Latest update:
I visited PMT London today and they had both the Fender Mustang GTX100 and the Boss Katana 100 MkII amps (I might as well test the Katana while I was there since everyone raves about them). The staff there were very friendly, they setup me up with a Fender Strat and gave me free reign to try out both. I spent around 40 mins. with both amps. Here’s what I felt about them (just my personal preferences and initial impressions, as this is nowhere close to being an in-depth review):
-
The Fender has a very easy to use and intuitive interface with the physical knobs as well as the digital LCD screen. I could not only scroll between presets, but even customize them (tweak existing FX or add new ones) pretty easily without using the mobile app (I’ll still be using the mobile app, but this is good for quick on the fly tweaks and adjustments). That’s very convenient. I could also see all the FX and the levels they were configured with on this little LCD screen. It’s tiny but well laid out, has good resolution, and provides great feedback on the settings and any changes I made to them.
-
The Katana in comparison, while simple to use and intuitive in terms of having straightforward knobs, preconfigured sounds/amp models (clean, crunch, etc.) but the lack of any kind of screen was a definite negative for me as I couldn’t see what FX were being used. Since this amp doesn’t have a mobile app, this would force me to use the PC app which is too cumbersome for me.
-
As with most modeling amps, out of the 190 presets saved, I only liked a handful of them which is to be expected, maybe 10 of them at the most. That being said, the ones I liked, I loved. Most of them were Fender amp models: Twin, Deluxe, Blues Junior, Princeton not so much. I even liked some of the high gain ones, but keep in mind I only know the basic version of Zombie to test those out with. So I played around with the presets I liked, tweaking the EQ, gain, reverb and even adding some Overdrive FX to them. I loved the variety of sounds I could get with just those few amp models.
-
Generally speaking, I liked the Fender tones much better. They sounded fuller than the Katana to me, and I especially liked the tones when I added Overdrive to them on the Katana more so than the Katana. Of course the cleans on the Fender were absolutely beautiful! Literal music to my ears (pun intended)
-
I thought the attenuation levels/knob on the Katana would be a must for me, however, using both the Master Volume and Volume knobs on the Mustang worked better for me. I especially liked that the Volume knob adjusted the preset volume level as they each have different volumes (which was an annoying thing with my Marshall Code 25 as I had to edit those through the app and couldn’t do it using the physical knobs).
So overall, getting the chance to play around with both amps next to each other was a great experience that confirmed my choice of the Fender Mustang GTX100. Am I biased? Oh for sure! I’ve been practicing with Mustang Micro for the past 3 weeks, but I’m not reviewing these amps for other people just for me and my tastes and preferences. I’m sure that both amps can do a lot more once you get into their respective FX editing tools (Fender Tone & Boss Tone Studio), I just wanted to know which one sounded better out of the box for me.
Now unfortunately, PMT can’t ship directly to Kuwait if I order through their website. I’d have to order it here in London, and take it as extra luggage on my flight back to Kuwait which is a hassle and more expensive. Luckily, Thomann do offer door-to-door shipping directly to Kuwait via UPS Express, so I’m talking to them to place that order for me to hopefully receive it in a few weeks once I’m back home in Kuwait.
Thank you all again for your feedback and inputs, as it’s helped me narrow down the right amp for me that will hopefully carry me through the upcoming stages in my guitar learning journey 