NAMM 2019

  • A Marshall cab will sound like a Marshall cab. But two Marshall cabs do not sound the same if one has V30s and the other Greenbacks for example. And there is where I think the difference is. The Kemper Cone will make possible to change the sound of your speakers on the fly. I think that is a tall order and doubt they got it 100%. But the idea is genius.


    Of course you will not make your Marshall cab sound like a Mesa cab. But neither the FRFR cabs do that.

    Sorry dude but I think this is wrong. They have isolated the speaker part of of the profile so you can change that specifically.


    Therefore if you run it through a regular cab, its unlikely to be effective. In other words if you have V30's in your 4x12 and you use the cone, with G12's, it will sound like a mix of the 2...there is no way it can make your V30's sound like G12's, mainly because it won;t know what cab you have.


    For FRFR the speaker adds less colour and hence should be more accurate.


    Therefore this is more applicable for FRFR than a regular cab. For a regular cab you still want to use DI or merged profiles.....however, I might be wrong as I'm just going on the press releases..

  • Kemper is going to sell the Kemper speaker alone. So you can mount it in your actual cab. So you could make it sound like a V30 or a G12...


    I'm not talking about making a V30 sound like a G12. Of course that is impossible.


    Did I explain myself now?

  • Atlantic I see what you are saying. I sort of agree with your logic although I think there is more too it than just stick four of the new speakers in a 4x12 cab. The cab dimensions will affect the sound to some extent. Maybe clever DSP controls can adjust for that. However, the biggest problem I see with a 4x12 loaded with the new speaker is that it will still suffer from the same phase cancellation anomalies that a regular 4x12 does. I wonder what the DSP will need to do to adjust for those and create a flat response 4x12. It’s way above my level of understanding but I think there would be serious issues with multi speaker cab. 2x12 is just about bearable with a regular cab but 4x12 drives me crazy.

  • Atlantic I see what you are saying. I sort of agree with your logic although I think there is more too it than just stick four of the new speakers in a 4x12 cab. The cab dimensions will affect the sound to some extent. Maybe clever DSP controls can adjust for that. However, the biggest problem I see with a 4x12 loaded with the new speaker is that it will still suffer from the same phase cancellation anomalies that a regular 4x12 does. I wonder what the DSP will need to do to adjust for those and create a flat response 4x12. It’s way above my level of understanding but I think there would be serious issues with multi speaker cab. 2x12 is just about bearable with a regular cab but 4x12 drives me crazy.


    Ok, but let's just keep it simple. We all know that different size cabinets and number of speakers sound different. For each their own. You don't like 4x12s and that is fine. Others think different.


    But what I'm saying is, will the Kemper speaker really behave like a V30 (or whatever given speaker) in ANY of those formats? If they have really accomplished that, it would be remarkable. And I believe that's what they claim to have done.

  • Ok, but let's just keep it simple. We all know that different size cabinets and number of speakers sound different. For each their own. You don't like 4x12s and that is fine. Others think different.


    But what I'm saying is, will the Kemper speaker really behave like a V30 (or whatever given speaker) in ANY of those formats? If they have really accomplished that, it would be remarkable. And I believe that's what they claim to have done.

    Doh - I think I misunderstood you.


    You mean changing your current speakers in your 4 x12 for the new Kemper/celestion ones ? Sorry I though you meant just run the new speaker "profiles" through your current cab.


    In that case it will work BUT there is the unpredictability of the cabinet itself. CK said they would offer them for retro fit so interesting if the DSP will account for the config...


    Sorry for the confusion, I'll shut up and sit at the back ;)

  • Atlantic yes, I understand what you are saying. I didn’t mean to suggest that you should want a 4x12 just because I hate them. Each to their own. I was only inferring that the issues which affect multi speaker enclosures could be a problem for using this technology in a 4x12.


    I think (but I could be wrong) that making a single speaker behave like other speakers is a much easier job than making multiple speakers in combination behave like multiple speakers of the target version because of the way multiple speakers interact. It seems that the technology will need to take a fairly flat speaker and apply some clever filtering/DSP/etc to make it sound like a different speaker. It is hard to imagine it turning the flat speaker into a complete replica of the target speaker in terms of dispersion etc. though. Therefore, I would imagine that the multi speaker cab would not necessarily behave in the exact same way as a multi speaker cab with the real speakers it is trying to simulate. I believe that is part of the reason most FRFR cabs dont come loaded with multiple drivers (other than the horn but that is often seen as part of the reason guitarists don’t alwaus like FRFR)


    As I say, maybe I’m miles off and you will turn out to be right. I don’t know at this stage and am just speculating like everyone else.

