Should I pull the trigger on 2 Kones?

  • thanx for the input. Also how does it sound in a normal cab? I guess my question is does it give the amp in the room feel?

    I bought a Kabinet, and a Kone. The Kone is yet to be used. I was going to put it in my XiTone MBritt powered cab until I noticed the Dayton amp is coaxial. Now I'm going to take my Kabinet to a maker and get them to clone it. I'll put the Kone in that and run stereo.

    The Kabinet sounds excellent and def gives amp in the room feel back.

    All of that to say sorry, I don't have that direct experience, but that's why they sell them in 1, 2, and 4 packs. I'll bet they'd go great in your cab.

  • I bought the Kab about 7/8 weeks ago ( time is a bit of a blur these days! ).


    Over the years I have tried MANY different options for monitors; EV powered FRFR, EV non powered, Cornford,Mesa Rectifier Cab,Hiwatt,Centrepoint and more....


    I have to say that the Kab sounds like the best solution I've used so far ( but I havent gigged it yet !!! )

  • I've had a Kone for a few weeks and liked it so much I bought two more. Finally was able to use one in a old Rocktron S112 cab at a loud practice a few days ago, and was extremely pleased with it. IME the big issue with modelers and the Kemper is to get convincing tone at high stage volumes, as all kinds of nasties can pop up. None of these appeared with the Kone. The biggest issue I can't stand is harshness or piercing highs, and the Kone has none of this. The power amp I used was a ICEPower 50ASX2BTL built into my unpowered toaster (this is the same amp module used in the Duncan Powerstage 170), and it showed no signs of running out of headroom. And it gets the pop of clean notes, which is very hard for some stage modeler solutions to get right.


    The only thing I have found unusual about the Kone is the bass response. The Kone appears to have an extended low end with perhaps a low free air resonance, which can give it a sensation of lots of bass in some cases. It seems to be optimized for smaller sealed cabs (the Kab is fully sealed, no port, and is relatively small). In the S112 ported cab, I had to drop the bass in the monitor EQ quite a bit to get it to balance. I have another Kone in an old Peavey 1x12 plywood wedge cab that is barely big enough to hold the speaker, and while other speakers sound thin in the bass in it, the Kone is just right. I expect if I seal the port in the S112 it will sound much better with the Kone and flatter EQ settings.

  • Thanx for the input all. I think im going to go with 1 Kone and see how it goes. Since the matrix is stereo, I will try running one channel with the Kone and the other with the v30. Not at the same time but more just to a-b them.

  • So an update.... after some research n such.... ive bought a kone and a celestion f12 x200.


    I hope to compare them and figure out which one is best for me. The celestion is available around the corner from me so I figured I would try it out as well. From the reviews and YT, it sounds like a good alternative to the kone even though some places say the kone is a rebadged f12 x200. I also like the fact that it is 8 ohms so it will push my amp a bit harder.


    Plus its $100 cheaper. ?

  • So an update.... after some research n such.... ive bought a kone and a celestion f12 x200.


    I hope to compare them and figure out which one is best for me. The celestion is available around the corner from me so I figured I would try it out as well. From the reviews and YT, it sounds like a good alternative to the kone even though some places say the kone is a rebadged f12 x200. I also like the fact that it is 8 ohms so it will push my amp a bit harder.


    Plus its $100 cheaper. ?

    Interested to hear about your comparison!

  • Also thinking of getting two Kones to put in my EVH III 212 cab...I use a non-powered head in the studio, but I have a powered head and that 212 in my "man cave" room for just playing/practicing at home, as well as a powered rack version and another 212 cab that I leave where our band practices which is also the rig I use when we gig (if we ever get back to being allowed to gig!!). I know it's a little crazy to have 3 Kempers for this, but it's just the way I decided to go!


    Anyway, I plan on trying out the Kones in the "man cave" cabinet first before messing with the "gig rig" set up...if all goes great with the first cab, I'll do the other when money allowed.


    So I would just replace both the stock Celestions and keep the wiring the exact same as it is now (which would give me 8 ohms?) right?!? (The stock EVH cab is 16 ohms)


    Seems too simple but I guess it is.


    I'm thinking it's a no-brainer given how many people seem to love the Kones, but I do have my powered Kemper profiles tweaked to sound great with the stock EVH cab...I'd imagine I'll need to tweak to taste once I replaced the speakers but to be honest I haven't dove into the manuals or anything concerning the Kone/Imprints thing yet.

  • Do it man! Should be awesome. Im looking forward to it

  • Update....


    im still waiting for my kone to arrive but I have the f12 x200 installed. Im a bit confused with the settings on the kemper but so far it sounds pretty good. Definately have the amp in the room feel with just one speaker in the cab. ?

  • Update....


    ive figured out the “settings” for the speakers as mentioned before. Now Im trying to dial in a useable tone that I had when using my normal cab speakers. Im finding them too fizzy.


    my favorite profile before was the top jimi -vhii profile. I had it dialed in and sounded great. Now its super fizz! These are the settings i used on the output tab....


    kemper kone tab - on

    Monitor out cab off - on


    basically this is removing the cab from the studio profile and inserting the greenback imprint. Sounds ok but still has a lot of fizzyness.


    when I turn monitor out cab - off, so essentially it is now full range and using the entire studio profile, it jus sound blah.... no punch which is what is correct in thinking that its not “amp in the room” feel.

    Ive played a bit with the eq settings on the amp and other settings but I am not feeling like Wow yet.


    Work in progress.....

  • Another update.... so ive received the kone and celestion now. Had the day off to try them both since around 10am eastern time... im tired, have played all day basically! Also note that they havent broken in yet. There are less than 3 hours on these speakers. Maybe that makes a difference once broken in???


    First of all, This is a review of MY findings and my opinion. Take it or leave it.


    -celestion f12 x200

    As i mentioned before. I had a tough time dialing in a tone. I used the top jimi vhii profile most of the time for both of these comparisons.

    Using the kemper kone mode with monitor cab selected off-selected, I got a nice sound but it was very fizzy. I adjusted the eq settings, added an eq still no joy. I just couldnt get a good tone that I liked. I tried it with monitor cab off deselected so now its a full range style-no thanx didnt like it. Just didnt sound like an amp in the room to me.


    kone-the exact same as above. Couldnt dial in anything to my taste. Just sounded way too fizzy and too digital. Again, I know this is a digital device but, slight disappointment.

    All in all, i think I will be sticking with my mesa cab stock from now with my v30’s. It sounds way more pleasing to my ears and sounds and feels like I am playing through a real amp in the room which is what I was trying to achieve before.


    Ive tried frfr in the past and it didnt work for me then, this was a test to see if it would sound better in a real cab, alas! No... still not my cup of tea.


    I will stick to my real cabs n speakers for now. Was a fun but tiring test.