A Tale of Two Katana Boosts

In my previous Katana build I simply took out the parts for the charge pump, as I didn't currently have them in stock. I figured in the worst case scenario I could use an 18v power supply to get it where it needed to be. When I plugged everything in, I had one JFET that refused to work, but once it was swapped out I had a really nice two-stage boost. I still don't think it's on par with the genuine article, but it was a fun project. That being said, I still wanted to build one based strictly on the layout, so I ordered the parts and I set everything up.

While cutting the board it cracked across the entire top strip, so it looks a bit messy. There weren't too many parts affected, and they ended up working out just fine, thankfully. I did swap out the 2N5484s for J113s, because that's all I had. The one thing I found strange is the oddball JFETs I used in the 9v version didn't need biasing, they were already decently biased from the start. I did boost Q1 and Q2 to my liking, but with this second version it seems as if the JFETs knew they were supposed to be fed 18v from the charge pump, and required quite a bit of patience to bias properly. I like JFET circuits, but sometimes biasing can be a real pain in the ass.

Anyway, once they were biased I now have an 18v Katana clone. Does this one sound like the genuine article? *shrug* It sounds as close as I can get. I'm not running these through an expensive rig to test their full fidelity. I'm simply running them through a combo amp that farts out if pushed beyond 3 on the volume, just to make sure the circuits and their controls work properly. I do plan on buying two push/pull B250k pots for both the 9v and 18v versions, to give them a little more authenticity.

Being September, build season 2025 is coming to a close. I'm glad I didn't build as many circuits this year as I did in 2023 or 2024. I still have a handful of projects that need a parts order, so I know I'll have a few builds for next year. I hope the down shift in building continues in 2026, so I just build what I have, and maybe a few extras if something should pop up, but not going crazy like I did the previous two years. I keep saying this, and it never stops being true, but I need to focus on turning these circuits into actual pedals. Housings, inputs/outputs jacks, power input jacks, knobs, foot switches; all the things that make a circuit an actual pedal. I need to make all of my builds functional pedals. Then, that's when I get to use them!