Katana 100

Ronald Ballister · From: New York, New York, USA

Did a search on the forum bu couldn't find much on the about the Katana 100. Did find the Steel Guitar of Nashville video. Seems versatile for guitars and steel (maybe for steel home or small situations). Anyone using one? Any videos? Saw a couple being sold here which always gives one pause. One member commented it was too bright. My intention isn't to change the speaker or modify the amp in any way. I like that the Katana has a headphone out. Comparing to an older Peavey Nashville 112, which wouldn't have the versatility to use with electric guitar.

Bruce Bjork · From: Southern Coast of Maine

I'm a 23 month PSG player who's using a Katana 100, great amp but you need to tweak the EQ, add delay to taste and use the Acoustic channel, I also closed the back with a thick piece of cardboard to get a better bass response. I'm liking it so far and will probably dig into more EQ shaping. Look me up on Facebook, there's a recent video of me playing a Justice Pro Lite at a monthly Blues Jam.

I've noticed that when they show up for sale they go fast.
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Banjo, Dobro, Guild D-40, Telecaster, Justice Pro Lite 3x5, BOSS Katana 100, Peavey Nashville 112 in a Tommy Huff cabinet, Spark, FreeLoader, Baby Bloomer, Peterson StroboPlus HD, Stage One VP.
"Use the talents you possess; the woods would be very silent indeed if no birds sang but the best"

Scott McRee · From: Georgia, USA

I use this amp and love it. Best non tube amp for the steel I've used. As mentioned above, if you tweak the eq a bit it's very nice.

Ronald Ballister · From: New York, New York, USA

Bruce Bjork, found your Facebook page (notice you play banjo, I'm just starting to teach myself) but there doesn't seem to be a pedal steel video on the page.

Bruce Bjork · From: Southern Coast of Maine

The video is a post by Philip Hosmer on my homepage, posted March 31st, view the bottom portion of the post for the steel part.
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Banjo, Dobro, Guild D-40, Telecaster, Justice Pro Lite 3x5, BOSS Katana 100, Peavey Nashville 112 in a Tommy Huff cabinet, Spark, FreeLoader, Baby Bloomer, Peterson StroboPlus HD, Stage One VP.
"Use the talents you possess; the woods would be very silent indeed if no birds sang but the best"

George Kimery · From: Limestone, TN, USA

I have the 100 head and am running it through my Stereo Steel JBL D-130 cabinet. I think it sounds great. I have also used it with my TT-12 cabinet and it sounds great too. You might want to consider the head version. it has a 5" practice speaker built in that doesn't sound half bad. It also has a presence control that the combos do not have, plus it only weighs 19# and you will have your controls sitting on the floor right next to you. The controls are on top of the amp, which is perfect for sitting on the floor. You can also turn the amp 1/4 turn if you want to sit it on top of a speaker cabinet so that you have what appears to be a combo amp with the controls on the front. The reverb is really good and it has delay and distortion if you need it. I think it sounds much better set on acoustic, but some players prefer the clean setting. There are so many other variables besides the amp, you just have to experiment to see what you like best. This is one heck of an amp, especially for the price. I can't speak for the combo because I don't have one, but it should be good also, but is going to sound different than mine with my closed back JBL cabinet.

Bill Bassett · From: Papamoa New Zealand

I too have been using a Katana 100 head. I keep it right next to me on a riser so I can adjust if needed. I was using a single 12 in a Fender cab. But then I bought a Jet City cab with an Eminence 12. The cab can be closed or open back by removing a panel. Also features a low Z balanced line level output which eliminates a mic. I'm diggin it.

Once I found my EQ and dialed in the reverb I like, it's been great. My low strings growl a little, on the verge of distortion, but in a good way.

John Sluszny · From: Brussels, Belgium

Bill,will it work as well with the Boss Katana Combo connected to the Jet City Cab with the Eminence 12" ? Thanks.

Bill Bassett · From: Papamoa New Zealand

Check aux speaker out.

