I’ve been meaning to try one for a while after hearing all the hype, so I popped into PMT Bristol today and asked to have a go on one. They grabbed a Katana 100 combo and stuck me in a private room with a nice Charvel pro mod SSH and left me to it.
After about a good half hour of knob twiddling and playing everything from classic rock to heavy metal, I left with the realisation that I couldn’t get a tone I liked out of it!
The main issues for me were:
- A honky midrange that I couldn’t dial out unless I turned the mids all the way down, but then I’m left with a mushy, grainy tone that wouldn’t cut though.
- Lack of top end. Even with the presence all the way up and treble around 2 o’clock, I can’t get any of the searing highs that I’m used to with my current amps. It’s almost like the whole audio spectrum needs to be shifted up a few kHz.
- Flubby low end. Perhaps related to the previous issue, I found the low end too overpowering and difficult to control. The bass control never made it past 12 o’clock the whole time.
- A hard, mid heavy in your face attack. As soon as I played the first chord I noticed that attack was something I wasn’t used to. It was like all the mids just jumps up and slaps you in the face. If you think a Marshall Plexi had a punchy attack, this has even more!
I think all in all, the character of the amp can be described as a mushy bass heavy tone, with a jab of mid range honk and lack of high end sizzle. This seems to be a general character of the amp that applies to all amp modes, and one that I can’t seem to change much with the tone controls or the integrated boosts. I suppose some of it could be attributed to the speaker choice, but it’s hard to imagine a different speaker could fix all the issues.
I think for the price, it’s a useful and versatile piece of kit, and I would be happy to use it at rehearsals due to its convenience. However, for gigging, I’m probably too spoilt by my current amps to consider using the Katana instead.
I must admit, I’m slightly disappointed after hearing all the good things about them, as I had grand plans for the Katana head as a one amp to rule them all, but I guess I wasn’t as disappointed as the sales rep who set everything up for me
Comments
Compared to the awful Marshall Code 100 2x12” that I traded in against the one I had it was great though. (I took the Code in a trade against an equally bad Line 6 Spider Jam, which was traded for god knows what...)
in fact, a few months later and they still have my old Code for sale:
https://www.kennysmusic.co.uk/marshall-code-100-with-pedal-pre-owned
Been uploading old tracks I recorded ages ago and hopefully some new noodles here.
It was not quite the worst-sounding amp I’ve ever heard but there aren’t many I’ve disliked as much.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
But so was a Zoom 9002 and try listening to one of those now!
Been uploading old tracks I recorded ages ago and hopefully some new noodles here.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I feel the same way about Line 6 stuff too but never tried Kemper.
Been uploading old tracks I recorded ages ago and hopefully some new noodles here.
I didn’t like it personally and asked for something different but I accept thats just personal opinion.
As a one box does it all in a pick up and go format I much prefer my Fender Mustang iii V2. Without a computer connected it’s an annoying and fiddly interface to dial anything in but it’s possible and the programs are easy enough to scroll through. It also has far too many options but given that your four amp voices and few pedals that you stick to aren’t going to be the same as mine, they need to all be there.
The bottom line is that to me, it sounds better.
In fairness the whole demo experience was pretty poor, actually one of the worst I can remember - in terms of sneering disinterest.
But the amp only emphasised that, it's the first time I've actually refused to demo a guitar through an amp - it was the Katana 50 combo, and just had this hard digital edge that (to me), just didn't actually sound like an amp - yes it made the guitar louder, but just no musicality to it.
Was amazed, was expecting to like it - but reminded me of a Spider from back in the early 2000s
Maybe the bigger combos are better, maybe it was a bad amp (it was certainly a bad experience) but a surprise to me
I played it next to @lovestrat74 who had a fender vibrochamp which is similar idea but with valves involved and the katana did not compare very well I thought, hence I sold it and bought a super champ x 2 to take to jams and I much prefer it.