I just got my brand new BOSS Katana Artist this evening! OMG! What a beast. Since the family was home, I couldn’t really crank it, though I doubt I’ll ever really crank it at 100 Watt because it’s LOUD – even at .5 Watt. So I played around with it with my Les Paul, trying out the different gain settings, and trying out the effects.
But what I was REALLY interested in was the Line Out because I want to be able to plug this puppy into a board. On top of that, I wanted to see how my acoustic guitar sounded through the amp and the line out, because I will using the amp this Sunday at church and will be plugging it into the board.
But before I did that, I set up the amp to get a good sound through the speaker with my acoustic. It really didn’t take long at all. I just had to get the right Gain and Volume settings and do some minimal tweaking of the EQ by rolling off the highs (if I have time, I’ll probably use the 7-band Graphic EQ in Tone Studio to really dial in the EQ. But rolling it off just a smidgen got me real close.
Once I had it dialed in, I plugged in the Line Out and hooked it up to my audio interface and into GarageBand. It sounded extremely close to the live sound! I did set the Line Out Air Feel to “Live” for a distant mic simulation, but even the “Rec” setting, which is a close-mic simulation didn’t sound all that bad. But the extra “air” gave the guitar a little depth.
Inspired, I recorded a few quick tracks to demonstrate how good it sounds. Check it out:
As expected, yes, there are bits of digital traces in the tracks. But you really have to listen for them. Plus, I’m using a regular instrument cable running from the Katana to my audio interface (I have a couple of TRS cables on order). I’m expecting much better sound once I have a balanced cable. But the important thing is that running into a board, it’s going to sound awesome! What I’m looking for is a usable tone that I can send to the PA without having to mic the amp, and that tone is much more than usable.
Mind you, these tracks were recorded with no EQ or filtering whatsoever. The reverb and slight delay were applied at the amp and not in GarageBand.
One thing I was particularly keeping an eye on was the waveform for each of the tracks. If the Line Out was overly processed, there would be very little dynamics in the wave form. But the waveform for each track looks like the guitar was miked!
The picture says it all. The Line Out maintains the dynamics of what I’m playing. No compression; or little if there is any at all. It really is awesome. The sound is natural with none of those midrange transients so reminiscent of a plugged-in acoustic guitar that you hear on recordings. I’m going to have no problem using this amp plugged into a board or an interface!
To be completely transparent, I didn’t lay down any tracks with my Les Paul because I didn’t like how the wave forms were looking. But that was more a function of adding a track to an already mastered song. I will do a raw recording once I get used to dialing in the overdrive settings.
I know, providing sound samples is a little backwards compared to my usual method of doing a review, then following it up with a studio test. But I was so impressed with how the Line Out worked with my acoustic that I just had to put it out there!
Guitar Gear 
I’m producing a Molly Tuttle show in Palo Alto Sept 30.
What’s the venue?
Goofydawg, how to respond. You obviously have some kind of love affair with the Boss Katana. I have heard the amp and find your fawning unmerited. That it does the sound you love is quite obvious. That the amp actually sounds like shit if you aren’t into that “one” particular sound is equally obvious. The Boss Katana is like all Boss products, it has a limited set of users and those people are looking for one thing in particular(cheap sound). Your assertion that it is a tube amp killer may be the truth for you, but to the rest of us, it has all the shine and charm of the “Black Spirit” tube emulator, which is to say, not much. This amp will never replace the actual sound of a fully overdriven Marshall or the killer tone of my greatly loved Mark V. But if you want to play some old style blues and aren’t looking for the response of tubes to pick attack (like losing the initial transients, and the response to picking intensity), then this amp might serve your needs. If you love multi effects units, this might be for you (if you cannot afford Fractal or Kemper), but frankly I like Metal, and Line 6 does a much better job at anything harder. (or v-amp, or digitech…etc etc etc)
You’re certainly entitled to your opinion, Tim. But it’s obvious by your comment you really haven’t spent much time with the amp and probably just messed around with it in a guitar store. Yes, I do have a bit of a love affair with the Katana. Is it a tube amp killer? Not at all. And I never asserted that in the first place. I still have all 8 of my tube amps precisely for the reason you mentioned.
But as I have said over and over again, the Katana isn’t trying to cop the sound of a Marshall or a Fender or a Boogie. It has a sound all its own and yes, at least to me, and thousands of others across the world, the sounds it creates are very pleasing.
