So in my recent ’Guitar Elements’ series it’s finally come to Amps now - where I list out what I believe are the most historically significant and therefore Iconic amps. A lot of you are still conflating Iconic with Vintage, and discounting some of the more recent models - while Iconic does not necessarily infer a long term history and provenance - just that said item or element is a major marker or step forward in the evolution of that device - whatever it may be.

I’m not the first to do ...

Following on from the unveiling of their Gorgeous unobtanium 50th Anniversary Jupiter-X-Gold synth, we now get the best looking version of the JC-120 amp - with cool Cherry Wood Grain Cabinet and Premium Dark Grey Net.

Only 350 of these will be made in total for worldwide distribution - and the most premium feel version of this amp obviously has a premium price tag in tow too - €1999 / £1689 and equivalent. Please direct your inquiries to your local Roland Dealer.

The Jazz Chorus is ...

I will start off with a little contextual history on Roland and Boss Amplifiers. Obviously Roland is Boss’s parent company and had the initial success with its JC Jazz Chorus amps. On the back of that success it then released a number of wedge-shaped Cube amps - essentially outdoor performer amps - which became the mainstays of journeymen buskers. If you’re out and about in London you will likely see Roland Cubes on every other leading tourist area street corner. So for the longest period it ...

Boss’s Tube Logic Series of Nextone Amps somewhat failed to garner the same plaudits and support as the lower cost Katana Range - while the Artist edition Nextone contained some particularly clever circuitry - yet those amps did not resonate as well with their intended audiences as was predicted / expected. Meaning that the Boss engineers have expended some very significant effort in the interim towards getting the new Special Amp up to the level it truly deserves to be at.

The Nextone ...

Currently running as a Kickstarter Campaign and thus far two years in the making - the forthcoming Zero, Dynamic Hybrid Amplifier is an entirely new design of Class D amplifier which fully recreates every part of a Tube style amplifier with a highly innovative active OpAmp array. While typically OpAmps are used in active amplifiers between passive stages like a more conventional EQ / Tone-stack, with the Zero, all EQ Filters are fully active in order to draw more dynamics and harmonics out of ...

So this is the amp a lot of us have been waiting for - and actually somewhat ahead of schedule really per my expectations. It of course carries over all the previous Artist advantages and benefits - including the front-facing control panel and superior Waza Craft Speaker - and marries those to the latest Katana MKII innovations - the Variation button on Amp Types, more granular Effects control via dual-concentric knobs, dual-amp stereo link - and of course the extended range of Effects and ...

Anyone who’s read this blog will be very aware that I’m a fan of the Boss Katana amps - I’ve had the now series 1 KT-100 since it first came out as my left-hand amp in my stereo rig, and had already decided that I would be transitioning to the Katana Artist - with its better speaker and it’s various included extras - amongst them the forward-facing control panel.

Now the MKII range has come out and it has in effect frog-leaped over the Artist in terms of overall...

When I started down this road many moons ago, my intentions were to keep things as simple as possible - but that particular rule book has long since been torn up and thrown under the bus. My rig has evolved pretty organically into a stereo setup - where I always have and most likely always will have a Solid-State amp on the Left Channel, and an All Tube variety on the right (along with 40 or so pedals in my pedal-chain).

My current incumbents are the Boss Katana KT100 and Carvin V3MC -...

I feel Boss still kind of bossed it in 2018 - with 3 heavy hitters that took on all-comers in those categories - the Katana Air, Katana Artist and Nextone Artist - a trio pretty much suited for any sort of conditions - the first as the best of the portable practice amps - and the latter two as the ultimate versatile gigging-machines - for those that still like to lug amps around.

I feel that this sort of cabinet form factor of amp will be largely restricted to more fixed locations as ...