Raezor's edge or Redstone cabinet for Kemper Power Head?

    Hello,
    I love my Kemper Power Head toaster, and have been using it powered with a 4x12 cabinet—which I do not like, as it's too brassy—and unpowered via a pair of Focal CMS 65 powered speakers (somewhat acceptable). I play archtops exclusively and have noticed that the Focals sound a tad muddy with my L5's. I'm not sure whether the problem is the fact that the Focals have only 6.5" woofers or if it's a placement issue. However, due to architectural constraints I cannot reposition the speakers. Therefore, I have been contemplating purchasing a passive cabinet and have been considering either a Raezor's Edge Stealth 10 ER or a comparable Redstone cabinet that I would power either with the Kemper's power amp or, if not a good match, with an Acoustic Image Clarus. I wonder if any of the experts on this forum have experience in this regard, as any input would be appreciated? I should add that this setup is not being used in a performance situation but, rather, a home studio.


    Oops! just read that Redstone is out of business, so that leaves the Raezor's Edge as the only contender.

    Edited once, last by ronjazz ().

    Hi, you should already be aware of that but a very specific input sense with very low values (like -6 to -10 ) should help. The Basses can be dimed to -3 db around 80-100 Hz with an EQ stomp. ( I play mostly on monitor, yamaha HS7), but you'll still have to adjust the treble & vol on your guitar a lot.


    I've been working on my own commercial profiles dedicated to hollow & archtop guitars, since I was disappointed with the existing ones on my own L5 copy. I fount most profiles sounding boomy in the bass range and other frequencies either dimed or too trebly.


    I have some free ones to try , they are specifically tailored for your style of guitar. just check this thread


    Alternatively, you can be part of my beta test team and give me some help in this quest (you'll then receive all my profiles for free of course ), It's hard to find L5 owners and players around here !


    Activate tour Private messaging on the forum and send me your personal email if interested.

    HI and thank you for your reply.
    I have tried adjusting input sense, however, reducing input sense results in very low volume output from the Focals making it a no go. I have also tried adding a studio EQ stomp and adjusted the frequency range to correspond with the lower frequencies, but it still did not cut the mustard. I have no issue with my archtops with floaters— they sound fine, but the L5's and others with set PUPs do not seem to bond with my current setup.

    Hello,
    I thought that other arch top guitar users might appreciate a followup on my tone quest.
    So far, none of the passive speaker cabinets that I have tried with my powerhead (Raezor's Edge Stealth 10, a borrowed Redstone, and several custom cabs) have been capable of producing the typical, sought after dark, jazz tone with my arch top guitars. Since most of these cabs, the first two in particular, have received good reviews in regards to tone reproduction, I came to the conclusion that the Powerhead is at issue, although it does a good job when feeding self-powered monitors via the direct outs. I then connected several of these speaker cabs to an outboard SS amp/preamp combo, and suddenly the tone appeared without any effort whatsoever. And BTW, I've tried every tonal adjustment possible on the Kemper—cabs off—before arriving at this conclusion. So my personal opinion is that the Kemper is great, even wonderful, when connected to self-powered monitors but, as odd it as it may seem, its internal amp does something to the tone when connected to a passive speaker. I have also arrived at the conclusion that, given the plethora of included amps with distortion, that the Kemper is not designed with jazz guitarists in mind.
    I plan on keeping my Kemper, but will not be using its internal amp. As for my arch tops, I have taken a different path that consists of a SS amp/preamp combo along with a high end passive speaker cabinet specifically designed for arch top electric and acoustic guitars.

    Thx for the feedback, it's interesting.


    Have you done the test with a 'coloured' speaker ? I've done some experiments with the 'crappy' speaker of my fender frontman (Solid state) and it sounded very good with a few profiles . The fender ones, some supros and the vox ones were really great on my archtop.


    my experience with my toaster ( I don't have a powered one) on the fender frontman ( using the return input ) :


    I had to tweak a bit , both master out EQ and the profiles themselves : I deactivated the CAB from the profiles and I got this instant 'new combo feel' , the limits is that most profiles will sound the same since the real CAB colors the tone in the same way on each profile.


    What I liked the most about it is that you got this 65W solid state amp sounding like a collector vintage blackface (and it looks very good). I used this setup on a live venue at my jazz club and got some great comments on my tone from everybody (with Pete's AC30 profiles).


    Alternatively, using the CAB from the profiles (activated) led me to interesting results (for lead & higain stuff).

    Hello Waraba,
    Yes, I've tried various colored passive speakers, but they couldn't cut the mustard ... at least for my ears.
    But I must reiterate, that when bypassing the Kemper Powerhead's internal amp the sound is good through powered speakers. I simply could not find, for reasonable cost and of reasonable size, a powered speaker that did not muddy up the low end of my L5's. In addition, the few powered speakers that I've tried could not provide the desired volume output. I have since switched to an Acoustic Image Clarus 4 Plus, along with a Buscarino Chameleon cabinet. Together, they provide the tonal quality that I was searching for—with very little if any effort in regards to tonal adjustment—in a very portable package, although, admittedly not inexpensive.