Boss Katana Air Amp Review - This Amp Sounds Amazing 🎸
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- čas přidán 7. 10. 2019
- 🎸► BOSS KATANA AIR IN DEPTH REVIEW - BEST PRACTICE AMP
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In this video I'll be doing a review and demonstration on one of my favourite pieces of gear - The BOSS Katana Air! This practice is absolutely feature packed and really makes practicing and playing the electric guitar a very convenient thing to do.
In the video I'll run through the different amp channels, demonstrate how the accompanying Boss Tone Studio app works and running through my thoughts, positive and negative.
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Shout out to Elevated Jam Tracks for their amazing jam backing tracks, the best on YT in my opinion - bit.ly/33eueUX
This is the particular track I use bit.ly/2ARK8sm
Enjoy! Like this #bosskatanaair video and subscribe to the channel for more videos in the future!
-Dave Tran (Your online guitar teacher 😁)
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🔹 OTHER REVIEWS OF THE KATANA AIR 🔹
► • Boss Katana Air After ...
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► • Boss Katana Air Wirele... - Hudba
Watched a lot of videos about the Boss Katana air and this one is by far the best. Thanks bro.
Such an impressive video man. You present so clearly. Love that Katana
You have katana air? How does it sound?
I really enjoyed your review of the amp. I've been using it as a stand alone unit while jamming outside for a year or two and pair it with a zoom g6 when playing indoors. It's extremely versatile and convenient. Your playing while demonstrating the available tones was awesome. I appreciate your time and dedication to your craft.
Thanks Brother, excellent review. I like your style man, very cool. I teach guitar and music theory full time, over 50 lessons a week but, due to COVID-19, I’ve been teaching via video and I’ve been looking for something that is small with everything I need. I’ve spent the last hour watching demos on the Katana Air and yours was the best one I’ve seen. Thanks again and RockOnMan!!!
Thanks Jeff! I appreciate that! Enjoy!
Hey Dave,
I really like your guitar lessons. They are straight and very easy to play a long to, because of the great pictures with chord shape, tabs ,etc. I would love to see a tutorial for Chasing the sun by Billy Talent or Dust in the Wind. Please dont stop making those lessons for us. They helped me a lot!
Spot on Dave! I agree with the Boss Tone app. They NEED to let us create our own and fill it up with all sorts of tones! I love my Katana 50 too. Definitely a great amp!
Thanks mate! Good to know I'm not the only one who thinks so! Agreed 50 is an amazing amp!
Thank you for the effort you put in to all your review videos :D
My pleasure!
Wow sounds amazing, thank you so Dave 😍😍
Great review - very objective !!
Excellent tutorial Thank you
Amazing Review ! Thanks a lot for that !
My pleasure!
Thanks. Very informative review.
Thanks for watching Francis
Beautiful LP Studio. Nice work!
Thank you!
Hey dave great video. Just wondering if there's a way to switch channels while performing, like is there a foot switch or can you program it to change or something.
Great video Dave. Are you able to share your knob settings for various guitar effects? 😊
NICE....👌😘it's amazing and the sound 🔊 is fabulous.....✌😎🎸🎶
thanks!
Thank you great video love the Colour of your guitar i have the same one but green.
I bought the amp love the fact you can have it wireless and can play backing music to what your playing. Small versatile and light. I have just started learning and prefer to stand up to practice so I find it easy that you can just plug it in without a long lead to fall over.
It's damn good for practice. Thanks for the review.
No problems :)
It's really amazing😍
Cheers :)
Nice review. I'm thinking another worthwhile feature is having the acoustic setting. What I"m thinking about here is having the possibility of going direct into your DAW with the Katana Air. I'm wondering if you have some experience doing that? (I noticed a nice collection of acoustics behind you!)
Great! Now I need one of these.
Hey Brett,
Since this product came out there's been a few other amps in a similar category released.
I would probably recommend the Positive grid spark or spark mini if you're looking for a desktop practice amp.
Very cool. I’m sold!
Thanks for watching Brett!
The best video on You Tube explaining the Katana Air. I will say the sound of the Air is good through the 3" speakers. However, if people buy this thinking it will sound as good as a Katana 50 or 100, they will be sadly disappointed. From a recording perspective it will sound as good but the "Amp in the Room sound" it is not even close.. Thanks for the great review.
