, attenuate (lower the volume) of their respective frequencies, they do not boost or increase their volumes. Some other amps boost as well, meaning that turning the knob from 5 to 0 lowers the frequency while 5 to 10 boosts it.
If you start with them all set at the halfway mark, you are really setting it for the same tone as them at max but you have lowered the volume of the signal as it goes through the equalizer, lowering the overall volume as well. This can also increase volume differences between patches. So, for the Katana, you should start with them all set to max rather then 12 o'clock or halfway as is the case with many other amps when setting up a tone.
Master up, volume to control it in my setup. I don't use preset patches in my rig, just use the amp to plug gear into. The foot pedal to add reverb, delay, modulation or boost.
I reluctantly purchased a MK2 100 a few months ago after selling a (heavy as hell) multi channel "expensive" tube amp I had for years. I went into this digital modelling kicking and screaming, however, this Katana is the best musical purchase I believe I have made to date. After dialing in my tones over the weeks it actually sounds and "feels" better than any of the tube amps I have owned in the past ... and that includes a 63' blond piggyback Bassman! Granted, I'm running into a Keeley 4 knob comp. and a Soulfood before the amp but that's standard for me anyway. For the price, features, tone and presets it's unbeatable. The first thing I did was change those 4 big chrome screws on the grill face to smaller black screws. Now I can actually look at it and be happy to. Try it you'll like it!
it does make a difference with boost. Try it with FUZZ cranked all the way up.
I think I made a comment yesterday on one of these vids about this!?!?!. ;)
I have a Mk2 Head, its all about headroom.
To my ears as long as you have it on the 50 or 100w mode and the master above 11 o’clock the detail is there. The .5 mode is a little dull and feels kinda power starved which sorta makes sense.
Preamp is for vintage guys🥱
Power Amp with effects is the real deal!!!😎
This whole issue with the master volume applies to tube amps. You don't have the same issue with a solid state amp, so it makes perfect sense that there wasn't much of a change, if any.
Here's the problem. In the standard tube head or combo amp, there are 2 power amplifiers. The one in the preamp and the one in the power amp. In the preamp you get your overdrive/distortion by applying too much gain to the input tubes. The excess gain is what causes the tubes to break up and the signal becomes distortion. A volume control is transparent and can't have any effect on the signal regardless of where you set it. Its a passive device. Since you don't have a way of overdriving the tubes with gain like in the preamp, you have to use volume. And since volume can't distort the signal directly, you increase the volume until the tubes fail. Its no different than going to your home or car stereo and turning it up until it breaks up. Its not the signal that gets distorted, you're just turning the volume up to a point where the system can't keep up. Same thing in a guitar amp. Using volume to get power tube distortion means you usually have to play the amp very loud.
The reason this only applies to tube amps, is solid state, or transistors, sound very different when overdriven or pushed to failure. Tubes sound good when overdriven because they produce what's called even order harmonics. Do the same thing to a transistor and you get odd order harmonics. Odd order harmonics sound terrible. In a tube amp, master volume is used to give you more control in how you distort the power tubes. For a solid state amp, it just doesn't apply. You always want the amp to play clean, and make distortion some other way, like with a pedal.
I don't think the industry wants to promote any information that will educate the average person what the differences are between gain and volume. Once you know that, it makes solid state amps much harder to sell. The main method used to make a guitar amp sound good, makes a solid state amp sound really bad. That's why its been taking decades to make enough progress to where solid state is starting to sound really good. Its easy to get a good clean sound out of a solid state amp. Roland makes some of the best clean sounding amps on the market, and they happen to be solid state. Trying to emulate the sound of a tube breaking by applying too much gain is another matter entirely. Its a very difficult problem to solve, and only in recent years, has the industry has finally made some big progress.
No matter how I set my volume controls, I still struggle with B7. Is there a setting for this?
04:15
Did I get the comparison wrong? I thought you would keep the volume knob to max and only lower the over all volume with the master knob in the second part of the video 🤔
That would affect the level going into the mic and mic preamp, so that wouldn't have been a fair comparison.
