Call me crazy. But I sold my Boogie Mark V25, JVM410H, Mesa Recto 2x12 and a pedalboard with 10 effects to get a Katana Artist MK2 combo with the footswitch and a japanese ESP Eclipse. And I’m SO HAPPY that I did. Now I have an incredible guitar and an all-in-one, no hassle amp that sounds great.
Bro you should of got a cheap Windows laptop I'm telling you tone studio can get your tone sounding close to a tube amp it's massive once you figure out how to dial everything in and mess with the input output setting in the software you missed out but I feel you out of the box it's not pleasing to my ear but once I used to the software it changed the amp
I got a Katana 100mk2 a few months ago and found it sounded as good direct as my Quad Cortex and preferred it to some tube amps. I then bought the Artist 100 mk2 combo which sounds even better. If I could turn back the clock I would probably have just bought one of these and called it a day. Everyone should have one.
@@george_richman Me? I have reviewed the Katana and always recommend it in the livestreams. I have a Kemper Stage now because I need app control. It all depends on the needs of the player, none of these boxes are perfect.
Push the buttons above the boosts and you get 3 different variations. You can tweak the tone/gain/vol in the software, save it and you’re sorted. The combo with the Waza speaker is a fair buy.
This is amazing content. Just a very knowledgable dude sitting down with a new piece of gear and dialing it in. No explosions, no hyperbole, no hot chicks, no life changing revelatiions, no drama, no corporate schilling.......just a dude who knows tube amps sitting down and figuring out how to get a great tone out of something he's never dealt with before. This is the kind of content that is DESPERATELY NEEDED on youtube. PLUS.......he did this without the software. Just turning knobs and playing guitar. Thanks Jarrod. I hope and pray that you do more content like this in the future. This content helps all of us that can NOT afford a bunch of tube amps. Poor guys deserve good tone, too!!
He gets some really good aggressive sounds leaving the amp stock. But, you really do need the software to get real control over the Katana. Inside, there's pre-EQ, post-EQ, compression and limiting, plus 62 Boss effects with all their individual "knobs" waiting in there to be assigned to some of the external knobs. I spent a couple of days exploring and tweaking my settings until I got an amp that I would put up against any of my other more expensive amps, including tube amps. It's kind of amazing what they have made here, and it gets a lot more amazing when you dive under the hood. The stock settings are just to sell the amp in a music store. It may not be what you need for your situation, for me it was not. I was going to send it back but was curious if there was more to the story. I found out there was more to the story and I'm glad I bit the bullet and dived in to where the real control is.
For those just seeing this…yes, it’s opening tone studio. That’s where you literally open up thousands of effects chain combinations that you simply can’t access from the panel (though you can then set the 3 choices of each effect to the panel buttons.) When I found this amp I just immediately bought to 100W Artists combos. Still less than 1/2 of one finicky tube head. Hooked together with the stereo expand option engaged. Clean. Filthy. Loud. Quiet. Stereo ping-pong. Always consistent. Do it.
That's why I didn't find it viable for live use. I hated needing a laptop to make changes for the room. I also never had 1 last beyond a year without problems. I don't believe the hype.
I have the mkii head with the v2 firmware update. It’s very flexible - even more so with the firmware update. The update has an additional EQ and mic simulations. For the price, it’s worth it. A couple of downsides are that it can’t go super ambient, and that it doesn’t have a master tempo clock for delays and other time based effects. I run an outboard reverb and trigger the fx loop on/off when needed. And I just tap tempo when I change patches - a minor inconvenience. The editor is a must to unlock the full potential. Also, the 100w head even has a little speaker in it if you want to want to throw it on a table a jam. I hope boss makes an AIRD version that supports loading IR files and higher ADA rates.
If you give the software a chance almost all of the issues you mentioned can be resolved. A lot of overdrive that all that the same tweaking options as your average overdrive. Drive, tone, low, and level. Several eqs to get endless sounds. Way more amp voicings as well with the variation button. There's actually a bank button so you can have 8 presets. Great review but I promise if you give the software a chance you'll find it's one of the best solid state options on the market enjoy!
I picked up one of these today. Holy Shit! Not a problem dialing in a cool tone. I'm very impressed! At .5 watts, this little beast is LOUD!! Thanks for the demo. Scary as it may seem, my settings are almost exactly what you have. I'm happy! I'm 66 and I still have an ear for finding tone. The amp started out a little woofy but that went away by cutting back the low end to 10 o'clock and bumping up the presence. Again, Thank You for the demo Sir🤘😎🤘
I have two 100w combo artist’s connected in stereo and I absolutely love it and it takes pedal really well. Not that anyone cares, but if you are a collector like me me and want something new and fun the 100w artist combo is the one to get. And if get the combo and don’t like the speaker you can connect it to whatever can of your choice definitely best bang for the buck. I love you review of it and your channel you tell it like it is.
For this amp, you want to coin out the master and use the channel knob to set your volume. You'll get a much richer and wider sound like a tube that's being driven. The power controls allow you to achieve this at lower volumes. These Katana's with the power control was built to do this for that reason. :)
Everyone's got their own tone preferences, for sure, and it can be extra difficult to make judgements from RUclips videos, what with all the variables from the sound system you're listening through and how that's eq'd, the setup of the creators, what they're recording through, into and how they did it and how all THAT is eq'd....it's all very squirrely at best. I've got the MKII Artist combo, and I absolutely love it. You get some ok sounds right away, but once you really fiddle around with stuff and READ THE MANUAL, it's crazy the sounds you can get. I get great metal tones...like kick your teeth in style...and I've never hooked it up to a computer or used outside pedals or fx. Part of the reason is definitely the Waza speaker in the combo. It eats everything you can throw at it for breakfast and you can tell it wants more. And you can crank it unreasonably, uncomfortably loud and it never even feels like it's getting pushed. I don't know how it fares through other speakers, but that Waza is a mf BOSS. One thing that really helped me get good crunch is cranking that pre-volume all the way and then going lightly on the master until I get it where I want. Will it ever "sound like a tube amp?" Probably not, but I guarantee that if you get your sound set where you want it, it will go toe-to-toe with just about any rig you can come up with in a live setting. And that's with just the one speaker. I can't even imagine what it would be capable of pushing one of the Waza 2x12s. And if you've got a legit pre-amp and OD in your line, all bets are off.
