The Boss Amp No-one Talks About...

[@rnegtr]

I have both the Nextone Special and the Artist. They are great amps. Everything on the amp is analog except the effects. The power amp responds just like a tube amp - crank it up and it really comes alive. The best setting are to have the master volume maxed and the channel volume at a lower level. The amp is also incredibly loud. I’ve gigged in large clubs and never been able to put it above teh 40 watt setting. If you want a modeler with 100 presets and countless small variations, don’t buy a Nextone. But if you want the tones of a tube amp that you can set up to your liking, these are great. Not only do you have the valve selection but you can change the tone stack (American or British - and yes, it does make a lot of difference), have a boost, the power amp tone controls, presence and a solo control. That’s much greater control that you will ever get from a Marshall, Fender or Vox amp. Takes pedals great as well. And if you are like me and don’t want to be tied to a computer to play music, this is for you. The Waza speaker is wonderful as well. I don’t know why Boss didn’t promote these more but they are great amps and if you find a used one, a very good value. Totally giggable and reliable.

[@joeyjojo8200]

Which one do you prefer and why? The Artist or the Special?

[@BaroqueBlues]

The boss amp no one talks about is a Roland Cube 60 or 30x from around 2008-2012! I compared mine to a Next Tone, Katana artist, a blues cube, & pretty much anything you can imagine. And it kicks the crap out of all of them... For some reason that was the only time period where they could make the gain still sustain when you turn it completely off, & it's not fizzy, buzzy or fuzzy on the low notes, just smooth & transparent.

[@shirtpants4203]

Likely a digital tone stack with mosfet analog distortion that "cleans up" like a tube amp

[@jimmcdougall9973]

The. Cube from 1984 was even better 😉

[@BaroqueBlues]

@@jimmcdougall9973 No they don't, they sound ok for a clean amp, but the overdrive is fizzy & cheap sounding... The one I'm talking about sounds like a low gain plexi or Stevie Ray Vaughan's tone.

[@danielcook3361]

So what is the exact version you recommend?

[@jeffralston450]

My Cube 30X is never going anywhere. I even do small gigs with it!

[@t0msie]

I really agree that this amp is slept on. To my mind, it's on par with the katana artist but a different flavour. Lots of comments on the internet about it having too many knobs, but if you look at how it's fully independent on both channels, it makes sense.

[@30smsuperstrat]

I owned the larger Nextone, and now own the smaller Nextone. It's been my main amp for years now. Great amps. The consistency to me outdoes tube amps that can be fire and rain sometimes. My understanding is it is solid state power and preamp with modeling effects. It definitely feels different than Katana to me.

[@30gara]

Love mine, gig it all the time. Sounds great when it's running at gig volume and cuts through the mix brilliantly, even over the loudest of drummers. There's a slight boxyness that I had to dial out when using humbuckers. However using the app this was easy to do. Great to see some love for this amp especially from such a great player. .

[@jonalexander8935]

Using a Katana Artist MK2 as a FR Cabinet for my Kemper stage. Line out right to house, line out left to Katana.. Works so good! Not to mention if Kemper failed I got a solid back-up in about 30 seconds... Great content as usual J....

[@peterclark1320]

Yep, doing the same with the Nextone Special. Unbelievably loud!

[@rfpho1456]

I’ve got a Nextone Artist I really like. It’s my go to practice amp when I’ve got 30mins and don’t want to power up my fav tube amp. Plays like a tube amp…. Just you can configure pretty much whatever tube amp you fancy.

[@monahantp3767]

Love my Nextone "Artist" (80w version). Also have a Katana "Artist" with the Waza speaker-- both great sounding amps. I like the Nextone better as I can just plug in and play without having to tweak much. As mentioned elsewhere, the Nextone is solid-state, not a modeling amp. That difference was not focused on much by Boss-- it didn't clearly define the difference between the Nextone and Katana. Likely, people thought it was just an expensive Katana, and turned away. Purchased my Nextone locally; it was a floor model that sat in the store for a few years before they put a "get it out of here" price tag on it-- that's when I happened in, and subsequently brought it home. These truly are jewels in the amp world~

[@robbie12207]

These amps are just killer. Juice the channel volumes and control the master. Hurry up with the presets Boss !

