Kemper Kabinet / Powercab 112 plus

    Hi guys.

    I do have a Powered Kemper head and a powercab 112 plus .I am thinking about buying a Kemper Kabinet but I would like first if there's a signicant change in the quality and how Kemper will sound or the Powercab is just as good?

    If you want to run it in full range mode I would think the Powercab will be just as good. If you want to run imprints and have them sound like the real speaker the Kabinet is really the only option.


    One way to test how the Kone setting in the KPA works to adjust the Kabinet speaker to be flat response could be to do as follows:


    Set Main Out and Monitor Out to Master Mono.


    Link Main Out and Monitor out to your audio interface and listen to the results through headphones or studio monitors.


    Balance the levels from each output to be the same.


    Make sure that Kone unticked in the Output Menu and compare the two signals. They should be identical.


    Next tick Kone in the output menu and make sure Monitor Cab Off is unticked in the Output Menu. This puts the KPA into full range mode and adjusts the eq internally to make the Kone response as flat as possible.


    Now compare the Main Outs to the Monitor Out. They will be wildly different. This shows just how much eq adjustment is being applied in the profiler to get the speaker neutral to start with. All imprints assume that the speaker being used requires the same eq adjustment before adding the imprint itself. Therefore, if the speaker in an alternative full range cabinet is used it will have its own internal eq adjustments to compensate for the speaker's response AND will then have the Kone compensation applied on top of this. The results will be unpredictable at best.

    Wheresthedug - do you think that difference is noticeable at bedroom levels? I'm considering the jump from a Headrush FRFR-108, but the majority of the time I play at bedroom levels. However, the Headrush is very boomy or bass-heavy and it irritates the hell out of me when I hit a low string and it reverberates everywhere.


    Tone wise, I can't say I'm dissatisfied with the headrush, but often wonder what the Kemper would sound like through a speaker that was designed from the ground up for it.


    Any thoughts from you or the community would be greatly appreciated!

    If I may chime in for the OP. There will negligible difference between imprints on the Kabinet at bedroom levels when playing "cleans". Tonal similarity would probably be the same as with what you have. I consider bedroom levels to be lower than living room/den levels, or normal daytime talking volumes. I personally would want a lot more tonal difference before putting out money for another Cab type. I own a Kabinet and use it no lower than 80db. Any lower than that and I put on headphones instead so I can maintain some volume without bothering the house. Just my opinion.


    rocketboots7 I don't have any experience with the HR-108 but the same may be said about the cleans. I would consider a good studio monitor as a better option, but I have both (monitors and the Kab). Studio Monitors will sound better than the HR's and the Kabinet will sound better louder. Just my two cents.

    Larry Mar @ Lonegun Studios. Neither one famous yet.

    Edited once, last by BayouTexan ().

    Like 2
    Quote from rocketboots7

    Wheresthedug - do you think that difference is noticeable at bedroom levels? I'm considering the jump from a Headrush FRFR-108, but the majority of the time I play at bedroom levels. However, the Headrush is very boomy or bass-heavy and it irritates the hell out of me when I hit a low string and it reverberates everywhere.


    Tone wise, I can't say I'm dissatisfied with the headrush, but often wonder what the Kemper would sound like through a speaker that was designed from the ground up for it.


    Any thoughts from you or the community would be greatly appreciated!

    If you are playing at ‘bedroom’ levels you are probably playing in a typical small square(ish) room too. These types of rooms are unfortunately terrible environments for bass frequencies. Bass ‘reverberating everywhere’ is generally a good sign of room problems rather than speaker issues. I would expect the room and the speaker/listener positions within the room will make more difference to the low end than any change of speaker.


    Have you tried raising the headrush off the floor/moving it and you to different locations in the room?

    Quote from Wheresthedug

    If you are playing at ‘bedroom’ levels you are probably playing in a typical small square(ish) room too. These types of rooms are unfortunately terrible environments for bass frequencies. Bass ‘reverberating everywhere’ is generally a good sign of room problems rather than speaker issues. I would expect the room and the speaker/listener positions within the room will make more difference to the low end than any change of speaker.


    Have you tried raising the headrush off the floor/moving it and you to different locations in the room?

    I did! I have raised off the floor and that improved the boom significantly. I have to very careful with my pick attack when hitting the low strings, even on clean profiles sometimes and I consider myself to have a fairly light picking hand. Though even yesterday while jamming with some friends it reared it's ugly head and I had to start lowering the volume on my guitar or not palm mute at all. Even very light palm muting would trigger it.


    BayouTexan Thanks for the input! "I personally would want a lot more tonal difference before putting out money for another Cab type" - I can't agree more. I have no question that the Kabinet delivers on its value for those that might know what they're looking for.


    Sorry OP, I didn't mean to hijack your thread.

    So reading this, we can set the "Main" outputs for the Kone speaker pair only, and then set the "Monitor" outs for the FRFR? Is that correct?


    Asking because sometimes I want to run the Kone Pair for jamming, and other times I will run the FRFR for recording...


    Edited: Sorry it's been a while and I forgot- Also found this- Monitor Out and Direct out issue?


    So assuming we can run both sets at the same time, is there any use/advantage in running both at the same time tone-wise?

    If you use FRFR the benefit of a merged profile is that the cabinet is totally separated in the profile.


    For my edification only... ;) Kemper/Axe-FX III/ Quad Cortex user

    Edited 2 times, last by spikey ().

    No. That's not what I was trying to say.


    The Kone functionality (whether imprint or FRFR mode) is only available on the Monitor Out/Speaker Out. Main Outs never get the Kone functions.


    What I was trying to explain is a way to compare the effect of adding Kone by sending to versions of the same signal (Master Master) to two different outputs. The Main Out version is what you would expect full range to sound like. If you send this to the Monitor Out with Kone turned OFF then Main and Monitor signals should sound identical. Then if you turn ON the Kone feature but NOT Monitor Cab Off it will only affect the Monitor Out and will let you hear how much DSP EQ is being added in the profiler. This is done to compensate for that fact that no speaker is truly flat. As Kemper obviously know where the Kone speaker varies from flat they can apply an eq curve to correct this. When you apply this eq curve to a different speaker (such as your studio monitors) it no longer sounds correct. This was just the best way I could think of to illustrate this effect rather than speculate about whether imprints can be used with another speaker.

    Quote from Wheresthedug

    The Kone functionality (whether imprint or FRFR mode) is only available on the Monitor Out/Speaker Out. Main Outs never get the Kone functions.

    DING! It finally made sense to me. THANK YOU! I needed that info...

    If you use FRFR the benefit of a merged profile is that the cabinet is totally separated in the profile.


    For my edification only... ;) Kemper/Axe-FX III/ Quad Cortex user

    Edited once, last by spikey ().

    Like 1

    The main question is : Do yo really search for the "amp in the room" ?

    Quote from Wheresthedug

    If you want to run imprints and have them sound like the real speaker the Kabinet is really the only option.

    No obligatorily, i mean to obtain "amp in the room". With OP's devices you can already get that. The powercab is the only stuff that can provide amp in the room too today....The way to have it, is to disable Kemper cab's block and select the speaker you want in the Powercab+ . Done

    Of Course, is the Kemper + Powercab as good as Kemper + Kone ? I don't know, i've sold my PC+ long before buying the Kone but it could be interesting to compare the result....


    I think buying a Kabinet would be relevant if you wanted to go to rehearsals or gigs (i always leave it at rehearsal room).

    In your case, i would go for monitor speakers or headphones to play at bedroom level....