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Boss is a brand renowned for its work on guitar effects pedals. However, their work on Amos is almost unknown to everyone. Yes, they make amps as well and that makes them properly. Boss started its work on amplifiers with the release of the Waza Head in 2016. There were a number of surprises about this amplifier and for good reason. It was a simple amp that hosted too much.
Now, it’s work has taken used to the Katana Head. It would be important to know what the Katana Head is capable of. So, has Boss finally made an amp to give us all that we’ve been missing? Is this finally the solid amp that can work as well as a tube amp? Let’s take a look at this review to find out.
General Description of the Boss Katana Head
The Boss Katana Head is one of the best amps which you can get for under $500. It offers impressive performance at a much lesser cost.
Controls
Boss placed some emphasis on the controls of the Katana Head. The controls were arranged into clusters to make them easier to use and access. It’s an impressive interface that pays a lot of attention to detail. The first group of knobs which would find are the amplifier controls. Going from left to right, we have an amp select knob and then the volume. You’ll also find the space for the three-band EQ and FX cluster.
The effects of the amp were grouped into 3 with a corresponding knob for each one. You’ll also find buttons for editable channels that can be set up at any time. While there may be a lot of information on the interface, it’s easy to figure out the role of every knob.
Performance
Boss was known to be one of the best guitar effects manufacturers because of its good work. Due to this, a lot had been expected from them with this amp and they have managed to deliver satisfactorily. When you compare this to other solid-state amps around, you find that the quality of the sound is admirable. It produces an organic tone that has clean channel sounds. As clear as the sounds are, you can expect that other performance features of the machine follow suit.
The Boss Katana Head has an interesting acoustic setting that produces a completely different sound when applied. You have enough gain to render the tone of an acoustic guitar without making it too noisy. This is an example of the amp’s versatility.
Design
Considering the price of this amp, the build quality on the Boss Katana Head is impressive. The solid hard plastic is used on the exterior and its controls are well made; they don’t flex. There’s not much work put into its aesthetic qualities and it has a simple black matt finish. Then, there are white Boss and Katana logos with a plastic handle useful for carrying the amp.
What does the Boss Katana Head offer?
The designers at Boss have put a good amount of R&D technology into the Katana amp and the result is obvious. It’s totally a solid-state amp but not a modeling amp. It features a powerful 100W output which makes it instantly ready for professional use.
Basically, this amp uses its original designs which have 5 different amp characters namely; Clean, Crunch, Lead, Brown and an impressive Acoustic mode. The amp has a total of 55 effects. It offers a lot of control and functionality. There is more flexibility than an average amp because this allows you save sound in any available channel slot. The panel is ever-ready to use and you can set it up for five-channel operation.
The effects section is even easier to use. By default, you’ll find Booster/Mod, Delay/FX and Reverb controls plus three LED buttons to switch between the effects you wish to control. There is basically all the type of effects which you want including basic delays, reverbs, drives, and modulations. Having all of these features in a small amp is impressive. You also can access to MIDI control when you make use of a compatible footswitch.
Despite all of this, the Boss Katana Head also features an internal 5″ speaker which allows you to practice without having to plug into an external source. Other hardware features of this amp include; effects loop, speaker simulated Line Out, Aux-In, Headphones Out and a USB connection which can be also be used to record into your DAW.
Everything about the amp responds just the way it should and there’s really not much to complain about here. Boss has really done quite a lot here.
Pros
- Great tone at affordable price
- Variety of impressive effects
- Can easily be used to save and edit sounds
- Can be used for MIDI control
- Has five amp characteristics
- Tough design
- Lightweight
Cons
- None
Conclusion
The Boss Katana Head shows some really impressive work from Boss. Obviously, they knew how to make good amps. You may have your doubts about getting an amp from a brand that doesn’t originally specialize in them but this one is an exception to that. Boss has clearly overdone themselves and everyone can see it. It’s a combination of power, a tough core, great performance, and cheap price. There’s really nothing more to wish for.
It may not be able to easily displace your tube amp but the Boss Katana Head represents the value for money which everyone wants. If you’d out to get quality without sacrificing much money, then opt for this. It’s an absolute steal and is made of fantastic stuff.
Hi music fan! I am Jeff. Hope that you enjoy some stuff I shared here in my personal blog.
About myself, Currently I am in charging as Artist Manager/Music Supervisor at 72 Music Management. I did managed album to Grammy Award in 2017 with 7 Nominations from 2014-2020 and had the opportunities to work with : A.J. Croce, Blind Boys of Alabama, Bobby Rush, Dom Flemons, Dustbowl Revival, Sarah Grace
Governor of the Memphis Chapter of The Recording Academy is one of a award that I am lucky to achieved.