[@tr1dentlay3rs77]

I love the relationship you have with BOSS

[@jerryhorton5708]

I love the Nextone amps. Bought one, used it for one gig, and my pedal steel player bought it from me… The only complaint I have about the Nextone is lack of gradation in the ‘Power Control’ section. If it had a 5 or 10 w setting, it would be perfect. Ton of tones for a darn reasonable price and without the problems of tube maintenance

[@kentbernard9842]

The Nextone Special is the Cadillac of Boss amps. Tube amp Houdini. Analog amp modeling with classic boutique looks. The Kaktana line are versatile with many effects but many limitations or compromises since it’s hard to adjust the effects on the fli. The MkII are more flexible. But if you don’t like the.limits of multiFX pedal or modeler then the Katana is possible worse. The Katana Artist can be clean but it’s best at high gain which even the greenback speaker dictates. The Nextone Artist with it Bluebell speaker and analog tube emulation is classic tone based on classic amp designs all the way. The Nextone line provides superb pedal platform like a tube amp with every power stage every flavor at your fingertips. Select the boost, reverb, and delay for the 3 presets x each channel and you’re rolling. Or add you pedals. The software is straight forward. It provides access to effects cabinet and mic settings,tuning EQ settings, holds all presents for assignment. The Special has many control knobs outside so you don’t need to go into the software as much like on the smaller units. You must use the software to get the most out of the Katana including the Artist. I have the Nextone Special and will never look back. I had the Nextone Artist. I’ve owned Katana Stage 100w and Katana Artist MKII.

[@tommanseau6277]

I would love to get a hold of those presets Johnnathan. Unfortunately I don't see a spot on Boss Tone Exchange for this amp. It's like Boss has abandoned this one, which is a massive shame. It's definitely more mid-range oriented than a Katana, more vintage, and has never had an issue. I've had this amp about 2 years now. It's the one that I keep putting everything up against. It's still my go to. For those who say the overdrive channel is fizzy, go in and edit out 5k and above and that will mimic the natural roll off of a tube amp. And changing the speaker will significantly change the sound out. Add a 2x12 w/V30s and it's different enough to be a usefull difference. The footpedal is absolutely great for this. Since it has reverb, tremelo, boosts, and delay which you can modify to give a chorus effect, it's pretty much all a lot of people really need. But Boss really hasn't supported it like the Katana series.

[@gobodega5226]

Nextone amps are great. You really have a wonderful pedal platform and very good sounds without complicated programming. Just kind of classic.

[@mr.bluenotedoobop]

I looked at this amp, looked great, but ultimately went with the Roland JC-40. Super clean and that chorus is soooo nice. You should do a video on that one.

[@gordonvanamburg8932]

I just bought a used JC 40 today. So bright and clean!

[@jackprice7828]

Wow what an amazing amp! Sounds so versatile.

[@garrynathan8478]

I have the Nextone Artist bought it new £500, The Special was about £800 new, I was deliberating buying The Stage but read a review saying limited clean headroom ? You can pick up The Stage secondhand around £200 a bargain IMO. Fantastic amps. My old tube amp kept failing and my amp tech took mercy on me and said he had never had a Boss Katana in for a repair, I plumped for The Artist, fingers crossed it is reliable, durable. The Special people complained about a fizzy lead channel but I believe this is only down to the speaker requiring a long time to break in ? I am very, very, happy with my Artist.

[@Dreyno]

I like the knob to select the valve type. Nice touch.

[@andrewbecker3700]

I know one thing sounding different/great, it's that blue S type we've not seen here in a few months now. I much prefer it to the yellow one you've been back to playing more recently. It has a warmer overall tone, that's not plinky when you dig in. Mellow is good. The main issue I had when building up/modding my Cutlass HSS, was getting all the pickups balanced in tone and output. Output isn't as critical if your able to adjust the volumes independently. But with a single volume and tone pot, the pickups need to be more closely matched, to get the guitar to sound its best in all switch positions. Especially if you're using the neck and bridge together with a superswitch. When I coilsplit the bridge it needs to blend well with the neck also. This can be tricky to get dialed in, and pickup heights need to be perfectly set to make it work optimally. Vintage voiced single coils just won't cut it with any of the humbuckers I prefer. The SSL-6 flat strats made the whole package work. Along with the right value pots, tone capacitor and of course a proper treble bleed curcuit. Now I can use ALL the pickups in ANY switch position, and roll the volume back no problem. Before doing all these mods the guitar was, meh? Now it kills on all settings at any volume.

