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Post by infant on Apr 2, 2021 15:59:10 GMT
I’ve been looking at guitars and amps on Kijiji and stumbled across a 3 yr old Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue amp for $450 CAD ($360 US). The thing looks mint and they sell for $1000 new ($800 US). I am contemplating buying it as I kinda miss my old original US made Blues Deluxe. I played over 100 gigs with that amp without any major problems. Before I sold it I ran into the channel switching problem that they were known for. Luckily it happened while I was playing it at home. So I brought it to my tech to have it looked at and also to have the 20yr old filter caps changed. The guy did a great job and fixed it all up and even added a bias pot. Good as new! I played a few more gigs with it and then I bought a Boss Katana 100 as I liked the idea of having so many Boss pedals built into it meaning that I could leave my pedalboard at home. I ended up selling my Blues Deluxe as I already had a nice vintage Silverface Deluxe Reverb tube amp.
Now, I really like the Katana. It’s loud, very light, sounds great clean, reliable and I can get a decent tube-like breakup out of it. However, although many of the effects on it are the same as the ones on my pedalboard, they don’t sound as crisp and clean as the ones on my board. I find the chorus to be muddy and the overdrive is difficult to dial in. I haven’t gone into the Roland Tone Studio yet to try to tweak these effects and maybe that’s what I should do first but I’ve always loved my pedalboard thru the Blues Deluxe as it took pedals very well. That’s why I’m looking at this BD. Since the pandemic began, I’ve experimented with the effects on the amp but I’m still not completely satisfied. I have however tried my pedalboard through the clean channel of the Katana and it sounds quite good at home levels. I just haven’t had a chance to try it live. If it doesn’t work well live, I may just have missed out on a good deal with this BDRI. I’m torn as to what I should do.
if I buy the BDRI, I’m gonna have to sell the Katana. I don’t need so many amps as I don’t know how much longer the band is gonna gig together, if we ever get going again. The only things that are keeping me from pulling the trigger on the BDRI are the weight (almost 20lbs heavier than the Katana) and the reliability of tube amps as they can sometimes be finicky. If my pedalboard into the Katana sounds as good live as it does in my basement, then I have no concerns.
Arrgghhh! I hate sitting on a fence like this...it’s a pain in the butt!
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Post by Die Bullen on Apr 2, 2021 17:05:02 GMT
I’ve been looking at guitars and amps on Kijiji and stumbled across a 3 yr old Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue amp for $450 CAD ($360 US). The thing looks mint and they sell for $1000 new ($800 US). I am contemplating buying it as I kinda miss my old original US made Blues Deluxe. I played over 100 gigs with that amp without any major problems. Before I sold it I ran into the channel switching problem that they were known for. Luckily it happened while I was playing it at home. So I brought it to my tech to have it looked at and also to have the 20yr old filter caps changed. The guy did a great job and fixed it all up and even added a bias pot. Good as new! I played a few more gigs with it and then I bought a Boss Katana 100 as I liked the idea of having so many Boss pedals built into it meaning that I could leave my pedalboard at home. I ended up selling my Blues Deluxe as I already had a nice vintage Silverface Deluxe Reverb tube amp. Now, I really like the Katana. It’s loud, very light, sounds great clean, reliable and I can get a decent tube-like breakup out of it. However, although many of the effects on it are the same as the ones on my pedalboard, they don’t sound as crisp and clean as the ones on my board. I find the chorus to be muddy and the overdrive is difficult to dial in. I haven’t gone into the Roland Tone Studio yet to try to tweak these effects and maybe that’s what I should do first but I’ve always loved my pedalboard thru the Blues Deluxe as it took pedals very well. That’s why I’m looking at this BD. Since the pandemic began, I’ve experimented with the effects on the amp but I’m still not completely satisfied. I have however tried my pedalboard through the clean channel of the Katana and it sounds quite good at home levels. I just haven’t had a chance to try it live. If it doesn’t work well live, I may just have missed out on a good deal with this BDRI. I’m torn as to what I should do. if I buy the BDRI, I’m gonna have to sell the Katana. I don’t need so many amps as I don’t know how much longer the band is gonna gig together, if we ever get going again. The only things that are keeping me from pulling the trigger on the BDRI are the weight (almost 20lbs heavier than the Katana) and the reliability of tube amps as they can sometimes be finicky. If my pedalboard into the Katana sounds as good live as it does in my basement, then I have no concerns. Arrgghhh! I hate sitting on a fence like this...it’s a pain in the butt! Tough call here. I just went solid state with my gigging amp but haven't actually brought it to a gig outside my living room yet. My Dr. Z chews the Henriksen up for tone but it is quite bulky and heavy. Is there a possibility of getting the BDRI, keeping the Katana and dumping another amp?
