Exploring Options, Kone to Guitar Speaker Swap

  • 5 years in with the Kemper Profiler and I've found the solution that works best for me. When I first purchased the unit my intent was to connect to a set of EV ZLX12 powered speakers I had at the time that weren't being used but that didn't work for me. I had a small solid state combo amp with a 12" speaker and ran the Kemper into the effects return and ran with it four years. Last May I bought what I felt was needed to build a proper rig for me, up to that point my non powered rack unit just sat on top of the combo amp. So I purchased a matching 112 open back cabinet and 6U rack, Furman power supply, Kone and a class D amp. I put in a lot of time over the last year trying to adapt to this configuration but as with the pa speaker it just didn't work for me.

    While using the combo amp my choices with profiles were limited, everything sounded very similar which is to be expected but I did spend a lot of time playing, over the past year I've spent more time adjusting parameters in settings than actual playing time so last week I decided to pursue another avenue. I bought an Eminence EM12, I had considered this speaker before but the Kone presented itself a better option, but alas, as stated above, it just wasn't my cup of tea. The EM12 is not transparent in the signal chain, it is a guitar speaker after all but it is doing a pretty good job of letting each profiles character come through. It's a case of give and take, I may be giving up a percentage of a profiles character but for me I the benefit outweighs the loss.

    I spent a few hours dialing in settings initially to accommodate for the newest component in my rig and the result over the weekend was I spent hours just playing, not chasing parameter settings. Not only do the profiles I've tried sound really good they feel good, that equates to big smiles and peace of mind for an older individual with a good case of OCD like myself, OCD and parameter setting choices are not friends lol!

    I haven't even started exploring all of the profiles I have collected yet, whether purchased or content existing in Rig Packs folders. I've just used a 68 Mars 50 and 13 LDW from MBritts 2020 pack and one of my all time favorites, the Blackface Bass Dimed from Kempers Legacy Profiles folder. These will probably keep me occupied until fall when I will have free time to wade through profiles and find what I want to load into the Kemper, at the moment it has 8 profiles on it and I would like to keep the total number low, just a few options that can cover a lot of ground. Now time to noodle!

  • Great to hear all about your journey. I’m really glad to hear you have arrived at something that works well for you. As the old saying goes “there’s more than one way to skin a cat” 😎


    ……. that equates to big smiles and peace of mind for an older individual with a good case of OCD like myself, OCD and parameter setting choices are not friends lol!

    I can totally empathise with that 👍


    That’s one of the reasons I bought the Kemper in the first place. Although it has plenty of parameters to obsess over, the snapshot nature of profiles means I limit myself to rarely tweaking anything at all. Otherwise, I would disappear down the rabbit hole for weeks at a time and not play nearly enough.

  • That’s one of the reasons I bought the Kemper in the first place. Although it has plenty of parameters to obsess over, the snapshot nature of profiles means I limit myself to rarely tweaking anything at all. Otherwise, I would disappear down the rabbit hole for weeks at a time and not play nearly enough.

    That's the predicament I find myself in all to often, I tend to avoid all the Kemper has to offer on purpose. But I believe I will spend a little more time messing with the effects this fall, I'm bad about using whatever effects the creator of the profile loaded up.

  • Whatever works for you is the right answer and for me, hearing to are playing rather than fiddling is success - especially if you have OCD.


    I'm lucky that I don't have OCD and in fact I'm probably too blaze about my sound.


    Personally I avoided the complication of having a combo in-between ( and its potential colouration). I love my powered rack and Kabinet but also realized it takes time to "like" a sound as well. Sometimes I tell myself it sounds good, I just need to get used to it and then I usually do.

  • Personally I avoided the complication of having a combo in-between ( and its potential colouration). I love my powered rack and Kabinet but also realized it takes time to "like" a sound as well. Sometimes I tell myself it sounds good, I just need to get used to it and then I usually do.

    Intended use plays a hugh part too, I will use my rig 99.+% of the time as a combo amp at home. If I ever do take it out to jam with some friends the only places I would likely go are two smaller venues that I have ran sound at occasionally over the last few years, I don't mic guitar cab's up at these venues, no need to, so my participation would be the same as theirs, crank it just enough to blend in with the others which isn't that much.

    The new speaker is working well for me, it's pretty flat as far as guitar speakers go which was it's designed purpose, it still colors the sound more than a frfr solution but even they vary one from another. Everything in the signal chain is a potential contributing factor.

    I really wanted the Kone to work for me but after 10 months of trying it was time to explore another option. A couple of things may have had an impact on the sound reproduction I was experiencing.

    One, putting the Kone in a slightly oversized open back cabinet, I'm sure this didn't translate as intended compared to the closed backed Kabinet design. Two, power source, I would have to borrow another class d power amp from a friend to compare but I suspect that the TC Electronic Bam200 may contribute somewhat to sound coloration, but without a side by side comparison this is pure speculation on my part.

    If I would have purchased a powdered Kabinet instead of going the direction I did the results may or may not have have been completely opposite for me, but at this point I'm not willing to invest anymore money just to satisfy my curiosity. Going the direction I did is a trade off I can live with but my desire from the start was to be able to experience a more varied sound palette.🤷‍♂️

  • Yeah this is expensive stuff to experiment with!!


    I just clicked with the Kabinet straight off the bat. However, I disagree with the cab miking...I never play off the backline, always go through FOH even at very small gigs. I've stuck with this principle because I've had too many comments about unbalanced sound.


    Saturday just gone, I didn't even take a backline monitor and relied upon the on stage monitors. Ironically it was the first time the monitors sounded awful but I still knew my out front sound was good to as long as I could hear what I played, I was good.

  • Yeah this is expensive stuff to experiment with!!


    I just clicked with the Kabinet straight off the bat. However, I disagree with the cab miking...I never play off the backline, always go through FOH even at very small gigs. I've stuck with this principle because I've had too many comments about unbalanced sound.


    Saturday just gone, I didn't even take a backline monitor and relied upon the on stage monitors. Ironically it was the first time the monitors sounded awful but I still knew my out front sound was good to as long as I could hear what I played, I was good.

    The two venues I was referring to could probably be considered less than small ;). They usually have acoustic instruments and vocals only which I do mic up. The couple of oldies bands that play on occasion are vocal mics only, non mic'd bass and guitar amps at low settings are more than adequate and none of these guys have anything that can go direct to the console. Most of them are in their twilight years and been playing for decades, they really aren't open to newer technology. They are nice fellows and I enjoy our conversations when we have time to engage but when I've told them about my Kemper the usual response is "I'm real happy for ya"^^

  • It's amazing how many players go through a gig *barely* able to hear themselves, and think that's normal.

    Yeah...I think sometimes you just can't get the sound right and you have to go with it. Particularly at a festival with a 15 min turnaround where there is a balance between "good enough" and "perfection".


    I also feel many guitarists feel they are the centre of the world but its about the band and overall sound.