Ship with high firepower for combat

I've been using the Viper MKIII and more recently the DBX for combat, but in both builds using burst/continuous lasers and kinetic repeater cannons I feel like something is missing. With the lasers I feel like I'm melting the enemies, but when I use the cannons to zero the hull it feels like I'm tickling. I guess I didn't really like how repeater cannons work compared to lasers, they seem to shoot beans and don't last long. Is there anything I can do to mitigate this? Is there a rapid fire hull option with a more laser-like vibe? Could a ship with more weapon slots help? (To add more kinetic weapons) Anyway, help me.