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Post by infant on Apr 2, 2021 19:34:17 GMT
I only have 2 amps, the Katana and my old Deluxe Reverb. My son took the Champ...it’s his now. I will not sell the Deluxe Reverb as it’s a classic amp
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Post by zontar on Apr 2, 2021 19:46:57 GMT
Well there are worse choices to make--either way you'd have a good amp. If you ell the Katana, you still have your pedals?
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Post by Die Bullen on Apr 2, 2021 21:39:29 GMT
I only have 2 amps the Katana and my old Deluxe reverb. My son took the Champ...it’s his now. Is a 3rd amp really that unwelcome? I mean, that doesn't sound too crazy to me. I only say that because it seems a shame to sell an amp that you are using regularly
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Post by infant on Apr 3, 2021 14:56:18 GMT
Well, like Ken with the Hofner, the amp is gone. I shoulda pulled the trigger on it right away. DB, I really didn’t need a 3rd amp, especially since I don’t really know what the future holds for my band. I still have my pedalboard which I can use with the Katana or my Deluxe Reverb. I got a Joyo American Sound pedal at Christmas which is a clone of the Tech 21 Blonde and I’ve kinda dialed in a sparkly Deluxe sound with it. Now I’ve got to use the Boss Tone Studio to tweak the actual built in pedal sounds. Hopefully this can get rid of the muddiness in some of the presets. I was also reading about what they call “sneaky amps” which are basically patches that make the Katana emulate other amps. I’ve been a bit hesitant to try these things in the past with my old computer but maybe with some time on my hands, I may give it a try.
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Post by Die Bullen on Apr 3, 2021 15:12:00 GMT
Well, like Ken with the Hofner, the amp is gone. I shoulda pulled the trigger on it right away. DB, I really didn’t need a 3rd amp, especially since I don’t really know what the future holds for my band. I still have my pedalboard which I can use with the Katana or my Deluxe Reverb. I got a Joyo American Sound pedal at Christmas which is a clone of the Tech 21 Blonde and I’ve kinda dialed in a sparkly Deluxe sound with it. Now I’ve got to use the Boss Tone Studio to tweak the actual built in pedal sounds. Hopefully this can get rid of the muddiness in some of the presets. I was also reading about what they call “sneaky amps” which are basically patches that make the Katana emulate other amps. I’ve been a bit hesitant to try these things in the past with my old computer but maybe with some time on my hands, I may give it a try. Well maybe it is for the better that the amp sold. Like the Hofner, there will be many more to hit the market if you really want one. Years ago I really let the GAS get to me until I one day realized I had way too much stuff and started paring back. I still need to get rid of at least 2 of my amps. Tweak what you have and see what happens...
