Absolutely correct. I didn't have the newer instructions and had to figure most of this out on my own at the time. Use the MODE switch set to FOOT CONTROL2, this allows the single GA-FC EX to control 2 - KATANA-100/ARTIST MK2 amps simultaneously. Connect FOOT CONTROL1 to AMP1: KATANA- 100/ARTIST MK2, then connect FOOT CONTROL 2 to AMP2: KATANA-100/ARTIST MK2. For both connections use a 1/4" TRS STEREO CABLE. The functions will be the same for both AMP1 and AMP2: KATANA- 100/ARTIST. Control of AMP1/AMP2 is dictated by the CONTROL1, CONTROL 1&2, CONTROL2 dual foot switch press on the GA-FC EX. This allows the user to control either AMP1 or AMP2 or AMP1+AMP2

@@Guitarnivore I'm still a little confused on it tho... Do they need to be set up in stereo expand to do this? I can't find a whole lot on this

@@wally-001 I only have one Katana, so I have no idea either. Boss isn't very straight forward with their instructions. Might have to ask around in FB Katana groups.

@@Guitarnivore These don’t work on the Katana 50 but the do work on the Katana 50 EX!

@@Bronco2Cj I may not have stated that in this video, but I did in the video I mentioned at the beginning.

"Or better yet, in the Tone Studio, let the user assign the pedal to the switch. " I support this idea. How do we make it happen???

Or better yet, make your own...Roland is a business just like any business... profit matters a lot so updates come with a price..

Boss certainly doesn't make it easy and I bet gigging with this setup would be a lot of tap dancing. I wish I knew more about midi. It seems to be worth the prep work for those that get out and work with this amp.

I ended up selling the original and keeping the EX and I can definitely understand needing the different lights.

Is it still worth it if your only using 1 katana??

I borrowed my sons 50 mk2 and I did the stereo expand thing and it was awesome. But you're not really controlling both amps with the GA-FC. You're only controlling the 100 and sending it's signal through the 50. With the artist it's different. You can control two with one and it switches the channels in both of them, so you can have different sounds from different channels.

Can you use it on 50's 4 channels?

Pretty much. I ended up just selling the old GA-FC and holding in to the EX.

Yes. The older GAFC is compatible with everything but the 50 and 50 mk2.

Thank you@@Guitarnivore

That seems to be the consensus. I saw a guy on here that does amp repair and he had a 50Mk2 he was asked to repair and I think he ended up returning it to the customer because it would have cost more than the amp was worth.

Bro has a spare MKII 100 just laying around 💀

Bro got money😭

That's good to know. Kind of stupid that it doesn't on the pedal.

I think I can, but I'll have to wait until I get home tonight to be sure and if I have time, I'll make a video.

@@Guitarnivore cool thanks so much. Some specifics might help. Pretty sure it requires a non-latching foot switch to turn on and off the solo function most easily. Curious then how that plays out with a TRS vs TS cable?

I don't have simple foot switch right now, but I'll try using an actual expression pedal and see if it has on on/off function for up/down. The momentary FS-5U doesn't work with the Katana and I'm unsure if you can use any of the FS's with the GA-FC. All else fails, a $25 Nektar expression pedal will do the job if I can assign it to either solo on the panel or boost.

I ended up selling the original GA-FC in this video and keeping the EX...and I rarely use the extra features. Even with the old one, you can do just about the same things now, but without the lights changing color.

on the amp you can see the tap-tempo working, just not on the pedal.

Ahhhhh!

Where do you find this elusive GA-FC settings page in System? I'm running the latest version of Tone Studio and there isn't such a thing. I'm pretty fluent in Tone Studio and I've never seen it. Of course in "Assign" you can do a bunch of different things with expression pedals and assigning different knob functions to FX and whatnot. Unfortunately you can't change between boosts, unless you change the channel. It would be nice to be able to stack boosts though.

@@Guitarnivore Katana system version 2.0, Tone Studio 2.10. Wasn't available before then. Available on all 100W models, incl. the Artist. Don't know if it's available on 50W models, never had one to try. Go into the SYSTEM page where you can set the things like LINE OUT, GLOBAL EQ, etc. ... second up from the bottom on the LHS - GA-FC SETTING, above POWER CONTROL. I've only tried it on Mk2s never had a Mk1 to try, so can't comment on those.

@@kevinmcguinness1113 Holy shit! Apparently I missed that update in January. I've been running the September 2022 version thinking it was the latest. I didn't get the memo. I wonder how many other people are still running the 2.0? 🤘 Thanks!

