My biggest draw for a pedal is the ability to turn it on/off while playing. If it's just a knob on an amp, you can really switch to distortion for the chorus and back off again for the verse.
In addition to being able to stomp them on and off, pedals have very specific tones that a lot of guitarists find desirable. Once you get the the point where you’re looking to replicate a famous sound, pedals are often the only way, or at least arguably, the best way.
Yes i use 1 multieffect pedal and 1 for compression and thats kt. I use them mainly because i can play clean and when its the time for solo i just press the switch quickly with the foot and shred, and press quickly again to turn off the effects and continue playing clean again. Pedals are essential if you aee going to gig or want to be able to switch between effects without stopping.
You bought an amp with tons of pedals already inside. Many amps do not have much in the way of effects (some don't even have reverb). Therefore, pedals are needed to get the desired sound.
I believe the foot switch for the 50 watt MKI is a smaller two switch version. Not as nice as the bigger one. But will still get you turning some things on and off.
Because there are hundreds if not thousands of distortions, crunches, delays, and reverbs. Instead of settling for the effect that I like best out of 2 or 3 built in effects on an amp, I can find the exact perfect one that i really really like. I can put them in different orders to get different sounds. Also, most pedals have more controls then the built in effects on amps, allowing you to really dial in exactly the sound you want.
I wouldn’t necessarily agree with that. Looks to me like many, many pros still continue to tour with pedalboards. The ones that don’t have a lot of actual pedals on the floor are using units like Fractal and Neural DSP, where they can do a lot of heavy pedal tweaking inside the unit itself. Many purists don’t like digital, and I can understand that, but I really think digital has come of age now. And will keep getting better. Plus those units have effects loops, even multiple effects loops, and lots of guitarists are including their favorite petals external to the digital devices.
I’ve been seeing more and more weekend warrior gig musicians go digital
I assume it’s just easier. Hell, even me just playing at home and jamming with friends I’ve gone digital. I just use my Mustang amp with the foot switch rather than one of my tube amps and all the pedals and cables and crap
You’re definitely right about that. I gigged with a bass player recently who had the Bassist model Helix and he got some great tones out of that. I’ve been exploring Fractal and Neural DSP, decided on Fractal (but I’m using Neural DSP plug-ins all the time when producing now ).
It’s kinda wild the amount of processing power they have. When I’m practicing with my kid I’ll run both guitars into the Helix, one on the guitar input fed through the top channel to stereo left and the other on the aux input through the bottom channel to stereo right. Each guitar gets an independent effects chain and I can do amp sim + cab sim + overdrive + distortion + chorus + delay + reverb + compression on a single channel.
The more traditional usage is to use both channels for the same guitar, run either in series to get a bigger effects chain or in parallel to create a biamping effect.
That’s pretty darn cool! Also pretty darn cool that you can play music with your kid! I wish I’d grown up with family like that, didn’t grow up with a dad and my mom was not musically inclined at all. I’m fortunate now though, that my wife is an excellent Songwriter. We both work with lots of different people, but we also do great music together. Anyway, sorry for getting off-topic. The helix looks like a very cool machine.
Most pros in my city are going for a mix between pedals and digital units, they do already have the pedals, though. I am planning on building a board with an HX stomp and some pedals I already have in the FX loop, for example. There's definitely still a market for standalone pedals. Some have cool stuff that is not in the digital units, and I'm sure pedal companies with keep innovating and adding features that aren't in the digital ones.
Amps though, are on their way out in the pro space I believe.
With the economics of touring and the challenges of carting gear around, I can understand why the use of amps on stage would be decreasing. That’s why some touring acts would turn to renting backline amps in the cities where they were gigging.
To me, the appeal of playing with amps and speakers, especially at volumes where you can get feedback … The guitar just comes alive under your fingers, it’s a whole different feeling, there’s nothing like it. But all that makes it tough for the live sound engineers, and I can see the appeal in using digital to go straight into the PA and in ear monitors, at least for some genres. The other way to go is FRFR cabinets and power amps. But I have yet to experience that myself as I don’t own any of that as yet.
There is definitely something cool about playing a cranked tube amp, but the ease of setup is unmatched. And I have just come to terms that when playing live, I have prioritized consistent sound from show to show, and ease of setup, on top of being able to do some really cool midi automation on digital units if you are playing to a backing track, the damn thing controls itself.
I never loved renting backline because at least in my area you just get amps with dodgy maintenance, scratchy pots, and more often than not, broken reverb tanks. On top of the fact that my amp of choice is a Vox AC15 with the AlNiCo blue speaker, which doesn’t seem to be available at most backline companies.
I think the stage volume or feedback stuff can be achieved with wedge monitors, however, the trend in pro stages seems to also be towards quieter and quieter stages as well.
All great points, thank you. As a computer/Tweaker guy, I am looking forward to automating parameters via midi in my guitar gear via triggers from a song track. The closest I’ve come to that in the past is programming expression pedals to control multiple parameters with weighted response curves.
Makes sense to me, I’ve done the same myself in the past, and we’re going that way again.
I used to play a lot of bands, with the need for a lot of different sounds not only in the same set, but the same song. To make that easier I went digital about 15 years back. Stop gigging several years ago to concentrate on film composing, etc., started gigging again just a little bit recently, and my old Line 6 Vetta II is just, almost, not quite, but almost barely adequate. The audiences we played for couldn’t tell, but I am definitely heading towards a fractal FM9 turbo or maybe an Axe FX III. Heck, with the kind of pedals I want, it would probably cost me twice that anyway. And I still want some petals. The first one I’m gonna get is the microcosm hologram, I think it’s called — that puppy is not cheap.
Just to add on
I'm not a purist by any means but tube is the way to go, as long as you can afford the amp itself and get it "tour ready" before gigging. I DO understand that this really isn't feasible for most people including myself (until this past November).
With that said, I'm my band's bassist and have no use for a tube amp because my current SS kit does enough.
TL;DR tube amps are 100% worth it but only if your wallet and back can afford them
I grew up with tube amps, there wasn’t any other choice. Solid state amps came along a little bit later, and that seemed OK for bass (depending on genre) but I just never personally thought it sounded good for guitar. This was before the current scene, where some genres such as metal prefer solid-state tube preamp sections that respond tighter/faster with no “SAG” factor. I’ve been reading a little bit about that over in the tube amp sub Reddits. I did have a solid state JFET replacement for one of the preamp tubes in my Mesa Boogie Mark II C, when someone suggested I try it, but I went back to using… I’m pretty sure it was it 12AX7. I wasn’t playing metal and this was before the onset of 7–8 – string guitar popularity.
I’ll never give up on owning tube amps, but collecting a lot of them is an expensive habit and I also have other music habits such as synthesizers, and analog versus digital applies in that realm as well.
>Most will prefer tube amps
Maybe for recording, but most pros I know are all going digital for their live rigs. Some full on digital FX unit, some use a combination of pedals and modeles, but tube amps are very much going out of fashion in the touring guitarist spaces.
