Confused? That's because it is. We'll explain.
The Kemper Profiling Amplifier was a radical new approach to guitar sound, launched a few years back by the German company. It was basically a massive digital modeler that cloned any real guitar amplifier that would be connected to it - not only the sound, but all the variants from all the controls, including gain saturation. This "cloner" was sold in the shape of a guitar amplifier head and was so powerful that it scared the whole musical instruments industry (although very soon the same thing would become available on a simple iPhone app...).
The Kemper Profiler allowed guitarists to have the same sound and possibilities of the best tube amplifier stacks that are almost impossible to carry on the road these days, in a convenient configuration that produces exactly the same results. From the successful concept, Kemper soon expanded its portfolio to offer more compact and powerful Profiler amplifier heads, rackmount versions for the studio, foot pedal controllers, and eventually even a real guitar cabinet, designed to also emulate all the possible variations of different speaker drivers, using all the available digital impulse responses.
When British brand Celestion realized this would be a lasting and growing trend, it also decided to offer impulse responses of its own classic guitar speakers to be loaded into such systems, and later decided to also manufacture "full range" drivers especially designed to translate all the possible variations and dynamics of guitar amplification modelers. The most recent example being the F12M-150 Triple Cone (two tweeter cones inside the main woofer cone) in order to translate the time-emulation subtleties.
Realizing the potential, Kemper commissioned Celestion with the task to design and manufacture a matching speaker for the Kemper Kabinet (the guitar cabinets designed especially for the Profiler amps), and soon released the Kemper Kone loudspeakers as a standalone product for those who prefer to create their own custom cabinets. (Being a guitarist these days is complicated...)
The Kemper Kone is a 12" full-range speaker which is exclusively designed in cooperation with Celestion for Kemper. It was specially designed for the Profiler and to leverage its exclusive "speaker tone mining technology" that makes it possible to digitally "imprint" various speaker characteristics onto one single cabinet - akin to an hardware dongle that unlocks a collection of expensive models/IRs.
Since the intelligence of the speaker lies in the DSP of the Kemper Profiler, users are able to switch instantly the individual speaker imprints along with their favorite rigs. Whenever the user switches to a full-range sound, for an acoustic guitar, for example, the Kemper Kone will switch to full-range mode automatically. Music fed into the Profiler through the Aux Input will be played back in full-range mode, even when the user plays the amp with a Speaker Imprint, both simultaneously. Due to the digital features, the Kemper Kone and Kemper Kabinet work exclusively with a Profiler.
For the new Kemper Kone NEO speaker, Kemper replaced the conventional magnet with a modern lightweight neodymium magnet, providing the identical magnetic field and identical sound of the "classic" Kemper Kone. But now the Kone is 1,5kg lighter than before which makes 2x 12“ and 4x 12“ cabinet designs much easier to carry around.
Cabinets loaded with Kemper Kone speakers can be driven by the power amp of a Profiler PowerHead or PowerRack, as well as by utilizing any external solid-state power amp. When using external stereo amplifiers, driving two Kabinets in stereo is also possible. Kemper also sells unpowered Kemper Profiler "processors" - Rack, Head, and Stage - which require also external power amps for driving the Kabinet NEO.
The Kemper Kone is controlled and driven by the Kemper Profiler's processor to an ultra-linear (full range) frequency response, using a dedicated algorithm. In contrast to the conventional idea of a full-range system, the radiation pattern of the Kemper Kone has been narrowed towards the physics of a classic guitar speaker chassis, so that even the full-range sound carries a distinct guitar speaker character, unlike regular PA speakers or monitor speakers. To season the speaker behavior to the player’s individual taste, Kemper offers the unique "Sweetening" and "Directivity" Parameters for detailed adjustment.
The 19 included speaker imprints offer all choices of well-known guitar speakers from Celestion, and many renowned other classic brands, and even rare and particular speakers. More speaker imprints may be added via future software updates.
The new Kemper Kone NEO is available as a single unit and as 2 and 4 speaker sets for 2x 12" and even 4x 12" guitar cabinets. Power handling is rated for 200W rms with 4 ohms. And Kemper will take requests from 3rd party cabinet makers as well.
The Kemper Kone replacement speaker is available exclusively from the Kemper Online Store with unit prices at $180 USD or 150 EUR
www.Kemper-amps.com
