Vox VT40X or Boss Katana 50?

Well I can't compare the 2 for you, but love my Katana 50. The option to go from .5w to 25 or 50 makes it very flexible, and 25w IMO gives plenty to play in a jam session, or band setting, with drummer, but 50w does it easily. Create your top 4 favorite tones to cover probably 90% of what you may need, and save them, and then you can switch with one button push. You can actually then have a 5th tone by just setting and leaving the actual knobs/dials/etc set on the unit itself, maybe for you favorite clean tones.

I don't have the footswitch, but maybe this helps?

 

I’ve owned both at the same time and I sold the Boss. The Vox was much more versatile, almost every amp mod is usable, the Vox, Marshall, and boutique mods are great. Easy to tweak on the go but does have extra amps and effects in the download program. I ended up using pedals with the Katana to get the sounds I wanted which defeated the whole purpose of buying the amp. I bought the Vox new on Reverb for $160 so it was a better deal than the Katana. If you played out a lot with a loud drummer the Katana is a louder amp for sure but the Vox keeps up fine for most situations.

 

I had a Katana 100. Great amp but I wound up selling it to get something else. That something else was a Blackstar ID Core 100. I would suggest looking into the Blackstars as well.

 

If you want to footswitch effects you should consider the Katana 100 and the GAFC foot controller. It's pretty essential to getting the most out of the various presets and effects on the boss. Also note that if you don't ever want to download software and plug your amp into a computer, the Boss is NOT for you. You basically have to set up all the control parameters in advance on the computer in order to use it. If you don't use effects, or just have simple needs, it can work fine like that.

 

I went to the nearest guitar shop specifically to try the Blackstar id core 100 after reading and watching the reviews. I was very underwhelmed and left without it. You might want to try before you buy.

 

I have a Vox VT40x and used to have a Katana. In fact I had a Katana 3 different times. I wanted to like really found the Katana too fiddly to use. The Vox I can dial up a tone on the amp I like in short order and it sounds superb.

 

Have you considered the Fender Mustangs. Love the Mustang III.

 

OP,

I agree with this post that the GAFC foot controller is a must with the Katana 100 and I would endorse that amp over the Blackstar series mentioned above. However I disagree that you ever need to plug your Katana into a computer. The Katana has plenty of onboard effect features already built in that you can access really easily. The software that comes with it is just icing on the cake, access to way more effects that you can import. You don't NEED them, but they are nice to have.

**disclaimer: I HAD a Katana 100 2x12 and really liked it, but ended up selling it off to buy a Fender Deville 2x12. The Katana was the best amp I had ever owned, UNTIL I was bit by the tube bug and bought the Deville. The Katana had everything I needed at the time to play gigs and get many sounds. After selling it and going with the Fender, I ended up spending even more to buy a pedal board because I missed the effects I had in the Katana, but the cleans of the Fender were too irresistible.

 

I'm going to disagree here. If you don't need to tweak any effects parameters and are content with the ones in the stock firmware, that's fine. But once you go in there and realize the strengths and limitations of it (it can replace all your pedals if you have limited needs and are able to live with some limitations), it's hard to go back.
BTW Mine is for sale too. I do think it's an excellent amp for playing at home, but I have other amps that are also great for playing at home. I have found it very hard / impossible to tweak onstage, which is not good. When I need more treble or less delay, the knob has to do what it says and nothing else.

 

I absolutely agree with the last sentence. It’s easier to tweak a pedal in the middle of a song or between songs than it is to tweak an effect on the katana on the fly

 

I've had a VT40X for almost a year. It instantly became my #1 amp the moment it arrived, and nothing has budged it from that spot since. It sounds glorious. Vox's engineers hit a home run with this sealed, ported cabinet design; it sounds bigger and fuller than any other 10-incher I've played.

 

I have the previous generation of VoxVT was they are highly underrated. Looks like they added some IR tech and Android/Mac interface so I would anticipate good things from the VT40X... If my VT+ blew up tomorrow I would get the 40X.

 

I'm more interested in dry amp tone, maybe some reverb before any fx. My fx needs are simple, reverb, delay, tremolo once in a while. My choice is Katana.
Sold my Fender SuperSonic 22 and got the Katana 50. Yes less fx and user slots, but I have learned through constantly changing tones where the sweet spots are in all modes, so user slots would be as hard as just dialing in the 3-5 knobs on the fly to get the tones I always gravitate to. The user slots are great to save a tone that I still want to work on.
Also, the 50 has a different speaker in it that I prefer over the 100 for blues, smaller magnet, the speaker works harder, but connectability is better on the 100

I really think Blackstar and Fender have up'd their game in their latest digital offerings but Katana feels very comfortable to me where I'm happy. If I was to buy one of these other amps I'd still keep my Katana.

 

I have always liked and owned several Vox modeling amps. I currently own a Vox VXII and an all tube TB18C1. Once I got a Boss Katana 50, I was able to dial-in the sounds that I was looking for. I even went to the guitar store to buy a VT40X or AV30. After a side by side comparison, I came home with a Katana 100.

 

look for the older ad60/120 vtx vox amps. amazing

 

I have the 100w version, the Orange Rockerverb setting is my fav rock preset. My Old Mustang 3 is collecting dust. The Vox is a great sounding amp. The effects section is not as good as other amps maybe but the actual amp emulations sound spot on enough for me.