I'm going to buy a Kemper and am not sure whether to go for powered or non-powered. I generally play smallish gigs where the guitars are going through the house PA.
I think my 3 options are:
- Powered head into guitar cab. Pros – Nice and easy. Cons – If lining out into sound desk, would the sound not be as good as the Kemper would not be modelling a cab?
- Unpowered head into power stage of tube head then guitar cab. Pros – Relatively easy,though not quite as easy as the above. Cheaper, as I already have a tube head. Cons – Same as above, plus all the stuff that potentially goes wrong with tube power amps.
- Unpowered head into powered speaker. Pros – I’m guessing this will be the optimum “on stage” sound quality. Also if lining into sound desk, the sound will already be modelling a cab. Cons – Decent powered speakers appear to be rather expensive. I have also read that they’re not generally as loud, meaning even more outlay to achieve the same volume. Also sound guys will probably not be a fan.
Can you guys pick some holes in my assessment?