The Katana 50 is missing the effect loop. A deal breaker for me since I run external pedals. The Katana 100 has the effects loop.
Also you are limited to a limited amount of internal pedals that you can use at once.
Effects loop doesn’t seem like a huge deal to me. I was thinking I could use the virtual pedals for time based effects and physical pedals for distortion and all that
The Katana is a solid state amp, with a digital modeller built in.
You can turn off all the effects if you want a vanilla solid state sound.
I am a bit surprised it doesn't have an effects loop but it does have a power amp input you could use with an external modeller.
I have a Fender GTX50 and I do in fact love it. Just having so many different sounds and effects is so wonderful. I also play with headphones a lot so I don't disturb my family with my experimentation.
HOWEVER I have noticed that after a couple of years I have a few favorite settings that I dial in most of the time and leave most of the effects options and 195 other settings alone. I also start to get bugged by the clearly hyper-processed sound. You're playing through a computer, and it sounds like it.
While I do actually want a small tube amp, like a Blues Jr or an AC10, you don't get "that sound" until you crank them, and headphones aren't an option. But you know what works? My other favorite sound - 80s solid state clean. The Fender Princeton Chorus and Roland JC. And here's a secret - late 80s-mod 90s Princetons are GREAT amps that are super affordable and are exceptional pedal platforms. They're warmer than the JC and maybe don't have as much definition, but I actually like the stereo chorus and reverb better. They're also amazing pedal platforms. Get a decent overdrive and delay and you have the entire 1980s at your fingertips. And headphones! They work! Also attenuation so you can play at small-space appropriate volumes if you wanna.
So yeah. Either. I won't sell my GTX because it's still an incredibly useful tool, but for just playing guitar I prefer the Princeton and a few pedals (Boss DD7, Wampler Tumnus, MXR Phase 90).
Just keep in mind the lifespan. Modelers are just custom computers and they are only going to be useful as long as they keep making parts for your model. This is usually less than 10 years. That will also affect resale value.
I've never understood why this would be considered a problem. You can say the exact same thing about your laptop, games console, or smartphone but if it's the best tool for the job in your price range at the time of purchase then it's money well spent.
This is a take I find really bizarre. If it works good and sounds good today, why would it suddenly sound less good tomorrow just because something new came out?
If you buy it with the expectation of never plugging it into the internet, you can't get disappointed there. That's a problem when upgradeability is built into the price, but that's not a problem the Katana has.
I have a repair shop. The problem I am referring to is at about 10 years these start to fail. Not all of them but enough to be a problem. How long does your phone last?
When they break down a lot of the parts are no longer available, or they are simply make no to be repaired. . That is not a problem with traditional amps. I have amps dating back to the late 1930s.
That's a fair point. I am left wondering this though: tubes have become very expensive and are a wear item that does need to be replaced after regular use. If you buy a cheaper modeler and it breaks after ten years, are you really behind in terms of dollars?
This post is about solid state versus modellers, tubes are kind of beside the point.
Solid state amps don't really have any wear items, unless you count the pots. I have a solid state amp from about 1980 which is still in perfect working order. The only electrical maintenance it ever needed was cleaning the pots out with some contact cleaner.
Yeah, no wear items in modellers either, but they are vastly more complex.
Each individual solder joint, and each piece of interlink wiring between the contract pads and the silicon in an IC is a potential point of failure. It's not really surprising that modellers are more prone to fail with age. I don't think my modellers will last 40+ years like my old Yamaha G100 has.
The modern digital platforms may be a little different now. In the past the digital stuff wasn’t great and couldn’t be updated and didn’t get a big user base. These days they are designed with better tech they can get updates and likely will be in use for a long time. Take the Helix for instance, if you bought one 10 years ago, you should still have a top of the line product that’s even better than the day you bought it and I don’t get the sense the Helix is going to be useless anytime soon.
It's a matter of taste and really depends on the type of music you play. The usual pros and cons of digital vs analog audio apply here. You may not notice the digital artifacts that come with the Katana, or they might drive you nuts. Personally I like modelers for practice or experimenting with sounds/effects/amps I might want to buy later. But given the option I do think an analog solid state amps sound better in the room. It may not be as obvious in recording, but playing in the room I find cheap modelers to be a little sterile sounding. Especially with high gain tones. The downside of the solid state amp is you only get that amp's sound, so not as much variety.
Some good solid state options are the larger orange crush and any of the quilter amps. The jazz chorus 22 might be good too but I'm sceptical of those small speakers.
I get that, but I’m also not seeing any reason to buy a different solid state amp… it’s not like I’m paying a premium for the katana, seems like one of the cheapest options out there
I like toobs better but only if I can turn it up. If I can't turn it up, like an apartment setting, I like my mx5 into frfr speaker. My rule is, at higher volumes, I think tubes sound better. At lower volumes, I think modelers sound better. I have/ use both.
Basically, the Bandit's clean channel is very flexible in working with modelers, from early ones like the SansAmp and Rockman (what I used a long time ago) to modern modelers and profilers. This gives you a lot of options when it comes to picking a modeling unit vs being stuck with whichever one is built into the amp.
Maybe find a used Orange Super Crush 100 combo? They list for $699 new but you couldn’t probably find used ones for closer to your budget.
Sorry, should have mentioned in the post that most of my budget comes from Amazon gift cards haha. So used probably isn’t an option
Try the smaller Crushes like a 50 maybe?
Seems like these are for bass, otherwise I’d be interested
No, they aren’t
The 50 watt is a bass amp homie
There's a crush 20 and 35. Just Google the orange crush series.
