KPA with Mesa Boogie 50/50

  • Anyone run their kemper with a power amp? I've heard the saying " you're sound is as good as your weakest gear" and have always heard good things about the Mesa 50/50. Anyone have experience with a 50/50?

    Kemper rack mount. Mesa Boogie 50/50. Zilla Fatboy 2x12.
    Caparison Dellinger II FX-WM. Caparison Dellinger 7 FX-WM. Spector Q5 Pro.

  • Anyone run their kemper with a power amp? I've heard the saying " you're sound is as good as your weakest gear" and have always heard good things about the Mesa 50/50. Anyone have experience with a 50/50?

    Man, go for it!
    So, I tell you: I normally run my KPA through the power section of an Engl Ironball (20 W), I like it very much, fat, warm and punchy. About a month ago a friend of mine bought a Mesa 50/50 and I picked it up for him, then he came to my place for picking it up in turn, and we tried it together. It soooo kicked ass! Wrt the Ironball, it maybe a tad bit colder (I guess because it was less driven, being a 50 W) but it was still fat, punchy, and so surgically precise! Seriously, definition was awesome. Only thing I would warn you about: the fan is a bit noisy, if you use it at home you might find it a bit annoying. In a practice room it'd be perfect though (and in fact, I am thinking to get one myself ;) )

  • That's great! I was a tad worried because I'd been hearing most people went for solid state power amps, took a leap of faith with buying a 50/50 thinking its reputation would be up to normal Mesa standard. Just need to get a cab sorted now!

    Kemper rack mount. Mesa Boogie 50/50. Zilla Fatboy 2x12.
    Caparison Dellinger II FX-WM. Caparison Dellinger 7 FX-WM. Spector Q5 Pro.

  • That's great! I was a tad worried because I'd been hearing most people went for solid state power amps, took a leap of faith with buying a 50/50 thinking its reputation would be up to normal Mesa standard. Just need to get a cab sorted now!

    I also hear great things about solid state power amps...but I don't feel that way. I have a Powerhead but I use a tube poweramp, and - at least for going to a guitar cabinet - there is no comparison. The solid state poweramp sounds thin, cold and sterile to me. Not only, I found that deviations (that is, changing parameters, most of all eq) from original profile setting shows makes the profiles sound much more artificial than it would through a tube poweramp.
    I hope I won't get bashed for this confession :P

  • Last year (before to buy my Atomic Amps CLRs) I used my KPA with a Mesa 20/20. The cab was a Marshall 1936V.
    They sounded great. I think that your Mesa 50/50 will not sound worse than my 20/20. ;)

  • I have to also agree with "solid state power amps make my Kemp sound thin and sterile"opinion. At least my Carvin 1000 and Matrix GT500 do. But I have no idea, if at all, a tube poweramp sounds better...so I'm trying to get my hands on one these days and try it out.


    CH

    Oh, man, do. Night and day, really. Of course I can't grant for every solid state power amp out there, and even less for each tube poweramp, but with respect to the KPA integrated poweramp, both tube poweramps I tried were miles ahead.

  • I run mine through a Marshall 50/50 into a 4x12 and it flippin rocks. I prefer it to the sound of my mates Axe fx 2 which he runs through Atomic CLR's.
    Havent tried FRFR myself as I love the sound I get from my Amp/Cab setup... (although I do send the main outs with cab on to the PA).


    cheers
    Mike

  • Of course rigs need to be tweaked differently. When an audio subsystem is linear enough, it allows the sound device to operate at its full potential. So the colouring, the tube type, the sagging, the overall frequency response have to be sought/built in the device. Getting good results under this respect implies realizing how the sound is built and how the various controls affect it.


    Now, of course "SS" doesn't equal "linear". The less an amp is linear, the less it will let the Profiler show what it can do. Honestly, some amps just sound crap. LOL

  • In my experience: solid state poweramps will sound very good when they have enough (and I mean plenty of) headroom. If they don't they crap out.
    Tube poweramps will tend to go into some nice compression when reaching their limit and therefore don't exhibit that behaviour.


    The whole linearity discussion is of course another business ... ;)

  • In my experience: solid state poweramps will sound very good when they have enough (and I mean plenty of) headroom. If they don't they crap out.
    Tube poweramps will tend to go into some nice compression when reaching their limit and therefore don't exhibit that behaviour.


    The whole linearity discussion is of course another business ... ;)

    Ingolf, I doubt the headroom was the problem in my case. I played both SS and tube poweramps at home at a decent level, loud enough to be surprised that noone in the rest of the building has knocked at my door to complain ( :P ) but still not even close to reaching the wattage limit - least of all the 600W of the KPA poweramp! Now, SS is supposed to respond the same way to whichever input until it's too loud, and then it craps out, yeah. But you hear it crapping out, you can't mistake it for any tonal characteristic of the poweramp. So I still stand by my opinion that tube amp - again, for use with guitar cab, maybe not for PA systems; and also, those I tried, not necessarily everyone - wins hands down over SS.

  • I get what you mean, but in this case I'd say that the SS was simply not sounding good.
    Because by definition, the profiler which contains the whole signal chain incl. poweramp compression (if you choose the rigs accordingly) only needs a poweramp AS NEUTRAL as possible to sound THE BEST as possible.
    If you say that the coloration of a tube amp betters the perceiving of your tone one could say then your tone wasn't yet there in the first place. ;)

  • In my experience: solid state poweramps will sound very good when they have enough (and I mean plenty of) headroom. If they don't they crap out.
    Tube poweramps will tend to go into some nice compression when reaching their limit and therefore don't exhibit that behaviour.


    The whole linearity discussion is of course another business ... ;)


    Well, if you want to hear what the Profiler is outputting, and be able to tweak from there, it's all about linearity, isn't it? :)
    If I want compression I want to be able to tweak it in the Profiler. As I see it, if one can't get said compression with a linear amp, either they don't know how to use their device or the device doesn't sound like a tube amp.


    Now, my point is that not all SS amps are linear (= good, when using a high-end modeller).


    IOW, I fully agree with your last post :D

  • I have Mesa Two Ninety, running stereo to an Egnater cab (4 X 12 celestion Vintage 30`s speakers). It sounds amazing both with KPA or AXE FXII. But a lot better with KPA, in my opinion and considering I play 7 string guitar mostly, and metal/rock stuff. I also sounds really great on another amp I have, that is the Line 6 Spider Valve, a Bogner project, and, to be honest, I even prefer using the line 6. I run mono on Line 6 and it has 1 vintage 30s speaker only. But really loud. Also, I tried with my old buddy Rocktron Velocity 120, solid state power amp, that I have for more than 10 years and used a lot together with Marshall JMP1. Not good at all, compared to those valve power amps. And I used those same cabs above (Egnater and Line 6 ones).


    The problem I see with Mesa is that it is TOO heavy and takes some 30 min for the valves to get to the point. With Line 6, I don`t take that care, it is lighter even with the cab and it is MUCH cheaper.


    Maybe the Line 6 Spider Valve with two speakers (212, I guess), would be perfect. Mesa is really heavy, big and I tend to not play with it at all. Line 6 valve gives me the power I need and sounds just amazing.


    Hope it is not too late for the answer and that helps you. :thumbup: