Since it was released in 2022, the Line 6 Catalyst 100 has been my main gigging amp. And now, Line 6 has made some great upgrades. Meet the Catalyst CX 100.
Affiliate Links (Sweetwater):
Line 6 Catalyst CX 100: https://sweetwater.sjv.io/CatalystCX100
Line 6 Footswitch (highly recommended): https://sweetwater.sjv.io/Line6Footswitch
Line 6 Catalyst CX 100 Amp Cover: https://sweetwater.sjv.io/Catalyst100Cover
I’m someone who plays gigs with a lot of different performers (in a lot of different genres) throughout the year. As a result, I need a really versatile, robust amplifier. While I love my tube amps, I don’t feel great taking them to tons of gigs or on the road like I do a modeling amp like the Catalyst Line 6 amplifier family.
The Catalyst CX 100 is perfect for me. Not only do I get a wide bevy of amp modeler sounds, but I get two on-board presets and a manual mode. This means I can set up two amp sounds that will get me through 80% of my gigs, and fine-tune them for taste.
The Line 6 Catalyst CX 100 also frees up some room on my pedalboard. With built-in effects (reverb, delay, pitch, and modulation), I can take a smaller board to gigs or on the road, which is really helpful. After all, when you’re touring, even the tiniest space savers add up.
I don’t think all the onboard effects are equally useful—I favor reverb on one effect channel and delay, chorus, or tremolo on the other—but some of those pitch effects are downright awesome-sounding and I can imagine using them with the channel switcher (sold separately).
The Line 6 Catalyst CX 100 can also be used as a 4-in 4-out USB interface, which kind of blows my mind. It can send two processed and two unprocessed signals to your DAW of choice, which makes re-amping a breeze. Otherwise, to feel like you’re playing through an amp AND get a DI track, you have do use some fancy cabling techniques. That’s all well and good, but the solution provided by the Line 6 Catalyst CX 100 is way better.
You can also use the Catalyst software on a computer or smartphone to fine-tune tons of elements of the amp and (I believe) save even more presets to recall later.
Honestly, there’s so much going on with the Line 6 Catalyst CX 100 and it is SO useful. That it’s only $400 blows my mind. Huge thanks to Line 6 for sending me this and sponsoring my demo—I can’t wait to gig with it!