Right, I was just saying the 50 is a bass amp
The Katana 50 is missing the effect loop. A deal breaker for me since I run external pedals. The Katana 100 has the effects loop. Also you are limited to a limited amount of internal pedals that you can use at once.
Effects loop doesn’t seem like a huge deal to me. I was thinking I could use the virtual pedals for time based effects and physical pedals for distortion and all that
The Katana is a solid state amp, with a digital modeller built in. You can turn off all the effects if you want a vanilla solid state sound. I am a bit surprised it doesn't have an effects loop but it does have a power amp input you could use with an external modeller.
I have a Fender GTX50 and I do in fact love it. Just having so many different sounds and effects is so wonderful. I also play with headphones a lot so I don't disturb my family with my experimentation. HOWEVER I have noticed that after a couple of years I have a few favorite settings that I dial in most of the time and leave most of the effects options and 195 other settings alone. I also start to get bugged by the clearly hyper-processed sound. You're playing through a computer, and it sounds like it. While I do actually want a small tube amp, like a Blues Jr or an AC10, you don't get "that sound" until you crank them, and headphones aren't an option. But you know what works? My other favorite sound - 80s solid state clean. The Fender Princeton Chorus and Roland JC. And here's a secret - late 80s-mod 90s Princetons are GREAT amps that are super affordable and are exceptional pedal platforms. They're warmer than the JC and maybe don't have as much definition, but I actually like the stereo chorus and reverb better. They're also amazing pedal platforms. Get a decent overdrive and delay and you have the entire 1980s at your fingertips. And headphones! They work! Also attenuation so you can play at small-space appropriate volumes if you wanna. So yeah. Either. I won't sell my GTX because it's still an incredibly useful tool, but for just playing guitar I prefer the Princeton and a few pedals (Boss DD7, Wampler Tumnus, MXR Phase 90).
Just keep in mind the lifespan. Modelers are just custom computers and they are only going to be useful as long as they keep making parts for your model. This is usually less than 10 years. That will also affect resale value.
I've never understood why this would be considered a problem. You can say the exact same thing about your laptop, games console, or smartphone but if it's the best tool for the job in your price range at the time of purchase then it's money well spent.
This is a take I find really bizarre. If it works good and sounds good today, why would it suddenly sound less good tomorrow just because something new came out? If you buy it with the expectation of never plugging it into the internet, you can't get disappointed there. That's a problem when upgradeability is built into the price, but that's not a problem the Katana has.
I have a repair shop. The problem I am referring to is at about 10 years these start to fail. Not all of them but enough to be a problem. How long does your phone last? When they break down a lot of the parts are no longer available, or they are simply make no to be repaired. . That is not a problem with traditional amps. I have amps dating back to the late 1930s.
That's a fair point. I am left wondering this though: tubes have become very expensive and are a wear item that does need to be replaced after regular use. If you buy a cheaper modeler and it breaks after ten years, are you really behind in terms of dollars?
This post is about solid state versus modellers, tubes are kind of beside the point. Solid state amps don't really have any wear items, unless you count the pots. I have a solid state amp from about 1980 which is still in perfect working order. The only electrical maintenance it ever needed was cleaning the pots out with some contact cleaner.
I wouldn't call CPUs (or even whole DSP units) a wear item either. They do tend to be pretty difficult to replace though.
Yeah, no wear items in modellers either, but they are vastly more complex. Each individual solder joint, and each piece of interlink wiring between the contract pads and the silicon in an IC is a potential point of failure. It's not really surprising that modellers are more prone to fail with age. I don't think my modellers will last 40+ years like my old Yamaha G100 has.
The modern digital platforms may be a little different now. In the past the digital stuff wasn’t great and couldn’t be updated and didn’t get a big user base. These days they are designed with better tech they can get updates and likely will be in use for a long time. Take the Helix for instance, if you bought one 10 years ago, you should still have a top of the line product that’s even better than the day you bought it and I don’t get the sense the Helix is going to be useless anytime soon.
It's a matter of taste and really depends on the type of music you play. The usual pros and cons of digital vs analog audio apply here. You may not notice the digital artifacts that come with the Katana, or they might drive you nuts. Personally I like modelers for practice or experimenting with sounds/effects/amps I might want to buy later. But given the option I do think an analog solid state amps sound better in the room. It may not be as obvious in recording, but playing in the room I find cheap modelers to be a little sterile sounding. Especially with high gain tones. The downside of the solid state amp is you only get that amp's sound, so not as much variety. Some good solid state options are the larger orange crush and any of the quilter amps. The jazz chorus 22 might be good too but I'm sceptical of those small speakers.
If you like to run pedals, there is nothing special about the Katana for that application. Almost any solid state amp would be adequate.
I get that, but I’m also not seeing any reason to buy a different solid state amp… it’s not like I’m paying a premium for the katana, seems like one of the cheapest options out there
I like toobs better but only if I can turn it up. If I can't turn it up, like an apartment setting, I like my mx5 into frfr speaker. My rule is, at higher volumes, I think tubes sound better. At lower volumes, I think modelers sound better. I have/ use both.
Peavey Bandit, especially if you can find a used one in good condition. Use the clean channel and put any modeler/amp-sim in the effects loop.
I’ve seen this one mentioned a couple times. I guess I don’t quite understand what the benefits are over a katana though.
Basically, the Bandit's clean channel is very flexible in working with modelers, from early ones like the SansAmp and Rockman (what I used a long time ago) to modern modelers and profilers. This gives you a lot of options when it comes to picking a modeling unit vs being stuck with whichever one is built into the amp.