So I guess my concern is if it will still be too loud for a small room when set to 50 power?
If not, then having the looper effects ability will guide me to get the Katana 100 model
What do you think?
thx
It depends how loud you turn it up, but if itās too loud in the 50W setting, switch it to the 0.5W setting. You also have a master volume you can use to get the level you want.
I used to use my MK1 Katana 100 in the 50 W mode quite a lot at home.
Note that 100W is not twice as loud as 50W, and 0.5W is not 100 times quieter. If you crank it in 0.5W mode, you may still be able to mildly annoy the neighbours if you share a wall.
Also, the Katana 100 is no louder than the Katana 50 if you donāt use the 100W mode.
I would get the 100W version.
Cheers,
Keith
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hey, have you explored Kemper? Whether as the Profiler or the small footprint Player, you access all amps and effects. It took me years to opt for a Profiler, no regret at all, I play Marshall, Orange, ā¦ You name it. It is an unpowered head and have a Kemper power Kabinet, at home and plenty of juice for gigs.
How does a kemper compare in costā¦
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Well into 4 figures for the Profiler! Around 600 for the Player, then you need a speaker cab unless youāre just going to play straight into a DAW.
Hi Linda,
I have a fender GTX 50, about $400. Itās a great amp with lots of modeling features and flexibility as others have mentioned. However, be aware that the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi do not play well together on this amp (fender recommends only having Wi-Fi on to download app upgrades, then turn off Wi-Fi and only use Bluetooth.) Often times Bluetooth to the fender Tone app will not connect on first attempt and youāll have to shut down the app on your phone and reload it. It is a bit of a pain. I also had to replace the headphone jack as it was defective.
Linda,
The Boss Katana was my first amplifier and I was not really happy with it because it had a lot of noise. I was spending most of my time fingerpicking which required me to turn up the volume or gain more than if I was just using a pick. Any amp selection other than a clean channel just created an aggravating guitar humm. There were numerous blogs where this was a common complaint. Many experienced guitar players said that the noise is normal for high gain amps. That might be true, but I wasnāt happy and decided to sell the amp. Since then, I have read many articles about amplifier design and it is clear that all amps are not created equal in terms of the noise. I just wanted a clean tone without noise that I could play in my house. The Katana just didnāt work for me.
I had a Katana and have used several others and never had any issues with adverse noise, compared to other amps Iāve had.
And Iāve not seen many people complaining about this.
It sounds, to me, like you had a noisy environment.
Thatās fine, but volume is the control to use here. If you turn up the gain and you have a single coil guitar in a noisy environment, you are going to amplify the noise too.
Even the Crunch setting, with the gain turned low?
Yes, on higher-gain channels you will get more noise and, if you have an issue with electrical noise in your environment, thatās always going to be worse.
Thatās fine, but if itās a noise/hum issue, then itās not because the Katana is inherently noisy. Itās not.
Pretty much any amp you set to an equivalent level of gain and volume would amplify the hum from your guitar just as much.
FWIW, one of the worst amps I ever had for hum was the Spark 40, because the original power supply they shipped with it was rubbish. I mostly solved it by purchasing a new power supply, but the Spark 40 is notorious for being noisy.
I havenāt used a Spark 2, but I very much doubt itās significantly less impacted by hum than the Katana.
Cheers,
Keith
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Could be the environment. Could be the guitar. Could be experience on how to set gain versus volume.
Lot of variables in play.
If I google katana noise/buzz/humm, there are a lot of comments on the internet.
Also, if I google Spark there will be also be comments on noise.
My experience was that I had to keep it on a clean channel and keep the gain low.
For the year or so I had the Spark 40, I saw regular complaints about noise, especially mains hum, from the Spark in forums (including the Positive Grid forum), Reddit, Youtube commentsā¦
A lot of this was related to the poor quality power supply they shipped with the early verions.
Your posts here is the first time Iāve heard anyone specifically complain about the Katana in this respect, where it has been suggested itās a fundamental issue with the Katana itself.
Donāt get me wrong: lots of people donāt like the Katanas for all sorts of reasons. But itās not a particularly noisy amp.
Cheers,
Keith
I echo what @Majik says - I replaced my Katana with a Fender Mustang for various reasons but noise wasnāt one of them
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Anectodally, I tried a Katana at a music store with some P-90 pickups and it was extremely noisy no matter what settings I used, although I only spent a few minutes messing with it because it sounded so bad.
According to the employees, thereās a lot of electrical interference in that section of their store that could have contributed, but a different amp (tube, fwiw) that was sitting right next to it sounded great on pretty much any setting.
Whether it was indeed due to the electrically noisy environment of the store as suggested by the employee, a flawed unit, bad settings, or something else entirely, I have no idea, but that particular unit in that environment was undeniably unpleasantly noisy.
I would say thatās not normal. Iāve used several Katanas and theyāve never been noisy compared to other amps.
Cheers,
Keith
probably a bad cable
It was the same cable I was using with the other amps in the store, so I donāt think so.
In any case, tons of people love the katana, and Iāve heard them sound great on e.g. YouTube, so they definitely can sound good.
But like rileyman above, I could not get the one unit I tried to sound good. While a sample size of 2 is not statistically relevant, I think a try-before-you-buy policy is the best way to find something that suits you particularly with regards to musical instruments, amplifiers, etc., where small variations in manufacturing and materials tolerances can make a noticeable difference in the final tone.
I bounght as my practice amp the mustang lt25
Sold it month later and got Katana 100 gen 3.it will grow and evolve with you for a long time .
No regreat on my part.