I am very torn on this review.
"The Boss Katana promises very high praise and delivers on...some of that? Kinda?
Right off the bat, the good parts. It’s not super expensive, very moderate priced amp with very high power. It's LOUD, it is super loud for the size and weight, and has plenty of range to use in a small room or a bigger home studio jam session setting. The sound quality is great, I got this hoping I could use it as a guitar amp and a bass amp for less than the combined price of both, and it does work. Great guitar tone, decent bass tone, not ideal for a bass but functional.
Now the bad parts:
The software they use was defective in a lot of them, so the plug-in interface to the computer is rendered entirely useless. If you get ANY of the many stockpiled Katanas with the old software, you basically can't use any of the digital interface, or computer link, or the ability to connect it to a laptop/desktop in any way. Boss customer service is nonexistent, they do not help you, refund you, or compensate. You are on your own either with a defective product or attempting a high risk 3rd party install thing that only a computer whiz can even figure out, and one oopse and it's a brick, no refunds.
It's a terrible way to do business, the Roland company can (explicit) my (explicit) straight to (explicit) with gusto, BUT for the price you do get a very good standard purpose amp. So this is still a good deal if you don't care about the computer interface...but the whole advertisement for this is how insanely versatile that interface feature is, and you lose all of that. If you just want a cheap priced amp with 4 channels you can dial in, that works great for guitar, and okay with a bass, then it’s worth the money. If you actually wanted the computer interface and the ability to download and program tones on your computer, then don't risk it, you may get screwed. There is no help available, you are on your own with that. All the reviews neglect to mention that, I assume because they send the updated and checked ones to youtubers and reviewers and make sure they don't get the older ones with the bad software floating around in warehouses. So consider your expectations. I use this amp constantly and it's a great little amp for the price, but I was promised miracles and given none of that. Tread at your own risk here, gents, the hardware is great, the software is terrible, the results will vary and once they have your money, your not their problem anymore. That's not an Amazon problem, it’s the Roland company."
Just exactly right.
"2 hours after delivery, i was playing this amp at an outdoor stage in a popular beer garden in a college town.
It took me about 15 minutes to scroll through the amps, figure out how the knobs really worked, and I was ready to go. The amp is plenty loud for any gig I’m going to be playing. I had the volume on 3-4 and it floated over a full 5-piece blues rock band jus fine.
The only effect i used on the amp was the reverb. I’ve got a pedalboard with all my sounds dialed in, i just needed something that would approximate a Deluxe with a little crank to it- clean channel with the volume almost all the way up and global master volume to control the actual amplitude.
The “50” doesn’t accept the larger boss pedal controllers, so switching FX on the amp is gonna be a pain in the Kiester. The fx i did audition sound just fine— maybe later i’lll update to the “100” so I can utilize the onboard fx efficiently.
I can’t comment on longevity or customer service, but if you’re looking for an amp that you can take to a gig proudly that will sound very much like your favorite amps, depending on how you dial it in, this amp at this price is a f’n no-brainer."
