This is an A/B class power which is supposed to be better than class D, but I'm not too familiar with all that. All I care about is having a great practise amp while having a plethora of effects to choose from so I never really need to buy any pedals as of right now.
For instance they designate it as Katana-110 which is fine since it is a 1x10" combo amp but they also add that it produces 110 watts at peak output but it's true wattage measured of continuous output is actually 60w. That in itself is nothing to be ashamed of in a small combo amp. I've done plenty of rehearsals and even unplugged gigs with 60-75w 110 and 112 bass amps.
It's a bit like the 100w Katana head I had. It wasn't at all shy on output but it's 100w isn't the same as 100w from a hot rod tube amp and to say that it was equal to that I feel is incorrect. But marketing will always win this battle for as long as other manufacturers do the same. It's easier to go with the flow than to make attempts to educate buyers about the realities of a given design.
Long before Behringer bought then TC Electronic produced two incredible bass heads, an RH450 and the RH750 I owned. While TC never claimed they produced 450w and 750w that was implied enough so that buyers believed that's what they were getting. When the amps were bench tested and it was found both used the same 238w power module the shit hit the fan.
How TC designed them to produce output equivalent to 450w and 750w was by eliminating a need to amplify sub frequencies that were unheard but would consume massive amounts of wattage anyway. Previous to this I'd owned a TCBG250 115 Combo where the same technology was used. Loudest 250w amp I ever played that much I do know.
The technology worked quite well since I never had to turn the master of the BG250 to more than noon to 1 o'clock in a 7 piece blues and r&b band and at 9 o'clock (roughly 2-3 on the master) through a 2x12 cab that RH750 was already at full gig volume for a four piece rock band and way to loud to play at that level in my apartment. It had a big sound.
But I get it. There's no way TC could've said that BG250 had a power module that produced half the 250w advertised wattage or their RH450 and RH750 used 238w power modules and anyone would believe they could produce the equivalent of amps with that kind of true output. The long term problem though was it killed sales of those amps altogether and they were very good amps.
IMHO it's a shame companies have to play games with numbers but until someone comes out with a standard everyone has to follow I guess it'll remain this way. My concern is not with smaller practice type amps but with larger more powerful ones where players have to drive an amp hard to get the volume they need because their 500w or 800w amp isn't actually producing 500w-800w.
There's a reason why so many 300w SVT amps and 8x10 cabs backline shows. They're loud and virtually indestructible.