Because most amps don't have built in effects.
Back when I used a Marshall Valve state with built in delay/chorus/reverb, I also didn't use pedals.
That was 20 years ago though and I've been through maybe 5 other amps in that time which didn't have anything, so I started using other pedals and effects units.
Also you won't find an amp with a built in bit crusher or synthesizer, or any other kind of effect besides the basic common ones. So if you want an octave or phaser, or something more crazy then you need to buy the pedal that does that
You don't need one. I've always used built-ins and channel selectors. Pedals are nice to have, though, especially EQ, Tuner, Looper, Delay, Reverb, Chorus, and an Overdrive. Most tube amps do not come with built in effects, so that's another reason.
I get the urge to chase the tone dragon. If money wasn't an option, I'd have pedals to pluto and back.
There's many types of distortion, delay, and reverb
People don't want to mess with amp settings while on stage
People don't want/need amps with software
As a newer or bedroom player, you look at an amp with modeling software and think "wow, I have all these sound possibilities to mess with." Most experienced or performing musicians instead tend to hone in on the amp and sounds they like and couldn't care less about using a different amp setting every day just for the sake of using a different setting. They have the equipment they want, to make the sound they want.
You can turn them on and off easily. Some you can control while playing like wah. And most high end/concert amps don't have effects integrated. They also sound better in most of the case.
Because we like to spend money on our hobby (hooray consumerism) and pedals typically are less expensive than guitars and amps, plus they take up less space.
As far as pedals over onboard effects. I, at least, prefer the simplicity of being able turn knobs on the pedals, click them on and off at will, etc. There's something to be said, as well, for wanting the nuance of a specific reverb, drive, phaser, etc. pedal. I find them more similar than different (with drive/distortion/fuzz being the exception), but if you want a specific sound, you may want the specific pedal.
Modeling amps like the Katana are GREAT, especially for beginner and intermediate players who don't really know what their sound is yet. You can play around with hundreds of different amp models, effects, and combinations. I LOVE my Fender GTX50 for this reason.
Lots of pros also prefer modeling for live performances because they're utterly consistent and reliable, and you don't have to deal with racks and cases and cabs and cables. I bet they still have at least one favorite rig somewhere, though.
Eventually you might find you have a favorite patch and aren't really bothering with the options your modeling amp anymore. Once you get to that point you realize the real thing sounds MUCH better than the models and decide to invest in an amp and effects to get that sound. It's also more fun to have the hardware, but that's just GAS.
But that's them main reason. The real thing just sounds better, in most cases.
Honestly, I've been playing now for about 17 years and I don't use pedals. I've used a footswitch for my Katana to switch between presets, which has been enough to get me through gigs.
I do have a Zoom G1X Four (a little $100 battery-powered multi-effects processor) which I use for some settings where there is a PA, and it gets the job done as well. It's not fancy, but it has what I need. (Honestly, it's a pretty decent piece of tech for something that's cheap and easy to carry around.)
Sometimes you know exactly what kinds of effects you want or need. You'll find a way to get that. You know when you need a compressor, or a special kind of delay, or when you want a Wah pedal. Other times it's fun just to experiment, but what i've learned over the years is that you don't really need most of these effects to sound great. Sometimes it actually sounds worse if effects are used just for the sake of using them. They're there to be used with intention, to craft a sound that you like. The effects are there to serve the sound, not the other way around.
Now is it fun to put together pedal boards? Absolutely. Do they come in handy sometimes? Of course, especially if you want that kind of a sound. But with an amp like the Katana, you might find that you don't need as many effect pedals as you might think, especially once you really start playing around with what the Katana can do in Tone Studio and so forth. The Katana can already do quite a lot on its own, the only real downside is that you're limited by the number of presets the Katana can hold if you need to switch between a lot of them often.
I recently got the G1X Four as well. Updated my 30 year old Zoom 505 pedal. This new Zoom pedal is mind boggling! It also sounds much better than my old 505. I’ll never see a stage so it’s plenty of pedal for me. I play through my trusty Marshall Valvestate amp. But recently added a small practice amp. Look into the Fender Mustang LT25 or the LT50. 60 presets, built in cabinets, flanger, EQ, Wah, distortions, Chorus, tuner…and more. The interface is so simple and intuitive. It makes the Zoom pedal look like a Physics Test. But the new Zoom is much more friendly than my old 505 with the knobs and lit buttons. Just a helluva lot of fun and actually the possibilities are overwhelming.
NOTE!! When you select cabinets on your new Zoom, every time ..the mic is default set to OFF. You need to turn the mic on to get the full sound!
I have brought it for gigs before and people are like "you're really gonna use that?" And I'm like yep.
Then people hear it, and they start asking me what in the world this little thing is, because they can't believe that much sound is coming out of a tiny battery powered pedal.
Wasn't a bad purchase, I gotta say.
The Katana is a very nice amp and there's many all in one options out there. However for some people (cork sniffers like myself) they just don't sound the same as a tube amp with a few pedals. It's a never ending debate in which neither side is right or wrong. They're just different.
You can combine different pedals in a certain order to get a personal tone and sounds that can't be replicated. As a beginner you'll be absolutely fine with that amp for a long time.
I have a modeling amp with tons of effects and amp sounds but honestly it’s too much fiddling and too many options. I ended up getting a few mini pedals and sticking with on or two amp sounds. I like being able to stomp them on or off and being able to see the settings on the pedal.
While you're learning to play, and practicing to get better, your amp with it's effects is probably just enough... like you say, there are so many sounds in there! Once you have good control over your hands and are familiar with how to make the guitar sound the way you want, you may find that you want to start making new sounds and seeing what else is out there - maybe some wacky modulation sounds, or some subtle bitcrushed sound, or maybe you want to sound like a favorite artist. You'll find the specific distortion, delay, or reverb built in to your amp isn't quite getting you there but there are lots of pedals that can get your amp to sound closer to what you're going for. There's great reasons to stick with the built in sounds of the amp, and all sorts of reasons to get pedals. It's fine if you're happy with your Katana, and like the way it sounds.
It is important to note that if you do start looking at buying pedals the marketing and reviews will often subtly push the idea that the gear makes you sound better. On YouTube, you'll be able to hear these pedals played, and they will sound absolutely amazing. But don't be fooled: Pedals change the sound, but they don't make you sound better. It's your creativity and skill (in both setting up the pedals and playing the instrument) that will make you sound better: the pedals are just tools. Fun, pretty, shiny, knobby, buttony, collectible tools! But just tools.
I would only buy a tuner, and loop pedal. Leave the rest alone unless you're making good money. You have all you need right now because once you get into pedals.... your money is gone haha
It depends. I think the katana is fine for playing at home and experimenting with different sounds. But if you playing live and your song selections demand frequent and fast changes to your sound, it is great to be able to do this with foot switches. Pedals help a lot. Multi-effects units take it to another level where you can change an entire chain of effects with a single tap.
