Boss’ Katana range has taken the portable, gig-friendly modelling guitar amp world by storm, and now bass players can get in on the action too as Boss has unveiled dedicated bass amps in the Katana range for the first time with a pair of combos: the Katana-110 Bass and Katana-210 Bass.
Both amps include a similar feature set, with three preamp voicings, comprehensive tone-shaping, a whole heap of Boss FX models, digital connectivity and much more.
So what’s the difference between the two? Well, it comes down to output. The Boss Katana-110 offers 60-watt output, a 10-inch woofer and a tweeter. Meanwhile, the Katana-210 is aimed more at giggers, with a 160-watt power amp output, 2x 10” woofers plus a tweeter, which can be disabled if required.
Control-wise, both Katanas come with the same channel strip and signal path. It starts with a pair of input effects offering compression and drive - both with six selectable modes and a level control, which allows either to be fed into your chain or bypassed completely.
Next up is a channel section, which offers Vintage, Flat or Modern voicings as well as gain and volume controls, and includes a pad switch and shape control to help match the type of bass you’re plugging in.
Continuing, there’s a blend control, which dials your dry sound back into the mix - ideal if you’re using drive settings but want to maintain clarity. The four-band EQ gives you regular bass and treble, plus a pair of mid-frequency controls to tailor your sound.
The FX section offers a range of classic bass effects, from the T-Wah auto-wah, Chorus, Octaver, Bass Synth and more in the FX1 bank, while FX 2 is home to six delay and reverb models.
When you’re done, you can save your entire patch into one of the six Tone Settings slots for recall, which captures everything apart from the master volume setting.
Both amps are set-up to work well at low volumes, too, with the inclusion of a Power Control knob which takes your output down to 1-watt, giving you the tone and response of a cranked amp at lower volumes.
If you want to play on headphones, Boss has you covered here too, with speaker emulation and three Air Feel settings.
There’s a lot going on around the back too, with both the Katana-110 and Katana-210 offer a speaker output and balanced XLR DI complete with ground lift and switchable post/pre/direct options.
Both amps also include an external effects loop, and connections for footswitches or an expression pedal - and the Katana Bass can also work with Boss’ 6-button GA-FC foot controller.
But that’s not all, because Boss has loaded the Katana Bass with a USB audio interface, which also allows for deeper editing of the amp via its Boss Tone Studio app for desktop machines. There’s also an aux-in for hooking up to an external audio source.
As we’ve seen with other Boss products recently, the Katana Bass amps are ‘Bluetooth-ready’, via the Boss Bluetooth Audio/MIDI module (sold separately). Plugging this in will give you wireless streaming of audio between the amp and your device, plus it unlocks the connection to your iOS or Android device for use with the Tone Studio mobile app.
The Boss Katana-110 Bass and Katana-210 Bass will begin shipping in April 2022, priced at $399.99/$649.99 respectively. For more information, visit the Boss website.
