Who tried it? Kemper Powerhead + Passive FRFR Loudspeaker

Ask Lance. He hates the powerProfiler through a guitar cab

On a serious note, are you thinking of a FRFR or rather a guitar cab?

Lance, are you reading this?

Beyma 12GA50
monacor sp-30patc

I'm tearing my hair out right now.

However, he's asking about a PASSIVE speaker, not a powered FRFR.

gui7arhero
Obviously, try a passive speaker, not an active FRFR with a made in China poweramp built in, you already have the best Class D poweramp money can buy.

I think a passive CLR will sound very well with your powerhead. On the paper(*) it's the best-sounding piece of gear you might want, even tho it won't sound as good as an active CLR

(*) Courtesy of Ingolf

There it is (again), the famous mantra...

Many of us have the non-powered Kemper, so we can't speak from experience. Is there a music store near you that sells PA speakers and floor monitors? If so, go there, take the Kemper, and try the ones they have. Make sure each one you try can handle all that power before you try it

Start with the ones that have one 10" speaker with a horn - there is a lot of love for powered monitors with that size speaker, so the passive ones may be fine, too. If they sound too small, move up to 12", and maybe 15".

Beyma 12GA50 and an old Lopoline 1X12 cab.

Also found that an old Carvin V212 2x12 cab I had lying around, with the older GS-75 speakers, sounds great with the Powerhead. Will be gigging with it tonight with the louder of my two bands, using my IEMs in addition to maintain clarity, the bassist is loud as hell.

I went to matrix at their home base in Monmouth and tried a host of their cabs, bought a super lightweight nl 4, a 12 inch 60 watt cab with a huge sound and you can carry it with 2 fingers!

It absolutely sings with my powered toaster

It's not true frfr, but does have a wider range than a traditional cab, does it for me

Quote from andrewwarne

I went to matrix at their home base in Monmouth and tried a host of their cabs, bought a super lightweight nl 4, a 12 inch 60 watt cab with a huge sound and you can carry it with 2 fingers!

It absolutely sings with my powered toaster

It's not true frfr, but does have a wider range than a traditional cab, does it for me

Do you mean the nl12 ? Did you use it with cab sim on or off?

Sorry, yes I do, nl12, it's best with the cab sim off, opens up the sound

There are a few higher gain sounds that take on an interesting character with the cab sim on as an alternative, but that's a tone choice, not an accurate recreation of what I hear through my studio monitors, just different, but the vast majority are much better with the cab sim off

For gigs I save my selection as new profiles with cabs off

I didn't get the chance to try loads of other cabs by other manufacturers, I had tried some powered monitors before I traded up to the powered unit, and did play quite a few different ones at their factory using my kemper, really impressive

For me the great range, sheer portability, it's lighter than the kemper!, and ease of use, just plonk the kemper on top, plug in, and you have the widest live rig you can ever imagine, sold it to me

I am on the same way (powerhead + NL12) too. Sound very good in the band mix, sort of PA-ish, very clear.
I turn the presence in the monitor eq a bit down (-1 dB), sounds better to me. Enough loud with acoustic drumms.
I use the Deeflexx Aura with the cab, works very well!

I like very much how Powerhead sounds with the normal guitar cab. I played it with few different cabs, and of course the cabs color the sound, but it sounds always good. (Diezel Oversized RL closed 2 x Mesa V30, Koch RL closed 2 x Mesa V30, Custom Audio FL closed 2 x 12 - Mesa V30 + Creamback).

At the rehearsal volume level I prefer the NL12 – clear, sit well in the mix, at home a guitar cab – more "normal" sound, woodier, but NL12 sounds good too.

You can hear/see what sort of music we play: http://www.groundcollapse.com

Well, the problem with such a solution, apart from it not being FRFR as gui7arHero was asking, is that by switching cabs off you end up relying exclusively on your physical cab, which is (tone-wise) exactly the opposite of going the FRFR way when you want to faithfully hear the profiles' sound.

A profile with cabs off will sound way different from the original mic'ed amp, regardless the cab you use, since the cab represent a great amount of a rig's sound.
Not that one can't like it of course, but it seems this is not what g7h was after.

Can anyone tell me definitely for sure 100% which Ice1000 is in the Powerhead? The bandwidth of the Ice1000A is only about 3 kHz into 8 ohms, whereas the Ice1000ASP has a BW of around 30 kHz into 8 ohms (check the data sheets) which seems to me to be what is needed forFRFR capability. Seems to me the Ice1000A 3 kHz BW is just too low.

Using a Matrix Q12, excellent !

My powerrack certainly sounds great through a Mesa OS 4x12 cab, but I am also interested in finding a passive FRFR-type solution for easy transportation etc.

However, I am confused with the speakon connectors that many (all?) of the passive PA speakers have. The Kemper powerrack has a 1/4'' speaker output jack, so I am wondering if an adapter cable is sufficient or do I need to consider other aspects as well (bi-amping, number of pins, physical compatibility etc)?

This is a cheapo solution I would like to try out, but the manual says that one should only use "Speakon cables (type NL4FC)" -- Behringer B1220 Eurolive Pro: http://www.thomann.de/fi/behringer_b1220_eurolive_pro.htm

Could someone clarify the use of passive PA speakers (with speakon jacks) in conjunction with the built-in power amp?

AFAIK, speakon is just a plug shape, not a kind of connection. Many speakon sockets also accept standard 1/4" plugs. For those which don't, you can buy a simple 1/4" / speakon cable, or just an adapter. Cable wires are the same. Since speakon is a more robust connection mechanically speaking, the former will give something more in terms of reliability.

HTH

I totally get the point about the difference between monitored speakers using the amp and cab sounds, and amp only through my nl12, and for recording it's amazing to have so much available options, but in a live situations my needs are rather simpler, and I can get the best mix of rock, blues and clean tones using the kemper and nl12

I don't want or need to be changing sounds every song, but with a sonic palette of maybe 5 profiles can run the range from clean to billy gibbons beautifully, that this amazing tool can do both is more than enough for a passionately average guitarist like me

But surely the point as well is that it can satisfy me, and also be huge enough to satisfy the more discerning and professional players like yourself