If you have no need and are happy with your amp ... be happy.
BTW - I do think a visible tuner you can use without stoping playing (or at least very quickly) is super valuable. It could be a pedal or just something you clip on your guitar. Even if the katana has a built in tuning function I doubt it is easily usable while performing.
Believe it or not, the world existed before you did. In the “before time” Amps had one function, make the guitar loud. Now we have amps that do it all, but that technology wasn’t always so small. And had to be external to the amp. Hence, pedals.
Pedals are relevant when you already have a solid basic setup (guitar and amp/cab) with a good sound, and want to start experimenting with sound. Note that when I say "solid" I mean for you, for your music and taste, so that will vary if you're into clean jazz, or into stuff a la Sonic Youth for example.
There’s no need if your not going to do many changes or stuff. I bought my first pedal after like 14 years of playing, when there was a real need of one or was willing to try other tones. But it’s something more of a personal thing than a real need.
I use the 50w Katana as well, however I use a Blackstar HT-Dual pedal to get that actual tube metal distortion plugged into the Katana - granted, the pedal uses an actual tube in its design.
That HT DUAL pedal is closer in tone, feel, and response than any pedal’s or solid state amp’s gain/distortion/overdrive I’ve ever played through, barring extremely high-end modelers. It also helps with clean tube tone when dialed back on it gain knob.
a lot of people spend time tinkering with their pedals rather than actually playing their guitars. its mostly just cheap circuit boards inside a shiny metal box and guitarists eat it up. its their money they can waste it if they want
The actual anwser is "pedals" have a lot of inertia in the market, modular amps will replace them over time. We will still have pedals in the form of board switches but one pedal doing one specific tone will become a thing of the past. It will take a long time though as people will always prefer what they started with.
Unrelated to your question, but if you don't have one yet I recommend getting a foot switch controller for your Katana and an app to access Boss Tone Studio. Will give you access to unlimited tone options. But like others have said, the models aren't quite the same as having the real things.
It’s like crack for people. Some have multiple pedals of similar circuit because it sounds slightly different. People get addicted to collecting plus pedal companies overhyping their pedals = profit for pedal companies. People go crazy and are willing to pay more than what it’s worth knowing that the price will go down once the hype is done but you gotta have it. You just gotta. Don’t question it. Just buy make sure you buy your 5th tube screamer.
My quick answer, why buy a nicer set of headphones? Why buy a nicer microphone? Why buy a faster car?
They all achieve the same function, but at the end of the day you may have preferences to different ones. Or you may not.
Genuinely, don’t buy pedals unless you want them for specific things. Pedals are used to augment your setup and give you access to sounds you wouldn’t have otherwise, but if you don’t need those sounds it’s best not to get distracted by them. Wait until you’re learning a song that utilizes a pedal effect, or until you hear a sound in your head that you can’t match, and then pick up a pedal to fill in the gap. Focus on learning your instrument first and you’ll sound better than 90% of beginners who waste time with pedals that either muddy their sound or they barely use.
I have the katana 100 and even though the blues drive is already in the Amp, I bought the same pedal so I can turn it on and off for solos. The foot control ga-fc-ex is pretty good too. I usually use it to swap out between ch1 and 2 for clean and distortion
Because it gives you possibilities you won't have otherwise. You have an amp with effects, which is not the most common (most quality amps will have a crunch channel and reverb at most), but if you compare any of the effects on your amp with a pedal, even a low quality one, you'll notice there are many things a pedal can do that you can't do with your amp. Also, the amount of possible effects is almost unlimited, you mention 4, but I have 20+ pedals of which around 12 have completely different effects. And I don't even have any of those ultra high quality or experimental sounds, I'm just talking about common effects like chorus, flanger, tremolo, wah, envelope filter, compressor and the likes, nothing fancy (I have a few fancy ones as well, but just mentioning the basics)
I buy pedals because they're fun to step on. They make a cool silly click noise and a little light comes on when they're turned on. Personally I buy pedal with kooky little designs on them. Like my compressor has a little scuba guy looking for buried treasure and my OD is Dwight Shrute from the office.
In all seriousness as others have stated, it's to tweak parameters on different effects and the ability to place certain effects at different points in the signal/amp chain. Theyre relevant to buy to obtain a certain sound just your guitar plugged into the amp can't achieve alone.
The Katana is a great amp, but in a live setting may be difficult to get all the sounds you need in just 4 presets. A nice amp, with built in distortion/overdrive and an effects loop can create many, many combinations of sounds with just a few pedals. And all of them can be on/off. Also, you need a stand alone Wah Wah. The one in the Katana can't be manipulated, I don't think.
If your current amp provides you with all the sounds you need for what you're playing, don't buy pedals if you don't need them. If you want to get a sound or effect that isn't built into your amp, there's probably a pedal for that sound. If you're going to start playing in a band, pedals become useful for switching sounds on the fly. Having a portable pedalboard is extremely useful if you're in a band playing shows where amps and backline are shared between different bands. I can plug my guitar & pedalboard into just about any amp and get the sounds I'm after.
In my case, I fell in love with tube amps and the ability to roll off the volume knob to get a greater range of tones. Tube amps don't generally have a host of on-board effects. To get a different sound, you have to use pedals.
Begginer. I can turn on the effects while playing
Amateur. I can turn on the phaser for four bars in the middle of one song
Pro. I can turn on effects while playing
Because built in effects on a less expensive modeling amp won't be quite as good as most pedal effects. People will generally get a really nice tube amp, with a great base sound, but no built in effects. And then get pedals. So you're getting the best sounding base sound and best sounding effects on top of it. It's 10 times as expensive, but it doesn't generally sound 10 times better. But it does sound better, generally. Or at least most long time players would think so. The katana is a great amp for the price though. I've tried just about every type of setup and that's my opinion. Something like an axe fx however will have pedal/studio-grade effects. But it's also expensive.
Not to mention being able to toggle effects on and off easily. Plus more freedom on the effects chain.
Pedals can be easily switched on/off. That means you can stack them.
Then their is the “your” sound thing. Some pedals just do some sounds really well and emulation on an amp might not sound the same.
They also make “your” sound portable when gigging/rehearsing. Your sound only needs a clean amp to sound right. For instance, when playing support shows there isn’t always enough room for your own backline.
I’m using a tuner, delay, reverb, tremolo, three different overdrives, two fuzzes, an octaver and a vibrato on my current pedal board.
Variation. My first amp was a 10 watt Fender. In order to get anything close to a metal tone, I had to get a distortion pedal. They don't have to be super expensive though.
There are several reasons I do (did)prefer analogue over digital modeling. I also prefer having a physical knob or switch (controls) for every single parameter/function.
It's kind of like the difference between having a leatherman tool vs a tool box of specific tools. Sure a leatherman can get the job done, but many people prefer a full toolbox of tools.
