Is a Kemper Kabinet thaaaat much better than just using good guitar cab?

  • Lol, so you changed a kone for a 70/80 and tought it was less "fizzy", something must have gone really wrong, as putting one of the "fizzyest" speakers on replacement doesnt sound like a solution.

    No, for four years I have been using a Fender Mustang III loaded with a Celestion G12T-100, plugging the monitor out of my Kemper into it's FX Loop return. I purchased a Kone in early May, 2021 to put in a 1 x 12 open back cabinet I was having built, the Kone arrived in three days but I just received the cabinet and a new power amp last week, so outside the 30 day return window on the Kone. I spent the better part of three days trying every conceivable combination of settings on my Kemper with the Kone to no avail, so I loaded the G12T-100 in the new cabinet for now until I purchase a replacement. It's a temporary solution working with what I have available.


    I have that same speaker and have been using it during rehearsals. KPA monitor out into the return of the Mustang III. I've got a Kabinet sitting here, waiting for me to finish my personal 'camplifier' build. That should be done within the next week.....but I've been saying that for a month now.


    With monitor cab set to off, you're right in saying that speaker (Celestion G12T-100) is not horrible. At least for clean to mid-gain stuff. Rather generic sounding....but given the amp it's for that's expected. Higher gain and it starts to get become indistinct. More so than speakers meant for that purpose.

    Something had to be 'off' with your Kabinet. No way a G12T-100 should outperform it. People swapped those speaker out constantly when the Mustang III's were available new.

    I wholeheartedly agree, I really believe I may be unlucky enough to have received a lemon. This Kone sounds nothing like demo videos on YouTube, and that's including lower quality videos recorded with a phone, the sound quality in those videos are fantastic compared to my Kone live in the room, which sounds similar to an old handheld transistor am radio in the mid to high frequencies and very prominent, almost overwhelming bass frequencies. The G12T-100 outshines it and that absolutely should not be the case, I think something must be wrong with the high frequency driver of this particular speaker. It's to late to return the Kone I purchased and I'm not willing to put out another $180usd for another Kone at the moment. It's disappointing as I was really looking forward to taking advantage of the Kemper + Kone technology, but this is my first mishap since plunging into the Kemper universe four years ago, no trouble with my Kemper or with the free updates I've installed and those were probably worth the cost of the speaker.

  • .....I just received the cabinet and a new power amp last week, so outside the 30 day return window on the Kone. I spent the better part of three days trying every conceivable combination of settings on my Kemper with the Kone to no avail....

    Have you spoken with or submitted a ticket to Kemper?

    They'd want to know what's going on. the 30 day return policy is for 'tried it, didn't like it.' Not "doesn't work right at all and never did..."

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

  • No, for four years I have been using a Fender Mustang III loaded with a Celestion G12T-100, plugging the monitor out of my Kemper into it's FX Loop return. I purchased a Kone in early May, 2021 to put in a 1 x 12 open back cabinet I was having built, the Kone arrived in three days but I just received the cabinet and a new power amp last week, so outside the 30 day return window on the Kone. I spent the better part of three days trying every conceivable combination of settings on my Kemper with the Kone to no avail, so I loaded the G12T-100 in the new cabinet for now until I purchase a replacement. It's a temporary solution working with what I have available.

    I believe something on the chain must be wrong, the kone is not particularly fizzy after any imprint is applied, so yeah, even with the G12T, I believe it is not a great solution.

    Does anyone here have experience going from using a power amp and good guitar cab to a Kemper Kabinet setup?


    For live use, I currently run my Stage into a Duncan PowerStage 170 and an Avatar Orange-style 2x12 cab with v30s. It's a great cab, and typically the kind of cab / speakers I tend to stick with when choosing profiles for recording. So "only" having the one sound of this cab is fine with me.


    I get that the Kemper Kab will allow me to use the cabinet part of a profile and also let me use imprints, so I can have more options. But if I don't really care about options and just want a good beefy v30 tone, is the Kabinet any better?

    Regarding your questions, I would treat the kemper Kabinet as another cab, not really a be all, end all. It feels really different in the room, reacts different to sound pressure, and sounds a bit different to the speakers they are trying to imitate, but in the end is really versatile and most likely you will end up using 2 or 3 imprints top and call it a day. It is not better, its different.

    The answer is 42

  • Have you spoken with or submitted a ticket to Kemper?

    They'd want to know what's going on. the 30 day return policy is for 'tried it, didn't like it.' Not "doesn't work right at all and never did..."

    I did this morning through the Kemper US store site. I wanted to try everything possible that I could think of before filling out the online contact/warranty form, I'm sure I'll get a response from them in the next few days.

  • Thanks, yeah I get that part. But if you're using a Kab as your monitor, wouldn't you want the sound from the profile's cab instead of some other speaker sound from an imprint?

    The original point of the Kabinet is for monitoring... just for you.

    You send the profile of your choice to FOH, and the Kemper Monitor to the Kabinet.

    If you love the cabinet in what you sent to FOH, then pick that imprint to send to the Kabinet via Monitor out.

    Now you get the stage AITR you were missing before.

    Feel good, sound good... win win.

  • Thanks, yeah I get that part. But if you're using a Kab as your monitor, wouldn't you want the sound from the profile's cab instead of some other speaker sound from an imprint?

    The goal is to have the same speaker sound in your "amp in the room" monitoring (which the Kabinet does) as the one in the profiled amp.


