The BOSS Nextone Stage 40 is billed as ‘combining classic tube sound and feel with next-generation tonal diversity’, but does it live up to that promise?
I’ve spent the last 6 months putting the BOSS Nextone Stage 40 through its paces in a variety of scenarios, and in this BOSS Nextone review, here are 10 things I’ve discovered it most definitely isn’t. This includes some comparisons with its most obvious competitor: BOSS’s own Katana 50.
1. The BOSS Nextone Stage 40 is not as versatile as the BOSS Katana 50.
As a twin-channel amp with delay, reverb, tremolo and a single adjustable preset (more on that later), the BOSS Nextone Stage 40 can’t compete with the multi-channel, multi-amp modelling, multi-fx of the BOSS Katana 50. Also, the Nextone can only use GA-FC footswitch functionality, even with GA-FC ex hardware.
2. The BOSS Nextone Stage is not cool or desirable.
The name, looks and branding are not in the same league as the BOSS Katana, which holds the enviable position of being sexy, desirable, and affordable. What we get here is plain and rudimentary.
3. The BOSS Nextone Stage 40 is not cheap.
We are looking at just under £300 for a BOSS Katana Gen3 vs just under £500 for the Nextone, which is 10W less powerful and has fewer features. That’s not only a big jump for a questionable upgrade, it also puts the BOSS Nextone Stage 40 perilously close to ‘real’ tube amps, for example, the Marshall DSL40C.
4. BOSS Nextone review: It’s not light.
At 13.4kg, the BOSS Nextone Stage 40 is almost 2kg heavier than the BOSS Katana 50, which, to labour the point, is the louder, more feature-rich amp.
5. It’s not easy to dial in.
Probably the real deal-breaker for many: The BOSS Nextone Stage 40, unlike the BOSS Katana 50 Gen3, has no mobile app and no Bluetooth, which means you’ll need a laptop to properly dial it in. The flexibility doesn’t work in practice, as we all know, amplifiers will sound different depending on the context. Who wants to take a laptop to a gig? The best you can do with the BOSS Nextone Stage 40 is make a mental note of the tweaks you need to make at a gig, apply those changes at home, test, and repeat. That’s just not going to happen.
6. The BOSS Nextone Stage 40 is not unique.
Although it’s marketed as something new and ‘more professional’, the BOSS Nextone Stage 40 still uses BOSS’s TubeLogic technology as found in the BOSS Katana and Roland Blues Cube series, so what are you paying the extra for? It’s not more features, it’s not higher wattage, it’s not even noticeably better build quality.
7. It’s not easily adjusted from the front panel.
On powering up the BOSS Nextone Stage 40 for the first time, you are greeted with the factory preset: an extremely bass-heavy clean channel you can apply a clean boost to, and a bluesy, spiky lead channel that is not to my taste at all. This takes up the first of the two available presets, each with a clean and lead channel and which will return to its factory state when you power off, regardless of any tweaks you made to the front panel. Yes, Really.
So this leaves you with one other (and the only) customisable preset where the changes are persisted after powering off. The problems are, as mentioned earlier, you will need a laptop to do deep editing, plus the EQ is shared so that any changes made on the clean channel affect the lead channel and vice versa. This is expected on a traditional amp, but surely not a modelling one. Another strange design decision, and again, inferior to the BOSS Katana system of being able to set things up and write the preset back from the front panel.
Yes, you are reading this right, there is no write button on the BOSS Nextone Stage 40 front panel at all!
8. The BOSS Nextone Stage 40 is not a bona fide standalone two-channel amp.
Given the reasons in the previous point of this BOSS Nextone review, this amp is not practical as a live, twin-channel amp, as you don’t have enough customisation at your fingertips. This is especially true if, like me, you want to set up a heavily overdriven rhythm channel and a louder, even more driven lead channel. In this context, the very clean channel needs one of the built-in overdrives/distortions, or failing that, pre-amp reconfiguration. Once you’re happy with that, do the same with the lead channel. This is painful, and you’ll always have the uncertainty that if you get it wrong, you’ll need the laptop again to fix it.
Also, let’s not forget that the BOSS Nextone Stage 40 clean channel consists of a single gain control.
The BOSS Nextone Stage 40 also adds numerous layers of EQ to confuse the issue further:
- Front panel amp EQ
- Pre pre amp EQ.
- Post pre amp EQ.
- Power amp EQ.
- Global EQ.
In fact, the only way this could work as a plug and play twin channel amp, is by chance you like the clean / lead setting of preset 1 or 2. That’s a big if, and wasn’t the case in my experience.
9. The BOSS Nextone Stage 40 is not a multi-amp modeller.
The Nextone swaps out the front-panel pre-amp selector of the BOSS Katana for a power amp one, which is what BOSS says makes it unique. In practice, the pre-amp selector of the BOSS Katana series affords you far greater control and flexibility, whereas the BOSS Nextone provides subtler variation on the tone for 6L6, 6V6, EL84 and EL34 power amp types. The other difference is that these are actual discrete hardware power amps with modelling control….
… but let’s take a step back and a couple of points.
- Power amp variations are subtle. For example, the 6V6 (Small Fender) has the least headroom before breakup, the 6L6 (Twin) is the cleanest with the most headroom, the EL84 (Vox) has low headroom and chime, and the EL34 (Marshall) has the second-highest headroom with a midrange punch. In other words, if you are unhappy with your core tone, the power amp selector won’t fix that, unless you radically change the EQ signature of the power amp in the app.
- Aren’t all power amps a physical thing?
10. It’s not consistent.
I was hoping that I could at least rely on the BOSS Nextone Stage 40 as, effectively, a power amp for my Ampero Mini Modeller using the FX return, but alas, I’ve experienced thermal compression towards the end of gigs where it loses punch and volume. I’m looking into this as we speak.
Conclusion.
What and who is the BOSS Nextone Stage 40 for? If you want a simple-to-operate two-channel amp, there are better amps out there. If you want the flexibility and switching of a modeller, get a BOSS Katana. To me, the BOSS Nextone Stage 40 seems like a jack of all trades that can’t do any of the individual tasks particularly well, or an inferior implementation of a box to house modelling software.
Plus sides? Despite everything I’ve said, it can turn its hand to many applications, given the time and effort, it’s loud enough to gig with, it has the emulated line-out (which the BOSS Katana 50 doesn’t), and, because it looks like BOSS have put all it’s eggs in the BOSS Katana basket, I was able to pick one up for £150 and get gigging!
Ultimately, I want to be able to use physical knobs to change amp settings and not have to get into the 0s and 1s of digital configuration, especially when I need to hook up a laptop to do it. I have no doubt the BOSS Nextone Stage 40 can sound great, but I don’t have the time and patience to find out.
I hope you enjoyed my BOSS Nextone review. If you’ve had a better experience with the BOSS Nextone Stage 40 (or not), please drop me a comment below.