I have both the MK1 and MKII Artists and the MKII is a huge step up in features and sound options. The dual pot controls for the effects is really great on the MKII in that you can run multiple effects at once (5 I believe) vs simply only having and either/or selection on the first version. The real power of this amp though is unlocked int he software. I know you didn't want to deep dive into it but just a quick look through the software gives you control over the signal path regarding where the drive/amp/loop/boost/various effects, etc are arranged in the signal path. The noise gate is excellent and having the ability to use an eq before the tone stack and another one after is also huge. The combo is pretty much the best grab and go gigging amp, especially for players in cover bands. It can cover SO much territory and the GAFC footswitch lets you toggle the different effects individually like stompboxes and a simple latching TRS footswitch lets you toggle between preset bank A and B, effectively giving you 8 presets.
Cracks me up when ppl say a, “ real amp. “ The SS amps are actually technically more of a real amp than any tube amp. I know what he means but still. A SS amp is 1000% a real amp. The Artist Combo is by far the best deal on the market. The Artist actually sounded better when you played Dokken than Lynch sounded live. Honestly.
I played the last model MKII and I ended up using a tube screamer on the brown channel. Actually sounded pretty aggressive. I feel like these amps are gonna work better with a boost pedal in front of it considering what I personally experienced. I'd love to use. Fortin 33 on it.
Not sure of exactly how you set or used the Old Katana head but my bud has the 100 watt head and a 2x12 cab and he also has the original EVH 50 watt head with a EVH 2x12. He did some dialing and got the Katana to sound pretty close to his 50 watt EVH. The EVH is better no doubt but for what he paid the Katana head is killer and comes close! EVH 50 watt cost him $1400 and the Katana MKI 100 watt was only $369 new so for that kind of money you cant go wrong. I use the Katana 50 combo as my practice amp and love it! best $190 i ever spent!
hey man, you should take some time to check out all the on board features that the katana offers, theres tons of different boosts and stuff, u just gotta go through the variations by swapping through the coloured settings on each one
Sounds pretty good for a digital modeller solid state head. It still lacks the bass response that a big tube head has, which is to be expected. Not bad though.
The five lights across the effects section are buttons and give you a couple extra sound options. They start out green but go yellow and red when you press them. I've got the katana 50 but just bought the artist mkii from Sweetwater. Not sure if I'm going to go through all the software options or not because i can get great sound without it and that only takes away from playing time!
I just got the gen3 100w 1x12 combo amp. Love it! It would make my BOSS GT1 useless if it had a tuner and a looper. Thinking about getting the artist when it releases. To run in stereo. 🎸👄
I have had two Artist for years.... There is no other amp....yes amp that can conpete even with just a katana 100 that can create every tone. Hence why ita rhe best selling amp on earth for 6 years. And im saying id rather have this than a 3800 soldano i can afford
I've found that the mk 2 Artist loves greenbacks or the waza craft speaker. It rounds out the high frequencies in a good way. The built in Centaur od is pretty good too.
Cool that you demo'd this one. Now you see why I am always bragging on these things. You barely scratched the surface of what this amp can do. The amp types have a "variation" button above the knob, but you never pressed it. The FX knobs also have buttons above them, which lets you cycle through different effects types. There is even more available in the software editor. Lots of EQ options in the software. You can deep-edit all the settings for every effect in the software. It has 8 channels available to save presets. 1 through 4, but also bank A and B. All accessible via the nice footswitch. And lets not forget... this thing is $537! Five hundred and thirty seven bucks. Dude, that's chump-change for you. Why don't you just BUY this amp, and get the software going! Then you will be really amazed at what the Katana can do! You can build your own custom patches, and save them to the 8 available preset slots. You can also store multiple preset banks on your computer, and swap them back and forth to the Katana. Did you mention this thing is $537 bucks ??!?!?! Yeah you did! And yes, you can use your own pedals with it for even more flexibility! It has a really good effects loop. Once you start using the Katana properly, you will play with it more than your other amps. It's just so easy to fire-up and jam with. You can give all those tubes a rest for awhile. 😁🤘🏼
Thanks for the video. I'm thinking about getting one of these. They seem to be solid fun amps. We are in a golden age of amps these days. With that said, I'm not really sure all the gain you use would work live, or in a studio. Fun for bedroom jamming but It would turn into mud. Less gain would give the notes more emidiacy and punch and hit in the chest harder.
Thanks for commenting. I agree, it was gained up quite a bit in this video but this was literally my first time playing It. As I stated in the video, with more time, I would have dialed things in further and gotten even a better tone. This was just a first impression's video, not a deep dive. I always turn my gain down in the studio anyways because I'm multi tracking
I had the combo artist Katana for 3 years. Most dependable amp I ever had in every way possible. Every tone possible is available in this thing. Never had mine on Boss Tone Studio. The ODs in it are great just I think Jared is right about using your own OD and Gate. I've heard great tones by guys who dial in more on BTS so you may like it that way. Hope you get it and enjoy 🔥💯
I think this might be my new home bedroom player. I really like the mt15 a LOT, but I have a 15w tube amp already, and it’s just too damn loud for home use, so I feel like the MT15 would be even louder since it has 6L6 tubes in it.
The MT15 is very loud for a 15watt amp, and with the change of the power transformer, you can turn it in a 15watter, as the power section is designed to take a 50watt transformer.
Great video, Jared I have the same head and love it. So it looks like you had the variation button engaged? If you did,disengage it and try the sound .I like it better I like some of the variations but not all.Especially on the brown sound. I like it disengaged.
To get the best out of the head you need to crank the Master, as its designed to emulate a valve power amp. You then control the overall volume with the Volume control. Sounds counter-intuitive I know but believe me it works.
I'm fine with modeling amps but when you have to use a computer software to tweak settings...its kind of a bummer. Probably good for recording or use as a backup.
