Boss Katana 100 MKIII Review – Is the Third Time Still a Charm?

Since its first introduction back in 2016, the Boss Katana Series has continuously featured on best selling amp lists, year on year, in fact, if you’ve been a KGR reader for any length of time, you’ll probably have noticed that we’ve covered quite a few models from this lineup, and we’ve been overwhelmingly impressed every time we get our hands on one. 

There’s a pretty good (and dare we say, obvious) reason for this, though. Simplicity. We’ve always found that Katana amps can offer a vast array of features, both through the companion app and using the on board control panel, offering some pretty in depth customization options for anybody who cares to do so, however, it’s the fact that these amps are built like tanks, sound great, and can be as simple to use as a plain old combo amp that always has us excited to run them.

So, you can imagine our excitement this year when we learned that Boss finally launched the long awaited MKIII models – and it was one model in particular, the Boss Katana 100 MKIII that we were most excited to get our hands on. 

We spent a good couple of weeks really putting this latest offering from Boss through its paces, and as expected, it took everything we loved about the MKII, and somehow made it better. 

In this KillerGuitarRigs review, we’ll be taking a deep dive into this amp, which we expect to be a hot seller. Whether you’re currently running an older Katana and thinking about an upgrade, or if you’ve never used one and you’re thinking about joining the family, this is one you don’t want to miss – keep reading for more!

Who is This For?

It might sound a little cliche, but the Boss Katana 100 MKIII genuinely offers something for every guitarist. It’s incredibly versatile, the sound quality is awesome, it has a ton of power, and it’s seriously affordable – what’s not to love? It provides enough volume for gigging, it features a USB interface for home recording, and it’s lightweight and portable enough to move around as a practice amp. Speaking of practice, the built in attenuation makes it super easy to dial down the power, so there’s no need to worry about 100 watts being overkill – it really is an amp you can grow with. 

The huge range of voicings and built in FX mean that it can cover any genre you cold ever imagine right out of the box, and the all new Bluetooth connectivity makes it an incredibly versatile option for singer songwriters who want to play along with backing tracks. In a nutshell, it’s impressively versatile, and we challenge anybody to find a style or use case that the 3rd gen Katana 100 isn’t suited to.

Appearance / Features / Controls

Like previous generations, the Katana 100 is a combo amp with a single 12” speaker (although it’s also available with a 2×12” cab, or as a head only if you prefer to choose a different cabinet). Aesthetically speaking, little has changed since the MKII – visually, the only thing we noticed was the removal of the double chevron under the Katana logo. It’s still built with a rock solid MDF frame, wrapped in leather-look black vinyl, and has a top mounted control panel. On closer inspection of the control panel, we noticed that the layout was almost identical to previous versions, save for the inclusion of the new Cab Resonance switch, which is used for changing between vintage, modern, and deep resonance profiles. 

Moving in the logical direction across the panel, it featured the same amp array, with the same six voicings from the outgoing model; Acoustic, Clean, Pushed, Crunch, Lead, and Brown. Above the dial, there was a variation switch, which essentially brightens the chosen amp voicing, effectively doubling the number of presets. Next, there were gain and volume controls, as well as a 3 band EQ. The EQ section also featured a new contour button, allowing us to choose between 2 contour modes. Contour 1 gives a low and low mid boost, while contour 2 is for scooped mids and boosted lows and highs. 

The next knob group was for FX. It had a Booster control, which activates overdrive and distortion effects, and a mod button, allowing us to switch between the built in modulation options. FX cycles through various effects, including was, tremolo, octavers, phasers, flangers, and a ton more. 

Because there’s no kind of LED display, it’s difficult to know at a glance which FX you have selected, though, so we do recommend making use of the companion app, Boss Tone Studio, for full control of the FX. The delay button, as you might expect, controls the delay FX, with tape echo, modulate, analog, digital delay, and even a model of the legendary SDE-3000 delay all available right out of the box.  The final FX control was dedicated to Reverb, and featured the typical array of plate, spring, and hall reverbs we’ve become accustomed to in previous generations. 

It had a Presence knob for dialing in the upper mid frequencies, and a master volume, which allowed us to push the volume of the power amp without impacting the preamp section. One of the things we’ve always loved about Katana amps, and we were glad to see it back in this latest version, were the Panel, and four Tone Setting buttons. These controls are used for quickly saving and cycling through your customized settings. The last switch on the top panel was for the attenuator, which features settings for the full 100 watts, half power (50 watts), 0.5 watts (ideal for practice), and the standby mode. 