Jerry Recktenwald · From: Louisville KY

I have a Kanata combo amp but I never been one to set EQ setting because I wear hearing aids. I play a guitar and a GFI SM10 some days sounds good other days not so good. Have any one created patches that you stored with the Boss Tone Studio for Your PSG. I like the Boss Tone Studio software but I never been able to tweek the different pedals to sound good . I don't have the ear for that. [ wish I did ] EQ compression noise gate reverb If you have a patch that sounds good to you that I could download [ using the tone studio] shure would help. Jerry
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If I couldn't play music I would go nut's.How do people go thru life and not have a hobby? life would be boring.

Bruce Bjork · From: Southern Coast of Maine

BOSS Katana 100 with a solid pine cabinet replacement.

https://youtu.be/aPQv_Ox0XGc
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Banjo, Dobro, Guild D-40, Telecaster, Justice Pro Lite 3x5, BOSS Katana 100, Peavey Nashville 112 in a Tommy Huff cabinet, Spark, FreeLoader, Baby Bloomer, Peterson StroboPlus HD, Stage One VP.
"Use the talents you possess; the woods would be very silent indeed if no birds sang but the best"

Larry Dering · From: Missouri, USA

Bruce, nice looking cabinet. Did you duplicate the same design or is it different?

Bruce Bjork · From: Southern Coast of Maine

Larry Dering · From: Missouri, USA

Well it looks great and sounds super. I have a Katana 100 but no real desire to build a cabinet for it. It's already light enough. Really versitle little amp.

Stan Townsend · Posted 15 Dec 2023 4:25 pm

I bought a Boss Katana 100 about 3 years ago at the suggestion of a friend who plays 6 string guitar. I hate it for pedal steel. It's very tinny, highs and no low end. I can't use it for steel. I've tried every setting possible, yes, acoustic setting, and the modeling downloads from my pc. Sounds terrible. Can't get any Fat tone out of it and it has some gimmicky settings that are tricky. Going to stick with my PV112 and Webb. Katana is ok for 6 string.

Dan Rollans · From: Little Rock, Arkansas, USA

I use the katana 100 for small rooms. Adding a GE7 EQ will fatten it up nicely. I play 12 string ZB E9/6 tuning. Lots of lows possible. Try it.

Larry Dering · From: Missouri, USA

Using Boss tone studio or my Katana Librarian app I was able to get the EQ especially lows and mids to my liking. It has a parametric EQ in the app.

Stew Crookes · From: Paris, France

Larry Dering · From: Missouri, USA

Stew, thanks for sharing your settings,I will give them a try. I went back and forth on the acoustic to clean settings and I can't say I favor one more than the other. The clean is fine on one steel and the acoustic on another. Since we all have a different take on our hearing and taste nothing is set in stone.

Bill Davis · From: Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, USA

I play in a "bar/casino/outdoor venues type" modern country band. I have 2 Katanas. When the stage is big enough, I use the 100. If not, I have a 50 watt katana that I removed and reboxed the head. I plug it directly into the PA with the record out and then I use in ears. The reboxed head fits perfectly under my pack-a-seat. If you use the the Boss PC software and the Xsonic airstep floor pedal, both amps can use exactly the same patches. I like the 100 and no in ears better but sometime it isn't possible. I use the acoustic setting for most country stuff but use the airstep to change to the crunch setting for the rockers. All in all, I like them as well as my Fender super 60 tube amp. (I think the 60 stands for the weight rather than the wattage) I have a bunch of free to download patches on the Katana patch FB page. It did take a long time tweeking them but you might find them a good place to start.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/549271340049438
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Sho-Bud Pro I, Boss Katana 100 and a 50, Fender super 60, Goodrich 120, Peterson strobe II

Phil Hock · From: Illinois, USA

Does anyone have a Boss Katana-100 MK2 amplier and has had problems reinstalling the USB driver on a Windows 10 PRO computer. For some reason (after using it with Boss Tone Studio software abt 2+ yrs) the driver is no longer installed and I have had no sucess in getting it reinstalled. I've talked to a Boss Authorized Service Center technician and have emailed Tech Support at Roland (who makes the driver) and still can't get it installed. One of the steps Roland told me to do has resulted in all of my presets being erased from the amp. I can restore them from a backup of BTS if I can solve this problem. Message me if you would like further information on what I have done in trying to solve this problem. I really want to get this solved.

