After 2 1/2 years of owning the Kemper rack I am, as are many others on the forum, eagerly awaiting the Kone. I've tried several solutions for monitoring the Kemper but all fall a little short of my expectations, still looking for a more traditional amp in the room experience, which may never actually come to fruition. But if by chance the Kone opens that door to in the room bliss, or even a little close to it, I was entertaining the idea of building my own cabinets.
My Kemper still sits in the same spot from the day I took it out of it's shipping box on a table, no updates, just grabbed a few rigs off the exchange. I'm ready to start playing outside the house again after many, many years of nearly being a recluse. Not gigging, no plugging into a PA, just sitting in with others at very small places, everyone else uses small combo amps (really small), not much output volume needed.
I've considered selling the Kemper and going with a small combo lately but I made the change from small combo to Kemper 2 1/2 years ago and I've not even tapped into the power of the Kemper yet, I still just plug and play without exploring it's potential. Breaking down and getting the foot controller would probably make everyday like Christmas for the foreseeable future for me lol! That's where I'm at in the never ending tone chase that so tortures the average, everyday for 35+ years player. So I believe I'll stick it out with Kemper and see what develops in the next few years.
I read the forum often but don't post, you all are very good with helping others and if I have a question the answer generally lies in a post already. I've gotten to somewhat know a lot of you through your posts but I've remained a ghost here for the most part so please forgive the long introduction in this post before actually getting to the subject matter in the header, but I felt I should at least open up a little and not be a complete stranger to the forum before asking for advice.
So to the subject, I was a custom cabinet builder for 20 years but I'm no longer active in that occupation. I have been toying for some time now with the idea of building a head for my Kemper and a 1-12 cabinet so I can leave the house to play, with the release of the Kone that will be something I will pursue. There are quite a few options for tolex covered racks and cabs available here in the states but I want to make mine from a wood species and finish it. One item that eludes me and I could use some advice on is the power section, I want to build a powered cab but don't know what to look at as far as something that can be integrated into the cab itself for power. If someone could point me in a direction of whats available here in the states I would really appreciate it. The only other option I see would be a rack mounted power amp built into the head with the Kemper and the cab passive, but I'd prefer a powered cab solution. If I were to add something to the head it would be a space in the bottom to store the foot controller.