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And what about imprints? Do I really need software updates for a cab? Like for Rig Manager?
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AFAIK, the updates don't make changes to the imprints, but they may add more imprints in an update that you might want to try out. I would expect Kemper to make a big announcement when adding additional imprints like they do when adding effects.
Display MoreThanks everyone for all your suggestions and experiences with different cabs. The Kabinet seems to be the best solution allthough some prefer another cab.
But, as V8 states: it will probably sound different and there will be a need to alter or tweak all my rigs. I'm very opposed to that because then there are a few other thing:s How to do that? How to determine this, and how much time will that take...? That worries me.
And what about imprints? Do I really need software updates for a cab? Like for Rig Manager?
I've not mentioned the following. I have used my QSC K8 speaker cab in conjunction with a Soundcraft Notepad 12 fx mixer next to me on stage for controle reasons: gain control, master volume control and master volume controle so there was no need to regurlarly turn to my profiler to increase or decrease volume, gain or EQ etc. with the profiler's knobs (because different stages have different acoustics)
But with my (2) powered K8's the overall volume is difficult to control, so I guess I have to switch to unpowered cabs like that Kabinet.
But can I keep using that mixer?
Before all of this I have been using only my passive 4x12 cab but couldn't get enough volume so that's why I turned to these powered cabs.
Is the unpowered Kabinet capable of producing enough volume on stage if necessary? Does this Kabinet really surpass all those dozens of other brands of (often more expensive!) guitar cabs ?
I know this is a long story but I like to be sure of everything when buying a new cabinet. Really, money is no issue but sound quality, satisfaction, durability, reliability etc. are....!
You won't be able to run through the mixer with the unpowered Kabinet. The powered output of the Kemper would damage the mixer or vice versa.
That said, you could get a powered Kabinet and still run the monitor output of the Kemper through the mixer I suppose. Never tried that.
I run 2 Kabinets with a Seymour Duncan SD700 and I can get way more volume than necessary on stage.
Are you wanting this solution for just stage volume/monitoring and sending mains to FOH, or are you wanting this solution as your only sound source live?
I would say that no matter what you do, if you change speakers you are going to want to adjust things.
Its not realistic to think that changing the most influential aspect of the final sound (the speaker) and not need to make some adjustments.
For quite some time now I've used a powered QSC K8 (1000W class D) pretty light cab with a handle bar for my powered Profiler. A good cab but I guess not really intended to be used in combination with a profiler.
Says who? Lots of folks use powered cabinets similar to your QSC K8. I use two Yamaha DXR10 monitors. Love them. Have no interest in the Kemper Kabinet or the Kone. You cannot ask this question in the Kemper forum. All you're going to get is "Kemper Kab, Kemper Kab, Kemper Kab". Pose your question in a more neutral guitar forum and you might get a wider array of input.
Says who? Lots of folks use powered cabinets similar to your QSC K8. I use two Yamaha DXR10 monitors. Love them. Have no interest in the Kemper Kabinet or the Kone. You cannot ask this question in the Kemper forum. All you're going to get is "Kemper Kab, Kemper Kab, Kemper Kab". Pose your question in a more neutral guitar forum and you might get a wider array of input.
Fair enough.
My comment comes after using (in chronological order):
PRS Custom 50 combo effects return in
Fender PA with 2 10" cabs
DXR10
XiTone MBritt powered cab
Bose L1 MII
Two Kabinets.
As usual it's subjective, and these are only my observations. The DXR10 is killer. I find that the Kabinet gives me more of that "pant flapping" on stage. YMMV, and I'm all good with that! 
Display MoreThanks everyone for all your suggestions and experiences with different cabs. The Kabinet seems to be the best solution allthough some prefer another cab.
But, as V8 states: it will probably sound different and there will be a need to alter or tweak all my rigs. I'm very opposed to that because then there are a few other thing:s How to do that? How to determine this, and how much time will that take...? That worries me.
And what about imprints? Do I really need software updates for a cab? Like for Rig Manager?
