“Puts authentic sounds from the stage class Boss Katana amp series at the instrument’s output jack”: Has the Katana:GO just changed the headphone amp game forever?

Boss has unveiled the Katana:GO – a tiny headphone amp that packs the same Katana tones found on its best-selling amp range into an ultra-portable jack unit.

The first Katana debuted back in 2016 and, at the time, raised a few eyebrows as the effects stalwart turned its hand to amp-making. Boss quickly silenced the doubters, though, and the Katana line has become much-admired for the quality of its tones – and one of the most popular practice amp choices in the process. 

What’s more, as evidenced by our recent chat with Sprints, we’ve also seen an increasing array of guitarists confident enough to take Katanas stage-side, too. 

As such, the diminutive Katana:GO is officially a big deal: offering the tones found on those larger Katana units in a super-compact, foldable headphone amp that will pop into your gigbag (or even your headphone case), leaving room to spare. 

In terms of tones, that means you get access to 10 amp models, including clean, crunch and the (EVH-inspired) high-gain brown type, alongside dedicated bass amp models, plus Boss’ mammoth effects library – filled with all the usual suspects, including delay, reverb, modulation and pitch effects – and the option of further customization from the Boss Tone Studio app.

In addition to the usual tonal platter, the Katana:GO employs Boss’ spatial technology – as heard in its Waza-Air headphones – with three ‘stage feel’ options (Studio, Stage and Custom), which aim to create “an immersive audio experience” and can be tweaked to move the position of the ‘amp’ and backing tracks around the stereo field.

The aforementioned Tone Studio app will also offer some handy practice features – enabling you to stream YouTube clips through the app and (via Bluetooth) for headphone playback, alongside your guitar audio from the Katana:GO. It can also be used to slow, loop and timestamp elements of the tracks.

Then you’ve got all the usual editing and patch-saving features you’d expect from a companion app, with 30 memory slots to occupy. It’s also USB-C rechargeable (offering five hours of playtime before it runs out of juice) and doubles up as a portable audio interface. 

Finally, it takes a notably different tack from the likes of the Fender Mustang Micro and Positive Grid Spark GO (no relation), by offering a fair amount of control on the unit itself, with a built-in tuner, stage feel control, three memory bank buttons and a patch browsing flick-switch, alongside the main dial – and it has a display. All of which should mean that practice time is not necessarily over if your phone dies.

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We’ve had our hands on one for a few weeks now and can say that, while the tones are great, the spatial audio is a real game-changer when it comes to headphone practice – creating a much more natural sense of movement from the amp models. 

We’ll update you as to how we’re getting on with it shortly, but suffice to say, it’s dangerously playable...

The Katana: GO is set to retail for $119. Head to Boss for more information.