Still, I’m wondering based on your comments, especially your comment about pick attack and dynamics, if you have even played the amp or at most just messed around with it at low volume in a Guitar Center. The response and dynamics of the amp are pretty incredible, but you’d never know that if you played it at low volume in a store. Plus, I think the amps are set up to sell, not play. So the default settings definitely need adjusting. Not much, but it does take a little bit of time to dial in your sound.
And being a Metal guy, I bet the first thing you did was crank up the boost effect and gain and volume. Of course, it would sound like shit if you did that. 🙂 And just so you know, I don’t use any of the effects on the amp. I run it mostly clean with the gain set to overdrive if I attack the strings or turn up the volume on my guitar. The effects aren’t what sold me on the amp as you may have implied.
The cab sim. can be avoided on acoustic sounds by using the send of the loop. A jack must be inserted in the return and the loop must be in parallel. This gives a much better acoustic sound. I’ve added a Celestion F12-X200 FRFR speaker in my Katanas, mostly to run my Helix, but it doubles nicely as an acoustic amp now. I use a jack to XLR cable on the send, to send to FOH.It matches better with a mic input on the board. I set Loop to past reverb 😉 FWIW p.s. My Katanas are mk.1 112 models
Hey homes! I’d really love if you could elaborate on how that Katana w/ F12’s is treating you with your helix. I’m desperately trying to figure out how I can make this Celestion F12 work for me.
I’m loving them. It’s the smartest, best sounding, most versatile setup I’ve ever had. Celestion has just come out with a newer model F12 but I can’t be bothered, I’m totally happy with my setup as is 😉 I run a lot of different speaker IRs, it it’s such a buzz to think; What would be the right speaker for this amp? And then proceed to load an IR, not having to physically change the speaker. After I’ve got my Helix my soldering days are almost over now, I have saved soo much money in that department 😉
That’s awesome! I think I should give this a shot. I hate the PA speaker type of setup. Is your katana 50W or 100? Thanks!!
100w And running 2 in stereo, so I can’t imagine running out of power or headroom. Katanas are Loud SS amps.
And no transformer hum/noise 😉
Christian, I just read your comment closely. That’s a GREAT suggestion! I’m going to try this.
Have you given a bass guitar a play through it? I am also going to be doing some mild bass playing. That would be the only drawback for me—I saw people on the forum saying this speaker wouldn’t catch those lower frequencies, but I also don’t want to believe that. Thanks for answering my questions!
I can’t possible imagine that bass would be a problem, not for the amps, not for the speakers. There is the possibility of some cabinet rattlings… I have tilt legs added to my amps so they project a lot of low end by their position on the floor. The amps are open back though so some low end will be lost FWIW
Btw. I have some serious bass presets made, but I haven’t had a chance to take them for a ride yet (live playing). But here at home they work fine 😉 I play 4 string bass, I do not own a 5 or 6 string bass, they may be a challenge….
Excellent! Thanks again. This seems like a very creative solution that is vastly underrepresented. I am quite certain I’ll go for it now. Rock on!
I’ve screwed around with my P-Bass plugged into the Katana and it can handle it. To capture the low end, I duct-taped a plank over the opening to seal the back. It worked okay.
Thanks for this. Don’t know if you are still monitoring this post but a quick question: Have you tried switching from your acoustic to your les paul during the same session? Specifically, I’m wondering if i can route my electric and acoustic through the katana, out to a DI, then into the board for front of house? How does that impact EQ on the board? Thanks!
I have indeed used both acoustic and LP in the same session. What I found works best is to set the board to neutral – everything right in the middle – and do all EQ from the Katana itself. I have an A/B box to switch guitars, and have set up my “channels” to switch to the appropriate banks for acoustic and electric. The challenging thing in the setup is making sure I’ve got the right volume set for each guitar so they’re fairly even when I make the switch. But an FOH guy will be able to adjust output at the board. In my church, where I don’t have an FOH, I run the board, so I can adjust gain myself.
Also with the Artist or the 100, you have a great line out, so no need for a DI. That said, it’s best to use a 1/4″ TRS cable out of the Line Out and then run that into an XLR converter to go into the board. I have a 3′ TRS, that I plug into a 1/4″ to XLR converter, then run whatever length XLR cable I need to go into the board. I usually just use a low-cap 25′ cable. Hosa makes a great low-cap cable that’s also very inexpensive. No need to go to something like a Mogami. Hope this helps!
so helpful. thanks so much!