Anyone up for the 'add on' amplifier

  • In a video review some time ago Mr Kemper mentioned he may develop a power amp to slot into the slot at the rear of the KPA.
    Im hoping this arrives quite soon as it will make setup of my rig a breeze (I still prefer to use a power amp/cab).
    Anyone else who would go for the Kemper power amp?

  • Hi everybody !


    My first post here..


    Im not a Kemper owner at least yet (maybe in the future), while i think it seems to be a real breakthrough product and seem to sound very good, im missing some features mainly effects like octave, whammy and slicer effect that i normally use and also good midi control over effects.
    Currently i use a Boss GT-pro that i bought when it was released and it has served me well and while it is somewhat of a pain to tweak to get a good amp sound out of it, i have succeded in doing that and it works well both for live and recording through my mesa 20/20 tube poweramp, but it is really not very for direct recording of distorted sounds. The GT-pro has virtually all effects from Boss pedals ever made and with a ridiculous amount of control through midi (ca 500 CC parameters), so it is quite hard to beat in that department and that is what i wish that the Kemper could be better at.


    Sorry for going slightly OT here, but i thought i might as well make a small introduction of some sort while doing this post.


    As for the amp module, i think it seems great and i actually was going to comment on it in the other thread, but im not allowed to since im not a Kemper owner.
    I really like that it is lightweight and made to fit inside the Kemper, i am however a bit concerned about the power output (2x250W ) and the lack of any kind of volume control or power limiting switch (or something), i wouldnt want to turn my vintage 70´s greenbacks into confetti by misstake, these speakers are only 25watts a piece as you might know and in fact even most modern 4x12´s are not rated to handle 500 watts (Marshall 1960 rated 300w for example). 2x250 watts might be fitting for FRFR PA speakers and such though, but for guitarspeakers it might be a problem.

  • I'm for it....a feature I'd like is some sort of attenuator, so it would be useful at bedroom practice level.

    By adjusting the output volume knob you get the same useful low bedroom tones if you play a 1000w, 500w or 100w solid state amp.
    With ss amps it's desirable to have a LOT of power = headroom left, so you stay as far as possible away from clipping the amp. A tube power amp can be pushed, and it's the opposite with an ss amp.
    SS clipping is never good so avoid it with more w power and headroom.
    It's always a good reminder to be careful about volume levels so ears or speakers don't blow up.

  • The volume needs to be adjusted on both units as they work together.
    It's good to set the output (kemper or other preamp) below the level of clipping the input of the poweramp.
    Then adjust the poweramp to any desired volume, depending on what the speakers can handle. A big watt ss amp with a lot of headroom can handle both bedroom and big stages while a low w ss only bedroom playing or smaller stages.

  • By adjusting the output volume knob you get the same useful low bedroom tones if you play a 1000w, 500w or 100w solid state amp.
    With ss amps it's desirable to have a LOT of power = headroom left, so you stay as far as possible away from clipping the amp. A tube power amp can be pushed, and it's the opposite with an ss amp.
    SS clipping is never good so avoid it with more w power and headroom.
    It's always a good reminder to be careful about volume levels so ears or speakers don't blow up.


    I agree that you need the headroom, but you also need to be able to protect your speakers from being blown by a 2x250 watt amp (or 500 mono) plugged into in my case a vintage 4x12 speaker with a total of 100 watt mono power handling or even my quite new stereo 2x12 cab with V30´s (60 watts each = 120 watts) that is why it needs some sort of volume control in case your volume is set incorrectly on the KPA or something. I would really hate to have my old vintage 70´s greenbacks blown, not that i would be glad to have the V30´s destroyed either, but they are easily replaced at least.


    In a live situation i often use the "in house" speaker cabinets that are often Marshall 1960 4x12 cabs and not even them are rated for 2x250 watts.

  • [QUOTE] agree that you need the headroom, but you also need to be able to protect your speakers from being blown by a 2x250 watt amp (or 500 mono) plugged into in my case a vintage 4x12 speaker with a total of 100 watt mono power handling or even my quite new stereo 2x12 cab with V30´s (60 watts each = 120 watts) that is why it needs some sort of volume control in case your volume is set incorrectly on the KPA or something. I would really hate to have my old vintage 70´s greenbacks blown, not that i would be glad to have the V30´s destroyed either, but they are easily replaced at least. [QUOTE]



    I know where you're from. For less eperienced users, it could be useful to underline that a 100 W amp desn"t output 100 watt if not in extraordinary cases, that is when all its corcuitry is working at high settings and you feed it with a robust and impulsive signal.
    Many are astonished at discovering how low a power a guitar amp outputs during normal (and *loud*!) use... normally, between 3 and 15 watt in this case.


    Hope this gives a useful perspective to some users :)

  • I know where you're from. For less eperienced users, it could be useful to underline that a 100 W amp desn"t output 100 watt if not in extraordinary cases, that is when all its corcuitry is working at high settings and you feed it with a robust and impulsive signal.
    Many are astonished at discovering how low a power a guitar amp outputs during normal use... normally, between 5 and 20 in this case. And it"s *loud*!


    Hope this gives a useful perspective to some users :)


    Yeah, i for example use the 2x20 watts mesa 20/20 tube poweramp and its about as loud as a 50 watt guitar head ( i do own an old 50 watt Marshall head actually), so thats quite enough for me and most other people im certain.
    Tube amps are usually louder than solidstate though, but 500 (2x250) watts solid state sounds ridiculous for guitar really if that is real RMS watts and not the inflated "watts" that is quite common when it comes to homeelectronics .


    Note ,im not saying you are calling me less experienced, but i just want to make clear that i have quite a bit experience in both guitarplaying and electronics after playing guitar for 30 years and working in electronics for 25 years. :)

  • Hey, no problem! What I'm saying is that when you use a 100 W amp at a loud volume it's actually outputting a very low power (compared to its nominal output power). So that you can use an amp with a loudspeaker rated for a much less wattage as long as you do not open the Master volume all the way up *and* hit the strings very strong :)