Which cabinet?

  • A lot of users got - as monitor - a ‘normal’ cabinet and not a ‘FRFR’ cabinet for the Kemper.


    What’s your experience with ‘normal’ cabinets (positive and negative things)


    What will you recommend (design: 1x12, 2x12 or 4x12 / open/close / brand)?


    Why should I choose a 'normal' cabinet instead of a FRFR cabinet (or the reverse)?

  • There's a lot of discussions about the pros/cons of FRFR vs. cabs here in the forum which are worthwhile to read up.
    My opinion in a nutshell:
    1. To get the best out of the Profiler try to do the paradigm shift and try DECENT FRFR cabs (not cheap ones).
    2. If you don't like it (even with Pure Cab fully on) play through the cab that in real life you like most. That is, if you have been a head/4x4" guy >> choose a 4x12", if you're into smallish Fender amps >> go 1x1". Note that all the profiles you use will be coloured heavily by your cab choice, so choose wisely.

  • Hi!


    I recently sold my Atomic CLR and now I'm using a 2x12 ported Fuchs cabinet. I couldn't get used to the tone of the CLR when playing with a band where the other guitarist and the bassist were both using big amps.


    The tone through PA was perfect but my tone on stage and during rehearsals was thin compared with the rest of the band. Now, I'm using merged profiles and the 2x12 cab as a monitor while sending the whole profile (with cab) to PA.


    Saludos!

  • I'm happy with a Bogner Shiva 1x12 guitar cab with a Classic 80 Celestion speaker.
    I use a Kemper power rack/
    Also good sounding to me is a Bogner OS 212 Cab with one Classic 80 and one Vintage 30 speaker
    "Cab sim" is Off on monitor out, and cab Sim on main outs is a 'locked " Marshall Green from Baldringer because it comes very close to the Bogner cabs.
    Sounds very good on stage ( for yourself that is.)
    I also used two Yamaha DXR10 monitors as FRFR and for me that's a close second choice, better for all round use and closer to the PA sound but a bit less satisfying for myself as stage sound

    Edited 2 times, last by Dorrus ().

  • one of my conclusions is that good sound is easier to achieve through regular guitar cabs, less EQ noodling. when in a band, you are not looking for many sounds. so it's easier to achieve a proper sound through a cab and here you go. when playing on your own, you may wanna try them all. I really love many sounds of my KPA whether I am playing good old R'nR, blues, clean or raw stuff. I am narrowing the number of rigs I play but still just at hearing one, I can start playing 30mins something that sounds great with it.

  • ... if you have been a head/4x4" guy >> choose a 4x12", if you're into smallish Fender amps >> go 1x1". Note that all the profiles you use will be coloured heavily by your cab choice, so choose wisely.


    Ingolf means 1x12".


    Here's the way I see it FWIMBW:


    1) If you're happy to run any amp you buy IRL through a single, favourite cab, that's the cab for you.


    2) If you prefer to match your cabs to specific heads, purchasing and using them all (the cabs) isn't worth it and you'd be better off using Kemper Rig cabs or 3rd-party IRs.


    The big "gotcha" with option 1 IMHO is that in order to record or reproduce your sound live, you've still got to mic that thing up as the cab's integral to the final sound (no point sending a cab-less sound to the FOH), hence inviting all the attendant pitfalls including phase issues, feedback problems caused by others on stage, acoustic shortcomings of venues (each will influence your sound differently through room modes, differing absorptive properties and so on), and bleeding of other instruments into your "sacred" (!) tone.


    At least option 2 provides for your being able to monitor on stage exactly what's being sent to the FOH, and all influences such as those outlined which negatively affect your tone are 100% eliminated.


    Given the way I see this, I'd get used to a decent FRFR cab and possibly feed a little into a personal wedge or IEM system in order to cover scenarios where you find yourself further away from your stack than you'd like.

  • Well, I've got salmonella poisoning. Was up all night sweating etc... and it occurred to me that I've given faulty advice, probably 'cause I was aching all over at the time and nauseous, having just returned from the "big meal".


    I'm not 100% sure, but "scenario 1" should allow one to send a "non-cabbed" signal from the KPA's monitor out to the chosen cab on stage, whilst a "cabbed" one could be sent via the main outs to the FOH. Obviously the FOH feed wouldn't exactly reflect the stage sound even if the rig used a modelled-cab equivalent to the physical one being employed on stage, but at least it would eliminate the pitfalls I outlined in that post.


    Sorry for the confusion; my aim after all was to try to distil this set of options into something simple for the OP to consider.

  • Im using 2 CLR's in the studio and they have tone to the bone for me with out much if any eq or noodling frequencies. But then Im not playing at 110 decibels knocking over small cars so my way may not be for those needing a wall of sound.

    If you use FRFR the benefit of a merged profile is that the cabinet is totally separated in the profile.


    For my edification only... ;) Kemper/Axe-FX III/ Quad Cortex user

  • Monkey_Man, hope you feel better. I got it one time and was up sick every hour almost all night long. When I finally woke up in the morning, I felt fantastic. :P


    For what it's worth, I didn't like the sound of my homemade 2x12 cabinet but I replaced the speakers and now I really like it with the Kemper!