Display MoreHere is my concern before I go buy my first Kemper.
I’ve playing Boogies for 45 years but my present rig of a Quad with a 50/50, ground control pro with the GCX, TC Electronics effects, and a Furman, in a shock absorber rack weighs in at least 300 -400 pounds.
My main guitar is a Les Paul.Plus I have 2 Boogie extension cabinets I run in stereo.
The rig sounds perfect but a pain in the ass to haul around.
The Kemper seems like a great way to reduce my load in/load out and still deliver pro sounds.
But if I can’t get my Boogie tones, and some of the high end profiles available with the Kemper, I’m not dumping my Boogie. I have not used distortion / overdrive pedals for 45 years....all my overdrive sounds come from the Boogie. I use a clean sound a lot, but soaring and sustaining lead riffs is my sweet spot. There is no way that I will settle for a Kemper if it sounds like digital distortion.
By the way, my present gig is smaller gigs with smaller PAs, so going through the fronts is not an option. I will send a little to FOH, but I need sound pressure behind me.
So, my Kemper will be behind me and must fill the stage.
I plan on using an amp to drive a FRFR (maybe 2 for stereo).
So, if I go to Kemper, will I miss my Boogie?
I'm offering my experience but have a question at the end that might help us both. I started playing with Boogies, then went to Marshalls, H&K TriAmp and then back to Boogie. I also play smaller clubs and an occasional large outside gig. I went with the Kemper Stage and a Mission Engineering Gemini 2 FRFR. The Gemini is a true stereo FRFR - dual amps and dual speakers with stereo input. It also has an EQ control that will make it sound more like a real guitar cabinet. It pushes a lot of sound on it's own with 220 total watts and I have even used it at smaller gigs without going to FOH I have been putting a 57 mic in front of one of the speakers, that works OK but I am going to either try stereo XLRs out to FOH or try micing both speakers next gig. I Loved my Mesa but I find I am using a variety of Marshalls, Fenders and boutique amps instead of the Mesa profiles. My biggest fear of sending XLRs out is that the tones I am getting out of my FRFR won't sound as good going to FOH through the direct outputs. Maybe someone can enlighten me whether the sound coming from the FRFR is going to be the better or worse then XLR to the house?