Powered kemper cabinet release date

  • I have a new stage! Love it! Having issues due to not having a fr fr cabinet. I find it interesting that they came out with the non powered stage and no cabinet in production. It doesn’t make marketing sense to me. I’m going to be forced to buy a after market powered frfr. I can’t afford to wait and if a buy aftermarket I will not be buying a kemper.
    Is there any ideal of when the cabinet will come out? Not a actual date just a good guess. One year, a couple of months, 3 years or haven’t even started on the project?

  • Hi, jrburns.


    Congratulations on getting your new Stage.


    I don't think you can fault Kemper for not having a powered cab to go with the Stage. If you're performing someplace with a PA system, you can connect the Stage Main Outputs to the PA and monitors - and you're good to go. If you have a combo amp with an effects return, you can use that for monitoring on stage. As you said, a FRFR is an option. I haven't heard a release date for a powered cab - or even a firm commitment to make one.



    Be sure to check out the

    Kemper Manuals and Quick Start guides

  • That’s true. But when you are home dialing in your profiles having to play on a cheap monitor (left) and a fender hot rod ( clean channel) right and you sail it in and it sounds good. You go and play on a big pa and the profiles suck because you dialed them in on what ya got. When I stayed out in FOH and played and listened it was terrible. Correct me if I’m wrong but the only way to correct this issue is a true frfr. I want the kemper one to be true to the tone. It was to me like I went and bought a new guitar but there no place to plug it in at because the manufacturer has not built it yet. It’s part of the true kemper sounds. You have to be loosing big money because people are having to buy expensive aftermarket powered frfr cabinets and they are not going to take $1000 lose and buy a kemper powered or have to sell it for close to half price. Not being rude or picking on anybody. I would just like to know if it’s going to be next year before it’s release. I can’t wait that long.

  • The Kabinet it meant for on-stage monitoring. The only way to set a Profile for FOH is to set it up running through the PA. The Kabinet won't work because the PA still uses the cab section. Totally different thing.

    FRFR will help, but don't think dropping a grand on a CLR is going to erase the disconnect.

    I've either been lucky or good (my money is on luck). But once I was able to get a solid sound in *one* PA, I don't have to mess with it much when switching. I've also been able to use a pair of Sony MDR-7506 headphones at home to tune. For the most part, if it's right in those cans - it works at the venue. Not always, but not the sort of variability you get with a 57 thrown in front of an amp.

    “Without music, life would be a mistake.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

  • That’s true. But when you are home dialing in your profiles having to play on a cheap monitor (left) and a fender hot rod ( clean channel) right and you sail it in and it sounds good. You go and play on a big pa and the profiles suck because you dialed them in on what ya got. When I stayed out in FOH and played and listened it was terrible. Correct me if I’m wrong but the only way to correct this issue is a true frfr. I want the kemper one to be true to the tone. It was to me like I went and bought a new guitar but there no place to plug it in at because the manufacturer has not built it yet. It’s part of the true kemper sounds. You have to be loosing big money because people are having to buy expensive aftermarket powered frfr cabinets and they are not going to take $1000 lose and buy a kemper powered or have to sell it for close to half price. Not being rude or picking on anybody. I would just like to know if it’s going to be next year before it’s release. I can’t wait that long.

    I see you're in the US. There's several online vendors that have the Kemper Kabinet in stock, you can get one right now. Not a powered Kabinet, and no one knows if or when that will be released, but just buy a small power amp and it'll do.


    For your described issue though, a dedicated FRFR is probably the way to go.

  • the only way to correct this issue is a true frfr. I want the kemper one to be true to the tone.

    The Kemper Kabinet will never be "true to the tone" ... and that's not its purpose either. It emulates the "beam" character of a guitar cab and you can apply various speaker imprints to give you a sound similar to a selected guitar speaker model.

    Keep in mind though that:

    • A 1x12 cab will NEVER sound even close to a 4x12 cab.
    • The cab you use in your Kemper rig will sound different again (and that's what you send to FoH from your Main Output(s))
    • The PA sound you mentioned will be very different at every single venue, with every different PA system and with every different FoH engineer. There is no guaranteed "true to the tone" solution.

    Find a monitor that sounds good to you, ideally get one with 2 inputs so you can directly connect your Kemper Monitor Out and ask FoH to only provide you with a mix minus (to the other input). This way you can easily balance your guitar vs. the rest of the band & vocals on your own. And you have the added benefit that you always have the same (trusted) monitor in front of you, no matter where you play.

    EV PXM-12MP or the popular Yamaha DXR series come to mind.

  • On the basis that the stage competes with the Helix, there is no powered version of the Helix or even dedicated cab so I'm not surprised they shipped without that complete.


    As an owner of a powered rack, I'm happy they didn't delay the Kabinet to sort the powered version, as its a great replacement for my regular un-powered cab ( which is its purpose) for the amp in the room sound.


    I'm sure it will come soon.

  • If you are good with ( or like) building things buy some Kones and make your own cab, or look on Ebay for them. I bought two empty cabs there with monkee-fur and the connections for less than I could have built them for. As far as the powered Kone go's, the nice thing about non powered cabs with Kone's in them are 1. you can pick your own amp/Power-supply, 2. its cheaper ( I would think) powering 2 cabs/Kones with one amp versus buying 2 powered Kone's. After all, the freqency spread of the amp (20-20k Hz's) and its power rating is all you really care about, as the Kones and Kemper handle the tones you hear.


    The negatives would be that you don't have everything on one handle to pick up. I just wish there was a way to "Capture" the tone from the Kone itself and feed it's line-level signal into my DAW without having to mic the Cab.

    If you use FRFR the benefit of a merged profile is that the cabinet is totally separated in the profile.


    For my edification only... ;) Kemper/Axe-FX III/ Quad Cortex user

    Edited once, last by spikey ().

  • New Stage owner here. Very interested in a powered Kemper Kone. I'm currently using an AER Compact 60 mkII, or my desk setup with Yamaha HS5 / Focusrite Scarlett 2i2. Even with this, I'm getting some of the greatest tones I've heard from my guitars, so very happy. But would love to get a dedicated powered 12" speaker for my Stage.

  • New Stage owner here. Very interested in a powered Kemper Kone. I'm currently using an AER Compact 60 mkII, or my desk setup with Yamaha HS5 / Focusrite Scarlett 2i2. Even with this, I'm getting some of the greatest tones I've heard from my guitars, so very happy. But would love to get a dedicated powered 12" speaker for my Stage.

    Welcome to the forum! We don't have a date for the powered Kone, but we know it's coming :)

    Go for it now. The future is promised to no one. - Wayne Dyer