Kone & Kabinet Q&A

  • Initial impression is one of complete satisfaction! I got 2 Kones, put them in a 2x12 Marshall Lead 100 Mosfet straight cab. It replace 2 F12-X200 which sounded great. These may actually be the "amp in the room" experience that everyone misses using FRFR. The Imprint collection does have a lot of variety. While my initial gripe about the Kones impedance still stands, (I'll either have to send my Camplifier to Germany to be modded to drive a 4 ohm load or sell it to someone with the F12-X200's) I had an old Rocktron Velocity 150 in the basement. That thing will out live me! It drives 75W/ch into 4 ohms. I keep the Reactance knob full CCW for no effect and this thing sounds BIG!


    Even with all my bitch'n, well done Kris, well done!!

  • Just a question. With this cab, will I gain anything over using my current Headrush FRFR112 with my Powered Toaster?

    In my brief experience with the Kabinet (arrived yesterday), YES. I think Kemper hit a huge home run with this product. Much better sound and feel than any FRFR I've ever used. When is the last time you achieved musical/harmonic feedback without using an amp with guitar speaker? This product rocks!

  • So this speaker if the imprints are not used will play the "CAB" IR as if it were a FRFR speaker. I read how you can play music through it, but, I guess I didn't put 2+2 together on this assumed best of both worlds.


    That would be great if you have a profile where the IR just kills it, and can just play through the Kone as I did with the F12-X200s.

  • My package came with a one page manual showing the 4x12 and 2x12 wiring setup. On the diagram , they show how you can run 4x12 with 4ohms. But i'd like to run it with 16 Ohms using all speakers in series of course i have the right impedance set from my power amp. What it intentional from the manual not to mention this kind of setup (4x12 16Ohms)? Will it affect the Kone speakers on the long run ?

  • I had about 35 minutes as I have other things to do. In the open back T21 cabinet, it sounds exactly the same as if you used an open back combo. I only tried the MBritt Deluxe Reverb from his Vintage Pack and it sounds very amp like. I prefer this MUCH better than using my QSC K10 FR. I'm thrilled; a total game changer. Fractal should be really worried. LOL.
    I should have more time with this on Monday.


    It's also the first time I've tried the new editor. Very nice, For my workflow, it's not as easy as using the KPA knobs as my KPA is on a stand and not near a desk. My laptop sits on top of the rack and I simply use the editor to choose rigs.

    The key to everything is patience.
    You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it.
    -- Arnold H. Glasow


    If it doesn't produce results, don't do it.

    -- Me

  • My package came with a one page manual showing the 4x12 and 2x12 wiring setup. On the diagram , they show how you can run 4x12 with 4ohms. But i'd like to run it with 16 Ohms using all speakers in series of course i have the right impedance set from my power amp. What it intentional from the manual not to mention this kind of setup (4x12 16Ohms)? Will it affect the Kone speakers on the long run ?

    Don't believe it would, impedance match is for the amp. Wiring 4 12" in series to get 16 ohms is kosher. I just hope you're using a amp that will not add color to the overall sound. Most solid state amps are 4-16 ohm compatible. Most being the key word.

  • I have to say that this Kone is the best thing to happen to me . I am a relatively new Kemper powerhead owner and bought this to gig with (although I produce records in a studio and it has been great for that). I have had a hard time monitoring myself live. I did one gig with in-ears and it was fine. Most of my gigs are just a band on a stage and one or two monitor mixes and thats it.


    My second gig was a corporate affair and I used a JBL EON 610. While it sounded fine at low volumes, when I got it up to gig volume it turned out it was a faulty cabinet (probably a poweramp-processor problem). I have since gotten a new one, but have not unpacked it since I got it.


    The Kone is great. I have played it at gig volumes and don't seem to exceed 25 watts on the meter. Any I am using the celestion K12H-200 TC which is the non kemper version. It didn't sound good until the new software for the Kone arrived. It is an 8 OHM speaker and the kemper powerhead is plenty loud for me. My other rig is a 1971 small box marshall into a scumback loaded 4x12 into a Freyette PS 2 ( to turn it down). This rig is just fine volume wise. It finally feels good playing it with the Kone. I may use the Power Station and another Kone for stereo. I have a credit at Sweetwater that will buy a Kabinet right now.


    BTW, I have been using profiles of my amp rig to keep the growning pains down and this finally feels and sounds like it!!!!!! AND now i can add MBritt and other profiles to the rig as I go. I am exited again. Now if this damned Covid-19 would gp away and the gigs might start up again!!!!


    Thanks C. Kemper for a great product!!!


    Rich Morpurgo

    http://www.midwestaudiorecording.com

  • I often play guitar for pleasure though, so we shouldn't discount amp in the room as being of no value though!

