As long term members may recall I quit my band about 3 years ago and since then I've largely given up guitar. I have three kids and a job with 1+ hour commute each way so I don't really have time to play even when I have the inclination.
I sold most of my pedals and both of my amps, kept my guitars and slimmed down to just a Katana 100 with a GA-FC as a one box solution.
It's quite fun when I occasionally piddle about with it, but I never feel totally inspired with it. I'm never sure if it's me or the amp though.
I'll save everyone from having to do the "The Katana honeymoon period has worn off" bit by saying that it does sound great and is by far the best inexpensive modeller I've ever used. It's more about the fact that I've always felt at home with single channel clean valve amps with a small pedalboard.
The other day on a whim I stuck a couple of pedals into the front of the clean channel and instantly felt a lot more inspired. I've actually bought a couple more pedals and I'm quite looking forward to trying them out.
One part of my brain is now saying "you should get rid of the Katana" because what's the point of having a multi FX modelling amp when you just end up sticking pedals in the front when you really like single channel valve amps. On the other hand it takes pedals really well into the clean channel, the reverb and delay are actually really good and I can't have anything really big, loud, or expensive anyway as I don't have much space or cash (if I did a Rift PR18 would be the obvious answer)
Maybe a Blues Cube might be an idea, but I'm not sure if it would be a much of an upgrade.
Thoughts?
Comments
He has played some impressive gigs (originals) with it and has not made any suggestions about changing it.
I'd stick with it and add pedals if it were me.
Cheers
So keep the Katana. Just because you're not using 'its full potential' either in features or volume, or that it needs pedals to make it sound really inspiring, doesn't mean it isn't the best solution.
"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
If the Katana delivers these with pedals, great - why change?
If not, look at something like the Blues Cube Artist which has a lovely clean channel that also takes pedals well and is also reasonably controllable with respect to output volume. This is what I use at home.
If you are going to resume playing live then i think that a clean valve combo delivers. I use the HRD George Benson model for this purpose - again with pedals for drive tones.
Must admit it annoys me a bit that I’d have to hook it up to a computer if I did want to unlock all it's capabilities. However, as @icbm has already pointed out, if it does what I want then all’s good.
It's not like having an amp that you actively dislike.
"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