I've just taken ownership of a Katana 50w mk1 that I bought on eBay. initial impressions are that it's great with loads of flexibility and features, especially for a home player such as myself. However, the moment I push it past the first couple of notches on the 0.25w clean channel, I get a notieable humming sound, and when I turn on the crunch channel or push up wattage, it just gets louder and more intrusive.[br]I've tested the amp down at my work, just to see if it's my home's power supply, but the noise is still there. It tends to diminish when I hold the guitar strings, which makes me think it's a grounding issue. Is there a straightforward fix to this or should I look to send this back to the seller?
Katana Amp Buzz...
# 1
The Boss Katana Tone Studio utility has a very good noise suppression setting. I read a lot of reviews that mention the Katana is very buzzy, but the noise suppression takes care of it. It definitely made a big difference on mine. I have the 50 Mk ii. It is a little annoying that this requires you to tweak the settings using the software. Here is a video showing the difference with and without the noise suppression setting.
It takes as long as it takes unless you quit - then it takes forever and you will never get there.
# 2
Originally Posted by: craigbrown1805I've just taken ownership of a Katana 50w mk1 that I bought on eBay. initial impressions are that it's great with loads of flexibility and features, especially for a home player such as myself. However, the moment I push it past the first couple of notches on the 0.25w clean channel, I get a notieable humming sound, and when I turn on the crunch channel or push up wattage, it just gets louder and more intrusive.[br]I've tested the amp down at my work, just to see if it's my home's power supply, but the noise is still there. It tends to diminish when I hold the guitar strings, which makes me think it's a grounding issue. Is there a straightforward fix to this or should I look to send this back to the seller?
Have you tried a factory reset ?
1. With KATANA powered OFF, press and hold down the [PANEL] button then simultaneously turn the power ON, continue holding the [PANEL] button for 2 seconds longer and release.
2. Wait while the FACTORY RESET executes and completes. You'll see the EFFECTS change colors while the reset scans each category.
3. When the FACTORY RESET is complete the KATANA will return to a normal TONE SETTING/CHANNEL. Recycle power OFF and back ON again for normal play mode.
4. All settings of the unit will return to their factory set state for the last updated firmware SYSTEM PROGRAM VERSION.
# 3
Originally Posted by: andrew.colombOriginally Posted by: craigbrown1805I've just taken ownership of a Katana 50w mk1 that I bought on eBay. initial impressions are that it's great with loads of flexibility and features, especially for a home player such as myself. However, the moment I push it past the first couple of notches on the 0.25w clean channel, I get a notieable humming sound, and when I turn on the crunch channel or push up wattage, it just gets louder and more intrusive.[br]I've tested the amp down at my work, just to see if it's my home's power supply, but the noise is still there. It tends to diminish when I hold the guitar strings, which makes me think it's a grounding issue. Is there a straightforward fix to this or should I look to send this back to the seller?
Thanks for all your tips. I've discovered that I was looking at the wrong end of the lead: the pickups on my old Strat Squier that were actually crocked. Sounds kind of obvious, but I took it to my local repair place who gave the amp a clean bill of health - we even tried it in store and it was fine.It was only when the repairer suggested I look at my pickups that a lightbulb went off in my head. Went back home, plugged in my electric, the same old buzz, then plugged my acoustic in, which I never do, and... silence.
So after a two days of research, I finally bought myself a set of Iron Guard pickups - not too expensive, received very good reviews and have a nice late-60s/early-70s tone.
One thing I'd not realised is how expensive pickups can be. During my early research, I mistook the price of a single pickup as the price for a set, which would have brought the price to almost £300!
Anyway, as it stands, I'm going to get the pickups installed and the guitar set-up again - seems the least I can do for it 20+ years after I last plugged it in. Very excited at the prospect of seeing how it sounds and handles as I have my suspicions that the person who set it up for me the first time around didn't do a very good job...
Have you tried a factory reset ?
1. With KATANA powered OFF, press and hold down the [PANEL] button then simultaneously turn the power ON, continue holding the [PANEL] button for 2 seconds longer and release.
2. Wait while the FACTORY RESET executes and completes. You'll see the EFFECTS change colors while the reset scans each category.
3. When the FACTORY RESET is complete the KATANA will return to a normal TONE SETTING/CHANNEL. Recycle power OFF and back ON again for normal play mode.
4. All settings of the unit will return to their factory set state for the last updated firmware SYSTEM PROGRAM VERSION.
# 4
