Am I the only one who didnt dig the Katana ?

monquixote

ICBM said:

monquixote said:

Would be interested to hear what you think of the sounds in the video.

I'll have a listen later when I can use my good speakers. In advance though, I didn't hear the fatiguing sound as much even on previous clips of the Katana - I've never thought the clips sounded great, but still wasn't quite prepared for how bad the amp sounded when sitting in front of it.

Did you try the 50 and the 100?

merlin

I am very interested to hear what Peteish Dane and Che Taptain have to say but I get so completely pissed off when Peteish talks over Che all the time. It c**ts me off so much that I have to stop watching the video. Status games piss the living dog shit out of me. Why can't he learn to listen?

ICBM

monquixote said:

Did you try the 50 and the 100?

Just the 50.

Sassafras

merlin said:

I am very interested to hear what Peteish Dane and Che Taptain have to say but I get so completely pissed off when Peteish talks over Che all the time. It c**ts me off so much that I have to stop watching the video. Status games piss the living dog shit out of me. Why can't he learn to listen?

He's a guitarist, what do you expect?

p90fool

ICBM said:

monquixote said:

I wonder if for those of you that don't like the Katana if the speaker is the problem and you like it with a different Celestion in it?

Not impossible that it's a significant part of it, but from my fairly wide experience with different amps and speakers, I very much doubt it's the whole problem.

It's not just a frequency issue, it's something in the dynamics which I found made it incredibly hard-sounding and fatiguing to listen to - even on clean sounds.

I put a Celestion Classic Lead 80 in a friend's 100w mk1 Katana (he'd kicked the original in   ) and it improved the tone immeasurably, but no, it didn't cure the "always at the wrong volume in a mix" problem, or help in the slightest with the unresponsive picking dynamics.

It records very well though apparently, at least for layered parts which don't have to carry a song on their own.

Barquentine

I'm not opposed to modelling/solid-state amps. I gigged with a Yamaha THR100 Dual for three years and loved it. It became my preferred gigging amp over my Cornford Roadhouse. I got the Kat 50 when they first came out thinking it would be something light and easily portable to take to my local pub jam nights. I think it's one of the worst amps I've ever owned. The cleans are completely lifeless. The gainier options are sharp, nasty and immediately irritating. If I could get one usable sound out of it I'd be okay with that but I haven't found one. Horrible.

monquixote

p90fool said:

ICBM said:

monquixote said:

I wonder if for those of you that don't like the Katana if the speaker is the problem and you like it with a different Celestion in it?

Not impossible that it's a significant part of it, but from my fairly wide experience with different amps and speakers, I very much doubt it's the whole problem.

It's not just a frequency issue, it's something in the dynamics which I found made it incredibly hard-sounding and fatiguing to listen to - even on clean sounds.

I put a Celestion Classic Lead 80 in a friend's 100w mk1 Katana (he'd kicked the original in   ) and it improved the tone immeasurably, but no, it didn't cure the "always at the wrong volume in a mix" problem, or help in the slightest with the unresponsive picking dynamics.

It records very well though apparently, at least for layered parts which don't have to carry a song on their own.

Yeah, I think the lack of dynamics is just the nature of that generation of modelling tech it's still the old COSM stuff.

When I used to gig with a POD2.0 into a PA you could get quite a good sound, but you would need multiple patches of similar sounds at different levels because you had no dynamics. When people used to say they did it all with the volume control I used to think "what the hell are you talking about?"

skunkwerx

ICBM said:

Telejester said:

Am I the only one who didnt dig the Katana ?

I hadn't tried one when this thread was active the first time around, but having done now...

I absolutely hated it - and not just in comparison to an expensive valve amp, in comparison to almost *any* amp. But you all probably know that anyway .

IC, whats worse, the Tiny Micro terror thing or the Katana 50? Lol. If you had to use one for a night, and not playing wasnt an option.. what would you choose? 

ICBM

skunkwerx said:

IC, whats worse, the Tiny Micro terror thing or the Katana 50? Lol. If you had to use one for a night, and not playing wasnt an option.. what would you choose?

lol . Good question…

If the Micro Terror was through a decent cabinet and I was using my ME-50, probably that.

