The Best Headphone Amp Since Waza Airs? Boss Katana Go Demo

[@ForrestWest]

I just got the Katana Go from Musician's Friend. I played for 2-3 hours the first time I used it. It sounds great even compared to my Helix LT. The app is easy to use and has tons of features and adjustability. It's a very good value I think. I run it thru my fr speaker and monitors too with a cable.

[@DylanODonnell]

Thanks for this, literally bought one yesterday (partly because of your last video) so it's always nice to see gear I like in your videos. I look forward to ignoring my family on the couch while they roll their eyes at me as I shred my balls off.

[@JamieSlays]

its incredible. i use it every say and i love it

[@andrew6889-p5c]

I have one. It’s great. Stunning value. Super cool that it doubles as an audio interface. If you need a very portable AI this is your thing.

[@PelicanIslandLabs]

Really impressed how quickly you dialed in a nice tone. You sold a bunch of those for sure!

[@JDStone20]

I have the Boss Pocket GT and the Boss Katana Air, and I couldn't be happier. They really are perfect for practice and portable playing. I might get one of these Boss Katana Go just to complete my collection.

[@johnnathancordy]

Haven't tried the Pocket GT - but should be very similar right?

[@outermarker5801]

Session is really fun. Having patches auto switch at preset times during a song is wild. Like having someone else hit your footswitch for you. I haven't even explored bass mode yet, and I was mostly a bass player😂

[@slawsonscot]

I've been using mine live into a DI box via an eq pedal, and it sounds fantastic. Obviously it's limited in terms of switching so I tend to sit on one preset per song, but it totally works as a pedal platform and takes my TC and N-UX drives great.

[@johnnathancordy]

That's so cool to hear that you're using it in that context, I actually had a chap Joe asking about this as a solution for live!

[@Takianagi]

Just like the Helix I purchased this because of your review. Been having a hard time with being able to play since my current new job has me doing splits with 4 hour gaps. Now I can shred and get back onto track! Thanks so much John! Cheers! 🍻🎸🔥🤜🤛

[@bernard4664]

I'm only watching to see if that phone battery dies before the demo is over. jk- thanks for the great overview, and hearing your comparison/contrast to the Katana Air (and knowing that you actually use them) is super helpful.

[@thereaper987]

low batteries also give me anxiety

[@johnnathancordy]

Ha - it's Android so it lasts ok(ish)

[@AlecBourneMidiMadScientist]

Thanks for the shout-out there John. There are actually now a bunch of Facebook groups people may want to join. BOSS Katana : GO Owners The latest group specialized for GO users with loads of new contributors. BOSS AIR LIFESTYLE OWNERS CLUB This covers the entire range of anything BOSS Air Related, Waza, Kat Air, Kat Air EX, PGT and both the BOSS and XSONIC foot controllers.

[@DoubleDguitar]

Love the shout out to Alec, great guy, groups and channel. Def gotta check one of these out.

[@ubellubo]

I bought the Katana Go today. Originally I bougtht it as a back up for when my Waza Air ran out of charge, but having now used it, I prefer the Katana Go. I still really like the Waza Air. Being fully wireless is a big plus. But the Katana Go has more presets loaded and generally more features and sounds great. The big plus is that it is that Katana Go is much less expensive than the Waza Air.

[@isitreallyisitreally1756]

I’ve had mine for three weeks and can’t fault it . I’ve had Zoom 9002’s , JHS Rockboxes , pocket pods , Korg ones and all the rest , this is easily the most easy to programme and get decent sounds from , sadly no stereo chorus / phaser etc but stereo delays . Okay it’s not a Helix / Quad Cortex / Katana Air etc but it doesn’t pretend to be , for practice and even for live jams / open mic nights ( just run output jack , carefully , to PA or keyboard amp ) it’s fine . So far so good for me , if you can’t get reasonable , useable tone from this maybe time to get your ears checked . Ah , one thing , I’ve found cheaper (£30/£40) headphones work better than expensive (£100 plus ) ones 😊👍