The back panel also saw a few slight changes, both in terms of layout and features. The position of the foot control inputs has moved (something to take note of if you’re upgrading from a MKII!), and we’ve seen the addition of a stereo output. Not only that, but the USB port has been upgraded to USB C, and there’s an all new Bluetooth adapter port. The Bluetooth port was something of a disappointment, unfortunately, as it does require the additional purchase of a Katana Dual Bluetooth Adapter – it really would have been nice to have this kind of functionality provided direct from the factory.

Performance / Sound

In terms of sound, we found the 3rd gen Katana 100 to be right on par with what we’ve come to expect from Boss amps – it was tight, with great tone and incredible flexibility. We worked our way through the amp voicings for our test, and found them all to be just what any guitarist would be looking for with an amp of each specific type. Starting with clean, we found it to super crisp, and surprisingly full – something that often lets budget modeling amps down. We thought it sounded particularly good with just a touch of reverb or chorus. With a Strat, the chime and sparkle we got was very impressive, and surprisingly organic – even down to the dynamic response, which softened the edge with the volume rolled back, all without losing any clarity. 

After the clean channel, we of course moved into the higher gain territory, starting with “Pushed”, which gave us an almost vintage tube amp kind of tone, just pushed past that point of breakup. It’s one of our favorite voicings from Boss, and we’re pretty sure you’ll love the organic tone and feel of this setting. In the Crunch Setting, we got a pretty noticeable jump up in distortion, with a nice, thick and gritty tone that was fantastic for blues – similar to the classic British sound. With “Lead” activated, we found that the tone was quite similar to the crunch voice, but with even more gain and perhaps just a little extra sustain. Lead was definitely quote aggressive, but it was far from harsh. We finished up with Brown, which is basically a homage to EVH and his legendary “Brown Sound”. This setting was super thick, and absolutely perfect for just about any kind of metal. 

One of the biggest reasons for anybody getting into the Boss amp ecosystem, of course, is the FX array. Boss are well known for their pedals, both standalone and multiFX, and with a Katana, you’re effectively getting access to authentically modeled versions of some of their most famous units, all bundled up with the price of the amp. We love how easy the Tone Studio is to manipulate, and the incredible popularity of the Katana series means that there’s an almost limitless online community of enthusiasts creating some incredible presets that you can upload to your amp for free. 

Comparing the available built in FX to some of the pedals we have in the KGR studio, including the OD-1, OD-2, ML-2 Metalcore, and the MT-2 Metalzone, we found that there was little, if any noticeable difference, In addition to Boss pedals, the built in FX also included some really well made models of famous pedals from other brands, including the ProCo RAT, the Ibanez TS-808 Tube Screamer, and the Dunlop Fuzzface to name just a few. Thanks to the signal chain capability in Tone Studio, we were able to stack FX, too, resulting in some fantastic custom presets that to the average listener, would rival any pedalboard 

As for sound quality, we’ve always been very complimentary of Boss speakers, and the 3rd gen 12” unit was no exception. We found it to be crisp, well balanced, and highly responsive. It made a significant contribution to this amp’s ability to cut through a mix, even when played alongside a bass and an enthusiastic drummer. We were particularly impressed with the new cab resonance switch, which effectively allowed us to adjust the low end response of the amp. It works by simulating how a speaker would interact with various cab types (in this case Vintage, Modern, and Deep Resonance). So, not only did we find that the variation button doubled the available voicings vs previous generations, in fact, the cab resonance feature effectively tripled the tone options. The changes from the cab resonance were subtle, yes, but definitely apparent, and we found them really helpful when dialing in highly specific sounds.

Final Thoughts on the Boss Katana 100 MKIII

Overall, we found that the Boss Katana 100 MKIII offered enough in the way of new features and tones to justify an upgrade if you’re running a MK1 or even a MKII. In terms of build and sound quality, not much has changed, but frankly we think that’s a good thing. It’s as easy to use as the previous versions that made this series so popular, and the aftermarket support for this amp is mindblowing. We loved how easy it was to recall settings, and between the mobile app and the desktop version of the software, we found it very easy to make fine adjustments to tones and FX. As mentioned earlier, we do wish Boss would have included the full Bluetooth functionality out of the box, but as there’s still an aux in, it’s not the end of the world. At the price, we really think you’d struggle to find more amp for less money.