The Reliability of my Boss Katana Artist is...Shocking!

[Hank-]

Re: The Reliability of my Boss Katana Artist is...Shocking!

Now who's not reading the other's posts? ha ha!

Yes, everything in the house seems to check out fine. I haven't had any problems with any other devices, all outlets check out electrically and for grounding, and the shock was still happening when I tried the amp on different circuits in the house. The house was built in the '90s, so no wonky wiring, etc.

Interestingly, when I was playing it today, it wasn't shocking me. Makes me wonder if there is a loose ground internally or if the ground plug is experiencing an intermittent failure. If so, that could explain the continuity, which I just checked today, as well. If it starts shocking me again, I'll try to check the continuity again.

Still waiting to hear back from Roland/Boss. I'm about to send a second follow-up email.

Sounds like a faulty ground connection in the amp. If its the only amp from your collection doing it then its isolated to it. These amps have usb/micro usb slots for updating firmware? If it has then connect it to your pc or laptop, no need to turn it on, it just needs to be plugged into the wall with a 3pin plug. If the amp has a faulty ground somewhere then the usb cable would give a path for it to ground through the laptop.

Sometimes other devices like water heaters, ac, fridge can cause such problems too by dumping dc, its rare though but worth investigating if you have free time, to turn on one device at a time in the house to see if any offenders are present.

I so hate sending large items for repairs, I remember my first valve amp being stuck for 5mnths at the shop for repairs, the wait was agonising.

[devastone]

Re: The Reliability of my Boss Katana Artist is...Shocking!

Sounds like a faulty ground connection in the amp. If its the only amp from your collection doing it then its isolated to it. These amps have usb/micro usb slots for updating firmware? If it has then connect it to your pc or laptop, no need to turn it on, it just needs to be plugged into the wall with a 3pin plug. If the amp has a faulty ground somewhere then the usb cable would give a path for it to ground through the laptop.

That would be considered a safety issue, and Boss should know about it, and they should take care of it. And getting it to work in the house by hooking it to something else is one thing, but then you might have to play it at a gig, and clubs always have great grounding, right?

This is something I would get fixed.

Speaking of, have you heard anything back from Boss yet?

I would probably not wait on an e-mail, in the old days we used these things called telephones - https://www.yellowpages.com/los-ange...93?lid=7098293

[Hank-]

Re: The Reliability of my Boss Katana Artist is...Shocking!

^Yeah, but grounds on a pcb board in an amp like this won't just break in between somewhere. There are two stress points that could have issue, the input socket/fx send-return or the power plug inputs. The power socket is easier to fix, the other three sockets if they have a problem then a reflow of solder at the pads may fix it. These sockets are held tight to the chassis with a nut, the pads are less likey to lift off. The electric shock being experienced is in DC form here for now, if it were from the mains then

A quick look under the hood since its out of warranty wouldnt hurt.

[larryguitar]

Re: The Reliability of my Boss Katana Artist is...Shocking!

^Yeah, but grounds on a pcb board in an amp like this won't just break in between somewhere. There are two stress points that could have issue, the input socket/fx send-return or the power plug inputs. The power socket is easier to fix, the other three sockets if they have a problem then a reflow of solder at the pads may fix it. These sockets are held tight to the chassis with a nut, the pads are less likey to lift off. The electric shock being experienced is in DC form here for now, if it were from the mains then

A quick look under the hood since its out of warranty wouldnt hurt.

Only thing I'm going to say is I'd stop using it, in case whatever it is will get suddenly worse; if it's something coming loose, when it falls off it might get MUCH worse.

Larry