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Post by zontar on Apr 3, 2021 19:24:19 GMT
Well, like Ken with the Hofner, the amp is gone. I shoulda pulled the trigger on it right away. DB, I really didn’t need a 3rd amp, especially since I don’t really know what the future holds for my band. I still have my pedalboard which I can use with the Katana or my Deluxe Reverb. I got a Joyo American Sound pedal at Christmas which is a clone of the Tech 21 Blonde and I’ve kinda dialed in a sparkly Deluxe sound with it. Now I’ve got to use the Boss Tone Studio to tweak the actual built in pedal sounds. Hopefully this can get rid of the muddiness in some of the presets. I was also reading about what they call “sneaky amps” which are basically patches that make the Katana emulate other amps. I’ve been a bit hesitant to try these things in the past with my old computer but maybe with some time on my hands, I may give it a try. There are times when something I wanted sold before I could get it, but then either something better came along (like when I was looking for a fretless bass) or I wouldn't be using it much anymore or some other issue (Like the Legend 50 amps--they are so heavy I wouldn't be able to use it now, but they are fantastic amps.)
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Post by infant on Apr 5, 2021 19:37:58 GMT
So I updated the firmware on the Katana the other day and then proceeded to install the Boss Tone Studio onto my computer. I made a few tweaks to the chorus and delay to brighten them up a bit. I’ve got to figure out how to install the sneaky amps. I’d like to download a few different amps and do some tweaking....a nice clean JC120, Deluxe Reverb, Vox AC 30 and a Bassman. I think I can download a total of 8 amps.
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Post by zontar on Apr 5, 2021 21:18:10 GMT
So I updated the firmware on the Katana the other day and then proceeded to install the Boss Tone Studio onto my computer. I made a few tweaks to the chorus and delay to brighten them up a bit. I’ve got to figure out how to install the sneaky amps. I’d like to download a few different amps and do some tweaking....a nice clean JC120, Deluxe Reverb, Vox AC 30 and a Bassman. I think I can download a total of 8 amps. The JC series are great clean amps & despite what some people say, they work great with pedals
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Post by infant on Apr 5, 2021 22:53:30 GMT
Actually, the clean channel on the Katana is based on the JC-120 and it does take pedals well. I like the clean sound of my Deluxe Reverb and with the Joyo American Sound pedal, I’ve gotten close through my Katana. However, I would love to get this sound without the Joyo as I have the GA-FC foot controller to control the Katanas onboard effects and I can leave the pedal board at home.
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Post by Die Bullen on Apr 5, 2021 23:41:46 GMT
How powerful is that Katana?
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Post by Bill h on Apr 6, 2021 2:54:08 GMT
So I updated the firmware on the Katana the other day and then proceeded to install the Boss Tone Studio onto my computer. I made a few tweaks to the chorus and delay to brighten them up a bit. I’ve got to figure out how to install the sneaky amps. I’d like to download a few different amps and do some tweaking....a nice clean JC120, Deluxe Reverb, Vox AC 30 and a Bassman. I think I can download a total of 8 amps. That really cool, so the katana is considered a modeler as well a having all the boss effects?
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Post by infant on Apr 6, 2021 3:29:35 GMT
How powerful is that Katana? I’ve got the 100Watt version but it can be attenuated to 50W and 0.5W. I’ve never used the 100W setting on a gig. Only used the 50W setting.
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Post by infant on Apr 6, 2021 4:15:39 GMT
So I updated the firmware on the Katana the other day and then proceeded to install the Boss Tone Studio onto my computer. I made a few tweaks to the chorus and delay to brighten them up a bit. I’ve got to figure out how to install the sneaky amps. I’d like to download a few different amps and do some tweaking....a nice clean JC120, Deluxe Reverb, Vox AC 30 and a Bassman. I think I can download a total of 8 amps. That really cool, so the katana is considered a modeler as well a having all the boss effects? It’s not so much a modeler...some people have created patches on their Boss processors and uploaded them to the Tone Studio for downloading onto the Katana. They aren’t actually called by the names of the amps they emulate but rather descriptions like “clean, bright, American single speaker combo, resonant cabinet”. There’s an “amp type” switch on the panel which allows you to select “acoustic” (for use with an acoustic guitar), “clean” (based on the JC-120) “crunch” (based on tweed type combo) “lead” (based on British stack) and “brown” (based on Boss Waza amp).
