Mission KM-212P

  • OK. A little premature for full review, but WOW! I just pulled the trigger on a Kemper Power Head, Kemper Footswitch, Mission EP1-KP Expression Pedal and a Mission KM-212P. Received it all yesterday. Needless to say, I am very impressed by this set up. It is my first foray into the modeling world. I can tell you that after playing traditional amps my whole life, having a real cab like the KM-212P makes me feel at home. I did trying a number of FRFR powered cabs (I own two powered wedge monitors and powered mains I use for small gig PA). I just couldn't jive as well with the tweeter presence and HI-Fi sound of the powered wedges and/or mains. I much prefer The Mission KM-212P. This cab still retains the high end for use with, say.. clean fender profiles, but really gives up the goods when you run dirty Tweed, Marshall, Bogner, /13 etc... profiles. I play mostly low to mid gain vintage sounds. I definitely prefer the cab sims on, and I hear the difference when switching profiles of the same amp through a different cab/speaker. The vintage rocker in me is satisfied with a slant 2x12 cab and huge authentic 4x12 sound of the KM-212P, and the modern guitarist in me loves the versatility of the Kemper. Best of all worlds IMHO. First show with the Kemper is Saturday. I will report back and upload a clip. I plan to run the cab on stage and also run a feed to FOH. Best thing about the Kemper is the separate EQ for these two application so I can dial back the presence to FOH and keep my killer KM-212P sound dialed in on stage! I need a 1x12 version of this cab for super small gigs/grab-n-go. More to come...

  • Thanks for the review and welcome to the forum. I have a PowerHead as well and use the Mission Gemini 1-P with very satisfying results. Many of us here have looked at the KM-212P but have had very little to go by in comparisons, sound samples, etc. Any chance at posting a video or comparison for those eager to know?

  • Nice write up. I was one who desperately wanted the KM-212P to be the final piece to my sonic puzzle. I just couldn't pull the trigger without some real world user feedback. In the mean time I picked up a Xitone 212P. I'm quite happy with it, but saving a few bucks would have been nice.

  • Maybe an odd question, but is it possible to mic the KM-212 to record it? I would consider blending the mic/main out signal for a bigger sound. Are the speakers facing forward like a regular cab? Is it too loud for a small studio/bedroom setup?

  • Maybe an odd question, but is it possible to mic the KM-212 to record it? I would consider blending the mic/main out signal for a bigger sound. Are the speakers facing forward like a regular cab?

    Yes, it is a traditional 2x12 with an extended frequency response. Basically you can use it with cabs both on and off and mic it like any other cab.

  • Do you have any other FRFR solution for which to compare? If you're unlikely to be around the Los Angeles area I may be able to help.

  • Well, someone must be buying these things because everywhere I see says out of stock for the green one. I know Mission doesn't put cabs out as fast as they selling right now. I contacted them about Gemini 2p availability and was told that it would be a few weeks before they got more in. It sounded like they contract the manufacturing of the cabinets rather than do the manufacturing themselves. I'd like to know how the KM 212 performs vs a FRFR cab. Do any of the profiles sound weird when you leave the cab on? I just have a Crate Palomino 212 cab loaded with Seventy 80's. I'm using the Camplifier 290 to power it. Some of the profiles won't match up with the cab (either set cab on or off) and sound really strange, but they sound ok through studio monitors, ie FRFR.

  • I can chime in on the Mission KM-212P. I've had one for two months now. I bought it from Sweetwater. Yes, it's the green one.


    I like the cab itself a lot. It looks great, has silver grille piping, which is a nice little detail. It's right under 50 lbs., 49.5 lbs. to be exact.
    It matches the aesthetics of the Kemper very well, as you can see in BakerySpecial's pic above.


    Yes it can get loud and feels like home to those of us transitioning from tube amps.


    I prefer mine with the cab sims turned off. It does color the sound. The clean profiles sound fine with the cab sims turned on, but distortion profiles, especially heavy ones, don't sound the same to me.
    Switching between headphones and the KM-212P cab, I can hear a clear difference. The distorted tones are darker, or muffled sounding to me with the cab sims turned on with the KM-212P.
    It just doesn't sound good with them on to my ears. Turn them off and it's awesome through the cab, hence why I'm using the Monitor cab off setting. It feels more like a traditional amp and guitar cab that way, if that makes sense. I'm not using anything fancy for headphones either, if anyone asks. Just CAD MH310 studio headphones.


    I have not tried any other FRFR setups so I don't have much to compare it to. I do own an EV EKX-12P that I need to try with my Kemper and compare the two. I had the EV before I owned the Kemper for live vocal monitoring and guitar as well. I just haven't got around to plugging it up to the Kemper. I've been mostly happy with the KM-212P so far.


    If you're after a true FRFR sound and only that will do, then I'd say don't bother with the KM-212P from Mission. The KM-212P is more of a GRFR speaker.


    I talked with Paul at Mission on the phone twice about the cab before I bought it. He's a super nice and helpful guy by the way. If you have any questions call him up and he'll answer anything you want to know.


    He said they designed the KM-212P to specifically work with the KPA power-head/power-rack. They tried to get the best sound out of the powered KPA they could with it. He basically said the power-amp in the KPA was the weak spot he thought. He said that the powered Gemini 2 was a better sounding cab to him. Though he did say I would be happy with the KM-212P, which I am, he said if you had both the Gemini 2 and the KM-212P running beside each other, the powered Gemini 2 was the winner. So there's that. I just didn't really want to fork out $1700 for a powered Gemini 2, so I went with the KM-212P.


    Will I try a powered Gemini 2 in the future? Probably, I'm a gear-head after all, but I'm happy with my current setup of the powerhead and the KM-212P for now.