Boss Katana Artist MKII - All Hype, Or Actually Good?

I do an honest review of the Boss Katana Artist MKII. Is it really as good as it's hyped up to be? I also compare it to my PRS MT15

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[sergejkrynycky]

Call me crazy. But I sold my Boogie Mark V25, JVM410H, Mesa Recto 2x12 and a pedalboard with 10 effects to get a Katana Artist MK2 combo with the footswitch and a japanese ESP Eclipse. And I’m SO HAPPY that I did. Now I have an incredible guitar and an all-in-one, no hassle amp that sounds great.

[aaronshortmusic]

I got a Katana 100mk2 a few months ago and found it sounded as good direct as my Quad Cortex and preferred it to some tube amps. I then bought the Artist 100 mk2 combo which sounds even better. If I could turn back the clock I would probably have just bought one of these and called it a day. Everyone should have one.

[benburnett]

This is amazing content. Just a very knowledgable dude sitting down with a new piece of gear and dialing it in. No explosions, no hyperbole, no hot chicks, no life changing revelatiions, no drama, no corporate a dude who knows tube amps sitting down and figuring out how to get a great tone out of something he's never dealt with before. This is the kind of content that is DESPERATELY NEEDED on youtube. did this without the software. Just turning knobs and playing guitar.

Thanks Jarrod. I hope and pray that you do more content like this in the future. This content helps all of us that can NOT afford a bunch of tube amps. Poor guys deserve good tone, too!!

[flybywire]

Push the buttons above the boosts and you get 3 different variations. You can tweak the tone/gain/vol in the software, save it and you’re sorted. The combo with the Waza speaker is a fair buy.

[GenjiroKibigami]

Absolutely incredible review. Incredible playing. No BS. Great to see content like this.

[fretts]

He gets some really good aggressive sounds leaving the amp stock. But, you really do need the software to get real control over the Katana. Inside, there's pre-EQ, post-EQ, compression and limiting, plus 62 Boss effects with all their individual "knobs" waiting in there to be assigned to some of the external knobs. I spent a couple of days exploring and tweaking my settings until I got an amp that I would put up against any of my other more expensive amps, including tube amps. It's kind of amazing what they have made here, and it gets a lot more amazing when you dive under the hood. The stock settings are just to sell the amp in a music store. It may not be what you need for your situation, for me it was not. I was going to send it back but was curious if there was more to the story. I found out there was more to the story and I'm glad I bit the bullet and dived in to where the real control is.

[Newsky]

For this amp, you want to coin out the master and use the channel knob to set your volume. You'll get a much richer and wider sound like a tube that's being driven. The power controls allow you to achieve this at lower volumes. These Katana's with the power control was built to do this for that reason. :)

[graemedixon]

Was the variation button on for the entire demo?

[chuckster]

I picked up one of these today. Holy Shit! Not a problem dialing in a cool tone. I'm very impressed! At .5 watts, this little beast is LOUD!! Thanks for the demo. Scary as it may seem, my settings are almost exactly what you have. I'm happy! I'm 66 and I still have an ear for finding tone. The amp started out a little woofy but that went away by cutting back the low end to 10 o'clock and bumping up the presence. Again, Thank You for the demo Sir🤘😎🤘

[jimjimmy]

I have two 100w combo artist’s connected in stereo and I absolutely love it and it takes pedal really well. Not that anyone cares, but if you are a collector like me me and want something new and fun the 100w artist combo is the one to get. And if get the combo and don’t like the speaker you can connect it to whatever can of your choice definitely best bang for the buck. I love you review of it and your channel you tell it like it is.

[pbosche]

For those just seeing this…yes, it’s opening tone studio. That’s where you literally open up thousands of effects chain combinations that you simply can’t access from the panel (though you can then set the 3 choices of each effect to the panel buttons.)

When I found this amp I just immediately bought to 100W Artists combos.
Still less than 1/2 of one finicky tube head. Hooked together with the stereo expand option engaged.
Clean.
Filthy.
Loud.
Quiet.
Stereo ping-pong.
Always consistent.
Do it.

[glassGPT]

I have the mkii head with the v2 firmware update. It’s very flexible - even more so with the firmware update. The update has an additional EQ and mic simulations. For the price, it’s worth it.

A couple of downsides are that it can’t go super ambient, and that it doesn’t have a master tempo clock for delays and other time based effects. I run an outboard reverb and trigger the fx loop on/off when needed. And I just tap tempo when I change patches - a minor inconvenience.

The editor is a must to unlock the full potential.
Also, the 100w head even has a little speaker in it if you want to want to throw it on a table a jam.

I hope boss makes an AIRD version that supports loading IR files and higher ADA rates.

[scottcozart]

If you give the software a chance almost all of the issues you mentioned can be resolved. A lot of overdrive that all that the same tweaking options as your average overdrive. Drive, tone, low, and level. Several eqs to get endless sounds. Way more amp voicings as well with the variation button. There's actually a bank button so you can have 8 presets. Great review but I promise if you give the software a chance you'll find it's one of the best solid state options on the market enjoy!

[kaidemen]

Great, now I gotta add one of these to my collection

[bsquare]

I cant decide on the head vs. Combo. Either way, I want the seperate 2x12 cab. But for a difference of $30 on the amps, I would have options. Aside of the combo having it's own speaker, are there any other features on the head vs. Combo?

[mboyer]

The five lights across the effects section are buttons and give you a couple extra sound options. They start out green but go yellow and red when you press them. I've got the katana 50 but just bought the artist mkii from Sweetwater. Not sure if I'm going to go through all the software options or not because i can get great sound without it and that only takes away from playing time!

[MelloState]

The default boost iirc is a bluesbreaker so you need the software to change it

[JRs-guitars]

I'm fine with modeling amps but when you have to use a computer software to tweak settings...its kind of a bummer. Probably good for recording or use as a backup.

[sb]

You are limited without the software editor...takes it all the way there.

[ashenx]

Good demo. I had a 50w Katana 3-4 years ago and didn’t like the speaker and hated using the software. I’m tempted to get this head version and just use a OD pedal in front and an EQ in the loop and go into my Revv cab. I’m done fiddling with software and modelers I just want a good basic sound to practice at low volume.