7 Reasons Why The Boss KATANA-100 MKII Beats the KATANA-50 MKII (+ 3 Reasons it Beats the KATANA-50MKII EX)

6 Reasons Why The Boss KATANA-100 MKII Beats the KATANA-50 MKII

If you’re looking for an all-rounder of a combo amplifier that delivers outstanding sound but you’re not sure if you should go for the smaller, 50 Watt edition of the Boss Katana MKII or go bigger with the 100 Watt edition – but then, what about the EX edition of the 50 Watt? In this blog, we cover the ins and outs of all three models.

The Power is in Your Hands

The first thing to note is that the volume doesn’t actually say that much. Both the Katana-100 MKII and Katana-50 MKII feature a Power Control attenuator, so if you have a 50 MKII, you can set the output to 0.5 Watts, 25 Watts or 50 Watts, and if you have a 100 MKII, you can set the output as low as 0.5 Watts, 50 Watts or the full 100 Watts. This alone means that the Katana 100 MKII can just as comfortably be set up in your bedroom as it can in a rehearsal space and on stage. The fact is that both versions of the Katana come with exactly the same stack of sixty effects and ten amplifier emulations, but the Katana-100 MKII does offer a few extra functions, giving it that proper edge!

What Does the Boss Katana 100 MKII Offer that the 50 MKII Doesn’t?

The larger speaker cabinet results in richer and more full sound, so this amplifier gives the bass that bit more oomph! (You know what we mean).
Your favourite sound profiles and patches can be saved to four physical memory slot buttons and called up later. There’s even an A-bank and B-bank, which adds up to 8 memory slots – that’s double the slots that come with the Katana 50 MKII.
The FX loop send and return ports makes it possible to place external effect pedals between the preamp and power amp sections (so, you could do things like connect a Loop Station directly to the power amp to record and loop the coloured-in sound of your amp).
A physical Presence knob is included on the control panel, so the EQ/tone can be optimised in seconds.
Via the Line Out, the Katana-100 MKII can be directly linked to a mixer or audio interface without muting the speaker.
With the Stereo Expand function, two Katana MKII amplifiers can be linked to complete a stereo sound setup, so you can get the most of the built-in stereo effects.
Call up saved patches and switch the built-in effects on and off by adding on a Boss GA-FC or GA-FC EX foot controller and making your life a load easier. Hit a switch on the GA-FC controller and easily switch between a clean rhythm sound and full lead sound – all hands free!

Basically, you get everything that you would with the Boss Katana-50 MKII plus way more. That’s the Katana-100 MKII in a tight little nutshell.

What Does the Katana 50 MKII EX Have that the Katana 50 MKII Doesn’t?

Definitely want to go for a 50 Watt Katana? Then it might be worth knowing that Boss has just dropped a lightly tweaked version: the Katana-50 MKII EX. This model gives you all the functions of the standard Katana-50 MKII, plus a couple of the functions that you could previously only get with the 100 Watt edition.

When you hook up a GA-FC(EX) foot controller, the Boss Katana-50 MKII EX also supplies 8 memory slots.
You can also connect this amp directly to a mixer or audio interface without muting the speaker.
The EX edition also features a Stereo Expand function, so two Katana-50 MKII EX amplifiers can be linked to complete a stereo sound setup.
You can also plug a Boss GA-FC or GA-FC EX foot controller into the Katana-50 MKII EX and gain hands-free control over patch and effect switching.

Overview

We’ve also put all of the feature variations of all three models in the handy table below, so you can clearly see which version of the Katana is the best fit for your rig.

So, which lucky amplifier will it be? Let us know in the comments.