Katana Mini - what's inside?

ICTGoober

ICTGoober

New member
A client gifted me with a Katana Mini in payment for services rendered.... It's amazingly light, and being made by Roland - it sounds good. I'm currently running it on the 6 AA batteries that were included in the box.

However, I've looked this thing over - and the cabinet seems to be one piece. Is it glued together? It says one speaker, and I've found what seems to be a port - but this tiny thing has pretty good bottom end. Did Roland steal an idea from Bose and fold the cabinet's internals up to boost the bottom end? I'm intrigued....

Anyone take one of these apart, or pull the grille to get a look at it? Just wondered.
 
Nope. But if it sounds good and you like it does it really matter? For what it is, play the heck out of it while it lasts. Hopefully that is forever! :)
 
Personally, I'm surprised you haven't already gotten one, Dave. It's like $100 retail, I think. I hear the power supply is another $40, so the batteries will do for now. Has some great clean sounds for a tiny amp, and I like the delay (single slapback, half a second or so). Even has a headphone / line out jack. Has anyone recorded direct with this thing yet?
 
Nope. But if it sounds good and you like it does it really matter?
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I'm the inquisitive type - how does thing work? It's how I got into guitar repair.

I look at mundane things all the time... A man made this. How did he do it? Probably why I also loved being a toolmaker.
 
ICTGoober said:
Personally, I'm surprised you haven't already gotten one, Dave. It's like $100 retail, I think. I hear the power supply is another $40, so the batteries will do for now. Has some great clean sounds for a tiny amp, and I like the delay (single slapback, half a second or so). Even has a headphone / line out jack. Has anyone recorded direct with this thing yet?
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Right now, for lessons, I am using a terrible battery powered HoneyTone amp. I have to look into this.
 
I highly recommend the Katana Mini. Being a small battery powered amp it sounds great and pretty loud as well. I ended up buying the power supply but batteries usually last 8 to 10 hours on mine.
 
Sometimes the YouTube algorithm syncs up with your desires without even doing a search.... I just watched 2 videos of guys modding their Katana Minis with external speaker jacks. The cab comes apart with screws. Why didn't I discover them yet?
 
Just got one a week ago and for my desktop rig and think it’s pretty cool.
I do like reverb so I tried various stomps into it with mixed results.
Hall of fame…mixed bag,not that great.
Biyang triverb sounds great.
oceans 11,Hall sounds bad,plate sounds good and the spring sounds great.
The onboard gain sounds ok but my favorite sounds are modded ds1, gain at minimum into oceans 11 spring thru the clean setting on the amp.
 
Is there a run on them? I am being serious. Did they discontinue them or are dealers having a hard time stocking them?
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This is gonna sound really mean. Maybe it is. For a cat who is supposedly plugged into hip gear, and you haven't even tried one yet? They've been out several years now. At the least go watch some video reviews of them.
 
I like mine, sounds so much better than the little Marshall battery amp. IIRC, Jay Parmar did a couple of videos where he put a speaker jack in, and where he recorded the headphone out to his DAW.
 
I haven't messed with the Katana, but I love my MicroCube, especially after I swapped in a Jensen Mod 5-30 speaker.
 
All this time later, BOSS still makes the Katana Mini. Did Dave buy one yet?

I considered putting a line out in mine, but I do almost no recording... However, the speaker sounds like it might be blown. Anyone seen any vids about replacing the speaker in a Mini? Plenty of them on 50w and 100W Katanas.
 
Chris Pile said:
All this time later, BOSS still makes the Katana Mini. Did Dave buy one yet?

I considered putting a line out in mine, but I do almost no recording... However, the speaker sounds like it might be blown. Anyone seen any vids about replacing the speaker in a Mini? Plenty of them on 50w and 100W Katanas.
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No, as I got a deal with a Spark Mini, which is also is a Bluetooth speaker, and uses USB rechargeable batteries. I use it for lessons, and I can play songs and backing tracks in my phone through it. It also has an AI feature, where it will listen to your chords, and come up with a full arrangement (piano, bass, drums) to use as a backing track while you solo over it. You even get to select the style and tempo of the 'song'.
 
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