Monitor for Kemper profiler stage

  • Not sure about “best”... depends on your needs, how it will be used, pocketbook etc. A lot on this forum swear by the Yamaha DXR and others like the Headrush 112’s... lots of good choices out there.


    There are quite a few threads where this is discussed - might want to try reading through some of those then going out and trying one if you’re able.


    I’m personally saving up for a pair of Headrush 112’s...

  • I had that exact unit as a monitor when I first bought my Helix years ago. I did get rid of that when the Power cab+ came out. It is a great bang for the buck option and does sound good. I would go with the EV over the Headrush 112 for sure. I currently only have the Headrush 108 and it has way too much low end but I play mainly through a power amp and cab. I am also currently trying to sell a guitar to upgrade my FRFR.

  • Not sure about “best”... depends on your needs, how it will be used, pocketbook etc. A lot on this forum swear by the Yamaha DXR and others like the Headrush 112’s... lots of good choices out there.


    There are quite a few threads where this is discussed - might want to try reading through some of those then going out and trying one if you’re able.


    I’m personally saving up for a pair of Headrush 112’s...

    Yes, i understand. I primarily need to have a monitor on stage when I play. So far I've always played on an amplifier so I have to get used to the processor. It may not be a bad option a kemper in a box. it’s all a matter of habit.

  • I had that exact unit as a monitor when I first bought my Helix years ago. I did get rid of that when the Power cab+ came out. It is a great bang for the buck option and does sound good. I would go with the EV over the Headrush 112 for sure. I currently only have the Headrush 108 and it has way too much low end but I play mainly through a power amp and cab. I am also currently trying to sell a guitar to upgrade my FRFR.


    I had that exact unit as a monitor when I first bought my Helix years ago. I did get rid of that when the Power cab+ came out. It is a great bang for the buck option and does sound good. I would go with the EV over the Headrush 112 for sure. I currently only have the Headrush 108 and it has way too much low end but I play mainly through a power amp and cab. I am also currently trying to sell a guitar to upgrade my FRFR.

    Does this mean that ev is a better choice than headrush or yamaha DXR?

  • Hi josip js , welcome, have fun here in the forum and with your Kemper.


    You can consider the Headrush 108 as well, with FRFR you don't need necessarily 12" speakers to get great guitar sound. Depends a bit on how your stage volume is. In general please consider that there is habit for sure - and you can stay with it if you want. Enough powered cabs out there. Nevertheless if you are willing to try something new then FRFR monitors can be a great thing as you can place some of the mentioned ones here right in front of you instead of behind you like traditional cabs. Once you are used to it you might like it quite much. I do :thumbup::)

  • Does this mean that ev is a better choice than headrush or yamaha DXR?

    I have not played the Yamaha, so I can not comment on that one. I have owned the EV and have a Headrush 108. I prefer the Ev for sure. As for construction, they are both on par with each other, plastic cab and metal grill. Very similar controls as well. The Headrush has a ground lift and contour buttons but the EV has independant input volume controls as well as a master output volume and a digital level screen as well as a clipping light on the front.

  • Although I am very new to the Kemper world, I moved away from the traditional cabinet application a long time ago, running a tube amp through a loadbox/cabinet simulator, then into a small mixer and stage monitors.


    From a lot of gigging experience, I would offer the following items of advice:


    1) Ignore the term "FRFR". What you are buying is a monitor cabinet, regardless of how it is marketed; "FRFR" cabinets are the exact same things as PA monitor cabinets, and they are interchangeable. [They are also generally bottom-of-the-line PA cabinets, though not always.]

    2) There are three primary features that you need to evaluate; sound quality, weight/size, and SPL output. Nothing else really matters.

    3) You want the closest to "perfect" sound reproduction as you can get, just as you would with a touring PA rig or recording studio monitors. Why? Because you want the sound you hear from the monitor to be as close as possible to the signal going to the FOH or the recording input. Anything that say is "voiced for guitar" is trying to make excuses for a bad response curve.