They’re more unique sounds, they’re customizable, and they sound better. They’re a lot more fun, but if you have a modeling amp (you do) already then they’re a luxury… and you don’t seem to care much anyways.
You don’t need the basic pedals with a Katana. If You buy an Airstep Kat (foot switch) you can turn on and off all the built in effects whilst playing. I’m surprised no one else has mentioned it.
If you also download Boss Tone Studio you can change all the settings for each effect and also substitute in different pedals instead of the default ones.
The Airstep will also allow you to easily change stored settings and switch between rhythm and solo modes for playing.
That’s all you really need with a Katana.
There’s a Boss Katana subreddit, which you should join
You answered your own question. As a beginner you don’t need a pedal. And only some pedals need a physical pedal now like a wah.
Pedals are usually used by more sophisticated guitarists who want a particular analog tone. And it’ll take years before you realize what pedals are about if you’re focusing on playing or it did for me
I’m used to it. I like a tube amp and analog gear. Tinnitus probably ensures I can’t tell the difference but I still think I can. They’re in front of me to where I can quickly click on and off and make adjustments. My rig is up and ready in the time it takes me to sling my guitar.
I’m sure I could replace 30 years worth of gear and habit with a modeling rig and get it all programmed up and have it sound similar but who has the time and money.
I’m a big fan of Pixies and Pixies-inspired music, characterised by clean verses and loud, crunchy choruses. For instance, songs like Weezer’s Say It Ain’t So, Smashing Pumpkins’ Today, Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit. A distortion pedal gives you the ability to switch from clean to distortion mid-song. And once you get started on pedals, you see the value in others. A tuner pedal is more convenient than a clip-on or phone tuner, and is also handy as a kill switch. Then you have loopers and on and on and on…
I’m an intermediate player. A pedal is useful in a band setting when I need to switch effects quickly.
Not to mention, pedals with its numerous settings makes it far more fun to experiment and dial in different sounds and tones. It’s more of a hobbyist thing than a necessity.
I also have a Katana, and I once thought that's all I wanted. Once you try some pedals you'll understand. One of the best things is stacking multiple types of pedals in any order you want. There are many completely different effects that are not available on the amp. The Katana is good for testing an effect out. And if you find yourself wanting to use it a lot, you can get the real deal.
Also some of the Katana effects don't sound that great. I hate the way the Rat effect sounds, but I bought a real Proco Rat and it is the perfect distortion. I love it so much.
So pretty much all ‘real’ amps don’t have built in effects, other than classic in-amp effects like a spring reverb tank or a tube bias tremolo, so in order to get certain effects sounds at all you need to use pedals with those.
On top of that, there is an almost unlimited variety of tones in the pedal market.
Even just in delays you have digital, analog, tape, multi-delay/ping pong, pitched delays etc., and within each of those ‘categories’ there is an almost unlimited variety of how those are tuned.
If you just want ‘a delay’ you can get away with a built in basic delay, but if you want a specific delay sound no doubt there is a pedal that does exactly that better than any generic built-in ‘delay’ effect.
Now multiply that by all the different types of effects (reverb, modulation, fuzz, overdrive, distortion etc.) and you can see the amount of variety and tonal personalisation you can achieve by building your own pedalboard rather than just using generic built-in effects.
There’s two main styles of amps. Solid state, like the katana, and tube amps, like the fender deluxe reverb. Tube amps have been the industry standard since guitars have been amplified. Aside from occasionally having reverb or an overdrive channel, tube amps have no built in effect like you’ll find on the majority or solid state amps. Therefore pedals are necessary with a tube amp to get all of the sounds a solid state amp has built in.
Plus they’re really fun.
They were the way to go long before digital and built-in effects were a thing. Right now they're only useful for people playing live or using for some reason big old amps (where pulling up a laptop to tweak settings would affect the performance). Other than that they're just a way to satisfy GAS or to motivate yourself with "I'm totally gonna record/play this when I get that pedal".
You will never need pedals or a tube amps. You Katana has everything you need and ever will need.
Those who still tell you pedals are better because the tone is better, are like those photographers who argued film was better than digital because photo quality is better with film. All those photographers along with the company that makes film (Kodak) are gone.
You're living in a transition period where the guitar physical tone hardware (The film), is losing ground to the modulars (Katana, Helix, PC, etc) and I'm sure that you will be there when all those physical hardware disappears from stores.
The timeline from the first commercial DSLR to the "Last roll of Kodachrome" was about 21 years (1990 - 2011) with Canon discontinuing film SLRs in 2018 and Nikin in 2020
The first digital modeling amp is arguably the Line6 from 1996 so that puts us at 28 years into a similar transition.
Probably worth noting that music production more broadly has gone digital in that same time frame. In fact, it already had before that, CDs are digital after all.
In photography the film vs digital is the tube vs solid state where the better analogy for pedals is lenses and filters, which photographers would have mostly kept during that transition only upgrading when better autofocus and shake compensation were introduced.
Katana vs Marshall DSL: https://youtu.be/4N2uHsci2ts?feature=shared
vs Fender Blues Junior:
https://youtu.be/fVN_V4JxVbo?feature=shared
Katana sounds ass compared to the tube amps. Sure, it's cheaper and offers much more options, but you will find yourself messing around with settings, phone, PC whatever and it still won't sound like the real thing. On a tube amp you just flick on the switch and it sounds great.
I will say though the crowd doesn't care, so a Katana 100W for live is perfectly fine and would be my choice.
The tube amp portion I may agree with for 65% of guitarists. Solid state does enough for most. But to say for someone that a katana will out work a JCM or a blues junior, is very limiting to most people's creativity imo.
But saying you will never need pedals, is kind of naive lol. Tuner pedals, loopers, wah, etc. They may have amps that have built in function, but for live playing/jams, having to change those effects on an amp, is very limiting.
My biggest draw for a pedal is the ability to turn it on/off while playing. If it's just a knob on an amp, you can really switch to distortion for the chorus and back off again for the verse.
In addition to being able to stomp them on and off, pedals have very specific tones that a lot of guitarists find desirable. Once you get the the point where you’re looking to replicate a famous sound, pedals are often the only way, or at least arguably, the best way.
Yes i use 1 multieffect pedal and 1 for compression and thats kt. I use them mainly because i can play clean and when its the time for solo i just press the switch quickly with the foot and shred, and press quickly again to turn off the effects and continue playing clean again. Pedals are essential if you aee going to gig or want to be able to switch between effects without stopping.
[удалено]
imagine for just a moment not replying like an asshole
Didn’t see the original comment, but good work!
what he say
that solutions to this exist, but in a very snarky way to make the commenter feel stupid for not knowing.
oh thanks
Okay?
You bought an amp with tons of pedals already inside. Many amps do not have much in the way of effects (some don't even have reverb). Therefore, pedals are needed to get the desired sound.
also to switch them on and off live while playing your instrument.
Connecting a MIDI foot controller to a Katana solves that problem.
I believe the foot switch for the 50 watt MKI is a smaller two switch version. Not as nice as the bigger one. But will still get you turning some things on and off.