Thanks Robert, completely agree with you! The 50 and 100 in a live setting are far superior as to be expected. Have a good Christmas!
Great review and feature demonstration! The dislikes are most likely ppl who intended to watch a full featured rotisserie grill infomercial 👍
i have mine over a year, love it.. also have the Katana 50w..
They make an amazing range don't they! I'm keen to get my hands on the 50W
I'm curious bro, how has the battery/amp/bluetooth held up over the years? I like the amp but I hear the wireless plug battery dies after a couple years and gets connectivity issues
Best Review....
Nice review. Just bought one of these.
Good choice! Love the wireless feature!
How do you like it so far? How's the sound while jamming in a room. I've seen other reviews where the treble seems rather high compared to the bass and mids.
Hey Dave, I just discovered you and this video. Great to know about you, and great review!
I wish they would update this amp with a few new features, but I saw your comment about the Boss rep who said they weren’t going to anytime soon. That’s a bummer. Maybe because they don’t want to cannibalize the new Waza Air?
I wish they would make a built-in auto rechargeable lithium ion battery, instead of the eight AA batteries.
And add a “super wide“ stereo feel to it, like the new Yamaha amps and the blackstar core ID amps.
And add an internal looper, controllable with a Bluetooth footswitch or similar.
And if I’m really dreaming, better overall tones, and a new smaller form factor wireless plug for the guitar.
Oh well… Maybe someday :-)
Lol. A small wireless plug would be a start and work on the app so it's more user friendly.
hey there i just watched your 3x Guitar videos i got in my email and the Barre chords is what i hate the most the stretch feels off is there any exercises i can do to make it easier? if there is none i'll just keep trying to do this F Chord until it goes well
Hello. I have this amp & I will mention more things. When u connect to the "rec" bottom any cable, it mutes the amp. so if u want to record your performance direct recording u can't here anything, that's really sucks ! If I recording myself I want to hear myself through the amp ! they should made a mute/unmute button for that !
If in the next version they will also make it with no batteries so u can't charge it as u charge your phone that will be great.
You had me at Boss
04.Aug/2022 If you are looking for a Bluetooth pedal that can control the Katana Air, here's some clarification:
When switching the sound from crunch in mode 2 to clean with the Airstep BW on the panel, the Xsonic Airstep BW needs up to 1 second to switch from crunch to clean sound, which is too long for me personally! The Airstep Update App also runs stable on Android, but the update almost always fails! I can only recommend the Airstep BW if you accept that the switching time is 1 second when switching to the clean channel on the Katana Air's panel. The problem is not with the amp but with the Xsonic Airstep BW Bluetooth controller pedal.
Besides this one latency switching problem, the Airstep BW controller is very good!
Xsonic manufacturers: Can you fix this issue in the next update?
Good to know: The Boss Katana Librarian App does not support the Katana Air! Can Roland- Boss solve the problem?
Question for you musicians: Have any of you tested the Boss EV-1-WL with Boss FS6 or FS-7 and what is the switching time before switching the Katana Air?
Thank you for your willingness to help. (guitar teacher and repair service)
Do you like this one more than the Yamaha THR?
Hey i love that amp !!!
Thanks!
Not sure if the mic placement is giving me a false impression of the tone or if this thing is lacking in the high end. Is it loud enough for busking?
Hello there, quick question. Is there a separate knob to regulate the backing track volume? Or can you just do that with your phone? Great review by the way!
You can just control the volume off your phone :)
Nice sound wooohoooo 😮
Glad you like it!
Have you tried the Katana Air EX? Do they sound the same with headphones? Does the Ex offer more features?
Hey can u make (NICE TO MEET YA) by niall horan this song is awesome with guitar pleaseee thank u♥️🔝♥️
Hey can you do a tutorial of get you the moon by kina
For the price that also could’ve added a rechargeable internal battery. I have a $40 Donner micro amp that has a rechargeable internal battery via usb. I did order this katana air though just for all of the effects. Thanks for the great review.
Does the amp use batteries?
I’d be better if it had some cable because I don’t like using batteries
Yeh, agree re the rechargeable battery, in this day and age, that should be given for this sort of offering.
Dammmm this is good
Hi! Really nice demo.😊 How are you recording it? I don't see any mic..can I use this amp also as a monitor for recording with vst plugins?