    In my specific case, I use a few different clean to breakup Fender profiles that make me play better when I've got some "amp" sound.

  • Thanks, yeah I get that part. But if you're using a Kab as your monitor, wouldn't you want the sound from the profile's cab instead of some other speaker sound from an imprint?

    This is the circular arguement that you get into.


    Use a guitar cab which sounds great but nothing like the FOH.

    Go to FRFR which sounds the same as FOH but lose the "amp in the room" feel.

    Step in Kabinet which adds amp in the room sound but sounds slightly different to real guitar cab...


    So it bridges the "gap"...

  • Thanks, yeah I get that part. But if you're using a Kab as your monitor, wouldn't you want the sound from the profile's cab instead of some other speaker sound from an imprint?

    I hear ya, but since when has the sound of your amp been the same as your mic'd amp through front of house? The Kones/Kab are there to give you the familiarity of playing in front of a real amp, but whatever works for you

  • This is the circular arguement that you get into.


    Use a guitar cab which sounds great but nothing like the FOH...

    Here's the thing, though, and where the argument for the monitor sounding just like FOH or vice versa falls apart for me.

    FOH from a mic'd guitar cab generally sounds nothing like what you hear standing in front of the cab on stage. FOH always gets a mic'd cab sound vs the player hearing the direct cabinet. Whats more, mic placement has an enormous impact on what sound is heard, as does where the player is standing in relation to the cabinet on stage. An inch this way or that with the mic.....big character changes. A player stepping a foot or two in either direction can have similar results depending on how far away they are.

    Perhaps I'm missing something.....but FOH vs monitor using a KPA isn't fundamentally different than FOH vs monitor of a regular guitar cab. The two are different - and always have been.

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

  • Yes, I'm very familiar with the difference in FOH vs personal stage sound and that the Kabinet is for self monitoring. ?


    I thought the whole point if the Kabinet was to make a profile sound / feel more like an amp in the room, which I assumed it did without using Imprints. So then is the Imprint then just for additional tone shaping for personal monitoring?

  • Yes, I'm very familiar with the difference in FOH vs personal stage sound and that the Kabinet is for self monitoring. ?


    I thought the whole point if the Kabinet was to make a profile sound / feel more like an amp in the room, which I assumed it did without using Imprints. So then is the Imprint then just for additional tone shaping for personal monitoring?

    Imprints make the cabinet sound like an amp in the room (in its case a 112) with the selected speakers, it feels more amp-in-the-room-like than your typical FRFR. Without the imprints, the cab sounds more like an FRFR, it also has an FRFR mode if you like. That is why I treat it like a cab, after I settled in 2 different imprints I like, is basically a cab more for my collection (I made a 212 setup).

    The answer is 42

  • That's it, using the imprints and bypassing the cab module is how you (theoretically) remove the mic from the signal chain. Retaining the cab module retains the mic'ed up sound.

    I like it but you'll have to try for yourself.


    Also, don't discount the cabinet itself, it makes a huge difference, particularly for hi gain at volume

  • Imprints make the cabinet sound like an amp in the room (in its case a 112) with the selected speakers, it feels more amp-in-the-room-like than your typical FRFR. Without the imprints, the cab sounds more like an FRFR, it also has an FRFR mode if you like. That is why I treat it like a cab, after I settled in 2 different imprints I like, is basically a cab more for my collection (I made a 212 setup).

    I think this is the point...the imprints are part of getting the amp in the room sound. joshriggs hopefully that answers it.

  • Here's the thing, though, and where the argument for the monitor sounding just like FOH or vice versa falls apart for me.

    FOH from a mic'd guitar cab generally sounds nothing like what you hear standing in front of the cab on stage. FOH always gets a mic'd cab sound vs the player hearing the direct cabinet. Whats more, mic placement has an enormous impact on what sound is heard, as does where the player is standing in relation to the cabinet on stage. An inch this way or that with the mic.....big character changes. A player stepping a foot or two in either direction can have similar results depending on how far away they are.

    Perhaps I'm missing something.....but FOH vs monitor using a KPA isn't fundamentally different than FOH vs monitor of a regular guitar cab. The two are different - and always have been.

    This is so true but few guitarists have previously been aware of it. The flex of the KPA makes you more aware of it.

  • The original point of the Kabinet is for monitoring... just for you.

    You send the profile of your choice to FOH, and the Kemper Monitor to the Kabinet.

    If you love the cabinet in what you sent to FOH, then pick that imprint to send to the Kabinet via Monitor out.

    Now you get the stage AITR you were missing before.

    Feel good, sound good... win win.

    I just got the Powered Kabinet and have an outdoor gig today. Short on time but made sure all was working w/ Kemper toaster and Powered Kabinet.

    I also tried the Power Amp setting on page 8 of Output Menu. Should be loud enough I think.

    I've not tried any imprints ( not exactly sure how ) and will just try Monitor Cab On/Off at sound check to see what sounds better to me onstage through the Kabinet.

    So , the cab that is in the profile will be what I hear through the Kabinet, correct ?

    Of course will send Kemper Main Out to FOH and crowd will hear cab used in profile.

    This will be a good test at least volume wise.

    Last gig I used a SD170 into 1 X 12 w a Blue and was worried about blowing the Blue trying to match stage vol w other guitar using Fuchs 50 Watt.