@@TheStudioRats Ah, I see. Thanks for the quick reply!
And by the way: great content! I really enjoy your channel!
Totally agree for this amp the difference is minimal. For a Tube amp say a Blues JR master up definately a difference (better IMO). Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for making this video I’ve been doing it with my master print all the way up and controlling my channel volume for a while it’s just a pain in the ass when you’re actually playing a lot of good it throws off all your settings so my opinion is if it’s not that major of a difference anyway, Just go with what’s easiest for you to play the gig with , If it was really a tube amp maybe I can see but for the little bit of difference that’s a easy easy to fix possibly thank you sir
I agree with the findings here. I giggle my katana with hi vol low master and as described I have easier control of stage mix with the master without having to tweak every patch. Simples 😎🎸🤘🏻
Paul - what about the amp fully "open" - both volume knobs at "full", and controlling the volume from your guitar? I know I have heard and saw some Fender amps work best this way.
Seems like when comparing full channel volume with the master turned down, you would have left the channel volume up full and adjusted the master volume for different power settings.
i have noticed a difference between the Panel & Channel.
Panel is full bright as if Master is full on, to fix the Channel settings slight darker sound, bring up the volume level on the internal EQ so that the Panel is slightly too bright, and the Channels will be clear at lower Master volume.
Wide Q on Parametric EQ, and an extra 1+ boost on both the trebles.
makes it sound like a tube amp & a bright sparkle.
thanks for your insight
It seems like a touch more compression/sustain boosting channel volume to between 50 to 80% for high gain settings but for clean and mid gain the master boosted and channel volume to taste.. more presence boosting master, and smoother slightly darker tone on high gain
Very useful video - thank you. Does anyone know what the 'gain', 'volume' and 'master volume' are modelled as controlling? In a tube amp we pay attention to pre-amp distortion and power-amp distortion. I'm curious, in particular, whether that is something the Katana is modelling with those controls. I generally just play around with the settings until I get something I like...but...it would be good to actually understand what is 'supposed' to be happening when I change those settings. Boss doesn't seem to have published anything on this (e.g. the Manual pretty much just says volume = volume). If the answer is nobody knows that's fine. There are a number of people online (no this video) referencing info from Boss but I haven't seen a source. Grateful for any thoughts. Thanks all, M.
I have always been told to run the Katana (I have a 50w Mk2) with volume at around 80-90% and set the master to the desired listening volume. I have not been able to tell the difference in sound between the different wattage settings at the same listening volume. I mostly run 0.5w since I am usually playing in my little studio room, anything higher would blow me out of my chair anyway. But, I have tested the same sound level with the wattage in each position and I cannot tell any difference in the sound itself.
Hey Paul after listening to you and your demo I would have to agree with you... I can't tell much difference maybe if I wore a headset I would...
I use master as my amp volume and level my patches. Main reason is that live (without the software) I can see where my master volume is set...my channel volume starts different on each patch because other effects affect overall volume besides the (channel) volume. Additionally, if I Line Out to the board, my master volume does not affect board mix, but my channel volume does. As my ears get "stage deaf" during the show, I turn up a bit and it doesn't affect the mix on the board...so the sound guy is happy. Just my amateur opinion.
Thanks for the demo. This might have been pointed out, but isn't the dilemma to max the master volume and adjust amp volume with the pre amp volume vs maxing the pre amp volume and adjust amp volume with the master? But I think it would be interesting to see how this compared to both volumes near noon.
Timely info for me as I’m just buying a Katana Artist MkII. I’ll take your good words to heart when it comes. Thanks!
You bet!
I prefer the amp/channel volume 100% all the time - and I use the master volume to adjust volume. I think the volume on my guitar has more influence on tone.
All this is fine, however if you want to use the line out (for stage or recording) the master volume doesn't work. Personally, I use the clean setting (which is warm and very natural sounding), channel volume on max, gain to taste and additional drive from pedals. I only use the master for overall volume when playing live. Used this way, I find that the amp sounds and feels as good as any valve amp!