[@livem18]

I have the blues cube 30 and its an excellent amp . but depends what you're looking for. Its very nasally and muffled so it won't do hard rock or metal . I use it for blues and the clean channel is amazing especially if you crank up the master volume and control the level by using the volume knob, opposite will give you natural distortion. But if you like variety and want different tones from different gear try out different amps that do your style of playing. You might hear great things about certain amps only to find out it doesnt do your style

[@danielstryhanyn7278]

I played one at my local guitar store Artist series. It sounded great! It actually sold, someone bought it.

[@manuelgrevelink1786]

Great review with great tones man!

[@MrSteney]

I love mine. I also have the Katana Artist. I prefer the Nextone. They both sound good, but the Nextone has more of a vintage tube amp sound with most settings. The Katana has more way more effects, but I don't use many of them because I have a pedalboard. I also prefer the looks of the Nextone. The Katana cabinet has a made by Ikea look to it.

[@waynedoherty7758]

They need to make it more visually appealing- If it looked as cool as a milkman, or a tone king it would be a hotter item. Also that’s a lot of options on the front, could they do a better job of dialling in for the user so it’s harder to make a bad sound?

[@lovesongsound1]

Agree it sounds great John very good

[@thehumblepundit9790]

Brilliant video! Nice tones. For that price, though, it's better to get a Fractal FM3, then invest in a good FRFR or just go FOH if you're gigging.

[@RichardPerrymanGuitarist]

If I went this route, I would probably get the 40 watt version. It's less than 30 lbs.

[@bongo2565]

I think I requested this amp at least twice before. 😆 Finally! Thanks, John!! I am thinking of using this amp as a clean sound platform and use drive pedals for distortion sounds, but I am surprised when you played the drive channel that it sounded pretty good and it sounded like Eric Johnson at a point.

[@andrenascimento5851]

Loved it...great playing as well 🤘🏻

[@rsmallfield]

Thanks for another great demo. From the demos I’ve heard (including this one) I’ve thought the Nextone was warmer and more tubey sounding than the Katana. Have you considered the Roland Blues Cube?

[@orclonn8974]

When I gave up on modelers and FRFRs I thought I’d try out a Katana out, but it was totally impossible to get a decent sound out of it - not to mention the cheapish plasticky controls that did not add to any overall sense of quality. I tried a Nextone Artist and was immediately impressed and winded up buying one. To me the Katana is a cheapish multi effect with a power amp an speaker attached. The Nextone series plays and responds like my old tube amps (that I am too old to care to lug around anymore). A board with selected quality pedals and a Nextone is all I need for small to medium gigs. I might be easy to please but it soarks joy in an awkward Marie Kondo way.

[@janbrenner9488]

I have owned the Special for three years now and with its three internal EQs it kept me fidling with the software instead of playing guitar. I wish Boss had made it to sound good out of the box, but you have to go deep into the software to dial it in properly - which did not work for me. I switched back to a little tube amp with a few pedals and enjoy a natural tone without tweaking now. The other annoying thing was: absolutely no support in case of firmware, tone-studio-presets and so on. It felt like riding a dead horse.

[@bobbyparks801]

You John,are a beast player!

[@tman6495]

I think this amp would rock with a Paraeq! A bit muddy on over drive.

[@onlyguitars]

Try the Blues Cube. Would be great to check the comparison with this one.

[@JohnsDough1918]

I tried both (and own a Blues Cube with the Sparkle Clean capsule always in). I preferred the Blues Cube by far. I wouldn't be surprised if the Nextone Special just needed a lot of tweaking through the editor, to be fair.

[@onlyguitars]

@@JohnsDough1918 It's possible. Seems the Nextone is more versatile, has more options and has more gain. The Blues Cube Hot at least, is much more of a one trick pony, but damn does it sounds good to me on clean or the edge of breakup stuff. The boost button is like gain and is good, but is not where it shines. I myslef was looking for those tones with this amp, clean, blues, and some classic rock. And this amp delivers that amazingly well. I don't use pedals, and I have a Fractal that I have there all the versaility and tones I like, especially higher gain, but I can notice that the clean tones here and edge of breakup on the BC is just wonderful. So I think it will depend what you need and looking between both amps, but the BC is very vintage oriented and works perfect for my needs and what I was looking.

[@mauriceloeff4532]

If the Katana is your first choice Boss amp because you can pair it with your cabs have you considered the two speaker outs on the back of your Nextone? I run mine with a Marshall full stack ;)

[@saltyp8200]

G'day mate, you said that you did some livesets for the special. I can't find a tone exchfor the nextone. Where can i get hold of your Nextone livesets? The tones in the vid sound awesome Cheers

[@RichardPerrymanGuitarist]

It's probably your touch, but that amp sounds awesome to me.