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Post by zontar on Apr 6, 2021 4:19:36 GMT
Actually, the clean channel on the Katana is based on the JC-120 and it does take pedals well. I like the clean sound of my Deluxe Reverb and with the Joyo American Sound pedal, I’ve gotten close through my Katana. However, I would love to get this sound without the Joyo as I have the GA-FC foot controller to control the Katanas onboard effects and I can leave the pedal board at home. Not surprising at all--it's iconic.
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Post by Die Bullen on Apr 6, 2021 11:38:12 GMT
That really cool, so the katana is considered a modeler as well a having all the boss effects? It’s not so much a modeler...some people have created patches on their Boss processors and uploaded them to the Tone Studio for downloading onto the Katana. They aren’t actually called by the names of the amps they emulate but rather descriptions like “clean, bright, American single speaker combo, resonant cabinet”. There’s an “amp type” switch on the panel which allows you to select “acoustic” (for use with an acoustic guitar), “clean” (based on the JC-120) “crunch” (based on tweed type combo) “lead” (based on British stack) and “brown” (based on Boss Waza amp). Sounds like a cool amp- I'd never heard of them
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Post by johnreardon on Apr 6, 2021 12:19:51 GMT
It’s not so much a modeler...some people have created patches on their Boss processors and uploaded them to the Tone Studio for downloading onto the Katana. They aren’t actually called by the names of the amps they emulate but rather descriptions like “clean, bright, American single speaker combo, resonant cabinet”. There’s an “amp type” switch on the panel which allows you to select “acoustic” (for use with an acoustic guitar), “clean” (based on the JC-120) “crunch” (based on tweed type combo) “lead” (based on British stack) and “brown” (based on Boss Waza amp). Sounds like a cool amp- I'd never heard of them Quite a few session musicians over here use them as it's easier to carry around, particularly in London.
I've never tried one, not being a fan of pedals
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Post by infant on Apr 6, 2021 12:31:06 GMT
It’s not so much a modeler...some people have created patches on their Boss processors and uploaded them to the Tone Studio for downloading onto the Katana. They aren’t actually called by the names of the amps they emulate but rather descriptions like “clean, bright, American single speaker combo, resonant cabinet”. There’s an “amp type” switch on the panel which allows you to select “acoustic” (for use with an acoustic guitar), “clean” (based on the JC-120) “crunch” (based on tweed type combo) “lead” (based on British stack) and “brown” (based on Boss Waza amp). Sounds like a cool amp- I'd never heard of them Really? When they came out 4 or 5 years ago, there were huge threads on them in pretty much every forum. The Gear Page thread is sitting at nearly 900 pages!
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Post by infant on Apr 6, 2021 12:44:31 GMT
Sounds like a cool amp- I'd never heard of them Quite a few session musicians over here use them as it's easier to carry around, particularly in London.
I've never tried one, not being a fan of pedals
They are very light for a 100w amp...just 32 lbs. I remember my 80w Bandit weighing around 45lbs. The new Fender Tonemaster series of amps are very light too as they, like the Katana, use a class D amp therefore they don’t require huge transformers and also generate less heat. These amps sound quite good out of the box but require a lot of tweaking to dial them in. In the 3 years that I’ve owned mine, I’ve never used the tone studio until this week. you don’t have to be a fan of pedals. You can just use the amp as it is and dial in the amount of grit and the tone you want, then lock it into one of the 8 storage channels. The GA-FC foot controller is not a pedal per se, but rather a selector for the channels.