Lol I see it now..what mic is it? I'm impressed
I'm recording from the USB out into the computer :)
Wish the app was better like positive grid spark but still I'll buy this over the Spark which is almost unusable due to the hum issues.
I bought this amp first and have been extremely disappointed! I also have the Spark. There are no hum issues on mine. The sounds are beautiful on it and I wouldn’t trade for this pc of crap katana under any circumstance. I just got done trying to use it for the umpteenth time. 1% of the time, I find a sound that’s bearable. It’s 99% crap. The app doesn’t work at all. There is no connectivity between the phone and amp, so there is no tone studio. You can’t put batteries in it because it constantly drains them. And to top it off, the only way the transmitter will charge is if you add a metal washer to it. It doesn’t seat deep enough in the port. In contrast, MY Spark has worked perfect every time. It’s just such a superior product. Perhaps yours was damaged in shipping. I assume the same happened to my katana air. I hope Boss’s quality control isn’t this bad.
Hi
Agree with almost everything you said in the video but im not dure its mainly for intermediate player. I put away my valve amps and use this as a gigging head with a few frfr power speakers. It can do it all.
Personally only area i think an update is needed is that it would be handy if the booster menu was separated out from the mod giving 5 effects at once but also the booster having a simple PRE and POST button to allow it to be put before or after mod allowing say WAH ahead of the boosters fuzz distortion etc. I appreciate that using the parametric eq ( the one that doesnt take up an fx slot) gain etc. you can get virtually any distortion sound and then use sound chain 2 and put WAH then distorted amp allowing mod ahead of distortion but just think final piece of the airs tone jigsaw is to separate booster menu out on its own
To be honest for me air is only amp i need
Wow, interesting to hear you’re using this as your gigging rig! I’m not surprised though. The tones are second to none on the Katana range
And I guess what I meant by that statement is that beginners who are on a tight budget might be better suited to picking up the katana 50 instead. Intermediate/advanced guitarist will love it
Hi
Yes the katana range of amps are great sounding and i just love the whole rig-in-a'box that they offer.
The bigger katanas are definitely great value and more straight forward to use at home and if you want to gig , they are like an all purpose package i think, but for me at home i just knew that being able to sit playing wirelessly with my phone on my lap using the bluetooth app was of the upmost importance just for the ease of enjoyment and getting me to play.
The air is voiced differently to other karanas i suppose becsuse of the small stereo speaker arrangement but boss seem to have done well in keeping the airs sound very much a member of the katana family. But agree with you the 50 or 100 prob easier way to get everything you might need in one box and for what you get, at a great price.
Again enjoyed your video you seemed to me to nail all the pertinent details which doesnt seem to be the forte of some other online reviewers.
Thank you
And even though I prob sound like one of the katana brigade my heart is actually completely 100% yamaha esp. their guitars But you have to acknowledge when something is grest and the katana amps are just that.
A beginner can buy a 50 for a reasonable price and no matter what direction they may take and where ever they end up musically, they need never outgrow that katana amp.and thats impressive
what song were you playing in the start
Hi
Good video covers all the points i would include.
Not sure how you feel but think the 1 thing they could address on this amazing amp is to sepsrate out the booster from the mod but slso allow the mod to sit in front of booster menu so you could put ssy WAH in front of distortion i think this could be last piece of jigsaw to make air perfect in my view
Could be done hia firmware and app but would also be excited if it appeared as katana air mk2 sometime soon now they have updated bigger katana. As i inly use mine via app wouldnt need to have fancy conventric knobs on amp itself
What do you think new air anytime soon?
Hi Simon, I've spoken to a Boss rep and from what I know, they won't be upgrading the Katana Air anytime soon. Maybe in the future though! Thanks for watching :)
Thats a shame hoping for a firmware to include the mk2 katana bits
Hope they dont just ignore this amp its one of most expensive katana and needs to be kept up with all thats new
@@simoncab1362 I hope so too! I don't think they'll forget about it though. Let's wait and see :)
Can you bypass the air component and just plug it in to your guitar to the amp? Excellent video thank you.
Yes you can
Can we make video and record with phone sir . Thank you 🙏?
...I would like to know about the amps needs as far as control pedals go? Do you need a 2-button, (or more?) stomp pedal to control with channel your on, & to scroll, & select effects? What about an expression/volume pedal as well? Wouldn't it prove to be worth the purchase of these if it keeps the amp more user friendly? ...I would think so?
