Who's Gone Cabless For Live Shows?

    So I've had my Kemper since February and a bit of background, I play in 2 bands, one is a roots rock band and the other is a Symphonic Metal Band. I've done a few shows now with the roots rock band and the Kemper has worked quite nicely, however they were all gigs with a questionable PA and guitars were not mic'd. My other guitarist runs a Marshall Jubilee 1x12 live and I run a 2x12 cab with an ISP stealth. That's all worked great. My symphonic metal band did our first gig since I got the KPA and I ran in FOH and it was monstrous! We all use IEMs and one of my main outputs (both set to mono) feeds the in ear mixer. I should also note this band doesn't gig anywhere that doesn't have a legit PA setup for the reasons of running keys and symphonic arrangements via backing tracks with click. I didn't really even notice I had a cab on stage and none of my other bandmates noticed either because we all have sound isolating IEMs. This has prompted an interesting discussion about consolidating our mix/IEM rack with a Kemper and the bass rig. Anyone have any experiences doing something like this? I should also add I have nothing on the floor as our laptop that runs our clicks and backing tracks has all patch changes and effect changes programmed via MIDI. The only downside I see going this route is feedback, but that can be had via a PA wedge or an Alto TS212. Thoughts from the KPA community?


    Also sidenote, my Bogner Uberschall hasn't left its road case since I profiled it in March :)

    There are two main ways of monitoring the KPA: the traditional way over a cab (KPA cabsim off) or via a more or less FRFR monitor (KPA cabsim on) as you've suggested i.e. with a Alto TS212. The main approach of the KPA is giving you the sound of a mic'ed cab. And what's the way to make a mic'ed cab audible? Right, PA for the crowd, wedges for the stage. In other words there's nothing wrong with going cabless on stage. :)

    I could have farted and it would have sounded good! (Brian Johnson)

    We're cabless since the first gig with processors. But we use the onstage monitors of the venue. Sometimes they're crap, sometimes they sound nicer than a 4x12 :D


    I read a while ago, that Periphery switched from cabless/IEM to additional cabs, so the frontrow doesn't only hear drums ;)
    I'm unsure if this is necessary...

    Don't get my first post wrong, there are countless KPA owners who prefer the real cab solution. Some do like this more amp-in-the-room-feeling with this approach, some are only using a few sounds and don't need the variety the KPA offers. That's totally fine. But one should keep in mind, that a cab has a certain sound by itself. So if you're looking for the sound of a small Fender amp via a real Marshall 4 x 12 cab you'll probably won't get far. A FRFR monitor will give you authentic tones of almost any amp together with the (mic'ed) cab that was meant for this amp.

    I could have farted and it would have sounded good! (Brian Johnson)

    My band switched to IEM. Using EDrums, X32 Mixer and Kempers this is just a dream setup. The only drawback like you said is creating feedbacks. I solved this by mounting a tiny mini amp like the marshall MS-2 on my mic stand. I use the monitor out to an A/B/Y Switch to have even it switchable. I really love it.

    Thanks guys,


    For the roots rock band I like using a guitar cab with the poweramp (monitor out cab sim off). This works great, that said I just bought an X Air 18 for a PA head solution and I'm finding that gigging with no cab in this scenario is actually just fine. For my symphonic metal band my bassist and I are going to go cabless and just use our IEMs, although we're going to snag a couple inexpensive PA speakers for jamming at practice (mostly for songwriting scenarios where we aren't using IEMs). Despite being a lifelong tube amp fanatic I really can't say I miss the reliability issues, volume, or weight of a tube amp since moving to the Kemper. If anything it's made so many more tonal options possible and helped to dramatically control stage volumes.

    Hey, Metal Horse, I cannot believe how close your situation is to mine!


    I play in a symphonic metal band as well and recently switched to a 6U rack with Kemper and XR12 + in-ears. I have not used a cab for the last three shows and it's working out beautifully!
    In my case I connected the headphone out into XR input for the in-ears and FOH gets main out L. This way I get to use Kemper's 'space' feature for easier headphone sound and both headphone out and XR in are in the front of the rack, so a simple pedal patch cable connects them nicely.


    I have a question for you about in-ear amplification. I am fully wireless and things are working well but the rest of my band is still wired and I find that when I lower the XR bus out to avoid distortion, the headphone amps they use are not loud enough (https://media.music123.com/is/…4000000000-00-750x750.jpg).


    What do you guys use for amplification?

    I'm not sure what headphone amp our drummer is using, but the rest of us are using galaxy audio as-900s. I've got my Kemper setup as follows (signal path wise)



    -Main Outs both set to mono
    -Main Out volume set to -15.4 unlinked
    -Main Out Left to in ear mixer rack (presonus)
    -Main Out Right to FOH
    -Monitor out with cab sim off into ISP Stealth into Mesa Vertical 2x12
    -MIDI in from mix computer or for the other band a Behringer FCB1010 into the MIDI in



    I found that the main XLR outputs are hotter than hell on the Kemper and I get much better results taming that down with the volume levels unlinked at -15.4. Also another note is that to get my Kemper to not sound like a chainsaw on gain channels in the in ears I spent probably 10 hours with it plugged into Logic with a graphic EQ and analyzer open and dialed a mix ready tone with HP and LP and several notches. Once I got the sound I liked I recreated this in the graphic EQ and saved it as a preset on the Kemper. All of my live and studio patches use this so I can run pretty much flat into anything and it sounds good. When I was working on this EQ I used my IEMs off the headphone out with no space and checked it against a pair of Mackie CR5s. The first 2 weeks I owned the Kemper I was beyond frustrated trying to get "my sound" right, but patience paid off and this thing sounds amazing. So amazing I'm going to buy a 2nd one...and maybe even sell my Uberschall.

    Cannot speak for metal. I went cabless with KPA from day one. Using IEM. Best thing ever. Sidenote: you do not hear the singers argue during the songs and blaming the FoH for not hearing themselves over the wedges on stage. So I keep smiling during the songs waiting for the drummer to kick in the next song.