Katatonia and Mesa amps

[Klosure]

Over the years I've listened to Katatonia, tried stuff like the Matamps and I would love to try the Laboga stuff.


But recently I tried a Mesa and quite frankly this is the real essence of the Katatonia heavy guitar sound, sure the Labogas and the Matamp may add some flavour.


I don't get why Katatonia dont use the Mesa live, I feel it looses that massive sound that they have on the albums.

Anyone know more on this?

 

[BlueSky]

They've been known to use the preamp of their Boss pedals plugged straight into the pa system. The reason for this is so they don't have to lug around big heavy amps. Quite frankly the Cosm modeling sounds like shit on the Boss GT-3/8/10 or any other multi-effects pedal for that matter. I was under the impression that they use the Labogas live now though ... If you're asking why they use the Labogas over Mesa, well most importantly their rhythm guitar sound has never been better. The gain is much tighter and not fizzy like it used to be. As for the lead sound, a lot of that comes from the feedbacker or sustainer.

 

[Klosure]

They've been known to use the preamp of their Boss pedals plugged straight into the pa system. The reason for this is so they don't have to lug around big heavy amps. Quite frankly the Cosm modeling sounds like shit on the Boss GT-3/8/10 or any other multi-effects pedal for that matter. I was under the impression that they use the Labogas live now though ... If you're asking why they use the Labogas over Mesa, well most importantly their rhythm guitar sound has never been better. The gain is much tighter and not fizzy like it used to be. As for the lead sound, a lot of that comes from the feedbacker or sustainer.

Yea the feedbacker in the GT-3 although they use the TC Electronic box of tricks now so bye bye GT-3.

On all the albums the Mesa is the main amp, they blend in Laboga stuff on top either double tracked or in other ways. We had a Mesa in the studio recently and its just that I found it gave me that wall of guitars sound.

I love the Laboga sound on the new album don't get me wrong, I just think it only sprinkles a flavour over the steak of the Mesa meat. But then I am fast wanting a Mesa. Ultimatly I want a Mesa and a more grunty amp like a Laboga.

 

[BlueSky]

I'm pretty sure Anders is already back to Boss (the GT-10 specifically) for his main pedal.

http://katatonia.com/2009/07/studio-diary-part-4/
http://katatonia.com/2009/06/studio-diary-part-3/

Only mention of the Mesa is for the clean mix. Either way there's plenty of other factors for how they sound on album. May I ask which Mesa you tried btw? The Dual a Triple Recs especially are known to be real muddy on the low end. Personally I'd recommend you forget about what Katatonia uses and go spend some time at your local guitar shops trying out everything that you can get your mitts on.

 

[SODOMIZER]

We use Blackstar amps live. I use the S1-200 and Anders uses the S1-100.
The Mesa rectifier is a nice amp, but for us it's impossible to make it sound right without adding another amp in the mix, like a Blackstar or a Laboga.
We both use boss stuff for our FX, Anders uses GT-10 and I'm using GT-pro (Rack mount).
We have filmed a nice "gear walk through" that will appear on the new DVD.

 

[BlueSky]

Yep. You're always going to want to pair an amp with nice mids like a Marshall or Soldano with any of those low end beasts with junk in the trunk such a Dual Rec or Bogner Uberschall. If you're only going to have one amp live then go with one that has crisp cutting mids. You get these metal bands who scoop their mids and use Dual Recs then wonder why they sound muddy live.