Boss Katana Mini Review

Portable amps are great for practice but tend to lack overall features and the quality of sound output is shit as well. The Katana-Mini amplifier is probably the best practice amp for beginners and pros alike, and despite being a tiny amp- packs a ton of punch. It’s also quite versatile and will help you tremendously in your guitar journey. In this review, we take a look at what the Boss Katana  Mini is capable of, and if it’s a good amp. Let’s you started!

Overview of Boss Katana Mini Amplifier

 

Boss – The Brand

Boss is a popular manufacturer of amps, pedals, and guitar accessories and is a division of Roland Corp. The brand has been in the business since the 70s and as a result, has refined the craft of manufacturing quality amps. The Katana-Mini not only looks fantastic with the Japanese Katana lettering but it also has the features to back the Boss name. The Mini amp makes the Boss Katana tone accessible on a tiny budget amp that can be conveniently packed into any tight space. However, for guitarists needing more power and advanced features, the Boss Katana 50 delivers a versatile performance ideal for stage and extensive practice.

Features

The Boss Katana-Mini is a capable modeling and portable amp. It’s got a 10 cm speaker housed in a closed-back cabinet that provides 7 Watts of power. The special cabinet is pretty typical of modeling amps on a budget. The dimensions on this amp are 18 cm * 23 cm which makes it ideal for fitting into tight spaces. It weighs just 1.2 kg which is also cool as it makes transporting the amp very easy. The Katana-Mini amplifier has a 3-band EQ that lets you adjust the bass, mid and treble controls freely. Most budget amps don’t include the mid-frequency range controls or a wide range of tones, so having that here is nice. This amp has got three amp styles- Brown, Crunch, and Clean which are super intuitive to use. The Brown amp tone is a Waza-style punchier tone that’s great for playing the lead. The Crunch mode has a fat thick sound that can pick up subtle nuances in your picking. Finally, the Clean amp style outputs a super crisp sound for rock rhythms on electric guitars. If you are into rock and blues, I would recommend using the Crunch tone though using the Clean setting with a bit of gain would probably do the job too. The controls on this amp are really basic and there is also a delay that you can adjust with the help of a Time knob. There is also an Aux input on the Katana-Mini that you can use to plug in your headphones. Having the headphone output is a super handy feature that helps private practice sessions private! It also has a Stereo cabinet similar which makes the output sound better in your ears. One of the things that I really like about this is the cascaded gain approach that is usually found on more expensive amp models. The same single input can also be used to output to an interface or DAW of your choice during recording situations. What I like most about the Boss Katana Mini is that it’s got a 3-band EQ which is something of a premium feature on modeling amps, but apart from that, the Katana-Mini amp can run on AC or alkaline battery packs. The power adapter is, however, sold separately so you will need to buy it separately. The Katana-Mini amp also has a LED indicator that shows when the battery is running low by turning dark. There is no memory bank on this so you will need to jot down the amp control settings somewhere to dial them later. The thing that I feel like this amp is missing is footswitch support. Having one would allow you to turn the features on or off easily as well as switch between them but you’ll have to do so manually here. You can certainly get a dedicated Multi-FX with the required effects because the Katana-Mini amp doesn’t have any effects except the delay setting. At least, the built-in Tape-style delay is nice to have on top of the traditional analog EQ.

How It Sounds

The Boss Katana Mini sounds fantastic for both clean tones and distorted tones. If you intend to use this amp for metal, you may find that the expressive, high-gain tones from this sound a bit thin. The sound quality is okay, and the dedicated time and level knobs work nicely. I would love to have fat tones for fingerstyle but in the price range, it’s the best we can expect. You also get a decent volume on this despite the low power output- thanks to the digital circuitry, which is great! For another perspective on compact amplifiers that deliver surprising sound quality for their size and price, consider the Roland Micro Cube amp.

Score

 

Bottom Line

The Boss Katana Amp is a super affordable and portable budget amp that is one of the best modeling amps out there. For musicians requiring more power and features for gigging, the larger Boss Katana 100 provides a robust upgrade within the same acclaimed series. It is a bit lacking in the features but with a 7 Watt output and a full 3-band EQ, it’s certainly worth the price. There isn’t a memory bank on this or footswitch support, so that’s something you should keep in mind before buying this. Overall, it’s a fantastic amp for practice and will serve even a professional guitarist just fine.

FAQ

Is the Katana Mini amp worth buying?

The Boss Katana Mini amplifier is a steal for the price, and the fact that it doesn’t even cost 100$ is great! The amp is super portable, sounds nice and offers a good range of tones that any beginner will love. It’s ideal as a bedroom practice amp for beginners or intermediate players. Much like the Katana Mini, the Fender Champion 20 stands out as another top budget option for aspiring guitarists.

What effects does the Boss Katana Mini have?

The Katana Mini has just one onboard effect- the in-built tape delay. You can somehow replicate a reverb-like effect with this if you set the delay levels very low.