they both have an attenuator that brings it down to 1 watt for bedroom playing that still sounds good
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Boss Katana Bass ...
- Thread starter Phlipper
- Start date
Yeah I saw that on a video. It seemed to make it way quieter but it did seem to suck the guts out of the amp. Hopefully when you engage the 1W feature it still sounds fat. I might have to find a way to check one out in a store.
Hey how do you find the 1W switch to be like? Is it still fat and full when you engage it? Cheers.
You can still get pretty decent volume on the 1 watt setting. Feels just as full as the full wattage to me.
It’s still loud enough that I can’t turn it up even to half way in our house without rattling windows. It’s a downshift for real, but it’s surprisingly loud for 1 watt. Those speakers are nice and apparently pretty efficient.
On another note:
I will say it does not seem to handle chords very well. I can’t really explain it very well. A simple voicing using the B and G string causes the G string to lose clarity. At first I thought it was because of the bass level, but I have been using the flat amp mode and it does seem to be a little better on this amp mode, but it’s still present. I am accustomed to a true bi-amping from my old touring GK rig, and the bi-amping on the boss feels like a gimmick in comparison.
I still like the amp a lot. I have found beyond compression and reverb, I don’t typically appreciate the other effects beyond fun goofing around. Even the distortions are all “eh” to me. It’s nice they are there, and maybe other people want comedic bass sounds. I know I’m judging, but really, I can’t see myself using them for a whole song.
The basic amp controls sound real nice to me. And I am a self-taught artist accustomed to working around limitations, so I’ll adapt to my perceived weakness of the amp (it’s bi-amping and extra effects) but I’m not a massive effects person anyway. I mean I am accustomed to and prefer boutique/expensive pedals most of the time, and every one of the effects is like a basic pedal version of the same effect. Like a basic boss effect pedal. And it IS a BOSS amp featuring their effects, so it’s not really fair for me to complain about the quality level of the extra effects. They match the quality of their basic effects pedals. I have never used their higher end pedals so I can’t comment on those. But these are fine for practice or having fun with. I digress.
I really love the amp. For me the pros far outweigh the cons.
There is a second version of the BG250? I just located a BG250-112 which is (now was) probably the last demo of that model in the US. How does one tell if you have version 1 or some other version? I was surprised that the serial has so few digits.
As far as the Katana guitar amps go, having had two Roland Cube amps, a 40XL and a 60 and access to my friend's 80XL I wasn't so impressed with the Katana guitar amps. A good "value"? Perhaps. The Roland Cubes were impressive, but not marketed well (IMO).
I was at a shop yesterday and was excited to try a Katana. I was familiar with the interaction between the gain and volume knobs and some guys running into an overdriven tone if not adjusted correctly. Well no matter what I did I couldn’t get a clean tone unless both the drive and volume were on 2 or 3 and then the amp wasn’t very loud (this was the 210 model). I was super disappointed as I was really leaning towards the 60 watt model for a fun practice amp. Later that day I ended up buying a Tonehammer 350 so all is well!
It really does sound like a faulty amp cause mine doesn’t have that issue at all. Very very very easy to get clean sound and I can even put gain up a bit and it’s still clean
Did you put the settings to Panel, and not one of the presets?
Katana's are on sale at various places this weekend, FYI
That sounds to me like the exact same thing you could run into on the pre-Katana COSM/FFP Cubes. There's lots of processing in those amps and even when run completely clean, they use a lot of compression and expansion that varies in real-time to try and produce what they believe a bass player wants to hear. That's how they get quite punchy. However, as soon as you send it a signal with both a powerful sound and a lighter sound, the DSP will kind-of fight what you're doing to maintain that clarity. But it also depends on the positions of the EQ knobs, the input gain and the master volume.
I went to see katana and played it. Sounds good. Hitting the "pad" button may be necessary for those of you getting distortion you can't get rid of. It is definitely heavy. At my age, not an option without a dolly and or casters. Played for a minute the Rocketbass 210, which is way lighter for sure...and sounds good in some ways, but not good in others. I woulda bought the Katana, but the stored lied on their website and the only one they had in stock was the banged up floor model.
With my 60 year old arms. Now you kids get off my lawn!!!!
I’m actually looking at a foldable cart from Harbor Freight. The 210 is manageable, but I’m too old to be humping this crap around any more!
I have been looking for a bass combo for ages. Tried out the fender rumbles and ashdown studio quite a few times. Love the weight, but wasn’t excited by their tone.
tried out a katana 210 today. Put it on lay by immediately. Hope I won’t regret it - it’s heavier than I planned on. But it just sounded better than those other options. Always hard to say for sure in store but looking forward to getting my hands on it. Not a regular bass player any more but I want to own an amp.
tried out a katana 210 today. Put it on lay by immediately. Hope I won’t regret it - it’s heavier than I planned on. But it just sounded better than those other options. Always hard to say for sure in store but looking forward to getting my hands on it. Not a regular bass player any more but I want to own an amp.