    Agreed! As I wrote, you appreciate that tone when you are close to a guitar cab; the hard part is to deliver it to an audience :)


    With this cab, will I gain anything over using my current Headrush FRFR112 with my Powered Toaster?

    Most profiles/models/patches return the tone of a mic'ed cab. Using Kone/Kabinet will be like using a guitar cab, with some pluses: you can virtually swap the speaker(s) but you can also use the Kabinet as a GRFR cab (that is, with studio/merged rigs and cab profile on); this comes in handy with acoustic instruments, for example, including the soon-to-come acoustic simulator. Also, you can use imprints while sending a broad-band signal to the Kabinet via Aux In at the same time, and the two signals will be treated independently ;)



    So this speaker if the imprints are not used will play the "CAB" IR as if it were a FRFR speaker.

    It will play as a GRFR speaker (such as with a Red Sound or others): there's no tweeter. While a mid-woofer can be relatively flat (Flat Response), its passing band can't really be strictly speaking "Full Range" ATM.

    When a mid-woofer is labelled "full range" it's just a way to say its band is broader than others'. it would be more accurate IMO to define it a Broad Band speaker.


    This is overall good news for the electric guitar player, since many don't know how to treat a tweeter which is often - and unfairly - blamed for "harshness". In fact, I believe a GRFR cab to be the best compromise overall for non-clean electric guitar tones :)



    Will it affect the Kone speakers on the long run ?

    It won't. At 16 ohm the power amp will output a lesser current, that is each speaker will see less current as well.
    OTOH, add 3 dB for each cone to the overall SPL ;)



    Most solid state amps are 4-16 ohm compatible. Most being the key word.

    Pretty sure a solid state amp can work on higher-than specs loads without issues
    :)

    Still chasing a worthy one :/

  • My package came with a one page manual showing the 4x12 and 2x12 wiring setup. On the diagram , they show how you can run 4x12 with 4ohms. But i'd like to run it with 16 Ohms using all speakers in series of course i have the right impedance set from my power amp. What it intentional from the manual not to mention this kind of setup (4x12 16Ohms)? Will it affect the Kone speakers on the long run ?

    why do you want to run it at 16ohms? What amp are you using?


    generally speaking running a load higher than the amp is designed for won’t harm it but you will suffer a serious drop in volume.

  • pippopluto "It will play as a GRFR speaker (such as with a Red Sound or others): there's no tweeter. While a mid-woofer can be relatively flat (Flat Response), its passing band can't really be strictly speaking "Full Range" ATM.

    When a mid-woofer is labelled "full range" it's just a way to say its band is broader than others'. it would be more accurate IMO to define it a Broad Band speaker.


    This is overall good news for the electric guitar player, since many don't know how to treat a tweeter which is often - and unfairly - blamed for "harshness". In fact, I believe a GRFR cab to be the best compromise overall for non-clean electric guitar tones :)"


    Well the Celestion F12-X20 manages to be FRFR as advertised, as a single midbass with a whizzer style setup. In fact it has a high end that is unpleasant when using Imprints, as Kristof mentioned it would be.

    IRs sounds great through it.

  • why do you want to run it at 16ohms? What amp are you using?


    generally speaking running a load higher than the amp is designed for won’t harm it but you will suffer a serious drop in volume.

    I'm using Fryette LXII 100 Watt amp . I had to re-wire it all 4x12 to 4 Ohms (Series/Parallel )and it sounded better with more power. The LXII impedance is set to 4 Ohms. Thanks for the advise.

  • Initial impression is one of complete satisfaction! I got 2 Kones, put them in a 2x12 Marshall Lead 100 Mosfet straight cab. It replace 2 F12-X200 which sounded great. These may actually be the "amp in the room" experience that everyone misses using FRFR. The Imprint collection does have a lot of variety. While my initial gripe about the Kones impedance still stands, (I'll either have to send my Camplifier to Germany to be modded to drive a 4 ohm load or sell it to someone with the F12-X200's) I had an old Rocktron Velocity 150 in the basement. That thing will out live me! It drives 75W/ch into 4 ohms. I keep the Reactance knob full CCW for no effect and this thing sounds BIG!


    Even with all my bitch'n, well done Kris, well done!!

    Did you try the imprints on the F12-X200's before you pulled them? I'm just wondering how different the Kone and the F12-X200s are (aside from impedance).



    Err....nevermind...I just read your other post about imprints sounding harsh through the F12-X200s. With that in mind, I think I'll stick with traditional speaker cabinets and direct profiles for the time being. I don't want to buy a new amp to support the Kone's 4 ohm impedance, and I'm not willing to buy two without hearing how they sound first (which is highly unlikely to ever happen).