Head vs. Power Head - Advice?

Quote from evbro9

Hi everyone! I'm new to the forum. I've been eyeing a Kemper amp for quite some time, and I've been saving up to buy one. I'm a long time guitarist but I don't know much about the technical side of amps. Mostly I operate on, "Ooh, I like how that sounds!"

I mostly need a tool for recording, and although I'm not currently gigging I'd love to use the Kemper as an amp when I eventually do play live again. So a couple quick questions I hope you can shed light on:

- What are the advantages/disadvantages to buying the regular Kemper Head vs. the Power Head?
- The Power Head is a bit more expensive, but I'd have to buy a speaker with a power amp later if I wanted to use it live, right? The most reasonably priced one of those seems to be the Tech 21 Power Engine cab, any experience with those?
- In the end it might cost about the same to get the powered cab later, so are there ways this is preferable/not preferable to having the Power Head?

Thanks a lot for your help... It's mostly a matter of dropping about $2k now (plus the powered cab investment later) vs. $2.5k a little later.

The Power engine is a powered cab, so that is not what you would want to use with the powered Profiler. You'd want a passive guitar cabinet.

As far as the advantages, you get the sound of a traditional guitar amp (with many flavours) using the powered Kemper. But they will always have the colour of the cabinet you choose, so choose wisely. Some people like the sound of the Kemper through a cabinet more than an FRFR sound too! There is no disadvantage as well vis-a-vis the regular head, since you have the option to just use the main outs if you choose.

Hello evbro,

I'd add that you can also drive a flat passive cab with the powered version.

If you buy the Profiler in lunchbox shape you'll be able to buy a third-part power amp later (you can't do that with the rack).
From your OP it seems this might be a choice to take into consideration.

I use a non powered rack profiler with a Matrix GT800FX power amp and 2 Mission Gemini passive cabs. Went with the passive Profiler and external power amp, if the internal power amp goes down in a powered Profiler the whole Kemper has to go out for repair. I Haven't heard of issues with the power versions but when I purchased my rack Kemper had just launched them and reviews weren't out yet.

You can get great sounds from many, many different setups but I wanted to get the true diversity that the Kemper is capable of so I went FRFR. Yes you can use a traditional cab for monitoring and still send different cabs to FOH but I like to hear what the audience hears and only an FRFR setup do that. FRFR cabs also, in most cases, aren't beamy like guitar cabs, they disperse over a much wider area onstage. I've also run real guitar cabs at shows with my Matrix power amp and it sounded fine. I think I'm about as flexible as I can get. Hope this helps!

@evbro9

It is a bit of an "either six of these, or half dozen of the other..." situation. When I was first exploring purchasing the KPA, I also was waffling back and forth between getting a non-powered rack and a powered rack. Similar to @Booyah (above), I was initially a bit concerned with a potential scenario in which the internal power amp malfunctioned. I also assume this would require sending the entire unit back in for repairs -- can anyone confirm if that is the case, or not?

So, at one point, I was thinking of getting the non-powered KPA rack, and buying a separate rack mount power amp from either Matrix, Carvin or Crown. However, the more I thought about it, the more I liked the simplicity and all-in-one concept of the KPA Power Rack. The built-in power amp is designed and manufactured by ICEpower (Bang & Olufsen), which I knew to be excellent quality and reputation. I decided on going for the KPA Power Rack, and am very happy with my decision.

I appreciate the flexibility that the Power Rack gives me. I can use it either with traditional guitar cabinet or passive FRFR monitor. Or, I can shut-off the internal amp, and connect it to a powered/active monitor. Sounds amazing, any which way. The internal amp runs extremely cool, and does not employ or require a cooling fan, which (for me) is ideal.

Imo get the powered head then later on if you want to gig just get a cab you like and you're done. The power head is just so flexible.

Agree with others' suggestion of the Powered version. I got the Power Head after a long debate with myself, and I am glad I did. Sounds awesome with a traditional cab, plus you have the option to go FRFR or other active solution, should you want to. It´s just more flexible a simpler all-in-one solution. You won´t regret.

Cheers from Brazil

I believe that buying a passive Head and later on a third-part power amp is a good solution for many people, both in economic and logistic terms

Quote from viabcroce

I believe that buying a passive Head and later on a third-part power amp is a good solution for many people, both in economic and logistic terms

If I would have known that a stereo power amp was going to become available for the head I would've gone that route without a second thought. However, it wasn't back then so I went with the power rack, and I haven't had any regrets for this decision. Although I normally run the main outs into a pair of powered monitors (QSC K10s), there are those times when I get to feeling frisky and roll out the 4x12 and have some fun. It's nice to have that option!

Sure
With a third-part power amp you can split your purchase in the time, have stereo, and choose the power you need, with a slightly more convoluted layout.