BOSS Katana-Artist MkII 100W 1x12 Guitar Combo Amplifier

Most Liked Positive Review

Definitely would buy again

I traded in a Fender '65 Princeton Reverb. It was a great little amp but to get full use I had to plug in effects, I used a Boss ME80 for years. Still, I felt limited in what tones and sounds I could obtain. I love Fender's built in tremelo and reverb -- the reason I bought the Princeton in first place. Then, I get the MKII Artist home and start learning sessions. I did buy the GEFC foot control with it. My main goals (1) reduce foot print to 1 amp with built in effects and 1 simple foot switch setup so I can stop carrying a suitcase full of gear. This amp/foot control package hit that mark easily, but I was still on the fence for first few practice sessions. The type of music I play live does not need a lot of distortion and it seemed like all the settings other than "clean" (crunch, lead, brown, boost and solo) would push distortion WAY over the top and loose the clarity. The clean sounds are great, I was happy with that (playing Les Paul and Telecaster) but I was considering using the 45 day return option because too much distortion. But as I started twisting knobs, using various volumes and using the foot controller I found many, many sweet spots. Now I can preset really nice dialed-in distortion settings for all kinds of styles, blues, radio rock, 50's and 60's, classic rock, country. I don't play heavy metal but I found tones that will work for that genre easily. With simple "step on the switch" I can go from the clean intro to La Grange, then hit another switch and nail the Billy Gibbons sound for the driving rhythm, using my telecaster, or Les Paul. Then I can set another switch for just a little bit of dirt, some delay and chorus and hit so many top 40 rhythm guitar sounds as well has stuff like Green Onions and anything by Merle Haggard. Then I explored the 2 different banks (A & B) so I have 8 different tones I can preset so I never have to mess with dials on stage. Also, for mellow songs the acoustic setting is great -- not completely "natural" acoustic tone because I'm using solid body guitars. I think a semi-hollow electric would sound even more like natural acoustic -- but either way the tone is great. So, I'll keep it. This amp surprises me every time I plug in -- there are so many settings that I haven't even fully explored. The price, well that is the catch for many, including me. If you want a great amp the 50W or 100W Katana will most likely give you about 80% of what the Artist has for much less cost. I'm sure if I had chosen the smaller versions I'd still be very satisfied, I owned an earlier 100w Katana amp (pre pandemic) and was very disappointed so I took it back (thats when I bought the Princeton). Boss has made HUGE improvements in features, sound, controls, tone -- the full package.