Kemper Power Head w/Real Cabinet

  • Well, I finally figured it out, playing a powered Kemper head with a real cabinet takes lots of EQ-ing. Maybe its just not made for that, most profiles are dark and honky and need to be EQed, in some cases very drastic. I also find many DI profiles are too bassy and mid honky. I found the stock "Vintage" EQ preset does a pretty good job in shaping the profile to start, then taking it from there on the front controls. And yes...my CAB/IRs are off.

  • I've had kind of the opposite experience running powered into a cab. I'm using a Friedman 1x12 with a Creamback and generally most profiles sound excellent through it. Especially direct profiles. It's when I run it unpowered into a Friedman ASC-12 it tends to get a little bass heavy and a touch muddy. That's also with the bass cut switch on.

  • Mesa w/V30s

    there are ton of people using that cab quite happily with a powered head. It might be a setting or simply that the mesa isn’t to you taste any more. Bear in mind that the cabinet is by far the biggest part of the sound so will tend to make all profiles soung somewhat similar. Have you tried a different cab?


    before I got my Kabinet, i was using my power head with a Mesa EVM12L thiele 112 cabinet without any issues. Now that I have the Kabinet I pretty much always run in full range mode to get the full benefit of the studio profile though.

  • Bear in mind that the cabinet is by far the biggest part of the sound so will tend to make all profiles soung somewhat similar. Have you tried a different cab?

    This!!


    I was using a 4 x12 for the first 18 months with my Powerhead ( Celestion V30's and G12h's) and miked it up like a regular amp. It sounded ok..


    I then tried to go direct and it sounded awful...turns out that the profiles weren't great and I had eq'ed the hell out of them to get them to sound useable but the cab totally masked them.


    I switched to FRFR and boom, my whole world opened up - although it never sounded quite like an amp...a bit clinical.


    Then Kemper released the Kabinet and problem solved. I now only ever gig with it unless I play a festival and have to use the on stage cab.


    Until this point I had no idea how much of the sound is from the Cab. There are many videos on this showing that more of the sound comes from the Cab than the Amp itself ( of the same type of sound) so definitely try different cabs before you eq too much.


    One final point - I believe regardless of size of venue, your guitar should go through the PA. If you go direct ( which you should) the sound will be massively different and likely with the wrong eq when using a guitar cab. Given the most important sound is FOH/what the audience hears rather than the on stage monitoring ( yes controversial but logical) then you should focus on that sound not the sound out of your cab.

  • I tried guitar cabs and don't like the fact that the tone is very different between the cab and PA. I am using a good PA type monitor and that resolved the tone difference issue. I want my rigs to be consistent and I want to hear what the audience hears.


    I haven't tried a Kabinet, but am curious how it solved your issue. I understand that the Kabinet is design to address the amp in the room problem that some have, but doesn't it create the tone difference between cabinet and PA that is the problem in the first place? Doesn't the Kabinet color the sound like any other guitar cab, but with the ability to choose different imprints which only creates different coloration differences between the Kabinet and PA?

  • I tried guitar cabs and don't like the fact that the tone is very different between the cab and PA. I am using a good PA type monitor and that resolved the tone difference issue. I want my rigs to be consistent and I want to hear what the audience hears.


    I haven't tried a Kabinet, but am curious how it solved your issue. I understand that the Kabinet is design to address the amp in the room problem that some have, but doesn't it create the tone difference between cabinet and PA that is the problem in the first place? Doesn't the Kabinet color the sound like any other guitar cab, but with the ability to choose different imprints which only creates different coloration differences between the Kabinet and PA?

    the Kabinet can run as either a “guitar cab’’ using the various speaker imprints OR as a full range monitor with studio profiles.


    The imprints option is cool if you want to have an “amp in the room type sound but want to use a speaker similar to the PA. For example, run a Marshall JMP rig through the 25w Greenback imprint but switch to a Vox rig next with an alnico blue imprint then a Fender twin with a Jensen imprint.

    personally Imjust run mine in full range mode most of the time because I want to hear what the PA is getting but its kind of cool to play around with the imprints too every now and then.

  • the Kabinet can run as either a “guitar cab’’ using the various speaker imprints OR as a full range monitor with studio profiles.


    The imprints option is cool if you want to have an “amp in the room type sound but want to use a speaker similar to the PA. For example, run a Marshall JMP rig through the 25w Greenback imprint but switch to a Vox rig next with an alnico blue imprint then a Fender twin with a Jensen imprint.

    personally Imjust run mine in full range mode most of the time because I want to hear what the PA is getting but its kind of cool to play around with the imprints too every now and then.

    Thanks for clarifying what the Kabinet does. In my way of thinking, the Kabinet does not bring much. I think I would tend to use it as FRFR and use the cabs in the Kemper because those would also feed the PA and I would avoid the coloration differences between the two.

  • Thanks for clarifying what the Kabinet does. In my way of thinking, the Kabinet does not bring much. I think I would tend to use it as FRFR and use the cabs in the Kemper because those would also feed the PA and I would avoid the coloration differences between the two.

    Agreed.


    It’s a nice to have rather than meed to have. But it is super light and gorgeous looking so what’s not to like 😀

  • Thanks for clarifying what the Kabinet does. In my way of thinking, the Kabinet does not bring much. I think I would tend to use it as FRFR and use the cabs in the Kemper because those would also feed the PA and I would avoid the coloration differences between the two.

    I think for what is important to you then I agree FRFR is probably your best bet.


    You highlight the trade off...more amp in the room like, the less is sounds like the PA. Guitar cab is at one end, FRFR a the other. For me the Kabinet hits the middle ground really well. It has the thump and power from a Cab without the massive colouration.


    The main difference is you control the colouration so you can hear the difference between profiles. Fro me, you lose a lot of that with a guitar cab.