New Boss Katana 100W 1X12 Amp.

[DrNomis_44]

HI,

I was just having a look through the forums and I have been thinking about getting a Katana Myself. I am a qualified Electronics tech (I haven't worked in the industry for a while), and from what you described, as a rough guess it sounds to me like something is failing in the switch-mode power supply in the amp. I have come across the problem in the past in numerous devices in which cycling the power quickly has resolved the issue temporarily, and it is often caused by capacitors going bad, which is a pretty common problem in modern power supplies; they are incredibly efficient, but not as durable or reliable as an old school linear supply.

Is the amp still under Warranty? If so, send it back for repair, as this isn't the type of thing that can easily be fixed at home. Power supplies like this can be incredibly dangerous to work on if you don't know exactly what you are doing. Even if it isn't covered, it is still more than likely worth fixing, and Boss Australia should be able to direct you to somebody who can carry out the repairs for you.

best of luck with it

Nathan

Cheers Nathan,

I think Boss only give a one year warranty for these Katana series of amps, but I may need to do some online research to confirm that, I might also try getting in contact with Boss Australia and see what they say about it, and I'll take it from there.


I just checked the date when I bought my Katana amp by looking at my first post in this thread, and, if I'm correct about Boss only giving a one-year warranty on these Katana series of amps, it looks like the warranty may have already expired, but I should check that.

[DrNomis_44]

Could be a loose ribbon cable, or it could be a dying PSU.

Whatever it is, best to take it back under warranty.

You might want to watch this.

Yeesh!!!.....that doesn't bode very well.

[Simon Barden]

Always try it, even if the warranty period is over. They shouldn't last just over a year. You should get some response. Otherwise try and Boss social media and raise it there. Twitter is good for getting a quick response (if Boss have a Twitter page).

[DrNomis_44]

Always try it, even if the warranty period is over. They shouldn't last just over a year. You should get some response. Otherwise try and Boss social media and raise it there. Twitter is good for getting a quick response (if Boss have a Twitter page).

Well, I did go to the Boss website a few minutes ago, and submitted an enquiry about the issue I'm experiencing with my Katana amp, I'll just wait and see what response I get from them.

[DrNomis_44]

Update:

I got a response back from tech support from the Boss website, they suggested performing a Factory Reset on my Katana amp, which I have just done, so far it seems to have fixed the issue I was experiencing with my Katana amp, I'm going to do a check to make sure it is fixed by leaving the amp powered-off overnight tonight and I'll try powering the amp on again tomorrow.


Apparently the cause of my issue was a certain effect remaining locked-on or something, here's the response I got in my email from tech support at the Boss website:

Hi Simon,

Have you performed a factory reset on the unit?

KATANA MK1 and MK2 FACTORY RESET - 50 / 100 / HEAD / ARTIST

It sounds like a certain effect might be locked on or something here and this would clear it up.

Kind Regards,
Braedon

Technical Support Representative
Roland Customer Support



If anyone else is experiencing the same, or similar issues with their Katana amp, here's how to do a Factory Reset:

https://rolandus.zendesk.com/hc/en-u...0-HEAD-ARTIST-

[NGCbuilder]

Update:

I got a response back from tech support from the Boss website, they suggested performing a Factory Reset on my Katana amp, which I have just done, so far it seems to have fixed the issue I was experiencing with my Katana amp, I'm going to do a check to make sure it is fixed by leaving the amp powered-off overnight tonight and I'll try powering the amp on again tomorrow.


Apparently the cause of my issue was a certain effect remaining locked-on or something, here's the response I got in my email from tech support at the Boss website:

Hi Simon,

Have you performed a factory reset on the unit?

KATANA MK1 and MK2 FACTORY RESET - 50 / 100 / HEAD / ARTIST

It sounds like a certain effect might be locked on or something here and this would clear it up.

Kind Regards,
Braedon

Technical Support Representative
Roland Customer Support



If anyone else is experiencing the same, or similar issues with their Katana amp, here's how to do a Factory Reset:

https://rolandus.zendesk.com/hc/en-u...0-HEAD-ARTIST-

Glad to hear that you seem to have gotten the problem sorted. From the way you described it, it sounded more like a hardware fault to me, but I guess you learn something new every day. From the response that you got, it seems that you are not the first person to have had the issue, and Boss have been able to help you out pretty quickly. Iv owned a lot of Boss pedals over the years and I have never had a problem with them, but its good to know that if something does go wrong, they are quick to help out.

Nathan

[Simon Barden]

Have you checked for a firmware update since it happened? If it happened once it could easily happen again with the same patch.

[DrNomis_44]

Glad to hear that you seem to have gotten the problem sorted. From the way you described it, it sounded more like a hardware fault to me, but I guess you learn something new every day. From the response that you got, it seems that you are not the first person to have had the issue, and Boss have been able to help you out pretty quickly. Iv owned a lot of Boss pedals over the years and I have never had a problem with them, but its good to know that if something does go wrong, they are quick to help out.

Nathan

Yes, at first it did seem to me that my Katana amp had developed some weird kind of hardware fault, and I was actually dreading it cause it would have meant one of two things, either sending it back for a warranty repair/replacement, or shelling-out another Au$600.00 or so for a new replacement one.

With computers, software faults can manifest as hardware faults and vice-versa, and since the Katana does have computer circuitry in it, I'm sure that also applies to it.

My current theory is this, for some odd reason one of the virtual FX pedals I used to create a sound on one of the channels, ended-up being fed-back into itself making it go into self-oscillation, which forced it into an occasional lock-up state when the amp was powering-up, this most likely explains why the control panels lit-up briefly and then went out, the amp went into a shut-down mode as a form of protection, the loud screeching sound I heard was most likely caused by the virtual FX going into self-oscillation, whether I'm right or not is wide-open to debate, but the theory sounds good enough to me, I'm perfectly happy to be proven wrong though.


I'm going to stay open-minded and pragmatic about this whole thing.

[DrNomis_44]

Have you checked for a firmware update since it happened? If it happened once it could easily happen again with the same patch.

Actually, I did log onto my account at the Roland Corporation website to see if they had released a new firmware update, but as it turns-out the latest firmware update they have available is the same one that's installed in the amp, they may consider releasing a new firmware update soon though.


I've just tried powering-up my Katana amp after leaving it switched off for some time, it appears to be still powering-up normally like it's supposed to with no signs of the issue I was experiencing before, so, it does look like the Factory Reset I performed on it seems to have fixed the issue for good now, time will tell if that is in fact so.


Apparently it's a common issue with these Katana amps.


Now, if my ears aren't blatantly lying to me, the Katana seems to be sounding much better after the Factory Reset.