[@TechnoRiff]

I cannot get any stereo delay effects at all - even with Pan and Stereo delays set. There's no ping-ponging left and right that one wold expect. My Korg Pandora can do this, and it's 20+ years old. It's a very nice headphone amp though really wished they had true stereo effects. 😥

[@isitreallyisitreally1756]

@@TechnoRiff Hi there , you have to turn the "Stage Feel" off , then it all good and stereo

[@TechnoRiff]

@@isitreallyisitreally1756 Thanks a bunch! So that’s the trick. I’d had Stage Feel turned on since getting the unit and expected it would support stereo effects in that mode. Perhaps this nuance could be better documented in the manual. It would be nice if stereo effects would also work in any Stage Feel mode; hopefully a firmware update could add this. I can certainly live without this though.

[@ThePortolio]

What headphones do you use?

[@isitreallyisitreally1756]

@@ThePortolio just some old Phillips cans , £20 / £30 region , my more expensive Audio Tech MX50 sound too harsh for my ears , might work for you though ?

[@ksharpe10]

One of these days, JNC will literally take a Banana and make music with it, this is just incredible. What a WINNER!!!

[@johnnathancordy]

I have bananas!

[@ksharpe10]

@@johnnathancordy And I have an FM9 now!!!!

[@joemiller9856]

@johnnathancordy Oh man this video has be thinking I may be able to use this live. I’m getting too old to drag a big board out for my silent stage gigs!

[@tristram2k75]

John - awesome Kanana Go tones. I went to your link posted below the video for your Presets. I did not find anything there for the Katana Go. I saw you have Boss Katana Presets - but in there you say they are for the Mark 2 and may not work with the Mark 1. So I do not want to purchase those because they may not work with the Katana Go either. Can you post a link to your awesome Kantana Go Presets (like ones in this video) please? Thanks!

[@joewrockg42]

Love mine, great video John!

[@the.Aruarian]

One thing I really wonder about these is how much power they have for driving headphones. I reckon it’d be a joy to use these with some open backs, if they can drive them properly.

[@johnnathancordy]

I've got some Massdrop Sennheiser HD650s that it is giving plenty of juice to!

[@the.Aruarian]

@@johnnathancordyCheers! I’ll be getting the Go in unexpectedly quickly in the next week and got a deal on a pair of Philips Fidelio’s, so looking forward to experiencing it.

[@pepeowen]

I love the Waza Airs for practice but I don’t use the gyroscopic feature and I always thought I’d ditch them for a mark 2 version with audio interface capability. This seems to be the right product for me to get great sounds and record at home. And btw I think the Katana effects and sounds are underrated, as with most Boss products.

[@jasonswitzer1748]

I wonder if there will be a way to get the “sneaky amps” on this thing, like you could with the regular Katana combo amps. That would be pretty cool.

[@Woody103]

It sound excellent… as always the end sound will be dependent on the speaker your hearing it through doesn’t matter what ir’s your using…modelers plugins or this little guy a good speaker will make the biggest difference in sound

[@isnameisfree]

Actually you don’t need stereo TRS to RCA Cable, you can plug it directly to your computer via USB C, and the computer (at least on Mac) will detect it as audio unit, there for record it’s output.

[@Dreyno]

What about Vox tones? I know you can probably find something in there that will would sound like a Vox but I would love something specific. Like the GarageBand Vox mode which instantly gets you those sounds. I would love something that simple rather than dialling in something close.

[@MrNamePerson]

I've seen a lot of these videos (yours is great!) But what I've not seen is why you would NOT use it live and if it can respond to a normal preset change via a midi controller. I'm not needing a big setup these days and would love to utilize the portability of this fascinating little device. Any ideas?

[@johnnathancordy]

I'd jump into the Katana Go users group on facebook and ask, as folks there are pushing the boundaries a bit!

[@timothy5974]

Nice unit, I bet if I use this katana go and Fender Mustang micro in a ABY pedal to my mixer, I can get dual amp mode 👍

[@maximegallant5953]

Are they being made right now? I had one on back order for months, I cancelled to go with fender since it wasn't available.

