# Boss Katana 2x12 vs Line 6 Spider V



## axeslaya (Dec 16, 2016)

Im looking for a new bedroom practice amp. I play mostly metal. Im torn between the new Spider V or the Boss Katana. The Spider has lots of high gain tones but the Boss is said to have a greater sound and feel compared to the Spider V. The Katana seems to sound great from the videos I have seen but not so good for hi-gain stuff but I am figuring a MXr eq pedal and distortion pedal should solve that issue. 

Any opinions on which of these would be recommended?


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## rexbinary (Dec 16, 2016)

So I haven't heard or played either amp in person. With that said, I would go with the Line 6 over another modeling amp that would most likely require me to buy two pedals to make it do what I wanted. To me that defeats the purpose of getting a modeling amp. If you have to buy pedals I would just get a cheap Fender amp to run clean for pedals.


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## wakjob (Dec 16, 2016)

It's too early to make that kind of decision about either amp. We've haven't really heard the best these amps have to offer in regards to extreme metal sounds.

It might be some time down the road that 'updates' in the firmware provides this.


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## randomas (Dec 16, 2016)

Seen and heard many very bad things about the spider V ... The opposite is true about the katana ... But I've personally tried neither ...


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## Spinedriver (Dec 16, 2016)

If possible it'd honestly be best to try them both out in person. That being said, although the Spider does have a bunch of amps compared to the Boss' 4 or 5, sometimes it's quality over quantity. Of the reviews I've seen, the ones on the Spider have been pretty harsh whereas the ones about the Katana have been really good, for what it's worth.


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## Wolfhorsky (Dec 16, 2016)

Katana sounds great wthout any external pedal. You can get lots of different gain structures by using internal drive pedals with internal four channels. That gives very many combinations to please blues guys, rockers and metalheads.
Spider v is another toy from line6 imho.


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## inprognito (Dec 16, 2016)

Owned a Katana for over a month now. I love this thing so much, way more than any solid state or modeling thing I've ever owned. It sounds so much better than my HD500x even when I use my Torpedo CAB with it. Plus there's 55 boss effects built in and they all sound really good, including all the drives.


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## axeslaya (Dec 16, 2016)

inprognito said:


> Owned a Katana for over a month now. I love this thing so much, way more than any solid state or modeling thing I've ever owned. It sounds so much better than my HD500x even when I use my Torpedo CAB with it. Plus there's 55 boss effects built in and they all sound really good, including all the drives.



Sounds awesome, yeah I think Ill pass on the Spider V. The Katana is sounding better and better the more I hear from it. 

Would you say you can get some good tight, crisp hi-gain using some of the internal Boss effects? Thats primarily the sound Im after. I play lots of Thrash, death Metal and classic 80's 90's metal. 

Oh and can you save patches you create? I didn't see anything about storing actual patches in the unit or on the computer. I would prefer to save a bunch of custom patches on the computer through the software and load them into the Katana.


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## inprognito (Dec 17, 2016)

axeslaya said:


> Sounds awesome, yeah I think Ill pass on the Spider V. The Katana is sounding better and better the more I hear from it.
> 
> Would you say you can get some good tight, crisp hi-gain using some of the internal Boss effects? Thats primarily the sound Im after. I play lots of Thrash, death Metal and classic 80's 90's metal.
> 
> Oh and can you save patches you create? I didn't see anything about storing actual patches in the unit or on the computer. I would prefer to save a bunch of custom patches on the computer through the software and load them into the Katana.



You can definitely get nice tight crisp high gain setting on the brown or lead channel using one of the internal drives as a boost. It's definitely a Marshall/el34 type of tone but is very tweakable. I would say it's voiced perfectly for your needs. The amp is so good at taking pedals you can even use your own external boost with equally good results. I found the key to getting the exact sound I wanted was using the Boss Tone Studio to put the parametric eq effect in and tweak the final tone. I'm notoriously a tweaker, and waste so much time on my HD500X messing with the sounds but once I got the sounds I liked on the Katana (honestly didn't take very long) I literally haven't touched the dials. On my 100w 2x12 I can save 4 patches, 5 if you count the panel setting, and with Tone Studio you can save many on your pc. I also bought the GA-FC footswitch when I got the amp and it works great with the Katana. The amp comes with stickers for the GA-FC since the switching layout is different than what it was originally designed for. 

I bought this amp to use for a cover band project I am starting but it's the only amp I've played/wanted to play since I got it. I'm more than happy even after the honeymoon phase.


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## jchrisf (Dec 20, 2016)

I have a Spider V and I love it. It sounds really good and is easy to program with a lot of options. I didn't care for it at first because of the presets but once I changed a couple of things it sounds nice. You definitely need to try one.


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## TheMetalMoose (Dec 29, 2016)

inprognito said:


> You can definitely get nice tight crisp high gain setting on the brown or lead channel using one of the internal drives as a boost. It's definitely a Marshall/el34 type of tone but is very tweakable. I would say it's voiced perfectly for your needs. The amp is so good at taking pedals you can even use your own external boost with equally good results. I found the key to getting the exact sound I wanted was using the Boss Tone Studio to put the parametric eq effect in and tweak the final tone. I'm notoriously a tweaker, and waste so much time on my HD500X messing with the sounds but once I got the sounds I liked on the Katana (honestly didn't take very long) I literally haven't touched the dials. On my 100w 2x12 I can save 4 patches, 5 if you count the panel setting, and with Tone Studio you can save many on your pc. I also bought the GA-FC footswitch when I got the amp and it works great with the Katana. The amp comes with stickers for the GA-FC since the switching layout is different than what it was originally designed for.
> 
> I bought this amp to use for a cover band project I am starting but it's the only amp I've played/wanted to play since I got it. I'm more than happy even after the honeymoon phase.



My expectations may be a little high but, do you think I would be able to get a Randall Satan style tone out of the Katana. It's extremely hard to find anyone that has attempted to get some seriously heavy tones out of the Katana.


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## Andromalia (Dec 30, 2016)

You don't need the 2x12 for bedroom practice. The 50w version will be amply sufficient. That or the head if you already have a cab.


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## bnzboy (Dec 30, 2016)

I have tried both at a music store very briefly. To be honest those amps felt similar to me. Similar as in, they are both digital amps with lots of fun effects to play around with some cool patches that would sound cool but I wouldn't use them for live shows.


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## Unleash The Fury (Dec 31, 2016)

get a vyper 2


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## Antmax (Jan 8, 2017)

I have a Spider V 60 and had mixed feelings at first. The presets are not that great but the controls are easy and quick to use. It was when someone put me onto the PostEQ section of the presets that let you shape your sound that I started to really like it. Stock it sounded a bit flat but with Post EQ you can boost the lows and mids, then turn down the over the top gain slightly and you have a really nice warm punchy amp with good range. 

I don't know why the factory settings didn't make use of the postEQ. 

The Spider has ASIO drivers and doubles as a interface, I can use it with rocksmith or Yousician and the full range speakers sound pretty decent so it handles backing tracks pretty well. The ASIO drivers are pretty low latency so you can always use VST modeling effects if you want. 

The USB ASIO hookup works in both directions and the 60 and larger models are wireless ready. The G10 wireless system is excellent, I really like it. 

My study is much more tidy, just a USB and power cable from the amp. No interface, splitter, pedals etc. And the wireless is fantastic. A simple chunky TS plug is all it is and it has an auto cutout switch built in, so you can swap guitars without any noise. Very convenient.


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