@@Guitarnivore no problem, glad to help 👍. Great that BOSS keep introducing all this new functionality, but they're not good at documenting it or communicating it. I've found a lot of this stuff through either experimenting or word-of-mouth. These are so useful, especially playing live - I've got the BOOSTER SOLO ON/OFF and the power amp SOLO ON/OFF side by side on ch1 and ch2 switches, can turn both boosts on/off simultaneously with one foot if I need to. Got the PEDAL FX ON/OFF on ch3 to switch my expression pedal between VOLUME and the PEDAL FX (I use it as a wah, but could obviously also configure it as a whammy pedal). Shame about not being able to stack the effects inside a single patch. The KATANA AIR people can do it why can't BOSS ?

@@kevinmcguinness1113 I don't recall getting an email from Boss about the January update. I'll have to familiarize myself with it after work. One thing I wish they would do is create an update function where you can update your amp firmware and tone studio through the app. that would help out so many people and it would put more faith in this amp.

Unfortunately not. You're at the mercy of whatever the particular patch your use has on it. You can still cycle through it on the amp itself, but you would have to know which effects are in that group, as they can change from patch to patch and you can also set them up in tone studio. Another thing to mention, is that you can assign the buttons on the GA-FC now, wo when it's in FX mode, each button can do what ever you assign it to...but you still can't stack boosts or have more than two mods/delays at a time. And I agree, using two of them at the same time is too much. I sold the GA-FC and kept the EX.

@@Guitarnivore Thanks man! Good stuff. If you're gonna have one, the EX is the one to keep for sure. The primary thing that would get me to cough up for the EX is the ability to cycle through the effects. But I'll survive. First world problems! 🙂

@@divebomb99 From what I've heard, the GA-FC does the same thing as the EX (except for the extra foot switch/amp control). It just doesn't have fancy labels or different colored lights.

The foot switch is just a switch. The default assignments are the amp channels and the labeled fx. If you want to customize it, you have to go into tone studio under the systems menu and look for the GA-FC menu to customize it.

I wish I could tell you, but I have never had or used one, but I've heard good things about it.

@@Guitarnivore thanks anyway dude...think i'll get one,everything i've seen about it looks good so why not

@@darklight4815 I wasn’t going to get a Katana without a working PC. But with the Airstep Kat you can use the iPad or iPhone app to control the amp like Tone Studio which is huge! I think I’ll get the 50 MKII or 50 EX. I think there’s a used 50 MKII for like $99 I might pick up. Hopefully, I can just use that with my iPhone. How did the Airstep work out for you… is it awesome?!

@@greg6162 I don't know man,I'm still trying to decide if I should get it or not,so I never did order it...I'm not in a huge hurry for it but I'll update if I do end up getting it 🤘

I'm not sure I follow, but you can only use them like I showed. Together the EX changes channels and the regular one turns effects and sub-fx on and off. I tried using the EX to save a setting to the channel after I adjusted it, but it didn't work that way.

You can't, unfortunately.

I don't know. I haven't used it with both the 100 and artist together. Contact Boss/Roland support if it's not functioning as you think it should.

The RC-5 will have to go in the FX loop. As far as recording, you can record using USB. Just have to set it up in garage band or whatever your using and will probably have to monitor with headphones. I'm not familiar with Mac though. Search around a bit on KZfaq. There are great tutorials for recording to mac via usb.

@@Guitarnivore Thanks man... yeah apparently the new MacBook M2 doesn't have a USB-A port it's just USB-C basically. So I either have to buy a USB-B to USB-C cable for my Katana... or buy the USB multiport adapter that plugs into my MacBook Air and gives you a bunch of ports, like USB-A, SD/Micro-SD, HDMI etc. I'm not sure which option makes more sense. I used this at rehearsal yesterday and it was amazing just dialing in manually! My band loved the sound of it and our bass player is going to get the 100w SS/Fender Bass amp or the Boss SS-Bass amp. I just have a lot going on now but maybe tomorrow I'll go to best buy and get the adapter. Would love to check out the tones people have been sharing

@@greg6162 Awesome. You think it sounds good now, wait until you start playing with the parametric EQ. That's where the magic happens!

I completely agree!

💯. Been saying this for at least a couple of years 👍. You do get used to the GA-FC operation, but it's definitely clunky, the EX version even more so. Seems to be a half-baked approach for something crying out for a proper solution.

You have to adjust the preamp volume in tone studio to match them up. I'll take a look at the rest of your question a bit later and see if I can't wrap my head around it, but yeah, Boss doesn't make things simple.

Every time you change something in the patch, either via the front panel or the Tone Studio software, you need to save it. You can save it to the amp by long-pressing the channel button on the front panel, or in the Tone Studio using the WRITE button (top right).