I've not mentioned the following. I have used my QSC K8 speaker cab in conjunction with a Soundcraft Notepad 12 fx mixer next to me on stage for controle reasons: gain control, master volume control and master volume controle so there was no need to regurlarly turn to my profiler to increase or decrease volume, gain or EQ etc. with the profiler's knobs (because different stages have different acoustics)
But with my (2) powered K8's the overall volume is difficult to control, so I guess I have to switch to unpowered cabs like that Kabinet.
But can I keep using that mixer?
Before all of this I have been using only my passive 4x12 cab but couldn't get enough volume so that's why I turned to these powered cabs.
Is the unpowered Kabinet capable of producing enough volume on stage if necessary? Does this Kabinet really surpass all those dozens of other brands of (often more expensive!) guitar cabs ?
I know this is a long story but I like to be sure of everything when buying a new cabinet. Really, money is no issue but sound quality, satisfaction, durability, reliability etc. are....!
The unpowered kab is LOUD! But having a decent power amp helps. I use a Koch ATR stereo tube poweramp, going stereo into 2 Kemper kabs. I have a huge amount of headroom, even when keepin the KPA output on minus 12 or something.
I've got one unpowered Kabinet using a 200watt ICEPower module I DIY'd into the back of my Toaster.
That 112 gets LOUD.
For quite some time now I've used a powered QSC K8 (1000W class D) pretty light cab with a handle bar for my powered Profiler. A good cab but I guess not really intended to be used in combination with a profiler. So I'm looking for a new cab: not a big one but a handy and rugged one with enough handling power which matches my profiler and delivers an even better sound .
Anyone for a perfect suggestion?
Are you unhappy with the sound of the K8? There are suggestions, lots of them, but no perfect one as sound is subjective and personal for each individual. I bought an non powered rack in 2017 and plugged into the effects return of a solid state combo amp for almost four years, I spent more time playing than tweaking. I had tried my EV ZLX112P but didn't like it and had no other reference source available to compare with to hear but I felt I was not using the Kemper in a manner to take advantage of it's tonal potential. In 2021 I decided to go with a Kone loaded in my own 112 open back cabinet and a class D power amp (TC Electronics Bam200).
For one year I tweaked settings and tried a couple thousand profiles but never achieved a tone that came close to resembling what some users have posted on YouTube with the Kabinet or their own cabinet loaded with a Kone, I actually purchased three Kone's in the course of 15 months hoping for a different result but alas that was not the case. So I went on the hunt to find a better solution, I drove 160 miles round trip twice to try a passive Kemper Kabinet, once to try it with my guitar and Kemper and the second time I took my cabinet loaded with a Kone to compare the two as I thought my cabinet could be the bad link in the signal chain but that wasn't the solution for me, so I reasoned it may have been my power amp that was the bad link.
My next try was a 150 mile round trip to a store that had the Headrush 8" and 12" cabinets but that wasn't the solution for me. QSC was my next option to try but at the time no one had a K8 or K10 in stock so I purchased the CP8 and took a few days working with it, no matter what I tried I could not get the fizz out, it wasn't the solution for me. I figured that I was not an individual that would ever get along with a pa speaker as a monitoring solution which brought me back to wondering if my power amp was the culprit so I purchased a powered Kabinet with high hopes it would remove any bad links in the signal chain, but after a few days with it I gave up, it just didn't sound right to me.
My next attempt was to try a normal guitar speaker but find one that didn't have as much tonal character as say a greenback or V30 since my first four years seemed less stressful when using the combo amp, again more playing than tweaking. I purchased an Eminence EM12 and liked the results I was hearing but still felt I could benefit from a different power amp so I purchased a SD PowerStage 700, I really have wanted a stereo rig since selling a stereo combo I had years ago. I did try the new amp with the two Kones just in case and it did sound better to me than my previous power amp did with them but not as well as the EM12. I now have a second EM12 in a box waiting to load in another matching open back cabinet that I need to finish, that's my personal perfect solution, I no longer record nor do I see a time where I will need to plug my Kemper into a pa system, I now have the most versatile rig I have owned in forty years as well as the best sounding!