[@dagony7383]

Got one the first week it came out and love the way it sounds.hate that you have to use an app for it like the NUX mighty pro.that being said I still find myself picking up my fender mustang micro due to its simplicity...great vid!!

[@eoinjennings519]

I have the WAZA air and it’s awesome - the real killer for me apart from the sound is no wire but no latency so I can play along with a backing track and it all works - the Go looks brilliant but given I have the air using other headphones would mean a wire which I always find inhibiting - there is so much for so little money here though and the record option may make it a buy

[@Takianagi]

I was wondering if you're going to share your presets once the feature comes out next month? Thanks! 🤜🤛🎸🔥🔥🔥

[@johnnathancordy]

Yes!

[@Takianagi]

@@johnnathancordy You're the goat! 🐐💯🔥🔥🎸

[@Joshuaalan21]

John are they discontinuing or delaying production on the Katana GO? Dealers seem to be pulling them from websites and it’s not on boss website anymore. Boss only has support page and Sweetwater says it no longer available

[@jaunianise4172]

Have you compared the sound quality with the Spark 40's headphone output? So far, of everything I've tried, the Spark sounds the best, especially with coils singles. I tested with good headphones, Sennheiser HD 380 Pro. Thx !

[@johanjotun1647]

its a YES the GO IS HAPPENINIG! Is it possible to play youtube vids on the tablet while using the GO and mix Your guitar channel and the youtube audio? I'm hoping to use eartraining drones or backing tracks without having the "Layers" ? ( A device playing a vid with a speaker , while I play the go @ a low enough volume to let the speaker sound seep bast my ear buds)

[@mr.bluenotedoobop]

I'm tempted, the only thing I think would make it perfect is if you could connect any pair of wireless headphones to them.

[@lyricbread]

I had one of these for about a week. Without the capability to load in IR’s, I wasn’t able to dial in a tone that I was happy with. I guess I’m just spoiled from the Helix and Fractal modelers. Nice unit, but ultimately it just wasn’t for me.

[@johnnathancordy]

That's a good point - IRs might just tip it over the edge a bit more - personally I think there is quite a bit of scope for tweaking with the EQs if necessary but yeh - the Helix and Fractal stuff aren't slouchy ha!

[@lyricbread]

@@johnnathancordy that’s exactly what it had me doing. I had like 3-4 EQ’s going in order to shape the tone, pre and post amp. Way too much work. For the average Joe, it’s an amazing practice tool. But I’d rather just plug headphones into my Stomp and practice. Not as elegant as the Katana GO, but I’m picky about my tones, especially when practicing.

[@eoinjennings519]

Combine them yes !👍

[@thanksforwatching73]

Awesome! Can you share presets which you was using in video?:))

[@TheBdriver]

Had mine a few weeks now and if there are signifigant difference btwn it and the Boss pocket GT i havent seen it yet

[@TheTomarild]

Damn it. Now that I’ve got the IR2 and some pedals I realize that the Katana Go is what I actually need 😂

[@lostinpa-dadenduro7555]

I would like to get one. There is no reason someone couldn’t record a fantastic sounding song or album with this.

[@jimmcdougall9973]

Nothing in the market comes close to the Go. Looking forward to them being available over here. Probably May 2024…

[@srwaite7]

Where is “over here”?

[@jimmcdougall9973]

@@srwaite7where Toto reckons it rains a lot 😉

[@Takianagi]

If you're in the states guitar center has them, just ordered mine today.

[@jimmcdougall9973]

@@Takianagi unfortunately not. Darkest Africa I’m afraid.

[@chrisgmurray3622]

Is it possible to use this without being online in real time? That is if you go to a wi fi spot at the local library, and download the app to your phone, can you then still use all the fine tuning you were showing on your phone, while at home with no internet? I ask because this would be ideal for a friend of mine who has no internet, but is a skilled draughtsman and engineer. If abdolutely everything needs an online editor then we walked into a consumer trap laid by those corporations who "saw us coming".

