NEW Boss Katana Artist MkII vs. Fender Blues Deluxe | Gear Check | Thomann

Boss just released the new Katana Artist MkII Head, giving you the Boss Katana Artist experience with even more flexibility!
But how does it compare to a tube rig within the same price range? Let's find out!

0:00 Intro
0:51 What are we doing today?
3:31 The rigs for today
5:47 Crunch/clean playing | Fender
6:26 Crunch/clean playing | Boss
8:52 Clean playing | Fender
9:07 Clean playing | Boss
10:29 Crunch playing | Fender
10:55 Crunch playing | Boss
11:35 Mid-gain playing | Fender
11:58 Mid-gain playing | Boss
12:54 Higher gain playing | Boss
13:48 Higher gain playing | Fender
14:11 Conclusions

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[spivvo]

As somebody that gigs covers and owns a whole studio and amps…. I take my Katana Artist combo because it sounds great, is reliable, has every effect I need and I don’t need more than one power socket… and just need to run a single cable to the GAFC EX. Now that I fitted fender style grill cloth, added a learher handle and raplaced the corner protectors with chrome it even looks boutique. I highly recommend it and with a double guitar case on my back it’s one trip to the car.

[HellcatsUnited]

Hi i have a katana artist mk2 and follow your advice, I cranked all the power up to 100 watt and control it by the volume and gain control, the result was awesome, it really felt like a valve amp, thanks best regards from Mexico 🇲🇽

[MichaelMacherey]

Beautiful intro tone Guillaume, and well played from both!

[davidsant]

I have a K Artist MK2 and a Fender HRD111. They're both great, the Boss cannot do the Fender clean like the Hot Rod, it just can't, simple as that. The Fender can't do half the amazing tones the Katana can crank out, it just can't. Both are fabulous for what they're designed to do.

[gringostarr]

I have played with those Katana amps and they sound amazing, but in this comparisoment I prefer the old school fender :) Nice playing guys like always!

[SomeKindOfMadman]

Awesome demo, Kris and Big G, you guys are great. I was surprise how good the solid state amp sounded.

[Turbo-D]

i ordered the mkII 100w head @ thomann and didn`t expect too much cause i have a ton of tubeamps and a H&K grandmeister 40 deluxe which is a compareable tubeversion but priced much higher and the katana comes best bang for your buck in nearly every regard in my opinion, sounds better than some of my very high priced tube amps i have compared it to.the band lodestar has recorded all of their albums with just the katana artist head and build in speaker 💪

[ibalrog]

I'm putting both in the "it sounds great, now shut up and play your guitar" category. Which is the opposite of what most of us want to hear, but...

[andrewelstein]

The key to the perfect Katana tone is a boost pedal. I have a collection of vintage guitars and amps which I love. I am not a professional player and just play at home and with friends. I also have 2 boss katana amps and have to say for most of my day to day playing, I prefer the Boss Katana. My Fender and Gibson tube amps are awesome but there is a volume level that each of my tube amps has to get to for the amp to shine. When you get to that point, the tube amps are amazing. The sweet spot so to speak. I feel the Katana is really good at almost any volume and sounds really consistent at any reasonable volume. . I will also say for my style of playing, I use a RC Booster pedal (which I use mostly for EQ) and a few other pedals and play clean and edge of break up mostly. I use my pedals with the Katana the same way I use them with my tube amps. The only effects I use on the Katana are reverb, delay and chorus. I have used the Katana software and like it for the 3 effects I just mentioned. However, I don't use the digital overdrive in the katana software . I have 3 presets I like for the Katana and that is it (two I really like are the ones Danish Pete created and has available for free). I use the Panel settings on the Katana mostly and I use it with my pedals. Super amp that really should cost mush more for the sound quality and versatility you get. If it breaks, you just go get another one (never had one problem with my Katana's). They come up used, like new all the time around here.

