The Line 6 Catalyst Is Kinda A Game Changer For Me

I revisit the 100 watt Catalyst Amp after several months of getting acquainted with it.

Want to see a more technical/objective review to familiarize yourself with the Catalyst? Check out my piece for Ultimate-Guitar where we dig into some of the specs.

As some of you may have noticed that I’ve settled into a nicer balance between UG and this site. We’re back to weekly articles and reviews here on Guitars For Idiots, while using it as a space to follow up on reviews and make sure they hold up to the test of time. Because it is true, some gear makes an immediate impact and then sort of fades out of your rig.

Recent examples may include the EART EGLP620, which I gave high marks to overall but haven’t really had any urge to play. On the other hand, I haven’t been able to put down the PRS SE McCarty, so sometimes the love affair is not so sure after all.

In the case of the Line 6 Catalyst, it is far more like the PRS than the EART. After using it for months with my band, the Catalyst has proven itself to be incredibly valuable and convenient for my varied guitar amp needs. The attenuation switch on the back makes it easy to practice quietly at home at 0.5 watts. For band practice, 50 or 100 watts are more than enough to compete with drummers and other instruments.

And honestly, I still haven’t even dug into programming any effects or other amp voicings through their online application. The chime sound is basically my go-to amp setting as an avid Vox lover, and it is fantastic. In the room, it is indistinguishable at low volume from my AC15. I know that the AC15 can crank out a bit more gain at higher levels, but I rarely get there.

The Catalyst is all the fun of the digital amp modelers I’ve reviewed like the Pod Go, but with a good old fashioned speaker built-in. It’s got great tones, it takes pedal exceptionally well, and it is so much lighter than carrying around a tube amp. Yes, all those troupes about digital amps are true and still valid. And to be fair, I don’t really want to be twiddling around with knobs on a programmer or modeler, I want to plug and play and let me guitar/pedals do the talking. That’s exactly what the Catalyst provides me and is well worth the $400 USD it is retailing for.

At the end of the day, I’m still an amp guy. I think that’s why the pedal amps from Strymon, Walrus, and Universal Audio appeal to me so much. They still let me have a pedalboard, they’re simple, and I can crank them. Now I have that in a portable and attenuable package. Reinforcing all this has been the reflection on how far digital/solid state amps have come since I was a kid. The 15 watt Fender Mustang combo amp I started on has nothing on this Catalyst. While I know plenty of kids will probably start on a Katana or Catalyst, they can just grow so much farther with you as a musician than perhaps my generation of digital amps could from the 2010s.

So yeah, after all that opinionated rating, I’m here to say I love the Catalyst and I can’t wait to see more amps like this. I can’t wait to use them on stage, in my studio, and hopefully we continue to move in a direction where this can be accepted as viable alternatives to tube amps. If you’re on the fence about a Catalyst, I say commit to it.