Quite a long post I know but I see many people on the forum who are on the quest for tonal bliss through some sort of monitoring solution, some achieve it with frfr cabinets, some with pa speakers, some with a Kone or Kabinet, some with studio monitors or even headphones, some with guitar cabs, so my opinion is a perfect suggestion or solution doesn't exist, the solution will vary depending on the tastes or needs of the individual. I will suggest though, if at all possible, try before you buy or purchase from a company that has a good return policy, both the Kemper Online Store and Sweetwater here in the states where very accommodating and gracious with me when I returned products with zero issues, I wish you the best of luck in your search and hope your journey is not as long as mine has been.
You won't be able to run through the mixer with the unpowered Kabinet. The powered output of the Kemper would damage the mixer or vice versa.
That said, you could get a powered Kabinet and still run the monitor output of the Kemper through the mixer I suppose. Never tried that.
I run 2 Kabinets with a Seymour Duncan SD700 and I can get way more volume than necessary on stage.
Are you wanting this solution for just stage volume/monitoring and sending mains to FOH, or are you wanting this solution as your only sound source live?
I have put my Profiler's Direct Output Send and my Monitor Output always to 2 guitar inputs on my mixer. Almost never used Kemper's 2 Main outputs. The Main Outs on my mixer go to 2 XLR inputs of my QSC K8 monitors.
But in case of using Kemper's unpowered Kabinet I don't understand that this would not be possible.
I would say that no matter what you do, if you change speakers you are going to want to adjust things.
Its not realistic to think that changing the most influential aspect of the final sound (the speaker) and not need to make some adjustments.
OK, Ruefus. You a point there. But are we talking about serious and audible changes in sound that really must be adjusted?
Says who? Lots of folks use powered cabinets similar to your QSC K8. I use two Yamaha DXR10 monitors. Love them. Have no interest in the Kemper Kabinet or the Kone. You cannot ask this question in the Kemper forum. All you're going to get is "Kemper Kab, Kemper Kab, Kemper Kab". Pose your question in a more neutral guitar forum and you might get a wider array of input.
OK alerich. My doubt has come because of those K8 powered speakers cabs. The volume is difficult to control in conjuction with the mixer. More than once my guitar signal is suddenly coming very loud of the speakers, but I touched nothing. If you increase the volume of the speaker a millimeter to much then it can make a big difference. So all these problems made me think of getting a more suitable cab and because most of you recommend a Kabinet it's obvious that I try to go along with that. But my K8 cabs sound great and are not coloured in any way. It's the hard to control volume changes that worry me.
Are you unhappy with the sound of the K8? There are suggestions, lots of them, but no perfect one as sound is subjective and personal for each individual. I bought an non powered rack in 2017 and plugged into the effects return of a solid state combo amp for almost four years, I spent more time playing than tweaking. I had tried my EV ZLX112P but didn't like it and had no other reference source available to .....................
Quite a story! The length of it doesn' t bother me at all. It makes it clear to me that you had a long and hard quest to find your ideal sound. Maybe I should be more satisfied with my equipment and only put more effort in trying to get more volume control. As I said before, my K 8's sound pretty good for me and when I read some comments it seems that a Kabinet can be a very personal choice. This topic has clarified a lot for me. At least that changing gear will not always be by definition the best solution. Your story proves that!
Thank you all for your comments!
(BTW, I'm from The Netherlands)
OK, Ruefus. You a point there. But are we talking about serious and audible changes in sound that really must be adjusted?
No way to tell. The adjustments for a quality speaker shouldn't be dramatic at all.
IMO - It won't be that big a deal.
But in case of using Kemper's unpowered Kabinet I don't understand that this would not be possible.
You cannot use the Kemper 600w powered output (red ring on the back) through a mixer. There will be smoke.
You cannot use the regular monitor or direct output to run an unpowered Kabinet without going through a power amp first.