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Post by Die Bullen on Apr 6, 2021 12:44:58 GMT
Sounds like a cool amp- I'd never heard of them Really? When they came out 4 or 5 years ago, there were huge threads on them in pretty much every forum. The Gear Page thread is sitting at nearly 900 pages! Wow, well truth be told when Spellcaster, Zontar and I were over at AxeTalk, there were few people posting towards the end and when the site sang its final swan song, I hung up the whole forum thing for a few years until I came over here. So not super surprising I hadn't heard about it because I haven't been over at the big forums like TDPRI is a very long time.
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Post by Sinster on Apr 6, 2021 14:10:26 GMT
I have a Katana 50 combo, well my kid has it now. When I did actually use it, it was a great amp with many features. My problem is that I'm hung up on that my amps have to be tube. Even knowing that it's all a mental thing that tube amps are "warmer" than solid state.
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Post by infant on Apr 6, 2021 14:41:54 GMT
I have a Katana 50 combo, well my kid has it now. When I did actually use it, it was a great amp with many features. My problem is that I'm hung up on that my amps have to be tube. Even knowing that it's all a mental thing that tube amps are "warmer" than solid state. It’s true, tube amps are much warmer. My Bandit was probably the best amp I had for tube emulation with its vintage setting, resonance button, sag emulation pot and trans tube technology. It just weighed as much as a tube amp! The Katana isn’t as warm sounding as the Peavey or any tube amp but I’m hoping that some of the “sneaky amp” patches will change that.
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Post by Die Bullen on Apr 6, 2021 15:17:42 GMT
I have a Katana 50 combo, well my kid has it now. When I did actually use it, it was a great amp with many features. My problem is that I'm hung up on that my amps have to be tube. Even knowing that it's all a mental thing that tube amps are "warmer" than solid state. I'm in the same camp as you on tube amps. This year I decided to go solid state on the gigging amp because the size and weight of my Dr. Z. is really starting to get to my back...
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Post by zontar on Apr 7, 2021 1:50:14 GMT
I saw a good deal on one pre pandemic at a guitar show--I was tempted, but someone else bought it.
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Post by infant on Apr 22, 2021 12:53:00 GMT
So last night I sat down with my guitar, Katana and computer for a couple of hours and decided to fart around with the Boss Tone Studio. Holy cow, very easy to get into rabbit holes with this thing! I found a parametric and the Boss GE-10 graphic built into the Tone Studio so that the actual tone and resonance of the amp can be modified. When it comes to effects, most pedals have anywhere from 2 to 4 adjustment knobs but in the Tone Studio, you have additional controls for things like low/mid cut, mid/high cut, pre-delay, decay rate etc. Holy cow! Two hours and numerous tone mods to each channel and some of the effects and I’m getting happier with the sound of this. I may even be able to leave my pedal board at home and just use the Katana alone with its channel selector pedal.
Now I’m waiting for my wife to go to her chiro appointment this morning so that I can open it up a bit and see how close I’ve gotten ito the sound of the Dekuxe Reverb
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Post by Die Bullen on Apr 22, 2021 14:06:42 GMT
So last night I sat down with my guitar, Katana and computer for a couple of hours and decided to fart around with the Boss Tone Studio. Holy cow, very easy to get into rabbit holes with this thing! I found a parametric and the Boss GE-10 graphic built into the Tone Studio so that the actual tone and resonance of the amp can be modified. When it comes to effects, most pedals have anywhere from 2 to 4 adjustment knobs but in the Tone Studio, you have additional controls for things like low/mid cut, mid/high cut, pre-delay, decay rate etc. Holy cow! Two hours and numerous tone mods to each channel and some of the effects and I’m getting happier with the sound of this. I may even be able to leave my pedal board at home and just use the Katana alone with its channel selector pedal. Now I’m waiting for my wife to go to her chiro appointment this morning so that I can open it up a bit and see how close I’ve gotten ito the sound of the Dekuxe Reverb Excellent. I'm kind of scared of those complicated effects units because I really don't like to tinker- I just like to plug in and play.