If you're considering getting a Katana to play high gain metal and you just want to plug right into it, this is a great review. Let's be honest, it doesn't sound great. As someone that owns 3 of these amps, I will tell you this, the Katana is not a great amp for really high gain tones. It's not terrible if you explore the tone studio, but it's not what it excels at. The Katana does a really great job at nailing low gain boomer blues to 70's and 80's classic rock tones, but what it's really great for is if you like to use a lot of effects. If you're into effects heavy alternative or prog rock, this amp will serve you well. If you want a high gain solid state combo amp for metal, the Orange cr60 blows it away imo. If you just want a solid state amp to play blues or low gain classic rock, the Roland blues cube kills the Katana. Bottom line, unless you like effects and you don't mind really diving into adjusting the sounds of an amp with software, there are better options than the Katana. If that's your bag, and you want to sound like Pink Floyd or U2, this amp is absolutely killer.
for about the same price i'd rather have a hx stomp. not saying that because i have a XL 😂 the local pawn shop has a mk2 up for like $220, think it was a 50w so this video is just a reminder i don't need it, shouldn't want it. think i caught the gear acquirement bug. 🤨
Ok so first of all you always do great demos but you were using the wrong OD in the Katana. The green light is the blues driver....you can push those lights .... LEDs and get different types of effects. When you click it to the red it's the boss super OD which does sound fantastic. In the software tube screamer, metal zone, hm2 etc is available. Never had mine hooked to a computer and had killer tones. Best pedal in front I've used with a gate is the revv G3. These katanas love that pedal . The G 8 you have I'm looking at so let me know how you like it. Like all anything revv id assume it's fantastic...thanks again for the demo you always kill it 🔥🔥🔥😎💯
The MKii fits on the bottom of my rack, right on the floor of the rack putting it through the back. It would be nice if they made a rack mount version.
I cant decide on the head vs. Combo. Either way, I want the seperate 2x12 cab. But for a difference of $30 on the amps, I would have options. Aside of the combo having it's own speaker, are there any other features on the head vs. Combo?
Hey Man 👍, Are you doing any processing on your mixer or mixing after the mic other than managing the volume? I am on the fence about this amp. I like the sound you are getting. This amp might sound good with my 4x12 with greenbacks or my 2x12 with Vin 30s but it has to have punch. I've had a couple of Solid State amps in the past and they were both thin and metallic sounding. Thanks for this video bro 👍
Thanks for commenting, I'm glad you like the video. There is absolutely no processing in any of my videos at all. Everything you are hearing is raw tones
Man! The options nowadays for up, and coming guitarists. Way better than a Marshall Valve state. That at the time I thought crushed. Until it fried mid performance at the Roach Bar in Port Huron Michigan.
I was using a joyo zombie 2 with my own pedals and it broke so i went out and bought the non artist series boss mk2 head. It definitely has a different feel but i think as far a raw tone the zombie sounded fuller. The clean channel on the joyo is actual super nice and takes pedals incredibly well. I feel like the katanas effects loop isnt that great. The first demo patches i tried were horrid. Thinking of getting the super crush 100 instead.
You do realize that booster has 3 different boosters right? See the l.e.d. push it and it changes color, and you have a different type booster. There are variations on EVERY control!
So does it deserve a spot on your shelves ? I know that would have been blasphemy in the past. If this inflation doesn’t get under control JP might end up with one.
I plugged my 100mk2 head into my 50 mk2 ex it brought the things to life , a more full richer sound , Sad thing is having to have computer access to configure patches , then being ransomed into being stuck with. Boss pretend pedal ,
Definitely curious if the PC editor gives any extra OD or FX options. I had a BOSS processor a while back and there were a few extra features in the editor. Nita Straus is a BOSS processor user, as was Simon McBride prior to his stint in Deep Purple. Definitely worth looking into. Though as always anything Jarrod plays thru, with his hands, is gonna sound killer. Great review. Very cool to see the process, of you going from, "well, let me give it a try" to being surprised.
Ive found that the amp needs to be adjusted with the software and you can get it to sound very good. The cons are the booster isn't good, I use a Boss Super Overdrive which sounds better and the only other knock is the lack of low end. So I use the overdrive and an EQ pedal and your getting pretty close to a quality tube amp. Cant beat the real thing but is nice to flip this thing on for a 15 min jam instead of firing up my 100 watt 6505.
missing out on so much w/o software there's 23 boosts/overdrives/distortions, w like 6 setting not on the amp face. External one is unnecessary, unless u like to have 2/3 on ;)
Katana MKII heads, sound great but you need to spend some time with it and like you said, use a "real" overdrive or dig into the software to tune the amp. It is not really a plug and play, if you don't mind spending some time with it and tweaking, it is phenomenal and NO it does not compare to large tube amps costing twice or more the price of the Katana. For the average guitar player and home practive amp, this is the holy grail.
$4000 boutique amp? No, but come on, have to be realistic.. But not bad at all, especially just outta the box. The fact that you can get sounds like these for a few hundred these days is crazy! My first 112 combo wasnt much less than this, 30 years ago!
I have standart Katana MKII Head and I use it with Hughes&Kettner 1X12V30, Laney 212 and 4X12 Bugera Speakers, as well direct to Sound Card for recording. It sound awesome with electrics as well acoustics and with software it's a whole new world. I definitely suggest Studio Rats Channel for education. I have also Randall, Blackstar and old Hughes and Kettner Metal Master Tube Preamp. Regardless of price (I paid 450 € from Thomann) it's a very nice amp. It also works well with my Behringer 1010 MIDI footswitch.
I sold the mk 50 watt 3 years ago as i really find it too thin and ice picking for some settings, no regret on that. But then lately quite a lot of katana mkii and artist series thing keep popping up in my feed so here i am again. It still lacks of the "roar" which tube amp has from what i heard here, is it so? Edited : i think for all modeling amp, katana probably leads the way. But this artist series head cost more than marshall origin 20 watts....
It compares to many different amps. Because it has many tone variations and settings. It can sound like a lot of different amps, even though it was never designed to "model" other specific amps. The CLEAN channel might replicate a Jazz Chorus 120, but it has a variation that also might make it sound closer to a Fender clean tone. Some people say the distortion tones lean towards a Marshall sound.
