Boss Katana 50 MKII

I bought this amp at the beginning of 2020 (so the beginning of the pandemic) since I needed an amp that I can use at home, without waking up my neighbors. Before purchasing this one, I tried other practice amps but I wasn't satisfied. After I bought this one, I ended up using it more than my Marshall and Fender amps!

Pros:
- This is not a modeling amp! In other words, it does not try to replicate the sound of a Marshall, a Fender, a Vox, an Orange, etc. It has its own characteristics as an amp.
- The amp types/channels (Clean, Crunch, Lead, and Brown) do what they are supposed to do! I mainly use the clean and crunch channels. The clean channel is great, with a little bit of reverb, your licks sound fantastic. The crunch is my favorite, it just adds the right amount of crunchiness, such that the pedal effects that come after still sound fantastic! I rarely use Lead and Brown channels, even though I play metal %40 of the time.
- Then there are the effects, which can be controlled/adjusted with Boss Tone Studio. Now, this is where the modeling happens! Clever guys at Boss came up with digital processing algorithms to replicate the sound of very famous pedals (Muff Fuzz, Rat, DS-1, etc.). On top of that, there are lots of modulation and FX options that you can play with.
- The speaker sounds good in all settings. It is loud enough if you use it in 50W mode (for bedroom usage, 0.5W is also great!).
- The USB connection is very useful when you want to record your guitar without any microphones.

Cons: (These are cons that are expected and they are no reason to affect the rating.)
- No FX loop. So if you want to connect external pedals, you have to connect them in front of the amp, which may/will result in unwanted sound effects in certain situations.
- It doesn't support a decent footswitch controller as its big brother 100W does. Therefore, turning on/off the effects can become really annoying, since you have to turn the knobs to (de)activate the effects.
- In order to play some songs through the speakers of this amp by using your PC/Mac, you have to connect it through the aux-in connection of the amp. You cannot use the USB connection for this reason.

I bought for my nephew who just started guitar. I heard good things about the Katanas over the past few years and even seen musicians play them in pubs which sounded great.

As a seasoned guitarist who uses higher end tube amps, I was honestly shocked when I played it myself how good it was.

The price of the amp is a steal. If you're starting out and need an amo, you're are crazy not to get one. It's hands down the best bang for buck solid state amp on the market. I only wish it was around when I was growing up.

At this price, with the accompanying software (and MIDI control from a DAW for example!!) there can't possibly be complaints.

The sound is fantastic for a small gig or practice rig, super light-weight, PLENTY loud, an insane amount of pedals and effects, it has a built-in interface with which you can record straight into your DAW...

My only complaint is that the noise gate is actually a noise suppressor (and sadly not a very good one, especially for metal) and degrades the open state of this "gate" in an attempt to supress noise. However, I couldn't possibly hold it against it for all the other fun stuff that this comes with and this price.

Ive had this for several months now, and it is the product I expected.
I have not gigged with it, although with the addition of the pedal selector, no reason why you couldnt (other than how loud you need). With the pedal I can basically choose from four saved tones (and the panel).
I find it shines in the studio. There are a plethora of tones and styles can be achieved especially when hooked up to a laptop that combined with the presets provided, you can keep library upon library of your own saved sounds.
Pros
Great sound opportunities and inspiration. Great for studio.
Cons
All presets not easily accessed on the fly so might not suit all for live performance.