Can KPA be for life?

Quote from Rafal

Hi everyone,
I have a question about future maintenance and repair of the amp. In case of tube amps there is really no big thing if something happen, almost every pro technician can help if tube amp gets damaged. In KPA case when the time warranty is over we can reach ONLY the Kemper company for help. We can send the unit or ask for replace part, both ways are costly and time-consuming. That's my first worries. Second, it's what will happen if Kemper Comp. will stop support customers with parts and service? I own 20+ years old amp, it will work next 20. How it's gonna look with KPA? New technologies will come, KPA will evolve even with hardware, there will be no reason to produce parts of present KPA endless. Can KPA be for life? I would like to have feeling, that I'm not addicted from KPA company and costly maintenace for always, and that I have unit which will be valuable and easy troubleshooting. What is your thoughts? Maybe Mr Kemper can calm me down with his vision of future? cheers!

(please move thread if wrong section)

I think it always depands of the company´s philosophy. Since Kemper is the same company as access i would not worry much about it. The first generation of the virus sythesizer is from 1997. Even the old models still get firmware updates and can be serviced.

Great,something else to worry about ! but really who knows? should be ok in the future,from what i have seen Kemper seem to be very supportive of their user base and as the numbers of owners grow so will the technical support network.

Rafal, the Kemper will be phased out in the next two years. Mr CK is a well-known fly-by-night operator. As soon as the orders for new Kempers and footcontrollers stop flowing in, Mr CK (aka The Jackal) will shut the doors on his nefarious operation and disappear without a trace with your cash.
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Quit worrying or I'll scare you back!

I personally wont worry anyway, I had my value for money already as its one awesome piece of kit!!!! infact best piece of kit ive ever purchased. Im sure the KPA team will continue to support it for many years to come.

Quote from nightlight

Rafal, the Kemper will be phased out in the next two years. Mr CK is a well-known fly-by-night operator. As soon as the orders for new Kempers and footcontrollers stop flowing in, Mr CK (aka The Jackal) will shut the doors on his nefarious operation and disappear without a trace with your cash.

very good one nightlight

LOL!!!

Quote from nightlight

Rafal, the Kemper will be phased out in the next two years. Mr CK is a well-known fly-by-night operator. As soon as the orders for new Kempers and footcontrollers stop flowing in, Mr CK (aka The Jackal) will shut the doors on his nefarious operation and disappear without a trace with your cash.
..
....
......
..........
Quit worrying or I'll scare you back!

Quote from nightlight

Rafal, the Kemper will be phased out in the next two years. Mr CK is a well-known fly-by-night operator. As soon as the orders for new Kempers and footcontrollers stop flowing in, Mr CK (aka The Jackal) will shut the doors on his nefarious operation and disappear without a trace with your cash.
..
....
......
..........
Quit worrying or I'll scare you back!

It's nice to come to this forum for a coarse laugh

Why worry?
Kemper is no dubious startup company.
They have a history of providing service and Updates even for their oldest Virus models.

IT must BE for a lifetime!!!

And when Kemper II will be out in the future (with compatibility of the actual Rigs!!!), I believe that many of us will switch to the new unit

Quote

IT must BE for a lifetime!!!

And when Kemper II will be out in the future (with compatibility of the actual Rigs!!!), I believe that many of us will switch to the new unit

We sure will I've pre ordered mine already

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Quote from Maurizio70

IT must BE for a lifetime!!!

And when Kemper II will be out in the future (with compatibility of the actual Rigs!!!), I believe that many of us will switch to the new unit

I certainly will, on the first day possible. No question about it.

Nothing is forever, however I'm still using a 25 year old Eventide H3000 in my studio..... no reason to think that the Kemper won't last that long if not longer.

And I use my 27 year old Lee Jackson Preamp at rehersals sometimes. Still live and kicking. Gear can last a long time if built with quality. Kemper is made in Germany which by itself would state quality, but I imagine LED changes and rotary pot changes must be done to the unit 2-3 times in 20-30 years of normal use.

Just to add another perspective here - if you're talking about vintage tube amps like an old Marshall metal panel or plexi, yeah, any good tech can fix those. Good luck with a newer tube amp that has tons of features though - unless the company is still making boards/parts available, you could find yourself in quite a mess. A lot of tube amps nowadays have a ton of extra stuff in them - midi switching, incredibly complex PCBs and many solid state parts - so just getting a newer tube amp and thinking that you're going to be better off than buying a Kemper reliability wise isn't a sure bet.

Plus most newer tube amps have tube sockets on the PCB - tubes get hot, heat isn't good for electronics. Just sayin'.

OP,

Kemper's company has supported their previous products very well.
They offer a better trial period and warranty than their competitors.
CK has a passion for these products, and has said he has a planned rollout for a long time.
All these things should make a Kemper owner warm and fuzzy.

But....

Nothing is certain in life.

What is certain is that Digital Audio will grown and continue replacing Analog. Not all, but certainly most.

Digital is:
- Always the same sound
- More versatile
- Often Lighter
- Saves labor costs
- Can do things Analog cannot
- Consolidates tasks

Some of these are great, some are not.

Since the future is uncertain, the only certain thing is you can enjoy your Guitar Playing and Kemper TODAY!

I can't wait until it becomes a high dollar vintage piece of gear that's only talked about in the smokey confines of the deep, darkest, snobby circles and we're all so happy that we held on to them!! For once that is! Unlike all the other gear that we sold off as unknowing brats in our hay day. They'll be prying my magical mystery machine from my cold happy hands to fit me through the pearly gates!

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... Can KPA be for life? ...

The current model KPAs? Nope, no way.

I bet within 5 years the DSP chip(s) and other components used in the current KPAs will no longer be produced - they'll be obsoleted and replaced with newer, but not necessarily pin-for-pin compatible, components. I've been a software engineer in the digital world for a long time and have seen this happen over and over again. Eventually, no matter how willing Kemper is to provide repair services, they simply won't be able to find some of the components that will fail.

Welcome to the world of digital electronics!