That shell pink tele is GODlike.
I have no volume channel adjustment on my acoustic channel. Cranked up it barely makes a difference… unless I crank the gain, but then it’s not acoustic. Al my other channels work fine. I’m stumped. never had problems before. Any clues? I do know how to make adjustments and save them. My acoustic channel is screwy.
I direct from the amp at home I'm using the mxr dookie mod pedal. I definetly notice that with the volume know very low and the master up it sounds like the modded marshall it's supposed to emulate with the volume up and the master down its sounds like that mixed with the natural sou d of the katana.
The difference is so small and what is better anyway? I see the volume knop as a tool to level out the presets
I have master on full because it was just easier to match the volume on all my presets when i go from clean to high gain. The difference in volume isnt too drastic by adjusting and saving the individual channel volume for each preset.
Thanks for sharing!
Thank you! I’ve heard so many different opinions on this topic, it’s good to have this video to clear it up. I gave up on the full master level when I switched from the Katana 50 to the 100 MkII, but this was great.
Glad it was helpful!
In a live setting, would you recommend the 50w setting at a higher master volume or the 100w setting at a lower master volume?
I’d recommend the 100 every time no matter the volume
On SS master volume amps, I always found the amp sounded better with the master volume at 3 O’clock. The power amp is adequately fed but not pushed into the fizzy full-volume setting.
There's really only one way to keep overall volume even between channels and it's by varying channel volumes with master for loudness. I use the HM2 and Metal Zone effect though in tone studio and it does make a big difference by maximizing the channel volume instead of the master, it's ass backwards if you ask me.
I use a sound meter to set the patches with the volume so they're more or less equal. Only have to change the mv for room size
I use the JHS little black amp box with the katana line I would a tube amp and it allows me to really tweak the tone the way I want without having to consider overall loudness weekend playing at home. Best $40 I ever spent
Great video! I heard the same thing you did; it seemed just a bit brighter or clearer when you had the Master dimed. You're right that it's a subtle difference. Just out of curiosity, is your experience the same on the other channels? On my own Katana 100 MKII i felt like the Crunch channel sounded a little better in the room with the Master cranked.
Yes! Thank you!
Will it damage the amp to run the gain at 80% at bedroom volume and slightly higher? Just bought the Katana cab and head and it is my first cab set up. Don't wanna blow it any sooner than I have 2 🤘
On my MK2 I have all channels set at the same volume. I use master volume to control level. Then I use the solo boost as a volume boost when needed... simples
If i set the volume and master level to those here shown in the video, i get severe troubles with my neighbors, even im living in a really big house ;) additionally i get - even with the clean tones some unwanted hiss - any suggestions (i have the latest firmware, good cables, no problem with grounding, etc.) - would be very thankful, cause i really like my katana 100mk2!
I wanted to like this amp, since I was looking for something that I could use for practise as well as small gigs. Unfortunately, the Katana sounds thin, muddy and boxy. If you dial up the Gain and Presence, you can get something close to a Vox, but that's about it. There’s virtually no bass, and when you hike up the bass, the amp sounds like it’s muffled, as though a blanket has been thrown over it. A far better choice is to save up another $700 and buy a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe.
it depends the order that you have your stuff set up in boss studio as well.
The master volume vs the regular volume just until a big enough difference to matter to me being a bedroom player. I've tried it and the difference isn't very if at all noticeable to my ears. The new Centa booster is great though.
I think I actually preferred the volume on 100% and the master lower. But neither convinced me to change from my usual method of starting at 50% on the volume and adjusting each patch for balance. Do you know if you can set a volume/expression pedal connected to the ga-fc so it can control the "amp" volume instead of the "guitar input" volume?
I tend to like the master noon or higher. I have started making my own patches and have some pretty close Fender black panel tones using the parametric EQ. I keep my channel volumes matched and I’m good to go.
Nice one!
