Best(?) power amp 2025

    Quote from Steve5478

    BAM 200 is not done for giving a Flat response nor done for guitarists at the base but it was quickly a solution cause ; a classe D, 4 ohms accepted for 200 watts and not expensive (plus the powerKabinet didn't exist at that time).

    vtgearhead took measurements and gave the settings to have the flattest response (thanks to him :thumbup:;)), it is here : RE: Poweramp for Kemper and Kabinet.

    The reason why i choosed this device with all these datas ;)

    I totally get that the BAM200 was originally marketed towards bassists, but apparently it's found a home among guitarists (some jazz guys actually plug straight in and use it as an alternative to a polytone). The EQ is flexible enough to support guitar, as you noted, so all good. As I mentioned, you can certainly find tones that are hollow/odd sounding, so it takes a bit of EQ tweaking to find your sweet spot, but I use this with a Kone, and think it sounds pretty darn good (again, not quite as good as the internal IcePower module in my Toaster, but certainly close).

    Quote from DonPetersen

    tube power amps are not recommended, since the power amp signature is already part of a PROFILE (unless you use a preamp only PROFILE from a FX send for example) - so for the large majority of PROFILEs out there you would 'double' the power amp signature.

    And what would you say about tube power amps which are designed to be more linear? (for example Fryette power station)
    In my experience the dynamic and also the feel is bit different using a tube power amp compared to other solutions. I guess that comes from the interaction between the tube power amp and the speaker. There is just something "more immediate" in the feel if you play.

    But as everything, it is important to A-B test it to get a valuable opinion.

    Sound might be slightly different, but it has a better feel in my opinion. So it might even feel better to "double" the power amp signature and lose a bit of authenticity in order to get a better "feel"

    Quote from DonPetersen

    this interaction is already part of a PROFILE if it was made with a tube power amp and a 'real' cabinet (as it not a loadbox), as recommended in the manual.

    And it is stored in the AMP section of the Prifile right? Not in the CAB right?

    I Mean if You switch the CAB with IRs OR if You disable the CAB, That Interaction is still there in the New Rig correct?

    Quote from DonPetersen

    this interaction is already part of a PROFILE if it was made with a tube power amp and a 'real' cabinet (as it not a loadbox), as recommended in the manual.

    I’m sorry, I guess I wasn’t clear enough in my description.

    I was only talking about personal monitoring, for amp in the room feel. Monitoring with speaker section switched OFF in the Kemper. So I’m talking about the real physical interaction between the speaker, in my case a real guitar speaker (Greenback for example) and the real power amp driving the speaker. Any power amp has a certain influence on the Sound through his interaction with the speaker.

    I was talking about a more linear tube power amp, not adding power amp distortion but behaving differently in terms of dynamics than a digital amp.

    Anyway, I would suggest to whoever has the possibility to try it out. It’s very interesting to hear/feel the difference.

    Same can be tested with any other capture player, I had the same results. A more pleasant feel with the tube power amp.

    Well this isn't a "bump" or anything but just grateful for all the advice on this thread. Didn't think there would be this much conversation when I originally posted.

    I'm still not sure which product to invest in yet, especially now that I've learned about at least a dozen of them over the past week here...

    I mentioned last week that I found my line 6 flextone 3 100w stereo 2x12 had a send/receive, so I tested that out and fwiw, that alone with the Kemper stage into the line 6 speakers was a huge improvement over the amp all by itself.

    I do have a pair of kones and almost considering removing the line 6 celestions and dropping the kones in the combo? 🤔

    Quote from where is christophe

    It's most probably a 100 watts per side class D stereo power amp with kinda flat response speakers so why not ? If it sounds good and feel good...

    It's the same principle as most if not all the digital solutions presented in this thread ;)

    I just looked up the specs on the Line 6 Flextone XL

    • 100-watts (2 x 50-watts stereo)
    • 2 x Line 6 12" 8-ohm speakers

      But from almost 20 years of ownership this amp has been with me on countless gigs and jams and was always plenty loud enough to hang with a drummer. I just always found the amp models sucked and the only amp that wasn't "too embarrassing" was the insane channel, lol.

      Although, the moment I plugged the Kemper into the back of the Line 6, the sound was way better, huge improvement in clarity.

      Would swapping the Line 6 speakers for the Kemper Kone's make a big difference, I'm lazy about doing that kind of stuff but if in anyone's opinion thinks it would be the best move, I would go get the soldering iron out and get busy.


    Quote from halipino

    This I'm not sure about, I'm so low tech, barley understand half the things everyone says here, I just play...

    How would I know, would there be a risk to ruining either the amp or kones?

    From the manual...

    22. Speaker Outs: This is where you can jack in an external cabinet or two to be powered by your Flextone III amp. Please note, the Flextone III XL and Plus are designed to be connected to 8 ohm speaker loads only.

    So, I suppose you could have the 2 Kones in series, then connected to one of the outputs. Amps dislike having speakers connected that are lower impedance than the output. Higher is OK.

    From the combo manual : "Flextone III XL – Plugging into either the Left or Right speaker connection disconnects the internal speaker and lets you run a different 8 ohm speaker cabinet instead."

    I think you could run a 4ohm speaker on an amp designed to power a 8ohms speaker but the power amp will not like that, I don't recommend it.

    However, from what I remember and I'm no expert, if you wire two 4ohms speakers in series you get 8ohms.

    Quote from dmatthews

    From the manual...

    22. Speaker Outs: This is where you can jack in an external cabinet or two to be powered by your Flextone III amp. Please note, the Flextone III XL and Plus are designed to be connected to 8 ohm speaker loads only.

    So, I suppose you could have the 2 Kones in series, then connected to one of the outputs. Amps dislike having speakers connected that are lower impedance than the output. Higher is OK.

    Thanks Dave, dumb question, I understand the external cab idea, I already have 2 kones wired up in a marshall can but what if I took the celestions out of the Line 6 and dropped the kones as a replacement, same wiring schematic I'd imagine, would that be the equivalent of not needing the external cab?


    Does that make sense,?

    Edited once, last by halipino (October 24, 2025 at 11:29 PM).