The overdrive pedal makes it sound like a mess to me. It’s just too much. Also, the amp sounds too shrilly and the bass setting was always set low. I’m wondering if there is a warmer, thicker tone possible.
With the combo version, you can run (2) 2x12 waza separate cabs too. Im wondering while running 2 separate cabs can you use the combo's speaker as well, (total of 5 speakers)?
@@weinderdog1184 Thanks thats good info. Im still trying to decide. Do you have this amp? Whats your opinion, (combo or head and cab)? The only amp I have is the Katana Air (1st generation). I love how I have it dialed in, theres just no real power. It sounds like a little radio to me. So I figure this would get the tones I like but I'd also be able to "feel" it now too. If you have any advice or other recomendations, please I'd love feedback. I just dont have much knowledge or experience with other amps. Thanks weinerdog.
@@bsquare6809 I don't have the amp but I'm very familiar with it. Only advice I can give is to just try it out in person, or try out everything, you never know what you'll run into out there. If you end up with this you'll be just fine though.
I sold a Katana head awhile back because it sounded kind of sterile to me. I never could get the tone I wanted. I bought a Soldano $239 mini head and it sounds great. I do like the fact the Katana has onboard effects. I would have loved to have this amp when I first started playing over 40 years ago👍
Katana may sound useful, but truly good...? for high gain, absolutely not..but thats ofc subjective.. scratchy dull bodyless..mt15 eats it out alive..crazy that they are same price or katana is even pricier actually...good thorough review..you truly gave katana its chance, but although i love boss and used gt5 gx700 in teh day, this is overhyped overpriced shit..orange sc100 or HK and so many more kill this
You ever hear of watching more videos before making a stupid comment like that? I review clean channels all the time. I just didn't do it on this video
Well this is THE video I watched. It's a Katana not a Mess Rectifier. It has many sounds and clean is one of them. Many use it as a clean platform for a pedalboard. You showed none of that so your review is crap as is your response
@@sgguitarzz Well I don't use it that way. so why should I demo it that way? I didn't get paid for this and you certainly didn't pay to watch it so what do you care? Go watch someone else's channel where they demo boring clean sounds. Man I tell you, the entitlement of some people really drive me nuts.
Thanks for the heads up, I really wanna check one of those out. It's kind of hard to get a hold of their amplifiers because they are so far away from me
You should try to max the master first instead of gain. mAxiMuMM gAInZ loses definition and that's what you're missing. Sounds like the old line6 spider crap with no headroom the way you're doing it.
@Carvin5150CFH if or when it sells, I think I'm gonna get the EL34 version of the 5150iii but this little amp sounds good and would free up the rest of the money for a nice guitar. Not sure yet though. I know I would regret selling the boogie because it absolutely crushes.
The presence tonality is wrong on all the katana amps, limited by money spent by boss on the driver. cheap katana, not enough presence, expensive katana, too much presence.
what’s about the mystery amp ?? U told us you wood let us know in your next video …I didn’t hear anything not a word about the mystery amp still got me by the toes u know when U got the lion by his toes I might just forget about the BBQ and eat you !!
Call me crazy. But I sold my Boogie Mark V25, JVM410H, Mesa Recto 2x12 and a pedalboard with 10 effects to get a Katana Artist MK2 combo with the footswitch and a japanese ESP Eclipse. And I’m SO HAPPY that I did. Now I have an incredible guitar and an all-in-one, no hassle amp that sounds great.
I might sell my amps too. I have the MKii head and im totally satisfied with it. Might just get this head as well and have a stereo rig
Yep that is the future.
Same lame high gain chugging
Bro you should of got a cheap Windows laptop I'm telling you tone studio can get your tone sounding close to a tube amp it's massive once you figure out how to dial everything in and mess with the input output setting in the software you missed out but I feel you out of the box it's not pleasing to my ear but once I used to the software it changed the amp
@@jeffreyfrost9747do you have any experience with the katana librarian app?
I got a Katana 100mk2 a few months ago and found it sounded as good direct as my Quad Cortex and preferred it to some tube amps. I then bought the Artist 100 mk2 combo which sounds even better. If I could turn back the clock I would probably have just bought one of these and called it a day. Everyone should have one.
@@george_richman Me? I have reviewed the Katana and always recommend it in the livestreams. I have a Kemper Stage now because I need app control. It all depends on the needs of the player, none of these boxes are perfect.
Push the buttons above the boosts and you get 3 different variations. You can tweak the tone/gain/vol in the software, save it and you’re sorted. The combo with the Waza speaker is a fair buy.
This is amazing content. Just a very knowledgable dude sitting down with a new piece of gear and dialing it in. No explosions, no hyperbole, no hot chicks, no life changing revelatiions, no drama, no corporate schilling.......just a dude who knows tube amps sitting down and figuring out how to get a great tone out of something he's never dealt with before. This is the kind of content that is DESPERATELY NEEDED on youtube. PLUS.......he did this without the software. Just turning knobs and playing guitar.
Thanks Jarrod. I hope and pray that you do more content like this in the future. This content helps all of us that can NOT afford a bunch of tube amps. Poor guys deserve good tone, too!!
Thank you so much for what you said here, I really appreciate it very much
He gets some really good aggressive sounds leaving the amp stock. But, you really do need the software to get real control over the Katana. Inside, there's pre-EQ, post-EQ, compression and limiting, plus 62 Boss effects with all their individual "knobs" waiting in there to be assigned to some of the external knobs. I spent a couple of days exploring and tweaking my settings until I got an amp that I would put up against any of my other more expensive amps, including tube amps. It's kind of amazing what they have made here, and it gets a lot more amazing when you dive under the hood. The stock settings are just to sell the amp in a music store. It may not be what you need for your situation, for me it was not. I was going to send it back but was curious if there was more to the story. I found out there was more to the story and I'm glad I bit the bullet and dived in to where the real control is.
For those just seeing this…yes, it’s opening tone studio. That’s where you literally open up thousands of effects chain combinations that you simply can’t access from the panel (though you can then set the 3 choices of each effect to the panel buttons.)
When I found this amp I just immediately bought to 100W Artists combos.