[@abc121xyz]

can you play along spotify or any other background music app as with waza?

[@John-boy]

Yes

[@raldtechtv1251]

Any walrus d1 and r1 combo review in the future?

[@JosephCompton66]

That thing is really cool, but my Henriksen amp has a headphone jack out, so I get to use my actual pedal board.

[@robertj1303]

Katana Go is sold out nearly everywhere around the world with most shops on preorder or 2 to 3 weeks suggest restock! Slow to arrive in Asia too, probably because Mooer and Nux dominate!😄😄😄

[@BloodySoup74]

I just received mine today and it was on backorder. Waited 6 weeks. Can't wait to try them out

[@isnameisfree]

Seems like the WAZA and Katana branding is two teams in Boss, this don’t seems to me like “WAZA air 2”, and I don’t think there are ever be one.

[@deekod1967]

If only patch selection could be via any midi controller via bluetooth

[@icecreamforcrowhurst]

You can hook it up to a wireless pedal to change patches.

[@doubleuseven]

What's the brand of that guitar? Hard to read the sticker.

[@thereaper987]

K-Line

[@doubleuseven]

@@thereaper987 Thanks!

[@kanahmal]

All I want from a practice amp is to be able to use my Bluetooth earbuds. I hate having a wire from my guitar to my ears, I hate having to pack expensive headphones and invariably have their wires destroyed in my guitar case. Waza Airs are too expensive to shove in a guitar case and between 3 to 5 times as expensive as every other practice amp.

[@jamiejones7104]

Bluetooth can’t achieve zero latency which is why no practice amps like this exist, the Boss Waza airs use a more advanced wireless system. I thought they were too expensive at first but they have turned out to be the most rewarding piece of guitar gear I’ve bought and have actually made me a better player. The same can’t be said for the Fender Mustang micro amp which was awful in comparison and got sold after a few days of use.. the Boss Wazas are absolutely worth the money and I can’t recommend them enough

[@MrVishnuu]

Can't you use it as a usb interface too?

[@StevePratt1]

yes it can act as an audio interface

[@MrVishnuu]

@@StevePratt1 thanks ! 🙏🏽

[@eoinjennings519]

Does it drop in and out - the one pain about the WAZA air is the drop outs ?

[@ToastandJam52]

Pity Boss decided to discontinue it. Maybe a version 2 at Namm? But to stop producing something this successful is stupid to me.

[@Thrive-Off-Grid]

Its too bad they couldnt put a built in UHF wireless system into this.

[@amd3449]

⚠️Boss Katana Go! It’s ALREADY DISCONTINUED ⚠️

[@ukefriction595]

Katana gone! that didn't take long

[@frankcarter6427]

I've got the fender mustang mini, rave reviews, but to me it's thin and weak, too quiet and artificial sounding, waste of 90 quid

[@johnplaystheguitar123]

Witty comment

[@zakklee2556]

It is not a Katana MKii.

[@raygoodman9669]

A wise person once taught me to pay attention to those who use the word “actually” too often. They explained that the overuse of “actually” shows the speaker is a liar and has subconsciously gotten into the habit of using this word to try to convince the listener that “this time” they are finally telling the truth. My mentor said I should be aware of the use of this word, and if it shows up three times or more in a conversation I should keep in mind that the speaker is probably a liar. "Actually" count for this video is 14.

[@recyclebinladen5903]

So contextually, in your opinion, what did he lie about?

[@StonedBlue]

Nobody makes or sells this anymore. So disappointing

[@pepeowen]

I love the Waza Airs for practice but I don’t use the gyroscopic feature and I always thought I’d ditch them for a mark 2 version with audio interface capability. This seems to be the right product for me to get great sounds and record at home. And btw I think the Katana effects and sounds are underrated, as with most Boss products.

[@moogsick]

sold my waza air which I loved (but not the gyro) and replaced with this for a fraction of what I sold the waza for, zero regrets