Cab recommendations for Kemper touring rig!

    Hi all!



    I'm going to be going on tour very soon, will be playing a few festivals so the venues are going to range from smaller venues to a few stadium shows. I've played a few shows where the live sound engineer opted to just not deal with micing a cab and went straight out the Kemper into the PA but I hated it. Never hit the way it should have. So I wanted to get some recommendations for a solid cab for the Kemper! I have the powered toaster version. Most of the music is pretty high-gain/metal tones. Think Deftones/Tool/Paramore. I grew up mostly in the studio playing amp sims so I've never had too much experience with cabs, let alone playing live with them. Would love to hear what you guys think, along with any other advice. Thanks guys.

    The sound engineer was just trying to get the best sound for the customers. I bet it sounded great. 😉


    I'd find out what speakers normally get used for the amp in your main sound and get a cab with those in it.

    Mesa boogie evm12 in a closed back cab was my revelation. It’s got all the headroom you need and it’s very flat for a guitar speaker, which helps keep the profile honest to the original intention. A guitar cab will always change the profile though. I’d say make sure to try things out for awhile before embarking on tour and getting struck lugging something you don’t like around.


    Getting a good floor monitor can make it though man. I recommend qsc k10 or 12. You could run one behind you sitting upright too to get that cab on stage feel.

    Quote from GuyJames

    Mesa boogie evm12 in a closed back cab was my revelation. It’s got all the headroom you need and it’s very flat for a guitar speaker, which helps keep the profile honest to the original intention. A guitar cab will always change the profile though. I’d say make sure to try things out for awhile before embarking on tour and getting struck lugging something you don’t like around.


    Getting a good floor monitor can make it though man. I recommend qsc k10 or 12. You could run one behind you sitting upright too to get that cab on stage feel.

    Absolutely, definitely wanted to get some opinions on here first before I went around and tried some cabs out. Great idea with the floor monitor!

    - DF

    Opinions on speakers are just that. We all have different views on what is good. Since you're using a powered head, I suggest paying attention to cabinet impedance and speaker power ratings. You probably want to make sure you get can get max power transfer without killing the speakers.

    Quote from deigoruellez

    Hi all!



    I'm going to be going on tour very soon, will be playing a few festivals so the venues are going to range from smaller venues to a few stadium shows. I've played a few shows where the live sound engineer opted to just not deal with micing a cab and went straight out the Kemper into the PA but I hated it. Never hit the way it should have.

    Why?


    One of the major advantages is to go direct and take out the uncertainty of miking cabs.


    I would recommend the Kabinet but you can't mike it.


    Also, many of those types of venues have cabs already in place miked up for fast change overs. So if you bring your own then ask them to mike up, its going to be a pain for the engineers....happy engineer equals better sound.


    My set up is Kabinet and direct out. Sounds great on stage and out front.


    ENGL cabs are great for heavy bottom end but will colour your sound massively.

    It just sounded very thin and weak to me, and I couldn't really feel the amp like I'm used to. But honestly it may have just been a bad monitoring situation! We could hardly hear ourselves through the stage wedges anyways.


    Either way, I just felt like it would be good to ask around on the forum on the off-chance that a venue we play doesn't have an ideal cab or PA situation. Who knows, I've definitely played some shows where that was the case. But I hear you!!

    Whatever rocks your boat ;) I always go XLR-stereo to FOH, but tend to vary my monitoring based on the type of gig/venue. For the big venues and occasions where an old-fashioned backline is used I've got a Blueamps Spark (2x10"/2x250W top + 12"/500W sub) full stack. These days I would probably have chosen a Kemper Power Kabinet instead. Might still get one because the Spark is a heavy beast to travel with. For small venues I may use a single wedge instead (Dynacord AXM 12A). Occasionally for tiny events I operate the PA from the stage, and in this case the only reasonable solution is in-ears so that I can hear approximately the same as the audience.

    Quote from heldal

    Whatever rocks your boat ;) I always go XLR-stereo to FOH, but tend to vary my monitoring based on the type of gig/venue. For the big venues and occasions where an old-fashioned backline is used I've got a Blueamps Spark (2x10"/2x250W top + 12"/500W sub) full stack. These days I would probably have chosen a Kemper Power Kabinet instead. Might still get one because the Spark is a heavy beast to travel with. For small venues I may use a single wedge instead (Dynacord AXM 12A). Occasionally for tiny events I operate the PA from the stage, and in this case the only reasonable solution is in-ears so that I can hear approximately the same as the audience.

    This is so useful, thank you! Would you say it's abnormal to bring your own monitoring cab to a large venue? Wouldn't they have their own system (wedges, etc.)? Would it be because you prefer your own? Like I said earlier in my post, they had wedges for us but it just sounded terrible and I could barely hear anything.

    - DF

    Quote from deigoruellez

    This is so useful, thank you! Would you say it's abnormal to bring your own monitoring cab to a large venue? Wouldn't they have their own system (wedges, etc.)? Would it be because you prefer your own? Like I said earlier in my post, they had wedges for us but it just sounded terrible and I could barely hear anything.

    Like those who use their own regular amp I prefer a rig I know how will sound. In addition there are other factors that may require a powerful rig. It is for example hard to execute techniques that require controlled feedback without a rig that actually move some air. Backline for monitoring is still normal in addition to the venue monitoring-system, except for a few situations that require minimal stage volume like for example some live TV/radio-events. I have occasionally used the venue-monitors for guitar, but in most cases both I and the sound-engineer prefer that I use my own and only get a general mix of instruments and vocals from the house-wedges. With the KPA I do not need to play as loud as a tube-amp for it to sound good anyway.