Kemper stage back orders

  • UPDATE: just got a call today (Nov. 20) from Sweetwater got Kemper stage’s in and are shipping out!


    Hello everyone I’m new here and trying to be a first time Kemper owner and wondering if anyone had more insight than I’m being told? I am from the United States and ordered a Kemper Stage in mid September from Sweetwater. I was told they were expecting them October 3rd so I continued with my order. I contacted them October 7th and was then told they be one more week out. After that week I contacted again and now being told two weeks out. It’s a bummer as I already missed using this at one gig and have another November 16th and it’s not looking good.

    Does anyone have any idea why these are being pushed back so much? Thank you

    Edited 2 times, last by oachs83 ().

  • I got mine from Guitar Center back in August.

    They didn't have one in stock at my local branch, but they had one in for me in a week.

    Didn't even know of a shortage until this thread. It might just be Sweetwater?

  • I'm in the same boat, ordered about the same time as you, the update I got in mid October said I was between 65- 75 in the wait queue. I am doubtful Sweetwater will get caught up anytime soon.

  • I decided to pull the trigger on the Kemper stage, back in early October, check Sweetwater and they were out of stock. MF had them in stock, received mine in about a week. Not sure why Sweetwater is not able to get them or why their back ordered.

  • Mine took 3 weeks from Pro Audio Star. They said it was in stock when I bought it but the reality was it was not, they oversold on purpose that ticked me off to no end.


    They are currently out of stock on the Kemper direct site, Sweetwater out of stock, Musician's Friend out of stock, GC showing them in stock. ZZounds has 2 in stock, Sam Ash showing in stock.


    Gotta remember this thing is new and in demand, a lot of people flipping their toasters and racks going for the Stage.

  • Just bought from the Kemper Online Store. Tried to buy one at L&M in canada and all stages are backordered due to an issue with the CSA, or at least that was the note left on Oct 21st by the store manager. It shouldn't affect US stores, but maybe they are having grief of their own with the CSA equivalent.


    Also the kemper store is kind of sketchy, all the pages load slowly, the theme is weird, have to log in separately, and my CC company blocked the transaction because it looked like fraud, gmail sent the signup e-mail to spam folder and flagged it as a bot. Concerning when you are not used to that, so any other Canadians thinking of buying from the store I'll let you know if I get mine :).

  • Just bought from the Kemper Online Store. Tried to buy one at L&M in canada and all stages are backordered due to an issue with the CSA, or at least that was the note left on Oct 21st by the store manager. It shouldn't affect US stores, but maybe they are having grief of their own with the CSA equivalent.


    Also the kemper store is kind of sketchy, all the pages load slowly, the theme is weird, have to log in separately, and my CC company blocked the transaction because it looked like fraud, gmail sent the signup e-mail to spam folder and flagged it as a bot. Concerning when you are not used to that, so any other Canadians thinking of buying from the store I'll let you know if I get mine :).

    One comment I got from a fellow Canuck on a different forum was that he'd have to pay import fees if buying from the Canadian Kemper store. That I found to be rather odd, and didn't believe it.

  • I would list this under "count your blessings."


    Software problems can be addressed by downloading an update, but the first run of Stage units had more than a few physical defects, e.g. bad buttons, etc. which you may have already read about. My guess is that Kemper took that to heart and made some manufacturing / QC changes to address the issues.


    While it's a bummer for GAS induced heartburn to have to wait for a new toy, I suspect the quality on the next batch of units will be significantly improved. I'd say it's worth the wait.

    Kemper remote -> Powered toaster -> Yamaha DXR-10

  • One comment I got from a fellow Canuck on a different forum was that he'd have to pay import fees if buying from the Canadian Kemper store. That I found to be rather odd, and didn't believe it.

    Interesting. I hope that's not the case. Nothing in the checkout led me to believe that. Hope I'm not met with a surprise fee when it actually comes through. Now I'm thinking though... will I get charged the german VAT, or the 2245+ my provinces sales tax upon delivery?

  • Interesting. I hope that's not the case. Nothing in the checkout led me to believe that. Hope I'm not met with a surprise fee when it actually comes through. Now I'm thinking though... will I get charged the german VAT, or the 2245+ my provinces sales tax upon delivery?

    It occurs to me that you should just be paying for our normal tax rate and no more. Oddly, the last time I looked, the site said 7 business days for delivery. I hope that is the case, as everywhere else is out of stock. This is what makes me think that Canada has the stock in a Canadian location, even though the site used to say 3 business days for delivery.

  • I would list this under "count your blessings."


    Software problems can be addressed by downloading an update, but the first run of Stage units had more than a few physical defects, e.g. bad buttons, etc. which you may have already read about. My guess is that Kemper took that to heart and made some manufacturing / QC changes to address the issues.


    While it's a bummer for GAS induced heartburn to have to wait for a new toy, I suspect the quality on the next batch of units will be significantly improved. I'd say it's worth the wait.

    Yes I believe I’m waiting on improvements to the stage from what I have read so it’s why I am kind of being patient. In a couple months I would rather have a solid unit over a broken one that got here quickly.

  • It's not just SW, nobody in the US has stock.

    FWIW, I am beginning to think it was an production issue as SW told me today Kemper just pushed their delivery date out to first week in December, and told me not even to count on that. I have been "reserved" at SW since mid/end September.

  • FWIW, here's my experience with Sweetwater.


    I placed my order on 9/3/19 and did not receive my Stage until 10/19/19.


    Mine ended up having a bad footswitch (Fx switch 2). I contacted SW and they sent me a replacement in 1 week.


    So far, so good. No problems with the replacement.

  • Interesting. I hope that's not the case. Nothing in the checkout led me to believe that. Hope I'm not met with a surprise fee when it actually comes through. Now I'm thinking though... will I get charged the german VAT, or the 2245+ my provinces sales tax upon delivery?



    Yes you will pay duty and taxes on your purchase , you can thank Canadian Customs . :P

  • It's not just SW, nobody in the US has stock.

    FWIW, I am beginning to think it was an production issue as SW told me today Kemper just pushed their delivery date out to first week in December, and told me not even to count on that. I have been "reserved" at SW since mid/end September.

    Yeah it’s looking like they’re trying to fix some bugs which I hope will get resolved. Looks like closer to Christmas now.

  • I've had mine a little over a month now (earlier Post # 7) only issue I've had so far is when I first hooked it up to my computer to use it with rig manager, I got the message that it failed to connect, used a different cord and it worked fine. Still learning as I'm new to this, keeping my fingers crossed that I don't run into any other issues, if it does have other issues I haven't found them yet.