I purchased an Eminence EM12 and liked the results I was hearing but still felt I could benefit from a different power amp so I purchased a SD PowerStage 700
Thanks for the great story! A friend of mine, who knows way more about speakers than I do, told me the bigger the magnet the closer you will get to the actual sound it is trying to put out. Meaning small magnets will have a colored sound since they cant control the speaker as well. Which is usually great for a certain amp or tone. But is not good when trying to emulate ALL amp tones. So I run big magnet Eminence in all of my amps.
Of course, I am not knowledgeable so I may have misunderstood. May have been cabinet related in that particular case.
When I looked up your EM12, I laughed hard. That magnet is huge!!! Probably sounds great for a variety of sounds from a Kemper.
OP
I have not tried the Kemper thru an amp yet. I play thru Behringer 2031p monitors. I just bought a 50w Katana for portable jamming but have not tried it. And I want to run the Kemper thru a stereo amp into my stereo 4x12 cab. One of these days...
You cannot use the Kemper 600w powered output (red ring on the back) through a mixer. There will be smoke.
You cannot use the regular monitor or direct output to run an unpowered Kabinet without going through a power amp first.
You're wrong here! I never have done this. See my post #29 about my outputs at the back of my profiler. Moreover this is the way to get stereo when I use both of my 1000 W powered K8 cabs.
You're wrong here! I never have done this. See my post #29 about my outputs at the back of my profiler. Moreover this is the way to get stereo when I use both of my 1000 W powered K8 cabs.
No. dmatthews is absolutely correct. Do NOT run the speaker output through your mixer. In post 29 you confirm that you are using the MONITOR outs NOT the SPEAKER outs. The voltage from the monitor out is tiny and isn’t enough to drive a passive speaker. Try hooking the monitor out up to a regular guitar cabinet and listen to how quiet it is. The input of your mixer is designed to receive these tiny voltages. The voltage from the SPEAKER out is MASSIVE in comparison. Your mixer is definitely NOT designed to receive those voltages and will fail if you try.
If you send the Monitor out to your mixer as normal but try and send a signal from the mixer to a passive speaker (unpowered Kabinet) there will be no volume. In this situation you will need to add another amp AFTER the mixer or use a powered speaker like you QSC or the Powered Kabinet.
I am sorry for the use of caps lock but I can’t think of a better way to emphasise the danger in your logic to help stop you destroying your mixed.
As for your original issue; should you buy new speaker(s)? If so which ones?
Ignore everyone else’s opinion until you know exactly what you are trying to achieve. Everyone has their one opinion based on their personal preference and requirements. Someone playing in the orchestra pit of a theatre show will have different needs than a wedding band guitarist or a death metal player. Someone who grew up playing through a Marshall Stack will have a different idea of great onstage sound to someone who has mainly played through plugins or live amps in a studio setting etc.
My opinion and all the others here don’t matter. Only your needs and taste matter.
From your comments so far it appears that you are actually very happy with the sound of your QSC set up but simply have a minor volume related problem. If that is correct try fixing this problem first. If you are struggling to get a pair of powered FRFR monitors like you QSC to be loud enough on stage my first thought would be that the stage volume is too loud so turn everything down and work from there. However, only you know the full story so I am only thinking out loud.
If you like the QSC but just can’t solve the specific volume issue with the 8 inch version perhaps try a 10 or 12 inch version of the same speaker first as you already know that you like the overall brand sound.
Of course, the options will be different if the real issue if]s that you aren’t happy with the way the QSC sound. Be honest with yourself and ask yourself (or discuss with your bandmates) what the real root of the problem is before just throwing money at new gear.
No. dmatthews is absolutely correct. Do NOT run the speaker output through your mixer. In post 29 you confirm that you are using the MONITOR outs NOT the SPEAKER outs. The voltage from the monitor out is tiny and isn’t enough to drive a passive speaker. Try hooking the monitor out up to a regular guitar cabinet and listen to how quiet it is. The input of your mixer is designed to receive these tiny voltages. The voltage from the SPEAKER out is MASSIVE in comparison. Your mixer is definitely NOT designed to receive those voltages and will fail if you try.