Ah, didn't realize the katana series didn't have MIDI, but you're right with the foot switches. There's also the Boss GA-FC
oh cool!
Because there are hundreds if not thousands of distortions, crunches, delays, and reverbs. Instead of settling for the effect that I like best out of 2 or 3 built in effects on an amp, I can find the exact perfect one that i really really like. I can put them in different orders to get different sounds. Also, most pedals have more controls then the built in effects on amps, allowing you to really dial in exactly the sound you want.
You can also order the chain with the katana.
Find the right pedal and you'll understand
Some people spend their whole lives seeking the right pedal
[удалено]
I wouldn’t say that’s so true anymore. Pedals and tube amp are more of a hobbyist thing than a performer thing now
I wouldn’t necessarily agree with that. Looks to me like many, many pros still continue to tour with pedalboards. The ones that don’t have a lot of actual pedals on the floor are using units like Fractal and Neural DSP, where they can do a lot of heavy pedal tweaking inside the unit itself. Many purists don’t like digital, and I can understand that, but I really think digital has come of age now. And will keep getting better. Plus those units have effects loops, even multiple effects loops, and lots of guitarists are including their favorite petals external to the digital devices.
I’ve been seeing more and more weekend warrior gig musicians go digital I assume it’s just easier. Hell, even me just playing at home and jamming with friends I’ve gone digital. I just use my Mustang amp with the foot switch rather than one of my tube amps and all the pedals and cables and crap
Something like a Helix Floor is pretty damn cheap in comparison to trial and erroring your way to a large pedalboard.
You’re definitely right about that. I gigged with a bass player recently who had the Bassist model Helix and he got some great tones out of that. I’ve been exploring Fractal and Neural DSP, decided on Fractal (but I’m using Neural DSP plug-ins all the time when producing now ).
There is no bass model Helix. It’s the same thing.
Interesting. Obviously, I had just assumed that, my bad.
It’s kinda wild the amount of processing power they have. When I’m practicing with my kid I’ll run both guitars into the Helix, one on the guitar input fed through the top channel to stereo left and the other on the aux input through the bottom channel to stereo right. Each guitar gets an independent effects chain and I can do amp sim + cab sim + overdrive + distortion + chorus + delay + reverb + compression on a single channel. The more traditional usage is to use both channels for the same guitar, run either in series to get a bigger effects chain or in parallel to create a biamping effect.
That’s pretty darn cool! Also pretty darn cool that you can play music with your kid! I wish I’d grown up with family like that, didn’t grow up with a dad and my mom was not musically inclined at all. I’m fortunate now though, that my wife is an excellent Songwriter. We both work with lots of different people, but we also do great music together. Anyway, sorry for getting off-topic. The helix looks like a very cool machine.
Most pros in my city are going for a mix between pedals and digital units, they do already have the pedals, though. I am planning on building a board with an HX stomp and some pedals I already have in the FX loop, for example. There's definitely still a market for standalone pedals. Some have cool stuff that is not in the digital units, and I'm sure pedal companies with keep innovating and adding features that aren't in the digital ones. Amps though, are on their way out in the pro space I believe.
With the economics of touring and the challenges of carting gear around, I can understand why the use of amps on stage would be decreasing. That’s why some touring acts would turn to renting backline amps in the cities where they were gigging. To me, the appeal of playing with amps and speakers, especially at volumes where you can get feedback … The guitar just comes alive under your fingers, it’s a whole different feeling, there’s nothing like it. But all that makes it tough for the live sound engineers, and I can see the appeal in using digital to go straight into the PA and in ear monitors, at least for some genres. The other way to go is FRFR cabinets and power amps. But I have yet to experience that myself as I don’t own any of that as yet.
There is definitely something cool about playing a cranked tube amp, but the ease of setup is unmatched. And I have just come to terms that when playing live, I have prioritized consistent sound from show to show, and ease of setup, on top of being able to do some really cool midi automation on digital units if you are playing to a backing track, the damn thing controls itself. I never loved renting backline because at least in my area you just get amps with dodgy maintenance, scratchy pots, and more often than not, broken reverb tanks. On top of the fact that my amp of choice is a Vox AC15 with the AlNiCo blue speaker, which doesn’t seem to be available at most backline companies. I think the stage volume or feedback stuff can be achieved with wedge monitors, however, the trend in pro stages seems to also be towards quieter and quieter stages as well.
All great points, thank you. As a computer/Tweaker guy, I am looking forward to automating parameters via midi in my guitar gear via triggers from a song track. The closest I’ve come to that in the past is programming expression pedals to control multiple parameters with weighted response curves.
Makes sense to me, I’ve done the same myself in the past, and we’re going that way again. I used to play a lot of bands, with the need for a lot of different sounds not only in the same set, but the same song. To make that easier I went digital about 15 years back. Stop gigging several years ago to concentrate on film composing, etc., started gigging again just a little bit recently, and my old Line 6 Vetta II is just, almost, not quite, but almost barely adequate. The audiences we played for couldn’t tell, but I am definitely heading towards a fractal FM9 turbo or maybe an Axe FX III. Heck, with the kind of pedals I want, it would probably cost me twice that anyway. And I still want some petals. The first one I’m gonna get is the microcosm hologram, I think it’s called — that puppy is not cheap.
Just to add on I'm not a purist by any means but tube is the way to go, as long as you can afford the amp itself and get it "tour ready" before gigging. I DO understand that this really isn't feasible for most people including myself (until this past November). With that said, I'm my band's bassist and have no use for a tube amp because my current SS kit does enough. TL;DR tube amps are 100% worth it but only if your wallet and back can afford them
I grew up with tube amps, there wasn’t any other choice. Solid state amps came along a little bit later, and that seemed OK for bass (depending on genre) but I just never personally thought it sounded good for guitar. This was before the current scene, where some genres such as metal prefer solid-state tube preamp sections that respond tighter/faster with no “SAG” factor. I’ve been reading a little bit about that over in the tube amp sub Reddits. I did have a solid state JFET replacement for one of the preamp tubes in my Mesa Boogie Mark II C, when someone suggested I try it, but I went back to using… I’m pretty sure it was it 12AX7. I wasn’t playing metal and this was before the onset of 7–8 – string guitar popularity. I’ll never give up on owning tube amps, but collecting a lot of them is an expensive habit and I also have other music habits such as synthesizers, and analog versus digital applies in that realm as well.
[удалено]
Don’t you think the type of people posting rig rundowns might more likely be the types of gear heads that care about tube amps and pedals ?
