Dude, it's cool to see a real musician tackling and documenting real road and touring problems, like hauling around a ton of gear and dealing with excess weight. Nowadays, with so many options - pedals, pedalboards, digital amps, plugins - it's nice to see other musicians' practical solutions in action. I was facing the same issue playing in São Paulo, Brazil, doing about 15/20 shows a month, lugging around a big pedalboard, two guitars, and two amps - exhausting stuff! I ended up stumbling upon the exact same solution as you with the Boss Katana, but I opted to get the Boss footswitch instead, now I only carry that along with my drive pedal - it's been the best solution I've found! I like to say guitarists have two phases: when they start playing and want the most professional outcome possible, which usually involves loading up on gear, and then the phase where they get tired of hauling all that stuff around and want to streamline, while maintaining the same level of quality and professionalism. I think I'm entering that second phase now, haha! Great video! Keep up the good work!
I have been using your AC15 and Deluxe Reverb patches for a few months and they are fantastic!! Thank you for sharing. Would love to try more of your patches.
Great video! It is great to see the Katana being used in a real world pro setting. Also enjoyed the grill customization - nice little touch. Awesome stuff! Subbed.
Thanks Gary. I have a video on how to change the grill cloth if you're thinking of doing it too ... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-sLJMmdzclV8.html
This is great content. Just the info I need. There is a lot of snobbery in the guitar/amp community about amps like the katana, but I am convinced that the katana 100 mk 2 is a great gigging amp. It's relatively light, loud, and has all the tones you need for a gig without even using the tone studio. I only use the controls on the top of the amp for my tones and have had no complaints yet. Secret weapon of the boss Katana is the boost and gain. Everyone who has heard me play the clean channel with boost gain, reverb, delay and tremolo says it sounds "like butter". Crunch channel is great for slide with minimal reverb and delay and the lead channel works great for cutting through a mix. Trick is to keep it simple. Also, they're everywhere. You can find a katana anywhere and dial in the tones you need in seconds if just using amp controls. Plus it's cheap!! So if it gets banged up you're not going to be crying about how your expensive vintage got ruined.
Totally agree. And that's cool to hear you use the boost as well. I have that boost in my settings as well. I think it really helps. But also, the sounds just straight out of the box are great. I'm not sure I would buy a tube amp anymore.
That is great man! CONGRATULATIONS ! This goes to show that inexpensive equipment can also work very good on stage, if well tuned. Do you remember seeing those video's of a guy who took on a 100 day Tour using a cheap Harley-Benton guitar worth 100 dollars? It worked Very Good too ! I am subscribing to your cool channel - great content !. Thank you
Blue, you just popped up in my recommendations. Nice to see Canadian content here. I see you're approaching the 1,000 mark also. You're about 50 ahead of me as it's taken me 5 years to get to this point. So I gave you one more to get you up to 967. Once you hit the 1,000 you can do some live streaming stuff has RU-vid opens that door. Nice playing. This is the first time hearing of this stuff in Canada. I used to listen to country in the 90s when I thought it was really good but then it got two poppy for me and I let it go I went back to classic Rock from seventies in the 80s as I'm an old fart. Now I'm going to have to go back and research all the videos you put up to see what I like. All the best to you, Mike
I have a Mark 1 212, and it’s a little more complicated with having to pick or choose what you want to use as far as settings and FX (for stacking), but does the job and sounds great. I really enjoyed the little EQ tweak when plugged into the computer where you can give it a Vintage, Modern, or Deep feel. Vintage is exactly what I needes
I'm just a 'bedroom' (living room, actually-it's become my studio) player, but I know what you mean about 'little' amps. I have my Artist up on a stand tilted back a tad so that the speaker is aimed at about belt-buckle level for me. The good side of that is that I don't wake up the neighbors trying to hear myself. The bad side is that I rarely get past the lowest attenuator setting because that thing hits me dead on. I don't know if it's the Artist's different cabinet from the 100 or I'm just delicate, but this amp is plenty loud for me up off the floor. This is opposed to my Peavey Delta Blues 115 30-watt, which can raise the roof if I'm not careful, stand or floor. It's kinda loud. :D Looking forward to trying your patches. I do use the Katana for its own effects, but I have a pedalboard set up for my Peavey that, weirdly enough, I thought at first, actually sounds better through the Katana on clean. And yes, I use an Orange Kongpressor on the board, so compression's not a problem. Also, thank you so much for the detailed explanations! It's one thing to download a patch and try it and quite another to hear the creator explaining what he intended his work to accomplish.