What I found that is if you keep the master volume down low and set your presets high your presets overdrive the power amp and some bass notes will create and awful distortion.
Adjust your master 1st then bring up your volume to desired level within master level is proper way of using master volume..
Some ppl use master crank full blown wide open only then adjust volume level to desired level ..
Brilliant, thanks so much for doing this. I've always used the master as a master for exactly the reason you described, ie when I get to a gig, I don't want to be going in and editing the individual channel volumes and hoping I've still got them balanced right. But the number of posts saying that you should max the master and use the channel volume to control overall level always made me feel I might be missing out on something special. So it's a relief to know that I'm probably not., or at least not special enough that I'd want to forego the convenience of using the master volume.
It does bring up a point of design, not just about the Katana, but about any amp that has programmable presets. If you did max the master and use channel volume to control overall level, then unless you're prepared to take a laptop to a gig, you're faced with changing a channel volume using the panel controls. So if a channel preset has its volume programmed to 9 o'clock, but the physical volume knob is sitting at 3 o'clock, the moment you touch the knob the volume is going to jump to 3 o'clock. If you just wanted the channel a bit louder (eg, 10 o'clock), you've lost your reference point (ie, 9 o'clock). The same applies to any of the other preset controls. If the sound engineer comes up to you in a break and says that your levels are great, but when you switched to your blistering lead preset for a solo, it was a bit thin and could have done with more mids. You go to your lead preset to give the mids a bit of a nudge, but how do you know what it's set to and therefore what setting would give you "a bit more"? The moment you touch the Mid knob, the mid level is going to jump to wherever the knob happens to be sitting. I'm sure I've seen amps that have LEDs around each knob that show the current value of that control. The knobs rotate infinitely without a start and stop point. So if your lead channel has the mids programmed to 12 o'clock, then the 7 o'clock through to 12 o'clock LEDs would be lit. Rotating the knob clockwise a little would also light up the 1 o'clock LED, giving you a bit more. I think Kemper controls are like this, suggesting it's not cheap to do, but I'm sure I've seen something like a Line 6 Spider with the same feature.
I think Marshall Code has a basic display with knob settings, but that's pointless cause they sound horrid.
I believe the old Peavey Vypyr’s has this.
Thank you!
Great video....now do the Bass Mid and Treble knobs LOL!!!
Ye, master at full while adjusting the volume knob sounded more bright
But it's really unnecessary, just EQ a lil bit with the treble knob and you are good to go
You crank the Master if you use the AUX in at the same time. That’s your aux and line in mix if you will.
Nobody mentions this?
In rooms where the master at 50% or more while in 50-watt mode is adequately loud, I find that things just “feel” warmer or punchier if I switch to 100-watt and turn it down.
It sounds more compressed with the volume high and master low, and more open vice versa.
hi guys and hi Paul ! :) Thanks for a video. In my opinion volume around 80-90 and then playing with master - it just makes more sense
i was wondering if you could tell me cuz I literally was following your advices on distortion and eq settings to create some metallica / thrash metal sound and my tone when recorded is extremely sad. a lot of hissing and a lot of weird noises. I have solar 2.6 nearly new. Is it possible that my settings are so very wrong or I just "cant play" :D thanks
Are you using the tone studio?
Hi Astro, sounds like theres a problem somewhere. it might be worth trying with a different guitar there might be a grounding issue.
@@TheStudioRats I'll say again that guitar is nearly brand new so that is weird but also what even weirder that my volume pot start crackling. But I dont think that affect it?
I haven't found a huge (significant) difference. I use my Katana for gigging in a cover band, using 4 patches. Having an expression pedal to control the master volume is extremely helpful and far outweighs the difference between the volume knobs. (Mk1 100w)
Thanks for sharing!
The volume knob on the Katana shouldn't be used to lower the overall volume. The volume knob is used to lower the volume from the pickups. If you have low output pickups which are very clean maxed on full volume the Volume knob should be like maxed out. The overall volume should be changed with the Master Volume knob.