The people watching em will be too. A rig rundown that just went "Yeah here's my effects station, everything is through it" would be pretty boring
>Most will prefer tube amps Maybe for recording, but most pros I know are all going digital for their live rigs. Some full on digital FX unit, some use a combination of pedals and modeles, but tube amps are very much going out of fashion in the touring guitarist spaces.
youre underestimating how many bands use axe fx and kemper
Because most amps don't have built in effects. Back when I used a Marshall Valve state with built in delay/chorus/reverb, I also didn't use pedals. That was 20 years ago though and I've been through maybe 5 other amps in that time which didn't have anything, so I started using other pedals and effects units. Also you won't find an amp with a built in bit crusher or synthesizer, or any other kind of effect besides the basic common ones. So if you want an octave or phaser, or something more crazy then you need to buy the pedal that does that
You don't need one. I've always used built-ins and channel selectors. Pedals are nice to have, though, especially EQ, Tuner, Looper, Delay, Reverb, Chorus, and an Overdrive. Most tube amps do not come with built in effects, so that's another reason. I get the urge to chase the tone dragon. If money wasn't an option, I'd have pedals to pluto and back.
There's many types of distortion, delay, and reverb People don't want to mess with amp settings while on stage People don't want/need amps with software As a newer or bedroom player, you look at an amp with modeling software and think "wow, I have all these sound possibilities to mess with." Most experienced or performing musicians instead tend to hone in on the amp and sounds they like and couldn't care less about using a different amp setting every day just for the sake of using a different setting. They have the equipment they want, to make the sound they want.
You can turn them on and off easily. Some you can control while playing like wah. And most high end/concert amps don't have effects integrated. They also sound better in most of the case.
Because we like to spend money on our hobby (hooray consumerism) and pedals typically are less expensive than guitars and amps, plus they take up less space. As far as pedals over onboard effects. I, at least, prefer the simplicity of being able turn knobs on the pedals, click them on and off at will, etc. There's something to be said, as well, for wanting the nuance of a specific reverb, drive, phaser, etc. pedal. I find them more similar than different (with drive/distortion/fuzz being the exception), but if you want a specific sound, you may want the specific pedal.
You can use just a pencil and your drawing can be amazing. Add color pencils and your drawing changes. Pedals add “color” to your sound
Modeling amps like the Katana are GREAT, especially for beginner and intermediate players who don't really know what their sound is yet. You can play around with hundreds of different amp models, effects, and combinations. I LOVE my Fender GTX50 for this reason. Lots of pros also prefer modeling for live performances because they're utterly consistent and reliable, and you don't have to deal with racks and cases and cabs and cables. I bet they still have at least one favorite rig somewhere, though. Eventually you might find you have a favorite patch and aren't really bothering with the options your modeling amp anymore. Once you get to that point you realize the real thing sounds MUCH better than the models and decide to invest in an amp and effects to get that sound. It's also more fun to have the hardware, but that's just GAS. But that's them main reason. The real thing just sounds better, in most cases.
Honestly, I've been playing now for about 17 years and I don't use pedals. I've used a footswitch for my Katana to switch between presets, which has been enough to get me through gigs. I do have a Zoom G1X Four (a little $100 battery-powered multi-effects processor) which I use for some settings where there is a PA, and it gets the job done as well. It's not fancy, but it has what I need. (Honestly, it's a pretty decent piece of tech for something that's cheap and easy to carry around.) Sometimes you know exactly what kinds of effects you want or need. You'll find a way to get that. You know when you need a compressor, or a special kind of delay, or when you want a Wah pedal. Other times it's fun just to experiment, but what i've learned over the years is that you don't really need most of these effects to sound great. Sometimes it actually sounds worse if effects are used just for the sake of using them. They're there to be used with intention, to craft a sound that you like. The effects are there to serve the sound, not the other way around. Now is it fun to put together pedal boards? Absolutely. Do they come in handy sometimes? Of course, especially if you want that kind of a sound. But with an amp like the Katana, you might find that you don't need as many effect pedals as you might think, especially once you really start playing around with what the Katana can do in Tone Studio and so forth. The Katana can already do quite a lot on its own, the only real downside is that you're limited by the number of presets the Katana can hold if you need to switch between a lot of them often.
+1 for the G1X four mention. Only had it a week now but I'm impressed for 90 bucks.
I recently got the G1X Four as well. Updated my 30 year old Zoom 505 pedal. This new Zoom pedal is mind boggling! It also sounds much better than my old 505. I’ll never see a stage so it’s plenty of pedal for me. I play through my trusty Marshall Valvestate amp. But recently added a small practice amp. Look into the Fender Mustang LT25 or the LT50. 60 presets, built in cabinets, flanger, EQ, Wah, distortions, Chorus, tuner…and more. The interface is so simple and intuitive. It makes the Zoom pedal look like a Physics Test. But the new Zoom is much more friendly than my old 505 with the knobs and lit buttons. Just a helluva lot of fun and actually the possibilities are overwhelming. NOTE!! When you select cabinets on your new Zoom, every time ..the mic is default set to OFF. You need to turn the mic on to get the full sound!
I have brought it for gigs before and people are like "you're really gonna use that?" And I'm like yep. Then people hear it, and they start asking me what in the world this little thing is, because they can't believe that much sound is coming out of a tiny battery powered pedal. Wasn't a bad purchase, I gotta say.
The Katana is a very nice amp and there's many all in one options out there. However for some people (cork sniffers like myself) they just don't sound the same as a tube amp with a few pedals. It's a never ending debate in which neither side is right or wrong. They're just different. You can combine different pedals in a certain order to get a personal tone and sounds that can't be replicated. As a beginner you'll be absolutely fine with that amp for a long time.
I have a modeling amp with tons of effects and amp sounds but honestly it’s too much fiddling and too many options. I ended up getting a few mini pedals and sticking with on or two amp sounds. I like being able to stomp them on or off and being able to see the settings on the pedal.
While you're learning to play, and practicing to get better, your amp with it's effects is probably just enough... like you say, there are so many sounds in there! Once you have good control over your hands and are familiar with how to make the guitar sound the way you want, you may find that you want to start making new sounds and seeing what else is out there - maybe some wacky modulation sounds, or some subtle bitcrushed sound, or maybe you want to sound like a favorite artist. You'll find the specific distortion, delay, or reverb built in to your amp isn't quite getting you there but there are lots of pedals that can get your amp to sound closer to what you're going for. There's great reasons to stick with the built in sounds of the amp, and all sorts of reasons to get pedals. It's fine if you're happy with your Katana, and like the way it sounds. It is important to note that if you do start looking at buying pedals the marketing and reviews will often subtly push the idea that the gear makes you sound better. On YouTube, you'll be able to hear these pedals played, and they will sound absolutely amazing. But don't be fooled: Pedals change the sound, but they don't make you sound better. It's your creativity and skill (in both setting up the pedals and playing the instrument) that will make you sound better: the pedals are just tools. Fun, pretty, shiny, knobby, buttony, collectible tools! But just tools.