[padgreen]

Hmm, I think I just preferred the sounds from the tube amp! That's not to say the sounds from the katana were bad, cause they weren't but even over Youtube I thought the tube sounds just had a little bit more 3D sparkle for want of a better word especially with the Cleanish sounds.

[dezionlion]

The prs would have paired better with the katana, and the pink one would pair better with the deluxe.

[kendoplex]

Just wondering, if this comparison does make any sense using different guitars with these two amps. Would have been better to use the same guitar to make the test more objective in the first part.

[johnnyt]

and hello!
how can you compare amp tones using a stra vs prs silver sky? two completely different guitars and pups!

[robertcovell]

I feel that the Fender is better in "crunch", Boss is slightly fizzy. However they are so close on all settings that when you put the Boss into a gig setting, even a trio it wouldn't matter what amp you use. Roland has developed some serious work horses with these amps and I for one Really like the idea that I can play any gig with a minimum of extraneous junk.

[j.hammer]

Thanks for the tip on the Master Volume cranked & the Amp Vol as the adjustable parameter. I’m only a few days into the Katana Artist combo. This opened up even more tonal options for me. The great thing about these amps, so far is, I’ve not hooked it up to the computer:) I’m finding great tones with the native amp as shipped. I’ll admit it took me a full day to figure out how to dial out the fizziness but I’m stunned by how I can go from Hendrix-ish to U2 to The Cult Love with it all in the box. Great job Boss!

[valueofnothing]

Tube and pedals sound so much better. Way less fizzy. More distinct and natural sounds.

[VideoDetection]

I would definitely buy the new Katana rig as it looks and sounds great plus it has all the effects options!

[luedinski]

Once I had a Katana, but I didn't like to connect my laptop to change effect details and so on. That's why I prefer a real amp with pedals or a modeler with display and knobs like a Pod Go, Helix, etc.

[StephaneBergeronPixelyzed]

Great video guys! I just got my Kat MKII head (not Artist) out. It's my "backup" amp now as my main is the Revv Dynamis 7-40. It sounded very good to me today. I had kind of dismissed its clean but I have a Rev 1x12 with a Creamback H75 in it and it sounded way better than I remembered. I still have my 4x12 but that has changed speakers as well (had T75s before now 2 Creamback H75s and 2 V30s in X pattern). That too sounds way better with my Katana head than it did with the T75s.

It also takes my dirt pedals really well now (REvv G2 + G4 + Tumnus Deluxe).

I took some time to do comparisons for myself crunch = G2 in Dynamis clean/G2 in Kat clean vs Kat crunch vs Dynamis Red channel on second dymanic level. TO my ears (all in the Revv 1x12 Creamback) the G2 into the Dynamis won that by a hair over the Kat crunch.

Then I tested the G4 into Dynamis clean/Kat clean vs Dynamic red channel on max dynamicx setting and gain at 3o'clock vs Katana Brown (which was my go to for anything passed crunch when the Kat was my main amp). I thought the Dynamis red channel would take that one but the G4 into Dynamis clean did. Its mids and low mids just sounded better to me. Way more saturated than the Dynamis red channel and more than the Kat's Brown channel. The G4 is just more chewy, yields pinched harmonics easier and sounds fatter for leads up on the neck than either the Dynamis red channel or the Kat's Brown channel.

I (re) learned that the Kat is a better pedal platform than I remembered (I used mostly its gain channels instead of pedals when I used it more). Now I prefer the G2 and G4 into the Dynamis clean/blue channel. Kris knows the DYnamis well. It's clean tone leaves my Kat head in the dust. Rounder but punchier attack with more chime. The Kat sounds a bit flatter giving away its JC-120 heritage... ;) That is an amp I played for nearly 10 years in the 80s and early 90s.

But to my ears, the Artist MKII head has better clean than my regular MKII head. Great to see Boss evolving the Katana series. They are great amps at their price or at any price.

[davidschaer]

in terms of pure sound.. i preferred the boomer-rig.. and i’m not even a boomer..