    Price, weight/size and SPL output can be evaluated from a spec sheet, but sound quality cannot.


    IMO, the best way to "audition" a monitor cabinet is to take your phone or other audio source and play music through it that you are very familiar with. Set all EQ flat throughout the signal chain, and play your preferred tunes through the various candidate cabinets at a range of different volumes to see how they respond at all the levels you will use. The one that sounds the closest to the actual recording is the one you should buy.


    Now, why would you not just play the guitar through the cabinet? Because you will EQ around the problems in the cabinet, or you will end up picking a patch that fits the cabinet. This results in making bad EQ decisions to fit the cabinet, and it will cause problems later.


    Think from another perspective - if you're spending this much on your amp head (KPA), why would you pair it with the absolute cheapest, lowest-grade monitor cabinet available?

  • We use EV ZLX 12 for rehearsals and as wedges and they are great sound-wise! However they are very heavy and loading them to a car is a very unpleasant experience - definitely dolly or small cart is recommended to carry them. You might consider QSC CP8 - same peak power but lighter.

  • We use EV ZLX 12 for rehearsals and as wedges and they are great sound-wise! However they are very heavy and loading them to a car is a very unpleasant experience - definitely dolly or small cart is recommended to carry them. You might consider QSC CP8 - same peak power but lighter.

    The QSC CP8 is excellent, lightweight and has excellent power. but it is also more expensive than EV.

  • Hi josip js , welcome, have fun here in the forum and with your Kemper.


    You can consider the Headrush 108 as well, with FRFR you don't need necessarily 12" speakers to get great guitar sound. Depends a bit on how your stage volume is. In general please consider that there is habit for sure - and you can stay with it if you want. Enough powered cabs out there. Nevertheless if you are willing to try something new then FRFR monitors can be a great thing as you can place some of the mentioned ones here right in front of you instead of behind you like traditional cabs. Once you are used to it you might like it quite much. I do :thumbup::)

    Thanks for the reply and welcome. :)


    The thing is, I still have to get used to playing without amps. I also need to get used to the monitor in front of me, though I can always put it behind me as well. As far as stage volume is concerned, let's just say it's quite loud because the drummer plays heavy style. ^^I still think I would be happy with any of the monitors listed.

  • The thing is, I still have to get used to playing without amps.

    Yep, I understand that well. When I started to use the Kemper in the rehearsal room with my hard rock band we fully switched to in-ear-monitoring. So different from before it was rather silent in the room - with the exception of the drums. But everybody recognized that there was way less air moving in the room, the feeling of a certain amp power from guitar and bass was missing. Meanwhile we use hybrid setup which also works on stage and enables me to go without the in-ear stuff. I like to hear me on good monitors :)

  • Hi. I play the Kemper (and eleven Rack) directly into our Soundcraft Ui (no guitar amp or cabinet). My band are using Turbosound FOH (12"+2" Tops and 15" subs) so the audience will hear a "turbosounded" Kemper when I play. Hence I thought it'd be best to also get Turbosound fullrange speakers to adjust the sound of my rigs. This is why I bought a pair of Turbosound M10 for this. They sound so amazing that I decided to use one of the M10s as a stage monitor (wedge position) and the Kemper is going through this together with the rest of my monitor sound. M10s have an impressive bass response especially condidering the 10" speakers and their small size. Other good things: they are not expensive and deliver 600 Watt.
    https://www.turbosound.com/Categories/Turbosound/Loudspeaker-Systems/Portable/M10/p/P0AVX#googtrans(en|en) .

    The only problem using a fullrange speaker is that you don't get the same type of feedback when soloing with high gains (usually fullrange speaker feedback comes through the tweeter which is very unpleasant or you don't get any feedback at all). This is why I am using a Marshall Woburn boombox just in front of my pedal board facing directly towards my pickups. The signal of my guitar stuff goes through a dedicated EQ (dbx 2x15) to the boombox in order to boost the mid frequencies I wish to feedback with treble and bass cut. So this Woburn box is only for sustain ;)