Still less than 1/2 of one finicky tube head. Hooked together with the stereo expand option engaged.
Clean.
Filthy.
Loud.
Quiet.
Stereo ping-pong.
Always consistent.
Do it.
Absolutely incredible review. Incredible playing. No BS. Great to see content like this.
You are limited without the software editor...takes it all the way there.
I concur!!!
That's why I didn't find it viable for live use. I hated needing a laptop to make changes for the room. I also never had 1 last beyond a year without problems. I don't believe the hype.
I have the mkii head with the v2 firmware update. It’s very flexible - even more so with the firmware update. The update has an additional EQ and mic simulations. For the price, it’s worth it.
A couple of downsides are that it can’t go super ambient, and that it doesn’t have a master tempo clock for delays and other time based effects. I run an outboard reverb and trigger the fx loop on/off when needed. And I just tap tempo when I change patches - a minor inconvenience.
The editor is a must to unlock the full potential.
Also, the 100w head even has a little speaker in it if you want to want to throw it on a table a jam.
I hope boss makes an AIRD version that supports loading IR files and higher ADA rates.
If you give the software a chance almost all of the issues you mentioned can be resolved. A lot of overdrive that all that the same tweaking options as your average overdrive. Drive, tone, low, and level. Several eqs to get endless sounds. Way more amp voicings as well with the variation button. There's actually a bank button so you can have 8 presets. Great review but I promise if you give the software a chance you'll find it's one of the best solid state options on the market enjoy!
I picked up one of these today. Holy Shit! Not a problem dialing in a cool tone. I'm very impressed! At .5 watts, this little beast is LOUD!! Thanks for the demo. Scary as it may seem, my settings are almost exactly what you have. I'm happy! I'm 66 and I still have an ear for finding tone. The amp started out a little woofy but that went away by cutting back the low end to 10 o'clock and bumping up the presence. Again, Thank You for the demo Sir🤘😎🤘
Thanks for commenting, I'm glad you enjoy the amplifier. I was really surprised at how good it is
@@TONEWARSgearshow Thanks for your reply. Itz a pleasure watching you put gear through itz paces.
I have two 100w combo artist’s connected in stereo and I absolutely love it and it takes pedal really well. Not that anyone cares, but if you are a collector like me me and want something new and fun the 100w artist combo is the one to get. And if get the combo and don’t like the speaker you can connect it to whatever can of your choice definitely best bang for the buck. I love you review of it and your channel you tell it like it is.
For this amp, you want to coin out the master and use the channel knob to set your volume. You'll get a much richer and wider sound like a tube that's being driven. The power controls allow you to achieve this at lower volumes. These Katana's with the power control was built to do this for that reason. :)
Gotta love this hipster talk….. What the he## does COIN OUT mean??? And where’s the CHANNEL button in the amp panel??
@@bysykler4959 Master Volume should always be on 10. You can control the loudness through the Power Control and Volume knobs.
Everyone's got their own tone preferences, for sure, and it can be extra difficult to make judgements from RUclips videos, what with all the variables from the sound system you're listening through and how that's eq'd, the setup of the creators, what they're recording through, into and how they did it and how all THAT is eq'd....it's all very squirrely at best.
I've got the MKII Artist combo, and I absolutely love it. You get some ok sounds right away, but once you really fiddle around with stuff and READ THE MANUAL, it's crazy the sounds you can get. I get great metal tones...like kick your teeth in style...and I've never hooked it up to a computer or used outside pedals or fx. Part of the reason is definitely the Waza speaker in the combo. It eats everything you can throw at it for breakfast and you can tell it wants more. And you can crank it unreasonably, uncomfortably loud and it never even feels like it's getting pushed. I don't know how it fares through other speakers, but that Waza is a mf BOSS.
One thing that really helped me get good crunch is cranking that pre-volume all the way and then going lightly on the master until I get it where I want. Will it ever "sound like a tube amp?" Probably not, but I guarantee that if you get your sound set where you want it, it will go toe-to-toe with just about any rig you can come up with in a live setting. And that's with just the one speaker. I can't even imagine what it would be capable of pushing one of the Waza 2x12s. And if you've got a legit pre-amp and OD in your line, all bets are off.
Great, now I gotta add one of these to my collection
I have both the MK1 and MKII Artists and the MKII is a huge step up in features and sound options. The dual pot controls for the effects is really great on the MKII in that you can run multiple effects at once (5 I believe) vs simply only having and either/or selection on the first version.
The real power of this amp though is unlocked int he software. I know you didn't want to deep dive into it but just a quick look through the software gives you control over the signal path regarding where the drive/amp/loop/boost/various effects, etc are arranged in the signal path.
The noise gate is excellent and having the ability to use an eq before the tone stack and another one after is also huge.
The combo is pretty much the best grab and go gigging amp, especially for players in cover bands. It can cover SO much territory and the GAFC footswitch lets you toggle the different effects individually like stompboxes and a simple latching TRS footswitch lets you toggle between preset bank A and B, effectively giving you 8 presets.
The default boost iirc is a bluesbreaker so you need the software to change it
Cracks me up when ppl say a, “ real amp. “ The SS amps are actually technically more of a real amp than any tube amp. I know what he means but still. A SS amp is 1000% a real amp. The Artist Combo is by far the best deal on the market. The Artist actually sounded better when you played Dokken than Lynch sounded live. Honestly.
I played the last model MKII and I ended up using a tube screamer on the brown channel. Actually sounded pretty aggressive. I feel like these amps are gonna work better with a boost pedal in front of it considering what I personally experienced. I'd love to use. Fortin 33 on it.
You can press the light buttons near the effects to change the booster, etc, as it sits.
Not sure of exactly how you set or used the Old Katana head but my bud has the 100 watt head and a 2x12 cab
and he also has the original EVH 50 watt head with a EVH 2x12. He did some dialing and got the Katana to sound
pretty close to his 50 watt EVH. The EVH is better no doubt but for what he paid the Katana head is killer and comes close!
EVH 50 watt cost him $1400 and the Katana MKI 100 watt was only $369 new so for that kind of money you cant go wrong.
