Its my cabinet, pure and simple, one year of disappointment and aggravation is all on me.
The Kone in my cabinet has never sounded very good, I get an occasional woo-hoo moment but it soon turns to sorrow. Tried every combination of settings over and over and still just left with a bad taste in my mouth and a little jealous of all the people on the forum that have had success😏
I went on vacation for a few days with my wife and two granddaughters, it's a yearly trip. On the way home we stopped at a city about 75 miles from home so they could have Panera Bread bagels which just so happens to be half a block from a music shop I hit every 2 or 3 years. Low and behold there sat a version one passive Kabinet, I've never seen one in person.
I asked to try it out with their Kemper Stage but not a power amp in the store period. So I drove the family home, grabbed the head with my Kemper Rack which in 5 years this is only the third time its been moved, it's never left the house. And of all people my wife says as I'm headed out the door "Take your own guitar so it will be the same as at home", honestly this never entered my mind, so my guitar had its first outing after three years here at home.
Well, 75 miles later I arrived, I thought I'd give the real Kabinet a spin but didn't expect much, my agenda was try it then go down the street a mile to another music store who had the Headrush frfr108 to give it a spin too. Sat down and powered up the Kemper, plugged into the Kabinet without adjusting a setting from home use, pulled up the stock Marshall, I think its the first preset but I've never cared for it, and presto, it sounded good. Tried the 2011 ac20 I believe its called, that so many speak highly of and presto, it sounded good, so far 2 for 2, each for a couple of minutes and sounding unlike anything I've been able to produce from my Kone and opened back cabinet at home.
About 45 minutes later I was in awe and severely depressed at the same time, I have burned so many hours and days up and it was simple, the Kone and Kabinet were designed to complement one another. Every profile I loaded up to tryout sounded great, reverb and delay were closer to monitors than a guitar speaker, great amp sound joined with great effect sounds.
The Acoustic in the Kemper I toyed with on my small monitors in stereo and thought it sounded pretty good, at the store I hit that profile and it was fantastic, mono mind you, the store salesman that was with me at that moment said "If I wasn't seeing an electric guitar I'd swear that was an acoustic plugged in" no exaggeration, that's what he said. I dont think any of the salesman working today had much of a clue about the Kemper or Helix they had on the floor, but they knew their Dr z amps.
It came down to this, I never made it to the other store. I'll purchase a Kabinet for now and sale my 112 cabinet along with a new Eminence em12. Kone, same thing, as time passes and I sell off a couple of electrics I haven't played in several years I fully intend to get a stereo power amp and another Kabinet. And for a reference I looked at the output section after arriving home, low cut was 78hz, high cut was 14,400hz, Kemper Kone checked so frfr mode (no imprints were tried), Pure Cabinet was off, and nothing was harsh or fizzy, first time ever for me! I'm glad I took the trip, I think my blood pressure will ease down a little now😉