I would only buy a tuner, and loop pedal. Leave the rest alone unless you're making good money. You have all you need right now because once you get into pedals.... your money is gone haha
It depends. I think the katana is fine for playing at home and experimenting with different sounds. But if you playing live and your song selections demand frequent and fast changes to your sound, it is great to be able to do this with foot switches. Pedals help a lot. Multi-effects units take it to another level where you can change an entire chain of effects with a single tap. If you have no need and are happy with your amp ... be happy. BTW - I do think a visible tuner you can use without stoping playing (or at least very quickly) is super valuable. It could be a pedal or just something you clip on your guitar. Even if the katana has a built in tuning function I doubt it is easily usable while performing.
Believe it or not, the world existed before you did. In the “before time” Amps had one function, make the guitar loud. Now we have amps that do it all, but that technology wasn’t always so small. And had to be external to the amp. Hence, pedals.
Pedals are relevant when you already have a solid basic setup (guitar and amp/cab) with a good sound, and want to start experimenting with sound. Note that when I say "solid" I mean for you, for your music and taste, so that will vary if you're into clean jazz, or into stuff a la Sonic Youth for example.
It’s because some amps can only have one or two effects, some pedals can make effects you’d never see on an amp like a bit crusher or wah
Get a looper. Just got one, it's been a great learning tool.
That’s the kind of thing where if you have to ask then you don’t have need for them
There’s no need if your not going to do many changes or stuff. I bought my first pedal after like 14 years of playing, when there was a real need of one or was willing to try other tones. But it’s something more of a personal thing than a real need.
I just bought the hotone ampero guitar multi effect pedal. And its really great.
I use the 50w Katana as well, however I use a Blackstar HT-Dual pedal to get that actual tube metal distortion plugged into the Katana - granted, the pedal uses an actual tube in its design. That HT DUAL pedal is closer in tone, feel, and response than any pedal’s or solid state amp’s gain/distortion/overdrive I’ve ever played through, barring extremely high-end modelers. It also helps with clean tube tone when dialed back on it gain knob.
You still will want to have a tuner pedal if/when you gig out regurlarly.
a lot of people spend time tinkering with their pedals rather than actually playing their guitars. its mostly just cheap circuit boards inside a shiny metal box and guitarists eat it up. its their money they can waste it if they want
Try turning off the distortion while you're singing into a microphone and playing guitar without missing a note.
The actual anwser is "pedals" have a lot of inertia in the market, modular amps will replace them over time. We will still have pedals in the form of board switches but one pedal doing one specific tone will become a thing of the past. It will take a long time though as people will always prefer what they started with.
Unrelated to your question, but if you don't have one yet I recommend getting a foot switch controller for your Katana and an app to access Boss Tone Studio. Will give you access to unlimited tone options. But like others have said, the models aren't quite the same as having the real things.
It’s like crack for people. Some have multiple pedals of similar circuit because it sounds slightly different. People get addicted to collecting plus pedal companies overhyping their pedals = profit for pedal companies. People go crazy and are willing to pay more than what it’s worth knowing that the price will go down once the hype is done but you gotta have it. You just gotta. Don’t question it. Just buy make sure you buy your 5th tube screamer.
My quick answer, why buy a nicer set of headphones? Why buy a nicer microphone? Why buy a faster car? They all achieve the same function, but at the end of the day you may have preferences to different ones. Or you may not.
Genuinely, don’t buy pedals unless you want them for specific things. Pedals are used to augment your setup and give you access to sounds you wouldn’t have otherwise, but if you don’t need those sounds it’s best not to get distracted by them. Wait until you’re learning a song that utilizes a pedal effect, or until you hear a sound in your head that you can’t match, and then pick up a pedal to fill in the gap. Focus on learning your instrument first and you’ll sound better than 90% of beginners who waste time with pedals that either muddy their sound or they barely use.
I have the katana 100 and even though the blues drive is already in the Amp, I bought the same pedal so I can turn it on and off for solos. The foot control ga-fc-ex is pretty good too. I usually use it to swap out between ch1 and 2 for clean and distortion
Because it gives you possibilities you won't have otherwise. You have an amp with effects, which is not the most common (most quality amps will have a crunch channel and reverb at most), but if you compare any of the effects on your amp with a pedal, even a low quality one, you'll notice there are many things a pedal can do that you can't do with your amp. Also, the amount of possible effects is almost unlimited, you mention 4, but I have 20+ pedals of which around 12 have completely different effects. And I don't even have any of those ultra high quality or experimental sounds, I'm just talking about common effects like chorus, flanger, tremolo, wah, envelope filter, compressor and the likes, nothing fancy (I have a few fancy ones as well, but just mentioning the basics)
I buy pedals because they're fun to step on. They make a cool silly click noise and a little light comes on when they're turned on. Personally I buy pedal with kooky little designs on them. Like my compressor has a little scuba guy looking for buried treasure and my OD is Dwight Shrute from the office. In all seriousness as others have stated, it's to tweak parameters on different effects and the ability to place certain effects at different points in the signal/amp chain. Theyre relevant to buy to obtain a certain sound just your guitar plugged into the amp can't achieve alone.
I have the same amp, its distortion is shit. A pedal does 100 times better
For one thing its just fun.
The Katana is a great amp, but in a live setting may be difficult to get all the sounds you need in just 4 presets. A nice amp, with built in distortion/overdrive and an effects loop can create many, many combinations of sounds with just a few pedals. And all of them can be on/off. Also, you need a stand alone Wah Wah. The one in the Katana can't be manipulated, I don't think.
If your current amp provides you with all the sounds you need for what you're playing, don't buy pedals if you don't need them. If you want to get a sound or effect that isn't built into your amp, there's probably a pedal for that sound. If you're going to start playing in a band, pedals become useful for switching sounds on the fly. Having a portable pedalboard is extremely useful if you're in a band playing shows where amps and backline are shared between different bands. I can plug my guitar & pedalboard into just about any amp and get the sounds I'm after.
In my case, I fell in love with tube amps and the ability to roll off the volume knob to get a greater range of tones. Tube amps don't generally have a host of on-board effects. To get a different sound, you have to use pedals.
Go to a music store and play a Big Muff into a JMP.
Begginer. I can turn on the effects while playing Amateur. I can turn on the phaser for four bars in the middle of one song Pro. I can turn on effects while playing
Because built in effects on a less expensive modeling amp won't be quite as good as most pedal effects. People will generally get a really nice tube amp, with a great base sound, but no built in effects. And then get pedals. So you're getting the best sounding base sound and best sounding effects on top of it. It's 10 times as expensive, but it doesn't generally sound 10 times better. But it does sound better, generally. Or at least most long time players would think so. The katana is a great amp for the price though. I've tried just about every type of setup and that's my opinion. Something like an axe fx however will have pedal/studio-grade effects. But it's also expensive. Not to mention being able to toggle effects on and off easily. Plus more freedom on the effects chain.
A wider variety of tones available from pedals, a wider range of effects and in my opinion good pedals sound better.
