'Evening folks! I changed my avatar to introduce my new fave duo right now. Nah, the Ampeg tube rig didn't get replaced, but I hadn't bought a combo for what seems like months and had a hankering to try the new BOSS bass amp series out. I don't think I'm quite ready to give it a full review mainly because there's so much I haven't tried yet and feel I need more background in case there are questions from the club. I will say this, I don't know what Roland did, but the hype is somewhat true; this thing grew a major pair underneath its chassis and I like it!
This, the Katana 110, is the smaller of the two models currently being sold. The other combo, the 210, is a 160-watt, two ten, with the exact same layout as the 110. Mine is a 60-watter, but if you know or have owned anything from Roland, you know they're historically beefy products. I'm not gonna get into the Class-D vs. Class A/B argument that TB has had going on the past couple of months in some threads, but my 60-watt Markbass combo hid under the bed after the Katana's first open E-string!
And after promising myself I'd bever go back to a modeling amp after the Stage 800, I am finding this one the perfect compromise between having no options to too many. Work if from the top panel and its happy as a clam (and so am I) or hook up a USB cable, the Bluetooth adaptor I ordered to go wirelessly is sitting on a boat somewhere lost, and open up the BOSS Tone Studio and find a plethora of pedals, preset tones, and enough to keep ya busy until the next gig. As of this evening, I created my first keeper for a song from Les Mis we're working on. I wanted a fat double bass tone to work with the orchestra I'm playing along with and the Katana handed it to me in spades. Yep, the tube rig would've offered me probably an even warmer tone, but this one is surprisingly pleasant to use. I'm running through their Vintage preamp, one of three to choose from, slight compression, a defretter, and chorus; all from one unit and nary pedalboard to be seen. All I know is as I worked on the tune tonight it matched up perfectly with my Hofner bass and that's exactly what I was aiming for when I bought it. It cuts through the other music way better than my other combos...yes, even my Rocket Bass 112.
I'm using it primarily for working in Command Central and no plans on schlepping it anywhere. Though the box is compact, it is nearly 40 lbs and a chunk to haul to and fro. The bigger brother is just under 60 lbs; not much 20 years ago when every guitar amp I owned weighed 40-60 lbs, but today with all the lightweight gear we've gotten spoiled by it. Still, if the occasion came up and I thought I could get away with this combo working, I just might try it outside these walls.
The Katana isn't gonna do the Phil Jones' clean-as-a-whistle tone, and though there's an Ampeg preset in their library, I'm not buying that one either. But I'll tell ya what I do think it sounds like...an old Fender lead sled when men were men and transformers were king. It's got that wallop in the bass region, a slightly scooped mid (though with its four-band onboard EQ, plus graphic and parametric EQs in the library, there'll be no problem getting out whatever sound I'm looking for. But first hearing, I thought to myself, they stole from Leo! It's very nice though and I'm completely happy with the tone I'm getting or can create, at least for this week.
So at this point, am I recommending it? Nope, I still need to do some experimenting (minus the oobleck, thank you) with the features before deciding to put my complete support behind it, but if you're looking for something new that doesn't use the same ICEpower module as everyone else, then I recommend checking one out at your local store and seeing what you think. I've read where some didn't like it, but quite a few have bought one combo or the other and are quite pleased with their purchase.
Okay, that's it for now. Feel free to chime in if you have a question or wish to make a comment. I'll be around this weekend so I'll make sure to stop by and respond. The two pics below are one of the control panel and the other is the Katana sandwiched between my two Beatle basses. Thanks for reading!
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