PSA: Line6 Catalyst 100 for £150? YES PLEASE!

Maak

Jalfrezi said:

I seem to have less luck than others.  I ordered a 100 and a 60, the 60 is on back order, should be here next week.  The 100 arrived, and sounded great, however had an intermittent power switch and a broken top bezel, so was returned.  The replacement arrived this morning, and seems to work fine, but the bezel was hanging off again.  Seems like a design flaw that they tried to fix with a bit of double-sided tape.  Sounds good with my GT1000 Core into the FX return though.

For the cost, I'm not too upset by the bezel, however if I'm buying B stock, I'd like to know before shelling out.

ah I've notice mine has developed little cracks around the bezel too! 

Nerine

Used mine at rehearsal last night. Sounded good. Seems to have a decent amount of volume, too. I just lived on the crunch mode and plugged my pedalboard into it. 

jellybelly

Anyone know if the headphone out is the same as the Helix (and hence needs high imp headphones)? Have been using my 38ohm Audio Technicas but it sounds almost fizzy and can barely touch the volume control before it's too loud. @Digital_Igloo ?

guitargeek62

jellybelly said:

Anyone know if the headphone out is the same as the Helix (and hence needs high imp headphones)? Have been using my 38ohm Audio Technicas but it sounds almost fizzy and can barely touch the volume control before it's too loud. @Digital_Igloo ?

I thought you could adjust the output ohms on the HX, no?

jellybelly

guitargeek62 said:

jellybelly said:

Anyone know if the headphone out is the same as the Helix (and hence needs high imp headphones)? Have been using my 38ohm Audio Technicas but it sounds almost fizzy and can barely touch the volume control before it's too loud. @Digital_Igloo ?

I thought you could adjust the output ohms on the HX, no?

I think you can adjust the guitar input impedance on the full Helix units (floor, rack, LT, Stomp) to be dependent on the first FX/amp in the chain or some other set value. 

Nothing to do with the headphone output requiring to see a certain level of impedance in the headphones it drives in order to do so effectively.

Other sources suggest Helix products have a 'proper' headphone amplifier built in that needs higher impedance studio-style headphones (150+ ohms) and that it won't sound great with more standard consumer/portable ones that are usually ~30-50 ohm and designed to be driven by a phone or iPod. 

There's no info that I can find on what the Catalyst has but I suspect it needs the same as the Helix - my ATH-20x are 38 or 47 ohm (can't seem to pin the spec down) and I'm struggling to get something even close to the amps tone - it's very bright and 'trashy' and I can barely get the volume up to 10%. 

HT986M2

HT986M2 said:

After a bit more experimenting I'm a fan of boosting the High Gain channel (amp gain between 1 and 2) with an TS/SD1 or the Steelpark.  Add a little in-built chorus and you are in Wylde territory.  It's not quite as convenient as not having to use an external pedal, but I'm just glad I can tame the fizz.

For anyone interested in taming this channel at house volumes, the Friedman Buxom Boost - or I'm sure another similar pedal with a 'Tight' control - is particularly good here. Have the gain on the High Gain channel between 1 and 2 (there is a non-linear gain 'bump' somewhere in this region where it begins to fizz, so ensure you are below it) and use the 'Boost' and 'Tight' controls on the Friedman to dial it in. High gain tone, but no fizz. Gives it a nice lead tone too.

Jalfrezi

Just an update on my broken C100's.  The Catalyst 60 arrived this morning, and it's undamaged, and seems to work properly.  So I'm going to return the latest C100 for refund.  The smaller Catalyst has less power/headroom, smaller cab and no MIDI,  But I think it will do me fine for my needs, although I'd have preferred to keep both, I'm fed up with the admin dealing with this.  

To be fair to PMT, they have handled this well, but it's tedious nonetheless.

thecolourbox

Having spent now two months with this massive amp stuck under my work desk, knocking my footrest into it but only having switched it on once since I moved it upstairs (top mounted controls under a desk, how stupid was I), I've today realised its far too big for me and I was stupid to buy it.

