Time to upgrade my workshop amp. Suggestions.

[muttley]

For years I have just been using an old Fender Princeton analogue amp in my workshop for testing out fixes and pickups and it's finally died on me. I have been meaning to get something a little smaller that can sit on the bench but not so small sounds like a hamster in a shoe box.

For the workshop I need reliability, solid build quality, good cleans and accessible crunch. Reverb would be nice as would some modelling. If it could double as a small room band amp that would be cool. At the moment I am getting by using my AER but that is really my main archtop gigging amp and it isn't really flexible enough plus it resides with my gigging gear.

I am way out of touch with this stuff as I haven't bought an amp for a decades and I know this stuff has moved on loads.

What are you guys using? What would be good to demo?

[JD01]

The small amp I like is a Fender Blues Jr. You've probably gotta wring its neck to get a crunch though unless you use pedals.

How about something like a Boss Katana? I think @musicturtle has one.

[Lt. Bob]

The Katana gets great reviews and I have a friend with one .... likes it a lot.
Several models and there's one that's 50 watts so it'd work as a band amp.

I see them used for less than 200 bucks

https://www.guitarcenter.com/BOSS/Katan ... )%20(Bing)

[Greg_L]

What's wrong with the Princeton??? Fix that amp. It's probably better than anything else you'll replace it with.

[musicturtle]

I have the Katana Air and the 50.

The Air has a wireless feature(you can also use a cable) which hikes up the price. But it is not much bigger than a shoe box and still has some thump to it.

The 50 is quite a bit bigger...bout the size of my old Princeton Reverb.

I really like them for quick solid sounds. You can change from crunchy to clean just turning a knob and you can program them to tailor the sounds a bit more.

[Greg_L]

I think the Katanas sound pretty good for what they are.

I follow a few professional amp techs on the youtubes, and I've learned that Katanas are virtually un-serviceable. If you can even find/get parts, the cost to fix a Katana is as much or more than the cost of a new one. Maybe it will never fail, but if you're leaving one out in a workshop I'd bet it gets some problems.

[muttley]

What's wrong with the Princeton??? Fix that amp. It's probably better than anything else you'll replace it with.

I will fix it but it has a lot against it being a workshop amp. It's big, it's heavy, its pretty limited when it comes to customers wanting to dial in a sound or range of tones, You need to crank it to get the best out of it.. Don't get me wrong, I love that amp but I want something that can sit on the bench and I can just dial in a range of tones or us the presets or app to call up what I need. I still have an old Princeton I gig with and it's perfect for that. Gigging wise I have always been a Fender guy except for the small band clean stuff where I use the AER.

[muttley]

The Katana gets great reviews and I have a friend with one .... likes it a lot.
Several models and there's one that's 50 watts so it'd work as a band amp.

I see them used for less than 200 bucks

https://www.guitarcenter.com/BOSS/Katan ... )%20(Bing)

I've been looking at a few reviews and youtubes of their stuff. I will probably go demo one.

[muttley]

I think the Katanas sound pretty good for what they are.

I follow a few professional amp techs on the youtubes, and I've learned that Katanas are virtually un-serviceable. If you can even find/get parts, the cost to fix a Katana is as much or more than the cost of a new one. Maybe it will never fail, but if you're leaving one out in a workshop I'd bet it gets some problems.

I'll keep that in mind. Yeh, this thing would get plugged in an out all day and tweaked almost non stop when I have people in. I also need to use it to test pickups so it would get a lot of clicking and tweaking that a band amp maybe wouldn't.

[WhiskeyJack]

I know a guy who builds amps. He comes here from time to time.

[muttley]

I know a guy who builds amps. He comes here from time to time.

When he builds me one. I wont be a workshop workhorse.

[Lt. Bob]

ya' know ....... I had a friend who gigged with one of those Fender Mustang modeling amps.
It surprised the hell outta me and sounded great on a gig.
They have a variety of models and sizes

Also I've seen the Marshall Code series get some praise but I haven't actually heard one.