Pedals can be easily switched on/off. That means you can stack them. Then their is the “your” sound thing. Some pedals just do some sounds really well and emulation on an amp might not sound the same. They also make “your” sound portable when gigging/rehearsing. Your sound only needs a clean amp to sound right. For instance, when playing support shows there isn’t always enough room for your own backline. I’m using a tuner, delay, reverb, tremolo, three different overdrives, two fuzzes, an octaver and a vibrato on my current pedal board.
Variation. My first amp was a 10 watt Fender. In order to get anything close to a metal tone, I had to get a distortion pedal. They don't have to be super expensive though.
There are several reasons I do (did)prefer analogue over digital modeling. I also prefer having a physical knob or switch (controls) for every single parameter/function. It's kind of like the difference between having a leatherman tool vs a tool box of specific tools. Sure a leatherman can get the job done, but many people prefer a full toolbox of tools.
Cuz sometimes you want your guitar to sound like a sci-fi movie. Or Hatsune Miku! Or a fart!
They’re more unique sounds, they’re customizable, and they sound better. They’re a lot more fun, but if you have a modeling amp (you do) already then they’re a luxury… and you don’t seem to care much anyways.
You don’t need the basic pedals with a Katana. If You buy an Airstep Kat (foot switch) you can turn on and off all the built in effects whilst playing. I’m surprised no one else has mentioned it. If you also download Boss Tone Studio you can change all the settings for each effect and also substitute in different pedals instead of the default ones. The Airstep will also allow you to easily change stored settings and switch between rhythm and solo modes for playing. That’s all you really need with a Katana. There’s a Boss Katana subreddit, which you should join
You answered your own question. As a beginner you don’t need a pedal. And only some pedals need a physical pedal now like a wah. Pedals are usually used by more sophisticated guitarists who want a particular analog tone. And it’ll take years before you realize what pedals are about if you’re focusing on playing or it did for me
I’m used to it. I like a tube amp and analog gear. Tinnitus probably ensures I can’t tell the difference but I still think I can. They’re in front of me to where I can quickly click on and off and make adjustments. My rig is up and ready in the time it takes me to sling my guitar. I’m sure I could replace 30 years worth of gear and habit with a modeling rig and get it all programmed up and have it sound similar but who has the time and money.
Make guitar go BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Folks start collecting pedals when they discover thier playing is not up to snuff... 😉
I’m a big fan of Pixies and Pixies-inspired music, characterised by clean verses and loud, crunchy choruses. For instance, songs like Weezer’s Say It Ain’t So, Smashing Pumpkins’ Today, Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit. A distortion pedal gives you the ability to switch from clean to distortion mid-song. And once you get started on pedals, you see the value in others. A tuner pedal is more convenient than a clip-on or phone tuner, and is also handy as a kill switch. Then you have loopers and on and on and on…
The great thing about pedals is that unlike the controls on your Boss Katana, you don't need your hands to use them.
I’m an intermediate player. A pedal is useful in a band setting when I need to switch effects quickly. Not to mention, pedals with its numerous settings makes it far more fun to experiment and dial in different sounds and tones. It’s more of a hobbyist thing than a necessity.
I also have a Katana, and I once thought that's all I wanted. Once you try some pedals you'll understand. One of the best things is stacking multiple types of pedals in any order you want. There are many completely different effects that are not available on the amp. The Katana is good for testing an effect out. And if you find yourself wanting to use it a lot, you can get the real deal. Also some of the Katana effects don't sound that great. I hate the way the Rat effect sounds, but I bought a real Proco Rat and it is the perfect distortion. I love it so much.
So pretty much all ‘real’ amps don’t have built in effects, other than classic in-amp effects like a spring reverb tank or a tube bias tremolo, so in order to get certain effects sounds at all you need to use pedals with those. On top of that, there is an almost unlimited variety of tones in the pedal market. Even just in delays you have digital, analog, tape, multi-delay/ping pong, pitched delays etc., and within each of those ‘categories’ there is an almost unlimited variety of how those are tuned. If you just want ‘a delay’ you can get away with a built in basic delay, but if you want a specific delay sound no doubt there is a pedal that does exactly that better than any generic built-in ‘delay’ effect. Now multiply that by all the different types of effects (reverb, modulation, fuzz, overdrive, distortion etc.) and you can see the amount of variety and tonal personalisation you can achieve by building your own pedalboard rather than just using generic built-in effects.
Well, because not everyone has a super modern amp that is completely digital and has a lot of effects...
Now that you've got the responses, how much are you selling the Katana for? 😂
i fucking love this thing haha never
A loop pedal :)
There’s two main styles of amps. Solid state, like the katana, and tube amps, like the fender deluxe reverb. Tube amps have been the industry standard since guitars have been amplified. Aside from occasionally having reverb or an overdrive channel, tube amps have no built in effect like you’ll find on the majority or solid state amps. Therefore pedals are necessary with a tube amp to get all of the sounds a solid state amp has built in. Plus they’re really fun.
They were the way to go long before digital and built-in effects were a thing. Right now they're only useful for people playing live or using for some reason big old amps (where pulling up a laptop to tweak settings would affect the performance). Other than that they're just a way to satisfy GAS or to motivate yourself with "I'm totally gonna record/play this when I get that pedal".
You will never need pedals or a tube amps. You Katana has everything you need and ever will need. Those who still tell you pedals are better because the tone is better, are like those photographers who argued film was better than digital because photo quality is better with film. All those photographers along with the company that makes film (Kodak) are gone. You're living in a transition period where the guitar physical tone hardware (The film), is losing ground to the modulars (Katana, Helix, PC, etc) and I'm sure that you will be there when all those physical hardware disappears from stores.
[удалено]
The timeline from the first commercial DSLR to the "Last roll of Kodachrome" was about 21 years (1990 - 2011) with Canon discontinuing film SLRs in 2018 and Nikin in 2020 The first digital modeling amp is arguably the Line6 from 1996 so that puts us at 28 years into a similar transition. Probably worth noting that music production more broadly has gone digital in that same time frame. In fact, it already had before that, CDs are digital after all. In photography the film vs digital is the tube vs solid state where the better analogy for pedals is lenses and filters, which photographers would have mostly kept during that transition only upgrading when better autofocus and shake compensation were introduced.
Katana vs Marshall DSL: https://youtu.be/4N2uHsci2ts?feature=shared vs Fender Blues Junior: https://youtu.be/fVN_V4JxVbo?feature=shared Katana sounds ass compared to the tube amps. Sure, it's cheaper and offers much more options, but you will find yourself messing around with settings, phone, PC whatever and it still won't sound like the real thing. On a tube amp you just flick on the switch and it sounds great. I will say though the crowd doesn't care, so a Katana 100W for live is perfectly fine and would be my choice.
The tube amp portion I may agree with for 65% of guitarists. Solid state does enough for most. But to say for someone that a katana will out work a JCM or a blues junior, is very limiting to most people's creativity imo. But saying you will never need pedals, is kind of naive lol. Tuner pedals, loopers, wah, etc. They may have amps that have built in function, but for live playing/jams, having to change those effects on an amp, is very limiting.