Whole new palette to play with thanks! You also really ought to look into the Airstep Kat along with the Katana librarian you get the tone studio through bluetooth wireless on the phone no laptop needed
I think it’s time that people accept that these little amp are good enough. As musicians we have all been conditioned into paying premium prices for decades, if it doesn’t cost a fortune it’s not good enough, and that’s me included! I’ve got many iconic amps but I’m finding them harder and harder to justify these days. I tend to use my Katana mk2 Artist now more than my blackface Deluxe Reverb or my Boogie Lone Star Special on the road. Do I love my tube amps like my Princeton oh yes I do, will I sell them no! Should I sell them? I know I won’t. Just got the Katana 50 mk2 and it’s great and a lot cheaper than some of my pedals. It’s hard to get your head round I know but I’m slowly coming round to it. Ok in retrospect years ago we had no choice cheap really wasn’t any good but today it’s a different story, just my thoughts on this subject for what it’s worth I totally agree with this video.
I think we are on the same page my friend, but converting others will take time if ever. I think where you got smart was putting the fender grill cloth on it because people don’t give it a second look. It’s sad that people listen with their eyes lol but it’s true. Can’t begin to tell you the stick I got off the lads in the band for using the artist but they’ve accepted it now :-)
@@GuitarLessonsVancouver lol.. man you put a lot of work in that!! I also checked your schedule you pretty busy. I was gonna do some on line lessons.. i live here in Greenville.south Carolina
@@gerrydeleon6711 Thanks Gerry! Yeah, I'm very busy these days, unfortunately teaching schedule is full and I have quite a waitlist so I can't take any more online students right now. I do have the Patreon group that has more lesson content, if that interests you www.patreon.com/guitarlessonsvancouver
Hi! What's the name or type of stand that you used for your Katana in this video? It looks like a tilted mic stand but I'm curious. Great sound, great channel!
Hi Denis, sorry I don't remember where they are on the patch. Honestly I am not using those much. I have pedals for delay and phase ... I don't use chorus. So the delay and phase are both going straight into the front of the amp. Seems to work fine. That being said, I put those pedals after my overdrive pedal.
Did/do you use foot pedals with your Katana, or just the GA_FC? I am confused if I want to buy foot pedals or get the GA-FC EX, leaning towards pedals.
Good question... not sure to be honest. I'll have to look at that. I can't remember exactly what that setting does. I do find that the boost turned low makes it sound more alive, if you will, like a slight tube breakup that's barely there.
Sorry there aren't any recordings of it. There were videographers but I don't have access to that audio and it would just be camera audio anyway, which wouldn't be good.
I have the 100 watt head running through a Orange cab. I play in a metal band and the 50 Watt setting is more than enough. It's super loud! I run the master all the way up and use the channel volume to control volume. It sounds mean af!
I don't think I have any Noise Suppressor turned on, at least I didn't mean to. I'll have to check. I don't find it necessary for my guitars and pedals that I've been using with it.
Do you mean where did I assign a compressor on my patches? This "Pedal Platform" patch doesn't have a compressor because I use a compressor pedal. However, my Deluxe Reverb patch has a compressor on FX green.
Trying to decide between a Katana, a Line 6 Catalyst and a Blackstar and it's getting to be a really difficult choice. But I love the sound you're getting from your Katana, so that adds another point that way. Any opinions (from anyone) on which way I should go? Fender Thinline Tele and a Tex-Mex Strat player playing country, blues, folk/celtic, and ambient ...
@@GuitarLessonsVancouver That's got to be the best sort of recommendation ... so good, I have never needed to check out the competition, because the katana is *so good* :) Thanks for the reply and for your channel here.
Normally at these types of gigs people have pretty expensive gear. I like that nobody can tell what it is. Also, I don't like the cosmetic design of the original.
@@GuitarLessonsVancouver if it were me, part of the fun would be them talking shit about my gear and then the silence after we’re done and my tone was way better. In the end though we know it’s 99% in the hands.
I changed the grill cloth on the Katana to make it look different. So it's a "stealth" Katana... no one can tell what it is on stage. This video explains how: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-sLJMmdzclV8.html
Couple of thoughts - (1) The whole idea of the Katana was so you didn't need pedals. Seems like an odd choice for a pedal platform. (2) I know it is popular, lots of people rave about it, but to my ears... no thanks. Convenient? Yes. Soulful? No.
For me the Katana wasn't to replace my pedals, but to have a very lightweight but great sounding amp. I hardly ever use the effects on it, other than the spring reverb.