I use the Katana 50 combo as my practice amp and love it! best $190 i ever spent!
hey man, you should take some time to check out all the on board features that the katana offers, theres tons of different boosts and stuff, u just gotta go through the variations by swapping through the coloured settings on each one
Sounds pretty good for a digital modeller solid state head. It still lacks the bass response that a big tube head has, which is to be expected. Not bad though.
The five lights across the effects section are buttons and give you a couple extra sound options. They start out green but go yellow and red when you press them. I've got the katana 50 but just bought the artist mkii from Sweetwater. Not sure if I'm going to go through all the software options or not because i can get great sound without it and that only takes away from playing time!
The mystery amp was amp was a Boss Katana Artist MKII, You got me, I was wrong. Sounds ok.
I just got the gen3 100w 1x12 combo amp. Love it! It would make my BOSS GT1 useless if it had a tuner and a looper. Thinking about getting the artist when it releases. To run in stereo. 🎸👄
EVH has a great overdrive with built in noise gate.
I have had two Artist for years.... There is no other amp....yes amp that can conpete even with just a katana 100 that can create every tone. Hence why ita rhe best selling amp on earth for 6 years. And im saying id rather have this than a 3800 soldano i can afford
I used to work for Roland. They have amazing engineers and design teams. I think the days of tube amps are numbered.
You can see it on your face that you didn't expect to like it as much as you did.
I've found that the mk 2 Artist loves greenbacks or the waza craft speaker. It rounds out the high frequencies in a good way. The built in Centaur od is pretty good too.
Cool that you demo'd this one. Now you see why I am always bragging on these things.
You barely scratched the surface of what this amp can do. The amp types have a "variation" button above the knob, but you never pressed it. The FX knobs also have buttons above them, which lets you cycle through different effects types. There is even more available in the software editor. Lots of EQ options in the software. You can deep-edit all the settings for every effect in the software. It has 8 channels available to save presets. 1 through 4, but also bank A and B. All accessible via the nice footswitch. And lets not forget... this thing is $537! Five hundred and thirty seven bucks. Dude, that's chump-change for you. Why don't you just BUY this amp, and get the software going! Then you will be really amazed at what the Katana can do! You can build your own custom patches, and save them to the 8 available preset slots. You can also store multiple preset banks on your computer, and swap them back and forth to the Katana. Did you mention this thing is $537 bucks ??!?!?! Yeah you did! And yes, you can use your own pedals with it for even more flexibility! It has a really good effects loop. Once you start using the Katana properly, you will play with it more than your other amps. It's just so easy to fire-up and jam with. You can give all those tubes a rest for awhile. 😁🤘🏼
Thanks for the video. I'm thinking about getting one of these. They seem to be solid fun amps. We are in a golden age of amps these days. With that said, I'm not really sure all the gain you use would work live, or in a studio. Fun for bedroom jamming but It would turn into mud. Less gain would give the notes more emidiacy and punch and hit in the chest harder.
Thanks for commenting. I agree, it was gained up quite a bit in this video but this was literally my first time playing It.
As I stated in the video, with more time, I would have dialed things in further and gotten even a better tone. This was just a first impression's video, not a deep dive.
I always turn my gain down in the studio anyways because I'm multi tracking
I had the combo artist Katana for 3 years. Most dependable amp I ever had in every way possible. Every tone possible is available in this thing. Never had mine on Boss Tone Studio. The ODs in it are great just I think Jared is right about using your own OD and Gate. I've heard great tones by guys who dial in more on BTS so you may like it that way. Hope you get it and enjoy 🔥💯
I think this might be my new home bedroom player. I really like the mt15 a LOT, but I have a 15w tube amp already, and it’s just too damn loud for home use, so I feel like the MT15 would be even louder since it has 6L6 tubes in it.
The MT15 is very loud for a 15watt amp, and with the change of the power transformer, you can turn it in a 15watter, as the power section is designed to take a 50watt transformer.
Was the variation button on for the entire demo?
Great video, Jared I have the same head and love it. So it looks like you had the variation button engaged? If you did,disengage it and try the sound .I like it better I like some of the variations but not all.Especially on the brown sound. I like it disengaged.
Bro I tried one of these in the 100w 2x12 configuration and I was super underwhelmed. (edit the one i tried was not an artist edition so ymmv)
To get the best out of the head you need to crank the Master, as its designed to emulate a valve power amp. You then control the overall volume with the Volume control. Sounds counter-intuitive I know but believe me it works.
I'm fine with modeling amps but when you have to use a computer software to tweak settings...its kind of a bummer. Probably good for recording or use as a backup.
You are using a computer to leave this comment. Are you afraid of computers?
@TheCyberMantis actually I'm using a phone. Get with the times buddy.
@@JRs-guitars A phone is a small portable computer. Buddy.
I’m not your buddy pal
Enjoyed this review. Nicely done!
Would you consider doing a deep dive with the Katana Artist MkII?
If you're considering getting a Katana to play high gain metal and you just want to plug right into it, this is a great review. Let's be honest, it doesn't sound great. As someone that owns 3 of these amps, I will tell you this, the Katana is not a great amp for really high gain tones. It's not terrible if you explore the tone studio, but it's not what it excels at. The Katana does a really great job at nailing low gain boomer blues to 70's and 80's classic rock tones, but what it's really great for is if you like to use a lot of effects. If you're into effects heavy alternative or prog rock, this amp will serve you well. If you want a high gain solid state combo amp for metal, the Orange cr60 blows it away imo. If you just want a solid state amp to play blues or low gain classic rock, the Roland blues cube kills the Katana. Bottom line, unless you like effects and you don't mind really diving into adjusting the sounds of an amp with software, there are better options than the Katana. If that's your bag, and you want to sound like Pink Floyd or U2, this amp is absolutely killer.
Sounded really good in the mix with your pedals. Especially for an option that costs 1/8th or 1/10th of some of your other amps. Nice job as always.