Do you think it could be used for lighter low-volume band practices, or smaller Cafe type venues?
I would appreciate any input on these questions, please feel free to reply. I need a new practice amp, but I'm just not sure yet if this is what I need? It's convient, & versatile, & light, & compact, & loud enough with a wall mount power supply it pushes up to 30watts, it does offer USB OUT for recording, as well as headphone capabilities. I just would like to be able to agilely use it on the fly with some control pedals. If possible? & I know it had to have been at least an afterthought of the design process once they started to practically Demo it in test trials?
Hey there Ryan. The katana air has no footswitch control. Since it’s release there’s been better practice amps on the market. For your needs I’d get the Spark 40 amp from positive grid and pair it with the Xsonic AIRSTEP Spark edition pedal.
Do you use this over the Yamaha THR 10 ? Which is a pretty good amp too , anyway great video , subscribed 👍
Yes I do. Both are great amps, but I like the wireless feature on the Boss. But I'm pretty sure Yamaha have a wireless version now (but you need to buy the wireless transmitter seperately)
@@GuitarZero2Hero yeah I love that just pick up the guitar feature and play too, Ibut I think you can buy any wireless guitar system like Xvive U2 or Ammoon and use them with the Yamaha also , take care stay safe
The app you used on your phone - do you know if it is compatible with the Katana 100? No BT on the 100 but I should be able to connect with an OTG cable. Having to lug a PC around is a pain when I want to connect the amp and use the tone studio.
It’s only available for the air at this stage unfortunately!
@@GuitarZero2Hero Thank you! Love your channel!
Had mine 2 years. I keep finding tone buried in this little amp. It takes single coils and Humbuckers well. I have not used active pups. Being able to deep dive into settings using the app is a real plus. Bluetooth is awesome. The elevated track you used is the slow blues in Cm. All the elevated tracks are well done and long enough to give you plenty of time to find your groove and have great fun. Being totally wireless is a game changer.
Hey man, i was wondering how has the battery/amp/bluetooth held up over the years? I like the amp but I hear the wireless plug battery dies after a couple years and gets connectivity issues, have you experienced that?
Master of puppet sweet home alabama and whole lotta love
Can you use wireless headphones at the same time as your backing tracks
Damn I want this so badly but it's too expensive :( lol can I have it Dave? Is there an amp for acoustic and electrics with reverb (Bluetooth is a bonus) but for cheaper that you'd recommend?
You could try nux mighty air also comes with the wireless transmitter and also has an amp that you would basically do the same thing with the katana air, honestly idk why I didn’t buy the nux mighty air I guess I wanted a boss amp.
Very interesting content. As it have Bluetooth connection, can you use wireless Bluetooth headphones with it? Thanks a lot.
No you can’t use bluetooth headphones with this. I would suggest checking out the Boss Waza air if you’re looking for a quiet solution.
can you use pedals with it?
Excellent video. How loud does it get?
Decent volume but if you want a little more power is go the regular MKII katana series, although that has no wireless features
I want to get the amp. I am researching amps currently and I love this one. I have asked a couple of people and can’t seem to get a answer, so if you know I would greatly appreciate it. Do you know if you can use a foot switch with the Air model? I’ve been the foot switched for the Katana 50/100 models but can’t find out if any foot switch works with Katana Air. Thanks!!!!
Hey Bobby,
Unfortunately there’s no input for a foot switch. Only USB out AUX in at the back. Cheers
GuitarZero2Hero Okay. That sucks haha. Guess I will go with the Katana 50. I was excited about the Bluetooth stuff, oh well haha. Thanks for the reply man. I appreciate it.
Hmm back in black solo?
are you making a tutorial for that dave?
Yup it's being edited at the moment :)
Is this the only wireless small amp on the market right now? Sounds good, cant seem to find more options
Nux mighty air has also wireless transmitter and app
dave Im really dumb can you use backing tracks without a phone ? I hate phones !!! But you can just push play on the phone and it comes out of the amp help me Im 61 and tech challenged
Hi Rick,
You'll need to connect your phone to the Air in order to play backing tracks. It works essentially like bluetooth speaker, so once paired, you can play audio from any source off your phone (music, youtube etc).
can you do not enough by sadboyprofolic i think thats how you spell it
Have the foot switch?
