The Steel Guitar Forum

Has anyone played steel through one of these new Boss guitar amps? I'm going to buy one, just try it. It's great for guitar and the're not very expensive. It has lots of built in effects. Thanks, Tommy.....

Tommy, I hope all's well.
Hadn't heard of it, but after searching, it looks interesting.
I wonder what kind of speaker. Keep us posted if you try one.
Pat

They sound great! I have a friend that uses 2 of them on guitar and they sound fantastic!

My Question is,I wonder if they're good for steel guitar too. Thanks, Tommy.....

If my buddy shows up at our show tomorrow, I'll put it thru the wringer and let y'all know!

Okay! That will be great. I've already decided to buy one. I just want to try something different, and I was wondering if anyone else was already playing steel with the Katana 112...
Thanks, Tommy......

Tommy,I've been experimenting with the BOSS Katana amp the last several weeks just like I did with the Fender Mustang 111. The idea is to find an alternative amp to my Peavey that is reasonable in price, $329.00, smaller and lighter, but still put out for me and sound good.
So far it exceeds the Fender. Plenty of volume as I played it on a gig and has good bottom, especially if you place it on the floor about 3 feet or so from a wall. Very good built in effects.
Here is a quick sample on C6th neck of an old standard we all know. Lots of good reviews thus far from others.

http://picosong.com/iftA/

Just got one a week or so ago. How are you setting the gain, volume and master volume relative to each other? I got a lot of good advice from John Russell. thanks John. Butch in NC

I have played a dozen gigs with the Katana 112 for both steel and tele and feel that it gives me very good performance for both. It cuts through the mix, has plenty of volume and a ton of effect options. The foot switch (which is hard to find) adds a lot of stage versatility to the amp. Ultimately I like the Katana for its light weight and portability. I play steel, guitar and fiddle and always try to reduce the gear for gigs.
The Katana helps cut that down.

Hmmmmm. Been out for a year or so;

https://robertkeeley.com/shop/katana-boost

I use the head version on the 100W setting. Very nice amp with great tone. I've played about a dozen shows with it and consider it rugged enough to leave the backup amp home now. It's built-in effects are good, I prefer stomp boxes for the convenience plus I prefer the MXR phase pedal. I use an Electro-Voice 15" speaker. Portability is good but it's heavier than my Quilter Steeliare.

Here's a bit more on the Katana fooling with some of the effects. Boss always has had quality effects. You can get 55 effects from this amp once you USB it to their Boss tone studio.

http://picosong.com/iVNQ/

Ron: Can you get that sound without buying that Boss Tone Studio thing? Thanks, Tommy.....

Yes Tommy. I saved four tones with effects first without using the Tone Studio. It wasn't till about three weeks later till I hooked it up to my computer to the Tone Studio.

The Tone Studio is free to download and use when you get ready.

Ron

Ron: Thanks, that's nice to know. Tommy.....

Ron; I've been listening to your sound clips on Facebook and the forum from the sidelines and mulled over getting one for a couple weeks. I play through an Mb115 and it's too big for some of the smaller gigs. I looked around and everywhere was sold out and ordered one last week that came in Tuesday. Did the whole tweaking thing and didn't take much until I found something that worked with my Emmons P/P. Haven't tried it through my Carter D10 yet but figure the results would be the same since you used the same guitar in you recordings. I saved my settings and its basically the acoustic setting with the gain and volume cranked, eq at low, 1 o'clock, mid 9 o'clock, high 1 o'clock with just reverb and the master volume tuned to wherever I'm playing. Super clean with plenty of headroom. I liked the low end on the acoustic setting over the clean setting. Had a gig tonight and last night but they were both with a trio in a small place. Ran it at the 1/2 watt setting and didn't need to go past 10 o'clock on the master volume. This is due in part to the size of the venues I was playing but worked very well. I've cranked it at home and was very pleased at what I was hearing. I'm playing Saturday with a 7 piece and much larger place and can honestly say, I will probably only need to use the 50w setting with the master volume at 9 o'clock. I did activate the noise suppressor when I set it up with the software and it keeps the excess noise down very well. I can't say for certain but I think it will do very well with the full band/big venue setting but I'll know after Saturday. I think it may be my main gigging amp. I lugged a Session 400 which I still have for about 15 years before I went to the GK. I use the Peavey for just recording work now. The Katana is nice and works well and saves space. Thanks for all of the different sound clips you have provided and taking time out to do this and I don't regret buying it to say the least.

Mark,
Thx for taking time to state your comments. I haven't tried the "accoustic" side of the amp as you have, but now I will and get back to you. I'm impressed by the headroom of this amp. With my continual experimenting, I also wonder what it would sound like with a speaker made for steel, but at this time I don't have an 8 ohm speaker laying around to do this.

I listened to another steel player here in Nashville work a live gig with it and handle the room well with it, tone & headroom.

Ron Hogan

Mark,
You're on to something here. When I first got the amp I went straight to the CLEAN switch.

I just tried the ACOUSTIC and liking what I hear. I put high on 1 o'clock, mid on 3 O'clock, and lows on 3 O'clock to full. So far so good.

I still have some good settings on the CLEAN, but seeing positive stuff on ACOUSTIC.

Will keep testing.

Ron,

Let me know how it works out. I wasnt considering the acoustic setting and was tweaking for about an hour on the clean, left, came back an hour later and turned it on. Thought it would default to the factory setting and turned the knob and accidentally set it on acoustic. After comparing, I liked what I heard and left it. Still running the P/P through it but when I have a moment, I'll hook the Carter D10 with your settings and see how it goes.

Mark,
You sold me on acoustic. I went ahead and switched all my setting to that. Who would have thought! Thx.
Setting start at:

Bass all the way, on.
Middle at 3 O'clock
Treble at 1 O'clock.

Amp type is acoustic. The sample that you heard were with the Clean setting but I have since switched to Acoustic, believe it or not. I the beginning I never thought of even trying another besides clean for steel.

Regards,
Ron Hogan

Bump. See my other post "Finally"

Boss Katana amp update:

Two more BOSS Katana samples. Switch set on acoustic rather then clean

http://picosong.com/iiDk/

http://picosong.com/iiDS/

Ron, Your samples sound great, especially your playing. Has anybody compared the Katana amp to the now discontinued Cube 80 XL or GX?

Thanks George.

I'm not aware of a comparison like that.

Ron