Green light is Blues Drive, Red is Overdrive & Orange is Distortion bro 🤘
for about the same price i'd rather have a hx stomp. not saying that because i have a XL 😂 the local pawn shop has a mk2 up for like $220, think it was a 50w so this video is just a reminder i don't need it, shouldn't want it. think i caught the gear acquirement bug. 🤨
Ok so first of all you always do great demos but you were using the wrong OD in the Katana. The green light is the blues driver....you can push those lights .... LEDs and get different types of effects. When you click it to the red it's the boss super OD which does sound fantastic. In the software tube screamer, metal zone, hm2 etc is available. Never had mine hooked to a computer and had killer tones. Best pedal in front I've used with a gate is the revv G3. These katanas love that pedal . The G 8 you have I'm looking at so let me know how you like it. Like all anything revv id assume it's fantastic...thanks again for the demo you always kill it 🔥🔥🔥😎💯
These amps are killer.
YOU CAN’T COMMENT ON THIS WITHOUT THE 100W COMBO W/ WAZA SPEAKER…IT’S THE BEST PART
The MKii fits on the bottom of my rack, right on the floor of the rack putting it through the back. It would be nice if they made a rack mount version.
I cant decide on the head vs. Combo. Either way, I want the seperate 2x12 cab. But for a difference of $30 on the amps, I would have options. Aside of the combo having it's own speaker, are there any other features on the head vs. Combo?
The downside for me is the weight and size of the combo. The head can be a much smaller direct rig if you want that.
Hey Man 👍,
Are you doing any processing on your mixer or mixing after the mic other than managing the volume?
I am on the fence about this amp.
I like the sound you are getting.
This amp might sound good with my 4x12 with greenbacks or my 2x12 with Vin 30s but it has to have punch.
I've had a couple of Solid State amps in the past and they were both thin and metallic sounding.
Thanks for this video bro 👍
Thanks for commenting, I'm glad you like the video.
There is absolutely no processing in any of my videos at all. Everything you are hearing is raw tones
Man! The options nowadays for up, and coming guitarists. Way better than a Marshall Valve state. That at the time I thought crushed. Until it fried mid performance at the Roach Bar in Port Huron Michigan.
I was using a joyo zombie 2 with my own pedals and it broke so i went out and bought the non artist series boss mk2 head. It definitely has a different feel but i think as far a raw tone the zombie sounded fuller. The clean channel on the joyo is actual super nice and takes pedals incredibly well. I feel like the katanas effects loop isnt that great. The first demo patches i tried were horrid. Thinking of getting the super crush 100 instead.
You know that you can press the light on the booster and call up a different boost? Also, with software, you can select boost like a Marshall guvnor?
Good stuff as always Jarrod....
Thank you!!
Great video thanks! They havent changed anything from before :) A Perect review too as an 8/10 from you means it's great! 🤩
You do realize that booster has 3 different boosters right? See the l.e.d. push it and it changes color, and you have a different type booster. There are variations on EVERY control!
So does it deserve a spot on your shelves ? I know that would have been blasphemy in the past. If this inflation doesn’t get under control JP might end up with one.
I plugged my 100mk2 head into my 50 mk2 ex it brought the things to life , a more full richer sound , Sad thing is having to have computer access to configure patches , then being ransomed into being stuck with. Boss pretend pedal ,
Definitely curious if the PC editor gives any extra OD or FX options. I had a BOSS processor a while back and there were a few extra features in the editor. Nita Straus is a BOSS processor user, as was Simon McBride prior to his stint in Deep Purple. Definitely worth looking into. Though as always anything Jarrod plays thru, with his hands, is gonna sound killer. Great review. Very cool to see the process, of you going from, "well, let me give it a try" to being surprised.
Thanks for commenting buddy! I appreciate the kind words. I was honestly surprised at how much I enjoyed playing through the Katarina Artist MKII.
Yeah, the PC editor has a plethora of FX options that you can put into the katana
@@a-nus And then there's the Parametric EQ that makes it all that much better.
Ive found that the amp needs to be adjusted with the software and you can get it to sound very good. The cons are the booster isn't good, I use a Boss Super Overdrive which sounds better and the only other knock is the lack of low end. So I use the overdrive and an EQ pedal and your getting pretty close to a quality tube amp. Cant beat the real thing but is nice to flip this thing on for a 15 min jam instead of firing up my 100 watt 6505.
missing out on so much w/o software there's 23 boosts/overdrives/distortions, w like 6 setting not on the amp face. External one is unnecessary, unless u like to have 2/3 on ;)
Katana MKII heads, sound great but you need to spend some time with it and like you said, use a "real" overdrive or dig into the software to tune the amp. It is not really a plug and play, if you don't mind spending some time with it and tweaking, it is phenomenal and NO it does not compare to large tube amps costing twice or more the price of the Katana. For the average guitar player and home practive amp, this is the holy grail.
Gotta hook up the software. It’s the only way to make it sound good
I agree. If he made it sound good without the software, he would really love it if he actually spent time with the software.
$4000 boutique amp? No, but come on, have to be realistic.. But not bad at all, especially just outta the box. The fact that you can get sounds like these for a few hundred these days is crazy! My first 112 combo wasnt much less than this, 30 years ago!
I have standart Katana MKII Head and I use it with Hughes&Kettner 1X12V30, Laney 212 and 4X12 Bugera Speakers, as well direct to Sound Card for recording. It sound awesome with electrics as well acoustics and with software it's a whole new world. I definitely suggest Studio Rats Channel for education. I have also Randall, Blackstar and old Hughes and Kettner Metal Master Tube Preamp. Regardless of price (I paid 450 € from Thomann) it's a very nice amp. It also works well with my Behringer 1010 MIDI footswitch.
I sold the mk 50 watt 3 years ago as i really find it too thin and ice picking for some settings, no regret on that.
But then lately quite a lot of katana mkii and artist series thing keep popping up in my feed so here i am again.
It still lacks of the "roar" which tube amp has from what i heard here, is it so?
Edited : i think for all modeling amp, katana probably leads the way. But this artist series head cost more than marshall origin 20 watts....
Got the artist II combo arriving... all 4 tube amps broken... bad electricity in rehearsal space.
Sorry to hear about the tube amp issues. Congratulations on the Katana
Damn that crunch channel turned into a bite channel
Most people don’t understand the tweak ability of this amp. If you can’t get your tone then ur just lazy and old…like me.