No kidding!?! Just tried it out and no lights on the pedal either, just like the EX. 😆

@@Guitarnivore Mine doesn't light up either so it must be in the program. Maybe they will fix it if enough customers address the issue.

Yes it does!

You can adjust the solo button to use to toggle a boost or change the equation of your tone so it stands out from your rhythm tone. If you have the GAFC EX you can turn it on through the function as shown in this video. If you have the regular GAFC, you have to change the pedal fro. Channel mode to effects mode and hold the boost button to turn it on.

You think that's confusing, the instructions that originally came with it were so confusing that most of us had to figure out what it did on our own.

LOL - The GA-FC EX seems to be better thought out, but still needs improvement. It is $200 Cdn.

Hell yeah! I almost impulse bought a Katana Air yesterday, but my wallet stopped me and said, "Hey...we can't do this right now." 😆

It doesn't turn on the solo on the panel. It turns on the solo in the boost setting only. Strange, I know.

@@Guitarnivore So the solo boost in the red blinking mode and the boost in the green led mode are the same then? Not sure I get it

@@Baziell So if used alone without the standard GA-FC, green lights are just FX on/off. Long press the function button and when it's solid red, you can turn the sub-fx (the ones in the small white print) such as solo (within your boost), pedal FX, loop, etc. When the function light is out, it's used as the channel selector. Now when you're in the channel select function, you can long press the button of the channel you're in and it will turn on the panel boost. I feel like they could have made it a lot easier to use.

@@Guitarnivore ok, thanks for the explanation. Will try it out when I get home. More questions may follow 😅

@@Baziell no problem!

Unfortunately not. You can only set one boost per channel.

@@Guitarnivore Thanks for the video. On the gafc I'd gladly dump the dedicated delay into the mod or fx buttons and dedicate two switches to two different boosts.

@@mkrj2576 That would be convenient. What I do when I want something like that is set two channels with the same FX/settings and just different boosts.

@@Guitarnivore Agree. My main three presets are the same clean amp settings, and each preset just has a different boost.

@@mkrj2576 Here you go. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/a513qc-g3a2ql5s.html

It only works on the 50 mk2 EX and above.

According to Roland, it only works with the Mk 2.

@@Guitarnivore According to Sweetwater it is supposed to work. However, on receiving the new pedal and connecting it nothing happened with the GA-FC. I guess the sale rep is going to get a bad review and a return.

​@@user-yp1nd5nk1xhe said it would work with the Mk1?

@@Guitarnivore Yes, I specifically told the guy I owned a first generation Katana 100/212 and NOT the MKii. He did some looking up and came back with a definite "Yes" it would work using the GA-FC EX and linking the GA-FC.

@@user-yp1nd5nk1x oh wow. At least you should get free return.

In tone studio you can select what each button does from the Function settings. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/odh1qcKA0p2Vh4E.htmlsi=h0MSu0wVwZjTZxs6&t=131

So the footswitch doesn't save/store the tones. The amp stores them in the channels. So if you dial something in that you like, you can long press on of the channel buttons and it will save it to that channel. The foot switch simply switches between the channels and fx that are on the amp, similar to other guitar footswitches.

@@Guitarnivore so on the 50 mk2 ex, you have to use a computer to save tones 3 and 4? That amp only has 2 channel buttons on the top. You absolutely can not save from the Footswitch? By holding down # 3?

@@Guitarnivore do you have this amp? Can you go try it?

No. Holding down the footswitch buttons does not save a tone. If you long press from the footswitch it has its own functions. To switch between bank A (Channel 1 &2) and bank B (Chanel 3&4) from the panel, hold down the panel button and it changes from bank a to bank b. You can tell what bank you're in by the light on the panel button. When the panel button blinks, you're in bank b, when the light on the panel button is off, that's bank A. If you short press the panel button, it will light solid and you're in the panel channel, meaning whatever settings are on your panel (the top of the amp) is what you're going to hear. So essentially, once you program and save channels 1 and 2 in bank A and then 3 and 4 in bank B, you can program in a tone from the panel and leave it alone then have 5 different tones. I have the 100 mk2, but I'm familiar with the 50 and the basic panel functions are the same.

@@Guitarnivore ok,thanks. My basic question is this. On the mk 2,50 ex. Do I have to use a computer to save channel 3 and 4? Seems like you are saying yes,since I can not save from the Footswitch. That kinda sucks.

It sure can be!

That only works in double standby mode. 😉

@@Guitarnivore??? Sorry I don’t know what you mean, I just wish someone would just put up a post to demo a GA-FC with a blues cube artist showing how to use ALL functions ie how to get tremolo in clean boost mode.

@@col145 Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were making a joke or something. I never heard about the Blues Cube. I just had to look it up.