Bass Culture Posted May 1 Share Posted May 1 Apropos of these videos - why do reviewers hardly ever mention what strings they have on the demo bass?! Drives me nuts. Strings have a fundamental impact on your basic sound and they are hardly ever mentioned, so you have no idea to what extent you need to factor them into your response to the particular amp under review. Clearly, light, steel round wounds are going to present a completely different sound to the amp compared to heavier flats (for example). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franzbassist Posted May 1 Share Posted May 1 First rehearsal with it tonight. Will report back later. 6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franzbassist Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 (edited) Morning all Sorry for the delay in coming back on my rehearsal experience with the Katana 500. I was at my sister in law's funeral yesterday so a bit distracted Set up for rehearsal was me on bass with the Katana into an 8 ohm FMC 1x12 cab with no tweeter. Guitar, keys, electric drum kit and four vocals into a stripped down version of our gigging PA (i.e.no subs). I calibrated the cab to the room before we started, and the guitarist commented that it tightened up the bottom end nicely. The amp kept up just fine, volume-wise: I have no concerns whatsoever that it won't be loud enough to gig with. It sounded great! Really big sound, lots of body and presence to the tone. I liked "amp feel" set to "modern" best, with a little light compression and all EQ set flat. A little LPF dialled in too. The effects sound lush, really clear tracking octaver, watery chorus, loads of different drives. It'll be fun exploring them for sure. That said, I think using the effects live will be a work in progress, especially if I try and switch between presets, because as they take all the settings you saved on the front panel (gain. eq, compression etc.) if you've changed away from them in your setting up they may not sound optimal in the room, if you follow? So for now I am going to concentrate on just getting the "live" settings on the front panel right in each venue. Once I have set eq I will then have foot-switchable compression, drive and a single effect available to me (I can also have two other effects stored in the memory, but would need to change them on the panel rather than the footswitch). As I get to know the amp better I am sure I'll be able to work out the best way to make the three presets work in a live setting as well. EDIT: Just realised if I add the bluetooth adapter I can switch between settings from my phone! Edited May 3 by franzbassist 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fretmeister Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 You are not helping my GAS! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franzbassist Posted May 4 Share Posted May 4 On 03/05/2024 at 11:05, franzbassist said: EDIT: Just realised if I add the bluetooth adapter I can switch between settings from my phone! Fitted one this morning and it's an absolute game changer. No need to make any adjustments on the amp now: I can do it all from my phone or iPad! For live work, my plan is to just use the front panel controls to set the amp for the venue, then I will have my three favourite effects stored to the "panel" so I can just switch between them using bluetooth. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hookys6stringbass Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 On 04/05/2024 at 14:32, franzbassist said: Fitted one this morning and it's an absolute game changer. No need to make any adjustments on the amp now: I can do it all from my phone or iPad! For live work, my plan is to just use the front panel controls to set the amp for the venue, then I will have my three favourite effects stored to the "panel" so I can just switch between them using bluetooth. Have got the foot controller for the 500?? So tempted by this amp... I just wish it had the effects loop , power amp in etc like my Katana 210... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franzbassist Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 1 hour ago, hookys6stringbass said: Have got the foot controller for the 500?? Yep, thought I'd go all in. Makes it way more versatile for live work. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hookys6stringbass Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 4 minutes ago, franzbassist said: Yep, thought I'd go all in. Makes it way more versatile for live work. I really should buy the controller for the 210... I think the 210 is a great amp... tbh I've not delved tooo deep with it as I only use it for noodling... one thing that annoys me about the 210, is the choice of only two signal chains... and infuriatingly you can't move things about within it... for example I'd have chorus at the start if I wanted to go full on Peter Hook... I've seen that the 500 has the same two signal chains... Despite that I'm still intrigued by the 500... I look forward to hear how you're getting on with it... Did you buy the 112 cab too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dood Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 Katana 500 and Cab arriving any day now for my usual 4k deep dive 😉 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dood Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 On 01/05/2024 at 10:49, Bass Culture said: Apropos of these videos - why do reviewers hardly ever mention what strings they have on the demo bass?! Drives me nuts. Strings have a fundamental impact on your basic sound and they are hardly ever mentioned, so you have no idea to what extent you need to factor them into your response to the particular amp under review. Clearly, light, steel round wounds are going to present a completely different sound to the amp compared to heavier flats (for example). I usually mention what strings I’m using, but if I don’t it’s D’Addario Roundwound 😉 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franzbassist Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 (edited) 16 hours ago, hookys6stringbass said: I look forward to hear how you're getting on with it... Did you buy the 112 cab too? A general update a week in: still loving it! I've now got my main front panel sorted with a great core tone, plus compression, drive, and chorus as my default fx. From the phone app I can switch to a limiter instead of compression, two other drives, and two other effects (for now, octaver and touch wah). Once you get your head 'round it everything falls into place. No, I didn't buy the cab as I like my current FMC cabs so much! Edited May 8 by franzbassist 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franzbassist Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 15 hours ago, Dood said: Katana 500 and Cab arriving any day now for my usual 4k deep dive 😉 Looking forward to this. A deep dive is definitely required for this amp! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dood Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 58 minutes ago, franzbassist said: Looking forward to this. A deep dive is definitely required for this amp! I won't let ya down!! In a world full of 5 minute review videos where the youtuber doesn't know their D Class from their DSPs, I am a slave to the details 😁. I'm really looking forward to this one, especially given the collection of onboard effects on paper seem really useable for the likes of the function / dep player. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Edwards69 Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 14 minutes ago, Dood said: I won't let ya down!! In a world full of 5 minute review videos where the youtuber doesn't know their D Class from their DSPs, I am a slave to the details 😁. I'm really looking forward to this one, especially given the collection of onboard effects on paper seem really useable for the likes of the function / dep player. As I mentioned elsewhere, I'd be very interested in a deep dive of the cab resonance calibration feature to find out what it does exactly. i.e. is it an optimiser/sweetener like Bergantino's B-amp cab profiles, or can it effectively flatten a typical bass cab with lumpy response and turn it into a passable frfr solution? It would be interesting to hear how the head performs with different cabs and compare the calibration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dood Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 15 minutes ago, Greg Edwards69 said: As I mentioned elsewhere, I'd be very interested in a deep dive of the cab resonance calibration feature to find out what it does exactly. i.e. is it an optimiser/sweetener like Bergantino's B-amp cab profiles, or can it effectively flatten a typical bass cab with lumpy response and turn it into a passable frfr solution? It would be interesting to hear how the head performs with different cabs and compare the calibration. I've asked for a technical contact at Boss, so I can probe further. The hardware hasn't arrived yet, so I haven't been able to try it myself. I'm intrigued as to how the calibration works. The calibration sounds heard aren't unlike those used to profile equipment in the likes of 'profiling processors'. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dood Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 18 minutes ago, Greg Edwards69 said: As I mentioned elsewhere, I'd be very interested in a deep dive of the cab resonance calibration feature to find out what it does exactly. i.e. is it an optimiser/sweetener like Bergantino's B-amp cab profiles, or can it effectively flatten a typical bass cab with lumpy response and turn it into a passable frfr solution? It would be interesting to hear how the head performs with different cabs and compare the calibration. I do have a range of cabinets available including a notable FRFR beast, so it will be an interesting experiment that I may include in my Bass Gear Magazine video review. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franzbassist Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 20 minutes ago, Dood said: I've asked for a technical contact at Boss, so I can probe further. This will be useful. The web page says it "analyzes numerous elements, including the lowest frequency that the cabinet can produce, high-end resonances, and many other factors. With this information, advanced processing dynamically enhances the output to provide superior feel and response, powerful lows, and high-definition overall sound." All I know is I like it: definitely makes my cabs sound "tighter". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Edwards69 Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 3 hours ago, Dood said: I've asked for a technical contact at Boss, so I can probe further. The hardware hasn't arrived yet, so I haven't been able to try it myself. I'm intrigued as to how the calibration works. The calibration sounds heard aren't unlike those used to profile equipment in the likes of 'profiling processors'. 2 hours ago, franzbassist said: This will be useful. The web page says it "analyzes numerous elements, including the lowest frequency that the cabinet can produce, high-end resonances, and many other factors. With this information, advanced processing dynamically enhances the output to provide superior feel and response, powerful lows, and high-definition overall sound." BassTheWorld's video touched on it all too briefly. I heard the test tones that sounded familiar of other analysing equipment. What Boss hasn't disclosed is how it measures the response - there must be a microphone embedded in there somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
la bam Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 Itd be a massive deep dive - all the fx would take a full video each to review. Honestly, they're that good! And there's loads and loads of them! Ive had the 210 a few months and haven't even delved into 5% of it yet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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