That variation button though! Lol!
Yea which is funny because I prefer all the non variation sounds
@@metalliholic same here
katana iconic shootout?
That would be such a great shootout, I wish I still had the katana here
If you had to compare it to one of your "real" tube heads .....which one would it compare the closest?
It compares to many different amps. Because it has many tone variations and settings. It can sound like a lot of different amps, even though it was never designed to "model" other specific amps. The CLEAN channel might replicate a Jazz Chorus 120, but it has a variation that also might make it sound closer to a Fender clean tone. Some people say the distortion tones lean towards a Marshall sound.
@@TheCyberMantis You don't know of one that has a ball park tone of the Katana Pro?
@@BradRocker I'm not sure what you are asking here. What are you looking for?
@@TheCyberMantis Only exactly what I was asking in my first question at the top. Pretty simple.
@@BradRocker My answer would be: none of them. Because Katana does it's own thing.
I think it sounded better or at least as good as the the MT
Are you playing an Iced earth riff boss? In the first 6 minutes when you were messing with the amps booster
It's just one of my own riffs, maybe it sounded similar to something that they did?
the "mystery" amp?
Yes
The overdrive pedal makes it sound like a mess to me. It’s just too much. Also, the amp sounds too shrilly and the bass setting was always set low.
I’m wondering if there is a warmer, thicker tone possible.
He barely scratched the surface. Warmer thicker tone is absolutely possible. The ToneStudio software unlocks it all. Which he did not use.
With the combo version, you can run (2) 2x12 waza separate cabs too. Im wondering while running 2 separate cabs can you use the combo's speaker as well, (total of 5 speakers)?
No, it would either have to be 2 cabs or one cab and the built in speaker
@@weinderdog1184 Thanks thats good info. Im still trying to decide. Do you have this amp? Whats your opinion, (combo or head and cab)? The only amp I have is the Katana Air (1st generation). I love how I have it dialed in, theres just no real power. It sounds like a little radio to me. So I figure this would get the tones I like but I'd also be able to "feel" it now too. If you have any advice or other recomendations, please I'd love feedback. I just dont have much knowledge or experience with other amps.
Thanks weinerdog.
@@bsquare6809 I don't have the amp but I'm very familiar with it. Only advice I can give is to just try it out in person, or try out everything, you never know what you'll run into out there. If you end up with this you'll be just fine though.
@@weinderdog1184 Thats awesome. Thanks for the feedback.
Hi, do you still have the amp? Wondering if you could share some patches to boss tone exchange.
I just borrowed it from motor city guitar for the video
I sold a Katana head awhile back because it sounded kind of sterile to me. I never could get the tone I wanted. I bought a Soldano $239 mini head and it sounds great. I do like the fact the Katana has onboard effects. I would have loved to have this amp when I first started playing over 40 years ago👍
Katana may sound useful, but truly good...? for high gain, absolutely not..but thats ofc subjective.. scratchy dull bodyless..mt15 eats it out alive..crazy that they are same price or katana is even pricier actually...good thorough review..you truly gave katana its chance, but although i love boss and used gt5 gx700 in teh day, this is overhyped overpriced shit..orange sc100 or HK and so many more kill this
Does this amp move air? My Daul Rec moves air and as a player, you can feel it!
Yes, it definitely moves some air. I was surprised
And now.......the MKIII.
You ever hear of also reviewing the clean sounds
You ever hear of watching more videos before making a stupid comment like that? I review clean channels all the time. I just didn't do it on this video
Well this is THE video I watched. It's a Katana not a Mess Rectifier. It has many sounds and clean is one of them. Many use it as a clean platform for a pedalboard. You showed none of that so your review is crap as is your response
@@sgguitarzz Well I don't use it that way. so why should I demo it that way? I didn't get paid for this and you certainly didn't pay to watch it so what do you care? Go watch someone else's channel where they demo boring clean sounds.
Man I tell you, the entitlement of some people really drive me nuts.
Pretty much sold
I forgot to tell you, I checked out Frog amps and they are made in Italy. The amp to check out is there called Backfire.
Thanks for the heads up, I really wanna check one of those out.
It's kind of hard to get a hold of their amplifiers because they are so far away from me
Word on the street is you took the Savage mk2 120 out of your top 10 lad?
The Savage will always be in my top 10
@@TONEWARSgearshow The street around here is so fos
A L L H Y P E
Thanks. Every other video it’s like they’re trying actively to not play metal lol
You should try to max the master first instead of gain. mAxiMuMM gAInZ loses definition and that's what you're missing. Sounds like the old line6 spider crap with no headroom the way you're doing it.
Damn, would I love to sit in that room.
Thanks for commenting. I love this room. It's my "unsafe space" lol
@@TONEWARSgearshow Love that, everyone should have a room to rattle their brain \w/
Thinking about selling my JP2C for one of these and a good guitar. I know... that's almost a criminal thing to say lol
I think you should maybe want to reconsider that decision.
@Carvin5150CFH if or when it sells, I think I'm gonna get the EL34 version of the 5150iii but this little amp sounds good and would free up the rest of the money for a nice guitar. Not sure yet though. I know I would regret selling the boogie because it absolutely crushes.
See any black helicopters flying around your house? 😅😆
We have alerted the authorities about your crime...stay where you are...
@@TONEWARSgearshow 😂😂😂😂😂
I KNEW IT!!!! lol
Mystery amp???!!!!
Yup
Why don't you just buy a Fuzz Tone!! I skipped across here as I'm sure everyone did and you played the same horrible lick the whole way!!
Great Demo -it does sound very good - nice playing also
Thank you!
Who needs tubes eh....
The presence tonality is wrong on all the katana amps, limited by money spent by boss on the driver.
cheap katana, not enough presence, expensive katana, too much presence.
YA KA KA KA….
what’s about the mystery amp ?? U told us you wood let us know in your next video …I didn’t hear anything not a word about the mystery amp still got me by the toes u know when U got the lion by his toes I might just forget about the BBQ and eat you !!
The Katarina is the mystery amp
@@TONEWARSgearshow oh well dang for 550$ u can’t beat it I’ll have some of your brisket instead of eating you ..smiley face