I don't think the 60 is much smaller so a swap is pointless, 4cm each way rings a bell i think? Would I be best putting it in its box in the cold garage? I've nowhere to put it and now feel an idiot for having purchased it

ICBM

thecolourbox said:

top mounted controls under a desk, how stupid was I

No... how stupid were the designers. Top-mounted controls are the *wrong* place for them. Leo Fender got it right in 1960 - at the top of the front, preferably angled back, so you can get at them with the amp at any height and in any position. Why the world seems to have gone back to an outdated fashion from sixty years ago I don't know.

But it does at least make it easy for me to simply cross loads of amps off the list, because I will not buy another with top-mounted controls, no matter how good the rest of it is. I know this sounds daft in some ways, but if customers do that enough they will stop making them wrong.

Sorry, pet peeve, and it isn't going to help you - other than suggesting to see if someone wants to swap it for a Spider of some description.

thecolourbox

Well I meant I'm stupid for purchasing it in the first place, as I should have learnt by now to stop landing myself with big obsolete boxes that I can't do anything with.

If anybody in Birmingham area wants it drop me a message

DiscoStu

So what's everyone's thoughts on the Catalyst 6 months on? 
Is it good? Really good? Good for the price? Or crap? 
I'm looking for a lightweight amp for pub gigs so got my eye on the 100 but does it cut it with a band?

Nerine

DiscoStu said:

So what's everyone's thoughts on the Catalyst 6 months on? 
Is it good? Really good? Good for the price? Or crap? 
I'm looking for a lightweight amp for pub gigs so got my eye on the 100 but does it cut it with a band?

I used my 100w 1x12 variant for a gig once when I simply couldn't be bothered to move my head and cab. It was fine. 

I mean, I could tell it wasn't my JCM 800 behind me, but it sounded just fine. No one in the crowd noticed or cared. 

I found it slightly less nice to play through and certain characteristics and responses/interactions I get from the 2203 just weren't there (obviously), but for the most part, as a grab and go solution, it was passable, for sure. 

It does objectively sound "good".

But you wouldn't throw any tonal buzzwords around when describing how it sounds.  

Perfectly usable, and seems to be pokey enough, too. (Probably in the region of a 25-35w valve head, I'd say). 

I find all my fx loop stuff (when using my pedalboard with it) need the mix controls dialling back a bit compared to my valve amps. 

thecolourbox

I only really play at home and didn't have an amp when I bought mine, so I can't really comment much on it relative to other things. I also only really play at home as nobody has ever wanted to book me to play in public. Just bear that in mind for context.

You'll note my previous comments in January where I was cursing it for being a massive box under my desk that I couldn't play. My sister in law lodger moved out and i managed to relocate it to her old room so have managed to play with it a bit more. It sounds good, but I only really use the Aristocrat/Boutique amp setting. The Voltage/Crunch one has an occasional use but to be honest none of the others are that useful to me as the Aristocrat does the gain ranges I need especially with pedals. I did get excited when they announced the firmware update as it included the Ventoux model from the Helix, which I often use for recording via Helix Native. However it doesn't sound as good to me through the amp as it does in Native and the unusual controls it has on Native aren't present on the Catalyst, so it's not quite the same beast. 

I use it with my HX Effects for some boosts and compressor, and occasional fuzz or what not. It's a big amp, but I realised i'd get hardly anything for it if i tried to sell it, and where else would I get a whole combo amp that does that sound?

I've been using the PC editor software to try and set up some base sounds on the presets but I also have to edit my HX Effects that way as well so it got very annoying having to keep swapping the cable between the two so I gave up and just use it in manual mode on the Aristocrat

Thankfully it's remained in that room without really being under any scrutiny from the wife, how long that'll last I don't know. I've never had it out of the 0.1w setting so I've no idea if it goes loud enough to work with a band or if it would cut through. Sounds adequately decent at home though. They seem cheap to pick up second hand but bear in mind they seem hard to sell so if you don't like it, you might be stuck with a big lump of an amp for a while

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

I gigged the 60 watt version for about a year with no real complaints at all. For context, I play in a single-guitar 50s Rock n Roll band, so not exactly needing ear-splitting volume, but it was always able to keep up. I imagine the 100w version will be more than enough for most. Plus the DI out is very good.

Superb value for money.

DiscoStu

I'm using a 60 watt Blackstar 2x12 valve combo just now but it's too damn heavy so trying to 'weigh' up the right alternative. I'm still not convinced about the Catalyst.