Sweetwater got ahead of the game with some super-early pre-Black Friday deals this year, but in a move that will please just about every guitar fan out there, the retailer has extended the best one for Cyber Monday: it's currently offering up to $1t0 off its collection of Boss Katana guitar amps.
The Katana series landed in 2016 to a crowded market but quickly became the leading do-it-all amp range, offering a spectrum of wattages and formats to cover all playing bases, from recording and rehearsing to all-out gigging.
Now on its third generation, the Boss Katana range is widely seen as one of the best amp families around and we here at Guitar World HQ can't rate it high enough. Boss Katanas are an ever-present force across all of our buyer's guides, with our in-house gear experts lauding the range for its ability to deliver hugely versatile and top-notch guitar tones from packages that are already exceptional value for money.
Sweetwater's ongoing Cyber Monday sale includes some outgoing Mark II Katanas, as well as a select number of updated Gen 3 variants, meaning there's an option for anyone who may be tempted to snap up a market-leading guitar amps this Cyber Monday. For our money, they're some of the best guitar amps out there.
This year’s newest Katana range – Gen 3 – built on the success of the second generation, delivering upgrades including concentric knobs, six different amp voices with the all-new ‘Pushed’ voicing, smartphone editing capabilities, and possible Bluetooth connection (with an added adapter), to name but a few.
There’s an option for everyone in this sale; it doesn’t matter if you’re an uber-technical metal head, a bluesy tone-hound, or even an acoustic player – the range truly caters to all.
So, which amp in the sale is right for you?
Firstly, in my opinion the Katana 50 Gen 3 is still one of the best guitar amps on the market, particularly on a budget. I personally love the new ‘Pushed’ amp voice, which takes your tone to that golden edge-of-break-up.
In our Boss Katana 50 Gen 3 review, we found the amp to be incredibly easy to use and much sweeter harmonically than previous iterations. The Gen 3 is now Bluetooth-ready and although the adapter is an optional extra it truly opens up the versatility ten-fold. For starters, Sweetwater has cut $30 off the Katana 50 Gen 3, making this affordable amp even more attractive at just $269.99.
If you’re looking for a more gig-appropriate amp, the Katana Head Gen 3 has had $40 knocked off the asking price, dropping it down to $329.99. I had the pleasure of reviewing the Katana Gen 3 Head, and this thing can truly do it all. The 100 watts of solid-state power is surprisingly loud when connected to a cab and held its own against my band's drummer. There’s also an internal 5-inch speaker for home practice. Of course, it has all the usual Katana features – Boss effects, six amp voices, easy-to-use controls – but to me, for both practice and gigging, there isn’t a better Katana option.
Finally, for low-end warriors there are reductions on Katana bass amps too. The gig-ready Gen 2 Katana-210 features the biggest price reduction of the lot, with a whopping $150 off. If you’re after something a bit more home-friendly, the Gen 2 Katana-110 has also been reduced by $40. Both are equipped with useful power controls, allowing full output or reduced power all the way down to 0.1 watts, so you don’t have to blow out your windows when sneaking 30-minutes of practice.
Keep your eyes on our Cyber Monday guitar deals page for more early offers and major savings. We’ll be highlighting the very best deals to help your budget stretch further.
