Pocket Rocket

For its latest addition, Boss has crammed a full Katana amplifier into a tiny headphone-amp format – and its long list of features and tones makes it practically irresistible

BOSS KATANA:GO

£119

WHAT IS IT? Boss’s latest (and smallest) addition to the popular Katana range – a guitar/bass headphones amplifier

The near-universal popularity of Boss’s Katana range shows no sign of slowing down, with a full range of affordable digital amplification covering every need –from big stages and arenas, to pubs, clubs and the home. The latest product to bear the Katana name, the Katana:Go headphone amplifier, is the smallest yet and likely to become another success story for Boss.

The Katana:Go is small enough to fit in your pocket and exquisitely designed, with the same attention to detail lavished on all Boss products. As you might expect, it’s not exactly bristling with knobs and switches, and yet the various small buttons and volume-control wheel handle everything you might need, and they’re intuitive to use so after a while you don’t really need to look at them any more.

On the lower side, from a plugged-in perspective, you’ll find an on/off switch with a charge indicator LED that glows red when the battery is low, amber when charging, and green when fully charged. Two more button switches manage the Katana:Go’s Bluetooth connection and a Stage Feel 3D ambience effect.

On the opposite side, nearest the player when plugged in, there’s aBank Up/Down switch that also operates the tuner, together with three patch selection buttons labelled A, Band C. On the top face is a small monochrome display and the volume control, with a 3mm stereo jack socket for your headphones and aUSB-C socket on the back face. The integral jack plug is hinged and folds to accommodate angled and straight jack sockets, covering practically all guitars. Thoughtful soft pads on the underside protect your guitar’s finish.

The key to the Katana:Go’s power is software, rather than hardware. Aspecially designed version of Boss’s Tone Studio app connects via Bluetooth and lets you access the five famous Katana amp voices, each with a second variation. EQ controls include Bass, Middle, Treble, Presence and Cabinet Resonance, this last one with a choice of Deep, Vintage and Modern modes.

There are dozens of effects to choose from, covering all the bases you might need in the overdrive, distortion, modulation, delay and reverb departments, plus seven different signal chains to arrange them in. There’s also not one but two parametric EQs and a noise gate, with yet another global EQ lurking in the system settings. The Katana:Go also unleashes 3D audio in its clever Stage Feel mode, which gives you the impression of aband playing behind you, either in a hall or a studio, with your virtual amp in front or behind, plus a custom setting you can tweak.

You can use the Tone Studio’s Session List feature to load and play music from your mobile device or YouTube, and arrange songs in your favourite order, as well as assigning your favourite patches to play along with them. Roland account holders can make full use of the Boss Tone Exchange to browse and download from thousands of Liveset patches uploaded by users from all over the world; the Katana:Go is compatible with Livesets created on the Mk1 and Mk2 Katana amps.

Are we finished? Nowhere near. This feature-packed device also offers high ‐quality USB streaming and recording to your mobile device or desktop, is compatible with the Boss wireless expression pedal and footswitch, and operates in either Guitar or Bass mode.

In Use

The Katana:Go’s onboard memory holds 30 patches (or 60, if you count the bass mode) that are arranged in 10 banks of three. Soft-touch button switches on the side nearest the player scroll through the banks and select the individual patches, with a useful tuner function if you push in the Bank Up/Down switch.

In guitar mode, you can pick or choose from Acoustic, Clean, Crunch, Lead or Brown amp voices, each with a variation and a regular EQ layout. Swapping into bass mode gives you a choice of bass-optimised Vintage, Modern or Flat amp voices, each with a Shape option, while the amp EQ defaults to a semi-parametric configuration, with swept low and high mid controls and shelving treble and bass.

We used our regular Strat and Les Paul guitars, together with standard mobile phone wired earbuds and a decent midpriced closed ear studio-type headphone for comparison. The ‘out of the box’ EQ sounded somewhat fizzy with too much top-end for the small earbuds, but it was warmer and more relaxing to listen to on the studio headphones. The Katana:Go’s global EQ is the solution here, making it quick and easy to dial the amp into your favourite pair of speakers.

The effects are the same as the larger full-sized Katana amplifiers and there are dozens to choose from, including popular staples such as chorus, flange and phasing alongside wilder options such as the Slow Gear reverse effect and the Slicer, one of our personal favourites and a brilliant source

The technology on of fer is so much fun and so inspiring – the Katana:Go is a steal at the asking price for creative chord playing. Delays feature another favourite, the SDE3000 model. Boosts and overdrives include well-known Boss hallmarks such as the HM-2 and Metalzone, alongside other famous effects such as the Centa OD, Rat and imaginatively named Muff Fuzz. They all sound great with a little careful editing, especially when filtered through the Stage Feel surround sound, which puts you and your virtual amp in a hall or room with streamed music from your favourite band coming from behind while you’re centre stage. The quality of the Bluetooth stream is excellent with practically zero latency; the illusion can be quite convincing.

Verdict

We’ve said on more than one occasion recently that digital amplification for the guitar has now arrived at the point where the differences between analogue and digital are so small they’re not worth arguing over. More so than the high-end devices that tend to get the attention, the Katana range has arguably been the most disruptive, taking over the highly competitive mid ground with great tone and effects that practically everyone can afford. The technology that’s on offer in the Katana:Go is so much fun and so inspiring, it’s a steal at the asking price.

PROS Impressive amp tones can be dialled in to suit all kinds of headphones; USB recording and audio streaming from Tone Studio app; remote control storage

CONS Side-mounted performance switches aren’t so accessible depending on the guitar type and whether you’re left- or right-handed; not immediately great on some headphones, but the powerful EQ can correct that in seconds