If you send the Monitor out to your mixer as normal but try and send a signal from the mixer to a passive speaker (unpowered Kabinet) there will be no volume. In this situation you will need to add another amp AFTER the mixer or use a powered speaker l ...............................
Hi Alan, I don't know if I understand you correctly... you say dmattews is absolutely correct when he writes DO NOT run etc. But this is besides the point! I never do that, only when I first bought my profiler in 2014 and used this output for a passive speaker: Way too loud!!!
So later I got me a small mixer and started using the MONITOR OUTPUT and the DIRECT OUT. After a while I found out that these outputs also can provide a stereo sound, (like the Main Outs FOH) by just panning L and R to the left and right. So stereo monitors.
Again later I bought a 7000 W QSC PA system from which I use the two K8 powered cabs as my monitors. Eversince this is my setup with my small mixer and my profiler.
And you're right:. these cabs sound very good (must be because it's a hell of a PA with a 1000 W sub, two K12-2 cabs 2000 W each and two K8 cabs 1000 W each!) I did a demo with it (with a lightshow) as a dj and recorded everything. This PA sounds amazing and because of this I started using the 2 K8 cabs being my monitors.
Being busy with this topic about my QSC monitor, volume control and mixer I now see a warning on a sheet that comes with my PA. It's on a drawing that comes with the PA. Look at attached drawing. I wonder if it presents the cause of my problems.
My connections are as follows:
The main outs of my small mixer go to Ch A of the QSC K8 monitors. The warning however says that Channel B's inputs has to be used when connecting line-level mixers ....and so on.
The question is: am I connecting the wrong way (A) and should it be B's input. I don't understand what a line-level mixer is...and do I have one....?
The question is: am I connecting the wrong way (A) and should it be B's input. I don't understand what a line-level mixer is...and do I have one....?
The answer is in the diagram itself,
QSC Input B is line level only:
That would be the signal coming from your mixers left and right output or from the Kempers main left and right outputs or the monitor out and direct out (monitor out and direct out work as a stereo pair when the Monitor Out in the Output menu is set to Master Stereo) which I'm assuming that is how your Kemper is set.
QSC Input A can be set as a line level input like Input B or as a Mic input for dynamic mics, you do not want Input A set to mic for your setup.
Gain structure can wreak havoc on signal levels, I do sound system installations and troubleshooting for existing systems. One of the main issues I address at venues is gain structure, simply having unity gain set up across a system generally fixes half of the issues, the rest is usually eq related or something like compression on an input or output that needs adjustment or turned off.
Try working with your gain settings first starting with the Kempers output volume, to hot of a signal gives you no room to work as well as to low of a signal, from the volume jumps your describing I would make sure it's not to hot. You need a consistent level at you input gain on the mixer from the Kemper, a consistent level from your input gain to your channel fader and a consistent level from your channel fader to your master output fader and consistent level from the master output to your QSC input. The same goes with the input level of the QSC and its output volume, if the signal through the chain is relatively equal, not to hot and not to low, middle of the road, your adjustments when moving the mixers fader up and down should not be so drastic as described, you need the adjustments to be more gradual without hugh jumps, hence a unity gain strategy. I hope this might help, it will also be very dependent on your profile levels being pretty consistent from one to another.
You're wrong here! I never have done this. See my post #29 about my outputs at the back of my profiler. Moreover this is the way to get stereo when I use both of my 1000 W powered K8 cabs.
OK, let me try it this way...
Yes, the Monitor and Direct outputs work as you suggest. I use them as well. I put them into my Seymour Duncan SD700 power amp and have two unpowered/passive Kabinets on the SD700 output. I then run either stereo or mono depending on the use case.
That said, and as Wheresthedug says, without my SD700, if I tried to plug those unpowered/passive Kabinets into the Monitor and Direct outputs I would get nothing. No damage, and no sound.
The Monitor output is a "clone" of the Speaker output (red ring) except that the Speaker output is powered and the Monitor output is not powered. You can put the Monitor output to your mixer of course, but NOT the Speaker output (red ring). If you put the Speaker output (powered) into the mixer, either one or both will get damaged.
Hope that helps mate.