[@glyman1212]

I tried the Nextone Stage. It sounded really good when very loud. Good delay and reverb that is well integrated. Sounds a bit sterile at lower volume. Maybe the speaker was not broken in enough. I still have a katana artist as well as $tube amps. Tube switch did not make much difference.

[@salsplace]

This is a great amp. Not sure why no one talks about it. Either this or the Katana Artist will be my next amp.

[@Paul-D]

The waza head is another ive never seen anyone actually have haha. - and the blues cube with the capsules thing they had, my friend has one of those and can get it to sound very very close to a jtm45

[@lovesongsound1]

oh and I thought it feels really good too

[@sadman11able]

Was waiting for ages to see some decent reviews of this amp, but they never really appeared which made me think it was one to swerve, sounds v good

[@Islandsoundzz]

Will you review the Orange Super Crush Head at some point?

[@jimmcdougall9973]

I just think there are so many options today, all competing to sound like a tube amp, and all sounding much the same. If I wanted to buy an amp, it would be a tube amp. Something small, like a Fender Blues Deluxe.

[@JohnsDough1918]

Yeah, I have a plugin+monitor setup at home that I prefer a lot to low volume and/or smaller tube amps. The issue with modeling is having a cab setup that feels as good as an analog combo. I would be curious to try the new Fender FRFR cab if I had a reliable way to use the only amp sim I rely on (Mixwave Benson Chimera) in a live setting.

[@jimmcdougall9973]

@@JohnsDough1918 I have a Kemper head, through a Seymour Duncan Powerstage, into a 4x12. It’s the best tone I have ever owned, and I have had a fair amount of amps and modellers (still have some). But I have been considering down sizing everything, including my guitar collection. I don’t gig anymore (extremely unlikely I ever will again). I have been eyeing the Friedman IRX, but would have to keep my PA, or use studio monitors (not ideal). So I think one small, decent tube amp should do for me, plus I have a large pedal collection.

[@paulschlachter4313]

The Boss Amp No-one Talks About - The WAZA Amp Head

[@aiden4269]

I only just found out it existed like last week when I was looking around their website for specs on the Katana Artist 2

[@mikeyjhn]

Have the Nextone stage which makes a great practice amp. Works well with a pedal board and pretty cheap 2nd hand. Drive tone is a bit lacking but benefits from a bit of tweaking in the software to get best out of both channels. Build quality is really good, changed speaker to a V-type and just so easy to use. The tones on different valve style settings is subtle. Any chance you could get hold of one to demo alongside the big brother you have?

[@alfianbanjaransari4096]

Why chamge the speaker if I may ask?

[@mikeyjhn]

@@alfianbanjaransari4096 I had a V-Type kicking around in a box so swapped it in. Not a huge difference but slightly sweeter on overdrive but not much in it.

[@robertlamb1435]

I like mine… but there’s a lot that you need the PC/Mac editor to access so for me the knobs are more show than go…

[@danielbeyer9435]

Reminds me a lot of the Line 6 DT50

[@alexcinci74]

question: this amp is on the range of many tube amps. is it worth to invest in it? I took a look at the tone studio, it has soo many optiosn, seems more than katana which im used too...

[@salvatorevitale9165]

where do we get your Nextone Artist presets?

[@joeyjojo8200]

This amp or a Hot Rod Dlx v4?

[@GraniteSoundtrack]

That’s the Boss amp I want actually. Or a Katana artist. Unfortunately, no one’s buying my tube amp I’m selling for it. Btw don’t hit me up. You can’t afford the shipping from where I am.

[@chrisgmurray3622]

Where were time effects inserted? In the amp?

[@Newnodrogbob]

I can’t say for sure what he did, but delay and reverb are built in. I used to have the 40 watt stage. It was very good.

[@stephonwilliams8890]

The reverb and delay are after the preamp and power amp

[@Newnodrogbob]

Oh, geez. I completely misunderstood the question. I thought you were asking if had added the effects post production. My bad. The other guy answered it. Sorry about that.

[@KeithMilner]

​@@NewnodrogbobI appreciate the, often lacking on the Internet, humility.

[@matthewearl9824]

Remember the katana is NOT modeling. It is 100% solid state analog with digital effects :)

[@yuudee3132]

nextone, love it