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Post by infant on Apr 22, 2021 14:50:31 GMT
So last night I sat down with my guitar, Katana and computer for a couple of hours and decided to fart around with the Boss Tone Studio. Holy cow, very easy to get into rabbit holes with this thing! I found a parametric and the Boss GE-10 graphic built into the Tone Studio so that the actual tone and resonance of the amp can be modified. When it comes to effects, most pedals have anywhere from 2 to 4 adjustment knobs but in the Tone Studio, you have additional controls for things like low/mid cut, mid/high cut, pre-delay, decay rate etc. Holy cow! Two hours and numerous tone mods to each channel and some of the effects and I’m getting happier with the sound of this. I may even be able to leave my pedal board at home and just use the Katana alone with its channel selector pedal. Now I’m waiting for my wife to go to her chiro appointment this morning so that I can open it up a bit and see how close I’ve gotten ito the sound of the Dekuxe Reverb Excellent. I'm kind of scared of those complicated effects units because I really don't like to tinker- I just like to plug in and play. I’m the same as you. I like “plug and play” pedals. When I first downloaded the Tone Studio and saw all the parameters, I didn’t want to change anything for fear of screwing up the whole amp. I didn’t realize until I saw a YouTube video that I could plug in my guitar and play as I was changing parameters. Once I was happy with the sound, I clicked on the “save” button. This morning I tweaked some of the knobs on the amp and I am getting closer to the sound of my DR.....very close but not exactly there. I can live with this sound now. Next, I’m gonna get my A/B box, put the amps side by side and try to EQ it even closer than it is now. Today I had them side by side but I was pulling the jack from one plugging it into the other and back again comparing the sound. With the A/B box, I can play the note or chords, step on the switch and tweak the EQ until they sound the same.
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Post by Die Bullen on Apr 22, 2021 16:32:43 GMT
Excellent. I'm kind of scared of those complicated effects units because I really don't like to tinker- I just like to plug in and play. I’m the same as you. I like “plug and play” pedals. When I first downloaded the Tone Studio and saw all the parameters, I didn’t want to change anything for fear of screwing up the whole amp. I didn’t realize until I saw a YouTube video that I could plug in my guitar and play as I was changing parameters. Once I was happy with the sound, I clicked on the “save” button. This morning I tweaked some of the knobs on the amp and I am getting closer to the sound of my DR.....very close but not exactly there. I can live with this sound now. Next, I’m gonna get my A/B box, put the amps side by side and try to EQ it even closer than it is now. Today I had them side by side but I was pulling the jack from one plugging it into the other and back again comparing the sound. With the A/B box, I can play the note or chords, step on the switch and tweak the EQ until they sound the same. Great idea- the katana sounds like a pretty cool little unit- and probably a lot lighter than your DR. I looked them up and they are cheaper than I would have thought.
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Post by johnreardon on Apr 22, 2021 17:31:53 GMT
So last night I sat down with my guitar, Katana and computer for a couple of hours and decided to fart around with the Boss Tone Studio. Holy cow, very easy to get into rabbit holes with this thing! I found a parametric and the Boss GE-10 graphic built into the Tone Studio so that the actual tone and resonance of the amp can be modified. When it comes to effects, most pedals have anywhere from 2 to 4 adjustment knobs but in the Tone Studio, you have additional controls for things like low/mid cut, mid/high cut, pre-delay, decay rate etc. Holy cow! Two hours and numerous tone mods to each channel and some of the effects and I’m getting happier with the sound of this. I may even be able to leave my pedal board at home and just use the Katana alone with its channel selector pedal. Now I’m waiting for my wife to go to her chiro appointment this morning so that I can open it up a bit and see how close I’ve gotten ito the sound of the Dekuxe Reverb Excellent. I'm kind of scared of those complicated effects units because I really don't like to tinker- I just like to plug in and play. Me too that’s one reason I never use pedals. Other reason is I think they muddy up the sound of guitars. I know at my age I should be using compact lightweight stuff, but bugger it
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