  • Atlantic yes, I understand what you are saying. I didn’t mean to suggest that you should want a 4x12 just because I hate them. Each to their own. I was only inferring that the issues which affect multi speaker enclosures could be a problem for using this technology in a 4x12.


    I think (but I could be wrong) that making a single speaker behave like other speakers is a much easier job than making multiple speakers in combination behave like multiple speakers of the target version because of the way multiple speakers interact. It seems that the technology will need to take a fairly flat speaker and apply some clever filtering/DSP/etc to make it sound like a different speaker. It is hard to imagine it turning the flat speaker into a complete replica of the target speaker in terms of dispersion etc. though. Therefore, I would imagine that the multi speaker cab would not necessarily behave in the exact same way as a multi speaker cab with the real speakers it is trying to simulate. I believe that is part of the reason most FRFR cabs dont come loaded with multiple drivers (other than the horn but that is often seen as part of the reason guitarists don’t alwaus like FRFR)


    As I say, maybe I’m miles off and you will turn out to be right. I don’t know at this stage and am just speculating like everyone else.

    Oh I got you now. You might be completely right about that. The interaction between several speakers might throw off the otherwise correct simulation of just one of them acting alone.


    You know why we are speculating... because we would be eager to try this NOW but we just can't. Not yet.

  • Oh I got you now. You might be completely right about that. The interaction between several speakers might throw off the otherwise correct simulation of just one of them acting alone.


    You know why we are speculating... because we would be eager to try this NOW but we just can't. Not yet.

    Totally!


    BUT, nothing to stop you putting 1 speaker into a 4x12....I love the look of a 4 x12 and I'd like the FRFR type nature somehow, so....plus I image the speakers won't be cheap!

  • Totally!


    BUT, nothing to stop you putting 1 speaker into a 4x12....I love the look of a 4 x12 and I'd like the FRFR type nature somehow, so....plus I image the speakers won't be cheap!

    I have been daydreaming about 2 of them and playing to install them both up, or both down or crossed...


    Anyways, we will have fun.

  • However, the biggest problem I see with a 4x12 loaded with the new speaker is that it will still suffer from the same phase cancellation anomalies that a regular 4x12 does.

    Ah, but that’s not suffering. It's a feature only present (to this extent) in 4x12" constructions.

    And if one of the Kemper/Celestion speakers behaves like model x it will interact with other speakers behaving like model x the same way.

    It seems that the 4x12" lovers can not only have the cake now but eat it, too (when slamming 4 of these speakers in a cab, that is).

  • Ah, but that’s not suffering. It's a feature only present (to this extent) in 4x12" constructions.

    And if one of the Kemper/Celestion speakers behaves like model x it will interact with other speakers behaving like model x the same way.

    It seems that the 4x12" lovers can not only have the cake now but eat it, too (when slamming 4 of these speakers in a cab, that is).

    That was my thought too...


    Hopefully it should be no different to putting a quad of v30s, or greenbacks or lynchbacks or evhs or whatevers into your current cabinet...if each speaker receives individual dsp correction - the interactions should be 'a 4x12' experience.

    PRS Custom 22's - Fender Strats - Diezel VH4 - Carol Ann OD2 - Toneking Imperial MK2 - Colin the Kemper - CLR Neo ii.

  • Just watched the video linked here earlier...


    Seems to be some confusion regarding what FRFR means...


    Each FR in that phrase means two entirely different things.


    Lots of speakers are FR...with an incredibly wide range...


    Few speakers are the 2nd FR....with a flat response.

    PRS Custom 22's - Fender Strats - Diezel VH4 - Carol Ann OD2 - Toneking Imperial MK2 - Colin the Kemper - CLR Neo ii.

  • Though I have no need for the Kemper cabinet, Ive decided I'm going to buy one.


    Just because Kemper has given me more value from my initial purchase than any other piece of gear I have ever owned...and for the first time in my life, I feel like I need to give something back to a company.


    CK could have rinsed us for every update and charged us for it like AVID do, and he hasn't...even though 90% of us would have paid...or signed up to a subscription model...


    Kemper's business model is unbelievably customer focussed and has made me incredibly loyal and proud to be a Kemperite!

    PRS Custom 22's - Fender Strats - Diezel VH4 - Carol Ann OD2 - Toneking Imperial MK2 - Colin the Kemper - CLR Neo ii.