Fred Treece · From: California, USA

Phil-
I can’t help you with BTS, but you might try the FxFloorboard for Katana from SourceForge instead:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/fxfloorboard/files/KatanaFxFloorBoard/

It’s the same basic interface for all Boss multi-fx units. About 1000x more practical and easier to work with than BTS.

Anyone else-
I’ve been using the Katana 100 Mk1 for about 3 years. Somehow the word got out to use the Acoustic setting for pedal steel and some folks raved about turning the bass up all the way and rolling off the high end, which to me sounds like a mud pie in a barrel of mud stuck in a mud hole.

I downloaded the Sneaky amps and found a nice Twin-ish model (in the “Clean” settings) that sounds great with roughly the same B/M/T settings as Stew posted earlier, although I keep the bass closer to 75% rather than 100. The gain on this model has some secret sauce and you can run it up to about 30% before a hint of dirt creeps in, even with the high wound humbucker on my Williams. I rarely run it in 100w mode. Even in 50w I don’t dare dime the master volume. This thing hollers. The effects are all modeled after Boss stomps. I think there’s about 80 in all.

You don’t have to geek out on any of it, really, because there is good tone and there are good effects to be had right there on the top panel. But with the FxFloorboard, it’s so much more bang for the buck than any amp I’ve ever owned, even if I only ever use 5% of what’s in it.

I think players that diss this amp are used to something they can’t get out of it and don’t have the patience to work with what it actually can do.

Phil Hock · From: Illinois, USA

Fred--

Thanks for the response. My main problem is being able to communicate with my Katana via USB. I can't get the Roland driver to install. Roland says the firmware of the amp needs an update. I need a USB driver that will install and let my computer communicate with the amp. Does the KatanaFxFloorboard software provide a driver?

Fred Treece · From: California, USA

If your amp needs a firmware update, that would be the first step. There are instructions on the Boss website for that. But if BTS was working for 2 years and now it’s not, I don’t see why the firmware would suddenly need an update. Could be a Windows 11 update messed it up.

The Fx Floorboard software runs off the Boss driver. You might try installing FxFloorboard and see if it magically finds the driver. Just make sure you download the right version for your amp and pc.

If that doesn’t work-
I’m not a great geek, but before sending me a pm of everything you’ve tried, just tell me the exact power-up sequence that you follow when you try to connect the Katana to BTS, and then tell me what message (if any) you get when it doesn’t connect.

Phil Hock · From: Illinois, USA

I follow the steps as outlined by Bost. I download the driver, unzip it and run the Setup.exe . It tells me the installation has completed sucessfully. (I have tried the next steps before and after a computer restart with no difference). Next, I turn on the Katana, then I insert the USB cable in my computer. I have tried different USB ports also. I have also tried inserting the cable and then turning on the Katana--same results. A pop-up screen comes up on my monitor saying "USB Device Not Recognized -- a device has been connected to the computer and has malfunctioned". When I check Device Manager, it shows "Unknown USB Device (Device Descriptor Request Failed)" under the Universal Serial Bus controllers section. When I check Properties for this entry it says the device has reported problems. The USB ports on my computer are USB2. I have tried a different cable as well as a different computer (with the same version of WIN10 Pro and same Intel motherboard. Since there is no driver installed, BTS does not see the amp for me to select and only gives me the choice of working off-line. Roland (the provider of the driver) says the amp needs a Firmware update but in order to do that I have to first have connectivity between by computer and amp via USB. Without the driver installed, I don't have this. The Boss technician I talked to said he has seen cases with other equipment where a Windows update would cause device drivers to need reinstalling.

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