If it was just the amp alone or with an overdrive pedal, the Katana. It does at least have more EQ and reverb.

I would give either of them a go if it was really necessary - but I’d consider plugging the ME-50 straight into the PA instead .

skunkwerx

ICBM said:

skunkwerx said:

IC, whats worse, the Tiny Micro terror thing or the Katana 50? Lol. If you had to use one for a night, and not playing wasnt an option.. what would you choose?

lol . Good question…

If the Micro Terror was through a decent cabinet and I was using my ME-50, probably that.

If it was just the amp alone or with an overdrive pedal, the Katana. It does at least have more EQ and reverb.

I would give either of them a go if it was really necessary - but I’d consider plugging the ME-50 straight into the PA instead .

Hehe I always wondered, I know you arent a fan of either! 

ICBM

skunkwerx said:

Hehe I always wondered, I know you arent a fan of either! 

I thought you might throw in a Blackstar ID Core for good measure .

I do regard it as possible to get a usable sound out of anything, but these would all be pushing it. I could do it, but I wouldn’t be comfortable playing. I’d honestly rather have an old cheap solid-state amp and a couple of pedals.

HAL9000

What about the Katana Artist? It does at least have the controls in the right place and ostensibly a better speaker. My guess, though, is that the problem with the sound is due to the power amp and that no amount of tweaking or speaker upgrades will fully sort it.

ICBM

HAL9000 said:

What about the Katana Artist? It does at least have the controls in the right place and ostensibly a better speaker. My guess, though, is that the problem with the sound is due to the power amp and that no amount of tweaking or speaker upgrades will fully sort it.

I will keep an open mind (as always) if I come across one, but I don't think I'll be going out of my way to.

Greatape

I would say that's good enough to gig, no? I appreciate some must have their Special Things - and that's fine - but honestly, isn't that sound pretty decent? 

LooseMoose

The Artist is a different league. The speaker seems to make a a BIG difference!

ICBM

Greatape said:

I would say that's good enough to gig, no? I appreciate some must have their Special Things - and that's fine - but honestly, isn't that sound pretty decent? 

Sounds absolutely horrible to me. Honky, hard, and uncomfortable to listen to. I'd struggle to play anything I like the sound of with that.

Tried again and it actually sets my teeth on edge. It's got a really odd 'drainpipe' tone to it that seems to persist even after it's stopped. Genuinely one of the worst guitar sounds I've ever heard.

That's what I heard when I played one too - that overbearing, fatiguing hardness which just grated - nails down a blackboard. Although not quite as bad as the Orange Micro Terror, which literally made my ears itch...

Pabcrane

Greatape said:

I would say that's good enough to gig, no? I appreciate some must have their Special Things - and that's fine - but honestly, isn't that sound pretty decent? 



I didn't like the sound of that one myself.

Edit: and I can even put up with the Micro Terror!

Danny1969

Last Thursday we had 2 Katanas in place of the usual AC30's at the Shadows club I go to  .... sounded pretty bad to me. But they are a lot lighter for blokes in their sixties to be carrying around. 

Schnozz

The Katana sounds like a practice amp to me - It's not one I would want to play live.

clarkefan

ICBM said:

Greatape said:

I would say that's good enough to gig, no? I appreciate some must have their Special Things - and that's fine - but honestly, isn't that sound pretty decent? 

Sounds absolutely horrible to me. Honky, hard, and uncomfortable to listen to. I'd struggle to play anything I like the sound of with that.

Tried again and it actually sets my teeth on edge. It's got a really odd 'drainpipe' tone to it that seems to persist even after it's stopped. Genuinely one of the worst guitar sounds I've ever heard.

That's what I heard when I played one too - that overbearing, fatiguing hardness which just grated - nails down a blackboard. Although not quite as bad as the Orange Micro Terror, which literally made my ears itch...

 Further proof I have cloth ears then, that clip sounded pretty decent to me.  Could use more clarity for my taste bit I'd put it down to eq.  But I don't hear anything horrible.