BOSS Nextone Amplifier (EL84 Setting) Vs Vox AC15

The BOSS Nextone amp is the newest amp to come from BOSS. Fresh off of the success of the Katana amps, the Nextone takes a page from the Katana, but clearly shares DNA with the Blues Cube series. It features four different tube settings. For the sake of this review, I'm focusing on the EL84 British setting, so I'm comparing it with my Vox AC15 combo.

Cleans:

Right out of the gate, the Nextone is impressive. I am a fan of Vox amps. I've owned and used a Vox for years. In the room, playing big open chords, the chime is there. The sound is big and focused. Of course, with reverb and delay, the sound is pure ambient greatness. There is note definition without a hint of mud. While the higher register is bright and chimey, The experience with lower notes is where we lose some of the similarities. It may be due to the different cab designs, but the Vox seems to shake everything around it. At similar volumes, the BOSS doesn't seem to resonate as well. Besides that, the BOSS produces great clean sounds, but it lacks the big bottom-end that the Vox has.

Crunch:

I've recently discovered that the Vox dirty sounds are somewhat... polarising. Where I enjoy turning up my AC15, others can't stand the sound. Now, guitarists are known to be a tiny-bit particular about their tone so the difference between love and hate could be psychosomatic, but it is a difference of opinion. Vox may not be known for their crunch sounds, but I enjoy how the breakup is a little trashy with a big bottom-end and chimey highs. As I increased the gain on the Nextone however, the breakup was not the same. It wasn't bad, but this was probably most different the amps sounded during the test. I did my best to EQ the Nextone a little closer. No dice.

Recording:

So, the amp I used for comparison is the Nextone Studio. I decide to make a short recording I could go back and listen without the influence of room noise. I listened to both amps through headphones to compare. What I found is that the clean tones are impressively similar. While I enjoyed the way the Vox filled the room when playing live, recording by micing the speaker removed that effect entirely. The Crunch tones again were where I heard the most difference again. The breakup was a  little more generic than the Vox. The Nextone wasn't bad, but it's not a replacement for my Vox.

Conclusion:

The BOSS Nextone isn't a stand-in for a list of amps, but in the case of the EL84 setting emulating a Vox. It does a decent job of copying the clean chime. During recording, the results are similar. One isn't far and away better, and that is probably the best thing you could say about this amp. It's a little like cooking with garlic powder instead of fresh garlic. Is the product better with one over the other? Probably. Is the product drastically different at the end of the day? Not really. The Nextone is what it is. When it is all said and done. It is a Solid State amp doing an impressive job at imitating a tube amp.

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.

Ugly Guitar Truth: Boss Nextone Amplifier

Boss has been known for creating some of the most iconic and memorable guitar products of all time. A few years ago the world was taken aback when BOSS gave us the Katana amplifier. The internet was abuzz with talk about an amplifier that gave you tonnes of useful features and BOSS-quality effects. The Katana was not the first, but what made it a darling was that it started for $200. For what many pay for their first "beginner" amp, you could have an amplifier that could get you through your first gigs or be a respectable studio tool. I personally love the line-in and headphone functions. Many of my larger amp and combos don't include this feature. So it's nice to have this on an amp that doesn't make me feel like a compromising tone-wise.

I like the Katana, but why am I take about the Katana on a post about the Nextone amp? Well, my first thought I had about the Nextone, was that it was just an update/addition to the Katana series. Since the introduction, BOSS has added many more Katana models. I can't speak to have the success they all have been, but the Nextone seemed to be at home next to the Katana amp. However, this is not the case.

We've Seen These Before

The Nextone amplifiers are the newest amps from BOSS, and you wouldn't be wrong to think that they share some DNA with the runaway success that was the Katana line of amps. However, these amps are more closely related to the Roland Blues Cube. With just a look, we can see the similarities on the control panel. The channel controls are set up exactly the same. You still have the Tone and Boost controls, Tube Logic and Power Control that we are used to seeing of the Blues Cube. Is this a reheated Blues Cube sold under the BOSS brand? Well, in a word, no.

Something New

While this might have started life as Blues Cube, BOSS has taken lessons from the Katana and applied them to this amp. We can see it most clearly in the effects. The effects are one of the most impressive features of the Katana (besides the solid foundation of good tones). While we don't have the impressive library of effect from the Katana we do have delay, reverb, and trem built in with similar controls to the Katana. The main claim to fame the Nextone is the selectable "Power Section". You can select from 6V6, 6L6, EL84, and EL34 which are just coded names for American and British-type amps. In addition to what we can see on the outside of the amp, BOSS has created an editing software tool to support the backend of the amplifier. This is supposed to give you in-depth control over the "Bias" and "Sag" just like a tube amp. You can also change the EQ across the entire amp and play with how your effects loop operates. The Nextone editing software will also let you change the Boost function into a compressor. So, that's kinda neat.

Conclusion

I never really liked the Blues Cube series. In theory the Blues Cube is a good choice, but I always felt that if you were going to spend Blues Jr. money, then you should probably buy a Blues Jr. (although if you picked up a used Blues Jr. and put the money you saved and bought some effects, then you'd be much better off). However, BOSS has put a lot more into the Nextone. There a lot of features packed into these amps. Sometimes that spell disaster, but BOSS has impressed me with this kind of thing before. "Nextone" is a trash name, however. There is no getting around that. It brings to mind brands like Nux and Hotone for some reason. Both of which I wouldn't want to be associated with my top-shelf combo amps. They are handsome, so hopefully, that's enough to offset a throwaway name. Will I buy one? Let's just say that I'm interested.