Kemper Powerhead and low wattage speaker concerns

  • Do you guys think I could get away with using a 1x12 with a Vintage 30 (60 Watts) as a front monitor playing live with my Kemper Powerhead? It would be angled up in front of me so I'm hoping I wouldn't have to push it TO hard but we ARE a metal band so it can get a bit.... loud at times :)

  • Thanks for your input guys!


    Interesting about the Power Meter. I hadn't looked at that. Unfortunately I looked and I'm even more confused about how that part works lol I'll do some googling and see what I can find out about .

  • Thanks for your input guys!


    Interesting about the Power Meter. I hadn't looked at that. Unfortunately I looked and I'm even more confused about how that part works lol I'll do some googling and see what I can find out about .

    The Power Meter shows how many watts are pumped into the speaker approximately.

  • Yea I'm a goober and was looking at it while turned on but not actually pushing anything into the speaker. lol So it just looking like an empty meter. So at bedroom level I'm pushing like... .01 watts LOL interesting.

  • I'm leaking an explanation related to the Wattage Meter which will be included in the next manual generation:

    Wattage Meter

    The internal power amp is mono, and delivers 600 watts at 8 ohms however, the wattage will be lowered to 300 watts when used at 16 ohms. At 4 ohms, the wattage is electronically limited to 600 watts. If these 600 watts are exceeded, the power amp is deactivated for a moment, which will result in a short dropout. It would require insane volumes for such dropouts to occur however, if you are connecting a 4-ohm cabinet, you should test it carefully to ensure that your loudest signals stay below that critical level.

    The power amplifier provides sufficient headroom to avoid clipping, even with dynamic clean sounds. Very loud signals and transients will then be compressed by a soft-clipping circuit with a nice, organic sound.

    If you are afraid of damaging your speakers with the built-in 600W power amp, then use the Wattage Meter to monitor exactly how much power is being delivered.

    A speaker doesnt get damaged by too much peak level, but by accumulating too much heat over time. Think of a traditional light bulb: When you switch it on, it takes a moment to reach full brightness. When you switch it off, it will dim slowly even though the current is cut immediately. Due to this time lag, it takes one or two seconds of overpowering a light bulb before it breaks. The same applies to the coils of your speakers.

    The Wattage Meter takes account of this time lag and simulates the accumulated heat in your voice coil measured in watts. It is a unique tool that allows you to get a feel for the kind of volume you should expect for a given number of watts. You might be surprised just how loud a few watts can be!

    A few rules of thumb:

    The maximum wattage of the power amp is not a measure of permanent load on your speaker coils. It depends on how loud you play. A 600 hp car will not use more horsepower than a 100 hp car while you cruise through town more likely, it will be about 15 hp.

    Bass frequencies will put much more load on your speakers than high frequencies. Palm mutes create lots of bass.

    Cabinets with an open back will acoustically reduce the bass frequencies this means wattage which the power amp delivers, and the speakers still have to process, but you cannot hear it and therefore wont realize.

    The scale of the Wattage Meter is calibrated to 4 ohms. If your cabinet has an impedance of 8 ohms, you need to halve the displayed values. If your cabinet has an impedance of 16 ohms, you need to divide the displayed values by 4.

    If you combine multiple speakers, the wattage is split. For example, if you have four speakers each rated as 50 watts, they can handle 200 watts in total.

    If you are running at high volumes and notice any indications of speaker distress, turn down (Monitor Output) Volume or Power Amp Boost.