[Bill L]

I agree regarding the Katana. I bought the 100 watter specifically for travel/rehearsal. It was pretty easy to get good tones quickly. I even bought the foot controller and all told it was under $450. Small, light and lots of options when connected to a computer. I've used at a jam and it was ok in a larger room but for a gig, I'd rather have something else (depending on the band/tunes, obviously). I really like the cleans, the delay and the reverb. The gritty stuff can sound fizzy, in my experience, so you need to spend some time tweaking that.

[muttley]

UPDATE: I just scored a Boss Katana 50 mkII on approval from one of the stores I do work for. It's ex floor but as good as mint and cos it's me he thrrew in a cover and is getting me a footswitch at cost if I like it. All for under 200 quid.

I also checked out the Positive Grid Spark which I really liked and the Orange 20RT.

The Orange was better looking but the Katana won it because I can actually gig with that thing, man does it shift air, very surprised. Sounds great too and versatile. I am going to get the Spark for my office. Boy have things moved on since I last bought a solid state amp......,.,

[muttley]

I agree regarding the Katana. I bought the 100 watter specifically for travel/rehearsal. It was pretty easy to get good tones quickly. I even bought the foot controller and all told it was under $450. Small, light and lots of options when connected to a computer. I've used at a jam and it was ok in a larger room but for a gig, I'd rather have something else (depending on the band/tunes, obviously). I really like the cleans, the delay and the reverb. The gritty stuff can sound fizzy, in my experience, so you need to spend some time tweaking that.

The guy I got it from showed me how to tweak the crunch quite effectively... TBH I don't use a lot of the real gritty stuff. Mostly cleans and a little blues crunch is all I use. The delay sounded good, the reverb a little full on. I shall play with it...

[einstein magoo]

Happy Birthday!
I know it's really July 27, like mine, but a new amp feels like a birthday to me!

[Lt. Bob]

UPDATE: I just scored a Boss Katana 50 mkII on approval from one of the stores I do work for. It's ex floor but as good as mint and cos it's me he thrrew in a cover and is getting me a footswitch at cost if I like it. All for under 200 quid.

I also checked out the Positive Grid Spark which I really liked and the Orange 20RT.

The Orange was better looking but the Katana won it because I can actually gig with that thing, man does it shift air, very surprised. Sounds great too and versatile. I am going to get the Spark for my office. Boy have things moved on since I last bought a solid state amp......,.,

cool ..... Al Carmichael is a gigging friend in Detroit .... 'Crawdad' back in the HR days.

he gigs with that exact amp ..... says it's light and sounds great.
He has actually moved to using an Iridium pedal into the PA for his solo gigs but when he needs an amp he really likes the Katana.

[muttley]

UPDATE: I just scored a Boss Katana 50 mkII on approval from one of the stores I do work for. It's ex floor but as good as mint and cos it's me he thrrew in a cover and is getting me a footswitch at cost if I like it. All for under 200 quid.

I also checked out the Positive Grid Spark which I really liked and the Orange 20RT.

The Orange was better looking but the Katana won it because I can actually gig with that thing, man does it shift air, very surprised. Sounds great too and versatile. I am going to get the Spark for my office. Boy have things moved on since I last bought a solid state amp......,.,

cool ..... Al Carmichael is a gigging friend in Detroit .... 'Crawdad' back in the HR days.

he gigs with that exact amp ..... says it's light and sounds great.
He has actually moved to using an Iridium pedal into the PA for his solo gigs but when he needs an amp he really likes the Katana.

Yeh, I'm quite excited to try it out. I'm going to play with it for a while and then take it as a back up to a few gigs I have coming up. I can see myself using it quite a bit if only to save on the tear down with that Princeton. No one gives a fuck what you play through except other gearheads and fuck them, my time is more important and my back even more so.

[muttley]

Happy Birthday!
I know it's really July 27, like mine, but a new amp feels like a birthday to me!

Ha. For sure. Happy Birthday buddy. I keep fine company on the celebratory front.

[Tadpui]

Congrats on the new amp, @muttley ! I've heard a lot of good things about those Katanas, and I actually recommended one to my friend that was looking for an easy-to-handle rehearsal amp. When I was chatting with him, I started shopping around and I was surprised to learn that they come in those big wattage varieties. In my mind they were just little practice amps, but no they mean business! I hope it gives you many great years of sweet tones!