This is all new high-tech stuff for me. Tell me, do I need "internet" on my cell-phone, or is Wifi enough to access the parameters of the Katana?
No internet required, it’s all done via Bluetooth. But you will need wifi or the internet to download the katana air app
How “quiet” can it be? Want this for my apartment and I’m sometimes playing really early in the morning before work prefer not to wear headphones....but, do wireless earbuds connect to it too?
Definitely quiet enough! This doesn’t transmit to Bluetooth though, only receives. But there is a headphone jack if you need
Nose_Art_Guy
Try out the Boss Waza-Air Wireless Bluetooth headphone amp.
Is there a way to connect wireless headphones into the amp and get practice amp effect? If so then I wont need the waza air headphones.
There’s no Bluetooth transmitting only Bluetooth receiving so I don’t think so. The only thing I could think of is if you get a blue transmitter and plug it into the headphones out.
But then I’d be concerned with latency issues
is the song at the beggining an actual song? i want to hear the full song
nah it's just me jamming along to the backing track - bit.ly/2ARK8sm
@@GuitarZero2Hero thanks man its nice
Should I buy this or a vox adio?
This
Please help! I can't get the banking tracks to work. The app is connected, I have guitar output, but nothing from my phone. I've been through all the settings and I'm not sure what's causing this.
Go into your bluetooth settings of your phone and connect to Katana Audio-Air Audio (push the bluetooth pairing button on the amp if you can't see it in discovered devices)
@@GuitarZero2Hero thank you so much for helping and replying so quickly. I had no idea there was a separate type of connection for outputting audio to the amp.
You sir, are a true gentleman and scholar! I'm gonna go jam now!
Between Katana air and Spark 40. What do you think is the best?
Spark is a more slick package overall and better low end with easier to tweak tones. I think katana air’s better feature is the wireless jack. Katana air can also be powered by batteries too.
@@GuitarZero2Hero Thank you…and how about the sound, the difference is too big?
How compatible is it with pedals and low tunings?
didn't look up the link but Shawn Davis page has a video on this amp for metal 7string ect. he's a truck driver so alot of the videos he makes is using this amp in his truck and all he plays is metal lol
Does the amp sound amazing or does the software sound amazing though the USB output?
Can I plug in headphones? or even use the bluetooth function to connect my wireless Bose headphones ? thanks
You can plug them but I don’t think you can use wireless headphones, at least i haven’t figured it out
@@marttimilk have you checked out if you can use wireless headphones?
@@presentelaw Nope
@@presentelaw I mean, I saw someone talk about it that theoretically, it would be possible, but it wouldn’t work in real life because of too many complicated connections and stuff which would cause a massive delay and it’d take a ton of time setting up...
@@marttimilk you're right. I suppose if you really want to wireless the whole set up you can and it's the same with everything else.
Please do “Show me Love” by Alicia Keys next
Well, sound amazing, but first, i need an electric guitar
Haha that would be a good start!
@@GuitarZero2Hero
It will be when I move to France, here in Venezuela it is very expensive.
Good luck with the move :)
@@GuitarZero2Hero Thx a lot
Pedrete ZX I feel so happy for u!Wish u get ur guitar soon!
Am I the first like and comment? :D
Yes you are!
Whoooooo!
Please tell the model
Katana Air
Is it rechargeable?
No. I would recommend the Spark mini for that - it’s a Wondeful amp
Mine makes an awful ringing buzz sound for the first minute of having it on is this normal?
That doesn’t sound normal. You may have a faulty unit. I’d suggest contacting Boss support
You mean wireless transmitter?
Yup - mixed up my words there!
Les Paul?
Yup les paul standard
I just bought mine. It is horrible. The bluetooth sound glitches if I move my phone. I've spent hours trying to tune the sound properly and it just sounds like garbage. Hollow high end and wimpy sounding low end.
It sounds good, you just don’t know how to make it sound good
@@Leonardo_Castillo hahaha yeah that must be it. Or it could be that it's cheap garbage.
Is there a bigger version 😂
Imagine
“Katana Air XL and XXL” Haha that would be funny!
Don't get this if you want high gain tones. I learned this the expensive way
They stole this from amplifi which is a far superior amp
Can this be used as an interface and an output speaker when recording on a laptop?