BOSS Nextone Amps vs BOSS Katana Amps... FIGHT!

Recently, BOSS has given us the Nextone amps. They are heavily inspired/based on the Roland Blue Cube amps. If you can remember, there was a time before BOSS release the Katana amplifiers where Roland's (BOSS' parent company) biggest amp line was the Cube series. Many people played and loved the Cube amps. Some of the most praised amps in the line were the Blues Cube. The Blues Cube was designed as a direct competitor to the Fender 1x12 amps. Following in that line, the Nextone amps are a continuation of that idea. I think that the Nextone is better than the Blues Cube in nearly every way. However, is it worth it?

I've talked a lot about the BOSS Katana on here so I won't go in a lot of detail in this post. I, like many other people like the Katana amps. I own a Katana amp. It makes a great practice amp. It makes a good gigging amp. You can record direct and mic it with reasonable (or even impressive) results. I think the most impressive thing about the Katana amps is the price. BOSS may have not have realized how big of a success the Katana was going to be. The Katana was priced less than it is now when it was released, suggesting that it was undervalued at release. So the Katana if a huge value that can serve in a multitude of roles.

There are key points were the Nextone amps are similar to Katana. Obviously, BOSS wants to emulate the Katana's success. The most obvious similarities are the power limiting feature (which actually was featured of the Blues Cube before the Katana) and the way the back panel is set up. The Blues Cube had much less in the way of options. However, the back panel of the Nextone and Katana look almost identical. There are some major differences as well. The biggest may be the effects that are built in. Katana promised a huge list of effects that you could select from and control. The Nextone gives you some effects that you might find of small tube combos (reverb, trem, and even delay). Where the Nextone can really flex is power section emulation. This is a solid state amp, but you can select the type of tubes emulated the amp emulates. In practice, this voices the amp like two different American amp or two British amp.

Both of these amps sound good.

Both of these amps have good In/Outs.

The Katana has more effects.

The Nextone models/emulates 4 different Tube amps.

The Katana has 5 amp charactors/modes (which is different?!)

The Nextone has software support to customize your amp voicing.

But UGT! Which one should I buy? The obvious answer is to play both side by side and buy the one you like more. But let's say that you have to buy one or the other without playing either one. If the difference in price doesn't matter, then it mostly comes down to effect. If you have a pedal board then I'd lean toward the Nextone. However, if you need a amp that does effects as well, you might want to go with the Katana, but they are limited. Which one is better overall. Not surprisingly, the more expensive one is going to have a better speaker and cabinet.

Conclusion

BOSS is killing it with their amps. I am very impressed. At a very glance, these amp look very similar. There are some key differences that make the Nextone very impressive. I'd go so far to say that these amps are what the Katana Artist should have been. If the Nextone retained the effects section from the Katanna, it would be game over.