NAMM 2019: Kemper Kabinet and Kemper Kone

  • The whole point of the Kemper Kabinet to get the “amp in the room” sound, which has traditionally been missing from modellers and their mic’ed sound.


    I run my Kemper into a real cabinet at home, and I indeed think that's an amp in the room sound! Especially if you use a DI profile. But really, even with a merged profile and cabinet section off, it does sound like the real deal.


    The trade off is that with different profiles, the Kemper tones don't come through a lot of the time.


    When I play my Kemper through monitors, on the other hand, it sounds like a recorded guitar tone with a cabinet miced up.


    As a lot of users have experienced however, that makes for an anaemic experience on stage when it comes to monitoring, at least when compared to a real cabinet.


    In that sense, I think the Kemper Kabinet is more of an attempt to give guitarists an FRFR speaker that is designed for guitar (and bass). Kind of like a bridge between two worlds.


    The speaker imprints, in that regard, are probably designed to make the Kabinet Kone function just like the speaker it is trying to model. So sort of like running through a V30, or a Greenback, or a Scumback or whatever.

  • The whole point of the Kemper Kabinet to get the “amp in the room” sound, which has traditionally been missing from modellers and their mic’ed sound.

    Exactly. Otherwise, it would make more sense to buy a regular FRFR than the kemper kab. Potentially cheaper price notwithstanding.


    Regardless, we already have a method of making cab profiles - it's the profiler :)

  • I'll guess $499 passive Kab, at its' debut; but if it's entirely made and assembled in Germany, $599 and up.


    I probably shouldn't say this, but I'm prepared to pay what it costs, regardless. I love the way it looks, which is always secondary to how it sounds IME, but I already know it will sound incredible.


    What I'm most curious about though, is if there will be an 'imprint' process for a speaker, like the 'profile' process for an amp. Could the 'profile' process, include the 'imprint' process, or would it necessarily have to be a separate process.

    Kemper Powerhead w/remote & Kabinet
    Focusrite 18i8 (2nd Gen) - Windows 10 - Ableton Live - Yamaha HS-8's - DT770 80 ohms

  • I am just disappointed we can't get an answer from a Kemper representative if the speaker in the Kemper Kabinet is a true coaxial (i.e. with separate HF compression driver), or a single driver with some type of whizzer cone.

  • Naturally price will have a huge effect on its desirability.


    I am thinking $250 it is going to sell like hot cakes. (Remember, Kemper is not going to pay retail for the speakers so there is quite a margin even at that price.)


    $500 - well, it is a different story. Now you are competing against some real kickass cabs.

  • I am just disappointed we can't get an answer from a Kemper representative if the speaker in the Kemper Kabinet is a true coaxial (i.e. with separate HF compression driver), or a single driver with some type of whizzer cone.

    I'm surprised you're disappointed.

    You are one of our most experienced KPA users, I'm sure you know that Kemper doesn't talk about unlaid eggs here. :)

  • More than 400€ will really lessen interest in these cabs , at least to me , as the speaker itself will be sold as spare part around 170 from what I heard in the NAMM vids.


    It's looks difficult to justify more than 400€ if you can build your own cab for 270€ using a palmer CAB, especially if I go for a stereo setup.


    Apart from looks , R&D , and optimized CAB dimensions vs imprints & calibration what else could lead to a 500/600 € bill for these cabs ?


    Once CAB dimensions & building material are known, we should see lots of third parties selling similar products with same specs.

  • It seems to me that the Kemper Kabinet (or one built EXACTLY like it) will do FRFR. The Kemper Kone sold seperately will sound exactly like any of the "Imprinted" speakers would if you put them in your cab. But could not do FRFR as the response would be changed by the cab. Unless there will be a "Profiling" like process to adjust for the frequence response of the cab? I guess the custom speaker is selected for a known frequency response (no FRFR speaker is truly flat) and with a dispersion and reactance like a typical 12" guitar speaker. No?

  • It seems to me that the Kemper Kabinet (or one built EXACTLY like it) will do FRFR. The Kemper Kone sold seperately will sound exactly like any of the "Imprinted" speakers would if you put them in your cab. But could not do FRFR as the response would be changed by the cab. Unless there will be a "Profiling" like process to adjust for the frequence response of the cab? I guess the custom speaker is selected for a known frequency response (no FRFR speaker is truly flat) and with a dispersion and reactance like a typical 12" guitar speaker. No?


    The Kemper will be using DSP so that the speaker imprints sound authentic in the Kabinet. This use of DSP will also allow something fed through the aux input to be played back as if through an FRFR system, even while the speaker imprints continue to be implemented for the guitar signal.

  • I was able to get one of the Celestion Speakers and have a cabinet here which has

    nearly the same size which Celestion suggested for this speaker

    and which i assume is the same size as the Kemper Cabinet

    I let you know how it sound with the KPA.