The Kemper Thread:

dmatthews said:
Dave to crowd: How the Hell did I miss this awesome Kemper thread? WTF?
Crowd: BOOOooooooo!!! Dumbass! :mad:
Dave to crowd: DOH! OK... how about I contribute to it? Late I know...:oops:
Crowd: OK Boomer...

Anyway. Been on the Kemper unpowered toaster head for 3 years now. I got my feet wet with it immediately at practice, and have gone through numerous backline options. In order:
1) Old POS Fender 100w PA with 2 speakers. Sounded good, and because it has 2 speakers it covered a lot of stage and audience. Good but not great.
2) Yamaha DXR10 powered speaker. Massive upgrade, and the first version of this speaker is favoured by numerous Kemper players. It's loud AF and has incredible dispersion. My last gig before the great Covid crapfest was a 300 person wedding in a big hall. It was amazing and had headroom to spare.
3) XiTone MBritt (Michael Britt of Lonestar). 600/200w 1x12 powered cab with 2 channel Dayton amp and Celestion coax speaker. This puppy is solid. Built like a freakin' tank. It has 5 DSP settings, and a removable back panel to convert from closed to open back. Very flexible, and a bit weighty but nice! Also has bluetooth to pump music through for play along or breaks.
4) Bose L1 Model II. I used this for a year until Covid killed practice at the studio. I pumped both my vocals and the Kemper through it. Managing my own volume and effects is/was rather gratifying to say the least. This is an amazing all in one FOH and backline system for a crowd of up to 300/400 people. Sound is amazing. The T1 mixer module lets you tailor your sounds to your liking. Excellent option.
5) Kemper Kabinet. This Kab came out during the lockdown phase of 2020. Ordered in March. Came 10 days later, and... WOW! I will preface this by saying that FRFR is absolutely amazing. You get what you hear (mostly) off an album... the sound of a very well mic'd cabinet... a recorded sound, and it's awesome. But what is usually missing is that amp in the room, pant flapping stage sound that gives you the rush that only air moving can give you. The Kabinet gives you that FRFR faithful reproduction, and gives you back that pant flapping amp in the room on top. I've done two outside gigs in a parking lot with it and it has no problem covering a large space and keeping up with anything.

Now... the Kemper Kabinet is passive (unpowered) unlike all the other ^^^choices^^^. So that means you need a power amp (unless you have a powered Kemper). There is supposedly a powered Kemper Kabinet in the works, but nobody knows the timeline for release.

That's enough for this edition, but next up (if you want it) is my foray into power amps for the passive Kemper Kabinet.

Cheers,
Click to expand...

I went through a similar journey with my Kemper and also ended up with a 2x12 with Kemper Kone's in it. My chain is Guitar, Kemper, Crown XLi 1500 Power Amp, Kemper Kone 2x12 Vertical Cab.

It took some trial and error, but this set up just can't be beat for my usage!
 
dmatthews said:
I went in with a bit of skepticism, but also with recommendations from trusted friends.
So glad I did it. The flexibility is fabulous.
Click to expand...

Great post with real-venue experiences. That's awesome to hear about your observations.

I think the Kemper certainly does have merit, but I'm a bit old fashioned too, I suppose.

I went from a 2060 Marshall Mercury as a kid, to a modded 2203 with a 1990 8x10 cabinet, then to a Marshall VS265 2x12 and finally down to a pair of DSL40C's, so I've always had a Marshall backline.

Last month, I an effort to save weight, I switched to a Marshall Origin 50H and a custom made, mahogany 2x12 cabinet, with Jensen Neodymium speakers, that weighs only 32 pounds.

I'm sure the Kemper is better and lighter, but I built my entire rig for less than $800 and it really does work well.

Our recording work in the studio has never slowed down during the lockdown. We did transition from doing exclusively music recordings to doing more PSA's, telephone menu recordings, training videos, commercials and advertisements, etc.

But, in fact, the private event venues haven't really slowed down either for us. Our first public show since March is coming up on October 10 in Socal. It will be an outdoor event with everyone running at stage volume, probably on a 53' semi trailer.

In testing, the new rig really has given me even more than I expected from it...
 
Robert Herndon said:
Great post with real-venue experiences. That's awesome to hear about your observations.

I think the Kemper certainly does have merit, but I'm a bit old fashioned too, I suppose.

I went from a 2060 Marshall Mercury as a kid, to a modded 2203 with a 1990 8x10 cabinet, then to a Marshall VS265 2x12 and finally down to a pair of DSL40C's, so I've always had a Marshall backline.

Last month, I an effort to save weight, I switched to a Marshall Origin 50H and a custom made, mahogany 2x12 cabinet, with Jensen Neodymium speakers, that weighs only 32 pounds.

I'm sure the Kemper is better and lighter, but I built my entire rig for less than $800 and it really does work well.

Our recording work in the studio has never slowed down during the lockdown. We did transition from doing exclusively music recordings to doing more PSA's, telephone menu recordings, training videos, commercials and advertisements, etc.

But, in fact, the private event venues haven't really slowed down either for us. Our first public show since March is coming up on October 10 in Socal. It will be an outdoor event with everyone running at stage volume, probably on a 53' semi trailer.

In testing, the new rig really has given me even more than I expected from it...
Click to expand...
Like any art, music, and the tools used to create it are subjective. The tools you've chosen are right for you, and that helps the art come out the way you want it to.
It's all good! :D
 
Sp8ctre said:
I went through a similar journey with my Kemper and also ended up with a 2x12 with Kemper Kone's in it. My chain is Guitar, Kemper, Crown XLi 1500 Power Amp, Kemper Kone 2x12 Vertical Cab.

It took some trial and error, but this set up just can't be beat for my usage!
Click to expand...
Great setup! I have an Avatar 2x12 with V30s in it. Very tempted to put a couple of Kones in it.:unsure:
 
Not sure if I shared this earlier, but if so apologies in advance...

When I bought my Kabinet, I also bought a Kone speaker with the idea of putting it into my XiTone MBritt powered 1x12.
Because I'm a dumbass, I hadn't checked until after it shipped. The Dayton amp is coax and so is the speaker. DUH!
So... when the Kone arrived I found a local cabinet maker and asked if he could Klone the Kabinet. He said yes, so I drove out there with the Kab and Kone for him to measure it up.
Here is the result...













The kloned kabinet is slightly heavier, but the sound is just as killer as the original.
Now I have lush stereo Kabinets. Yum...
 
Nice !

So you have a Kemper Kone, in a Kloned Kabinet, that’s kool.

Why I’m I thinking Copper Clappers :rolf:
 
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