In this little video, I unbox and get stuck into a Boss Katana 50 - amazing budget amp with incredible feature set!
View the full lesson at Boss Katana 50: Unboxing & Exploring | JustinGuitar
Hi Justin
Iāve just watched the first part of this course and as always, itās great. I already have a Boss Acoustic Singer Live 60, which I love as Iām principally a singer, and Iām thinking of getting a Katana Mini for guitar practice in my tiny studio. Iām just wondering how much of the amazing functionality available with the Katana 50 would be available with the Mini. As youāre my Man To Trust when it comes to this sort of thing, I wonder if youāre able to give me any advice about this? After decades of being just a folk singer Iāve bitten the bullet, got myself a Tanglewood electro-acoustic guitar and started blundering my way through the complexities of amplified music. Any help would be appreciated.
Kind regards
Steve
Really enjoyed the video Justin. I have just bought a Boss Katana 50EX and am loving it. Need some help on saving patches to the GA FC footswitch please.
When I bought my 1st electric Guitar, I bough this amp. Tried to play with the knobs according to āyour methodā : FAFO coupled with the usual ādid not RTFMā.
Thanks for the video, as there is so many things I didnāt understood.
I bought a Katana 50 Mk II when I got back to playing about 5 years ago. For my purposes of basement playing and recording itās great. Its light weight would also be an advantage if I gigged or attended jam sessions. I still need to dive deep into the Tone Master software; from the little Iāve played with it the potential is enormous and Iāve barely scratched the surface (so many toys, so few hours). My understanding is that the newer Gen 3s are meaningfully better than the Mk IIs but I havenāt explored that and I canāt really justify upgrading.
I have the 100 watt amp, I wanted the loop. Anyway, another good source about this amp are the studio rats on youtube. Check it out.
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Hi Steve,
I liked your question. I have also been looking into the Boss Katana mini, and I was wondering if you decided to buy one? If so, do do you have any comments to share?
I donāt really want to buy a Katana 50, because Iām assuming it will be impossible to maintain the the sound quality, at the volume levels I want to use to avoid annoying the neighbours. Iām currently using a Blackstar Fly 3, which is a great practice amp, but Iām looking for more versatility and better sound quality. The other option I am thinking about is the software route, where everything is simulated using a computer, using a DAW with an amp plugin like Amplitude or Bias FX.
Thanks.
Mark
Hi Mark, I donāt own a Katana, but as far as I know, youāre wrong here. I believe the Katana is supposed to have a setting for playing at bedroom level without losing sound quality - one of the reasons why it is often recommended here on the forum. When using the search function the forum, you should find loads of posts about the Katana and itās use as a āhouse ampā.
I donāt have one, so I canāt say how it sounds, but it has a Ā½ watt setting.
Yes, exactly this. If you want an amp that you can use for both bedroom playing and taking to band rehearsals, the Katana is a good option.
If you only want it for bedroom level playing, and never need it to be loud then there may be better options, some in the Katana range, which will be more portable and take less space.
When I was living in an apartment and couldnāt play loud, I had a Yamaha THR10ii which is designed to be used at low volumes, and also doubles as a Bluetooth speaker.
Yamaha pretty much pioneered this form factor of amp and are still considered one of the best, although thereās lots of alternatives available from other vendors these days, including a couple of Boss Katana models.
Something like this might be worth considering.
I still have and, occasionally, use my THR for quiet home practice.
Cheers,
Keith
I have a Katana 50. You can set the wattage to 0.5 and can get a decent tone without it being too loud.
With that said, Iāve lately found myself a bit dissatisfied with the Katanaās clean toneāno matter what I tweak it still sounds a bit thin and fizzy. Iāve followed all the tutorials, tried different settings, messed with the parametric EQ, fussed with the global EQ, and I just canāt get it to where I want. It has me considering saving up for a tube amp (which will have the volume problem, I assume) or a Nano Cortex or similar.
I think the Katana can sound great, depending on what you are looking for, but if youāre fussy about your tone you might find it is a bit of a pain to dial in. For me, who plays clean / edge-of-breakup 99% of the time, itās starting to feel a bit wanting, and I am past the point where I want to sit and fiddle with effects all day.
All this to say it might not be a significant upgrade over your Blackstar. Ideally, you can take your guitar in and try it at a shop but even then be mindful of the fact that you will probably play it louder (and in a large room, I assume) than your space at home.
Oh, it would be!
The Blackstar Fly is a nice little portable practice amp, and I have used one in the past when I was camping and didnāt want to drag around a load of stuff.
But they are very limited tonally, largely because of itās small enclosure and speaker, and lack of DSP trickery that more modern units utilise to sound decent in a small box.
It also doesnāt have a wide range of tonal settings compared to something like the Katana.
This isnāt to say the Katana would necessarily be the best for him but, comparatively, it would be a significant upgrade.
I would say pretty much anything in a larger enclosure would be a significant upgrade.
Personally, I never found that an issue. But, suffice it to say, if heās coming from the Blackstar Fly 3, I doubt he is that fussy about getting a specific tone.
Cheers,
Keith
Fair enoughāI am not familiar with the Blackfly. I think one of the other issues with the Katana is that there are so many controls (especially when you dig into Tone Studio) that the options can be overwhelming. For me, I find myself longing for something simple I can just plug into and run with. I know a lot of folks love the Katana and can get tones they love, but I find myself always wanting to tweak and adjust because I am never quite satisfied. It certainly is āgood enough,ā but sometimes I wish it was a little warmer, richer, etc.
As the owner of both a Katana 50 MkII & a Harmony H605 5watt tube amp (both have built in attenuation) I believe that the best clean tone comes from the Harmony. That said, I really enjoy the built in effects the Katana has. Itās definitely more versatile than the Harmonyā¦ theyāre different but both have their advantages & strengthsā¦
That said, if I could only have one itād be the Katana (although I would miss the effects loop of the Harmony a lot).
Have fun choosing!!!
Tod
My Katana 50 Mk II has 3 power levels. I generally leave it at the lowest level, 0.5 watts, which is plenty for playing in my basement room. It also offers 25w and 50w levels and can get plenty loud at those settings. Itās a blast to switch to the 50w setting and crank out the Godzilla riff for a few minutes; very cathartic. 
My experience is that the sound quality doesnāt vary noticeably among the 3 power levels. The Gen 3 appears to have the same capability, although the labels are now 0.5 / half / full, rather than wattage values.