Ehernet in jack durability / pedal boot sequence

  • Just wondering what you people that have had Kempers for a while thought of the Ethernet in jack on the heads? It just seems a bit loose and slightly connected, and since I bought one to gig with and the plug will coming in and out regularly by stage hands. I am concerned about it's life span. (I realize this is more of a computer than it is a built like a tank tube head so it wouldn't get treated "rough"). Has anyone had to replace theirs and if so what was the cost? I know a lot of frequent giggers/pros use these so I am just getting thoughts as this appears to be a weak link durability wise for touring bands.


    Also when powered up with footswitch attached, the head boots in about 40 seconds then the controller will flash on for a second then go blank :| then after a few second pop on. Is this normal? It seems a bit odd so I wanted to ask.

  • I have the rack and have an Ethercon I have added to a patch panel that I plug into.


    There is a recent thread on here where someone did the same thing with the head and made it fit nicely in the upper corner with an aluminum plate cut to the form of the KPA corner.


    If you do this, you should also put an Ethercon on the other end of your kemper remote plug (which I also did). You can buy them online pretty cheep and it makes a very durable gig rig connection.

  • I've have had to do similar things with units before to baby them but my questions still remain. The main one being: Has anyone had to replace theirs and if so what was the cost? Or to tell me " Don't worry about it I have plugged mine in four thousand times and It's still fine".

    If I have to build a special panel.... I bought a Kemper to keep it simple. If it doesn't work for me down the road it goes. It surprises me that a simple layman like myself can see this but the designers could not?

  • I didn't modify my setup for durability, but rather speed of set-up. The added durability was just a happy perk.


    I ran stock for a year. My very educated guess is that it you managed to break the RJ45 SOCKET on the KPA, it would be beyond most people to fix themselves. The actual part is cheap and can. E found and ordered on digikey. Unless you are proficient at electronic repair, I would not try it.

  • I would never try it. I was wondering what a Kemper service center charges to do that because I guarantee someone has had to have it done. it would make no sense for me to make a panel. I have a head in a kemper bag that goes on top of a cab. No matter what, I'd still be plugging in & out every gig.

  • I've had issues with the RJ45 male end point that plugs into the KPA. I've broken off several of those tiny plastic latches so now I have to tape the cable down to ensure it doenst slip out of the socket. I have no idea why they would not use rock solid road worthy connections on both ends, seems so short sighted.

  • I've had issues with the RJ45 male end point that plugs into the KPA. I've broken off several of those tiny plastic latches so now I have to tape the cable down to ensure it doenst slip out of the socket. I have no idea why they would not use rock solid road worthy connections on both ends, seems so short sighted.

    I didn't break mine, but have broken many tabs from other ethernet cables I use for my IEM system. Ironically, you have to break off the tab when you put an Ethercon on it. I really like the feel of the Ethercon on both sides of the cable. I agree. It would have added about $5 to $10 to the cost of the unit.

  • I've had issues with the RJ45 male end point that plugs into the KPA. I've broken off several of those tiny plastic latches so now I have to tape the cable down to ensure it doenst slip out of the socket. I have no idea why they would not use rock solid road worthy connections on both ends, seems so short sighted.

    For the price you pay for this unit, I would have GLADLY paid the $50.00 more it would have took to have the most rock solid,beatable military/industrial grade connectors on the entire thing. I LOVE the sounds on mine, but the way the encoders wiggle, it just seems like better hardware could have been used although I realize on something like this it has 0% to do with sound quality. For the price,hardware should have been included that felt SOLID all over. (My $999.00 5150 seems like you could treat it pretty rough solid knobs, jacks etc.) When I was buying mine that was the last concern on my mind, but now likely is in the forefront. Going "on the road" with one of these is going to require careful handling and people that can be sober and careful setting it up & tearing it down. For $6.00 I bought a connector dongle that plugs into the Ethernet jack and the other end a female that I will use to take the load of the plugging unplugging that will happen regularly. It just has to fit in the case that way without snagging to be any improvement instead of a liability.

  • I think I spent about $60.00 in parts including a panel mount plate with pre-drilled holes for my rack version. I chose the rack specifically so it would be in a rack that provided touring level durability.


    The patch panel helped with durability, but was primarily for ease of set-up and tear down.


    If you can get someone to make an aluminum plate, it is an easy mod.

  • I have total access to a shop with lasers to cut sheet metal that has tolerances .002" or better. That's the easy part. I would want a mod like BA did with no plug sticking out. To me, that is an accident waiting to happen that for sure would shut you down. I just need the plans to tap into the Ethernet connection internally. That's the part I don't want to mess with. I am proficient & have all the tools to solder fine equipment but there's no way I would solder to circuit boards on my Kemper. Now, if I could have that mod done for around $100.00 professionally, I'd jump on it. I wonder what people like MB do as he tours with a toaster in a case. It's getting plugged in and out at every show and likely at home. Perhaps I just need to be careful and I'm being paranoid.

  • Full disclosure my toaster stays in my studio - I take my rack mount to gigs and I have a patch panel much like OneEng1 describes with ethercon for the foot pedal. Rack is nice as it has my wireless all in one.

  • Thanks I talked with them and the prices & turnaround they have for repairs made me feel at ease if I ever should have problems. The techs there appear to be very good and experienced with Kemper stuff, so I'm a lot less frightened now. They even told me they prioritize Kempers likely because they know what a huge vacuum it would be in your life without it! Looks like a great shop! (They have a new website..Kemper repair center page has not updated to it yet) Oh and they are not in Britain but in Nashville!

    The person I talked to was very informative and took time to explain things correctly & very friendly, not at all your usual cranky dry barely wanting to help tech that makes everything seem like pulling teeth.

  • I have total access to a shop with lasers to cut sheet metal that has tolerances .002" or better. That's the easy part. I would want a mod like BA did with no plug sticking out. To me, that is an accident waiting to happen that for sure would shut you down. I just need the plans to tap into the Ethernet connection internally. That's the part I don't want to mess with. I am proficient & have all the tools to solder fine equipment but there's no way I would solder to circuit boards on my Kemper. Now, if I could have that mod done for around $100.00 professionally, I'd jump on it. I wonder what people like MB do as he tours with a toaster in a case. It's getting plugged in and out at every show and likely at home. Perhaps I just need to be careful and I'm being paranoid.

    I see.


    If you can get the metal work done, then that is by far the most difficult part IMO. You don't need to do any soldering either (I have not). All you need is a panel mount Ethercon connector that accepts a standard RJ45 cable on the back side and a short ethernet jumper to go from the back of your panel mount to your KPA.


    Now ..... Kemper says that this may cause power loss issues with your remote cable and recommends an Ethernet power injector for this purpose. They even had specific part recommendations for one.


    I originally had the power injector they recommended in my rack, but it eventually failed and I just took it out and have been gigging with it without any issues since around 2015.


    You also need to get an Ethercon adapter for the other end of your KPA remote cable. I bought one that only required me to put something over the existing RJ45 connector and then break off the retaining tab. They also have adapters that require you to cut off the old RJ45 and re-crimp on a new one which generally requires an RJ45 crimping kit (which you can get at most hardware stores if you want to go this direction).


    I think I bought this one: https://www.markertek.com/prod…NBLqm6gBSHcBoCRxIQAvD_BwE


    And something like this: https://www.datapro.net/produc…n-rj45-cat5e-coupler.html

    Edited once, last by OneEng1 ().

  • All you need is a panel mount Ethercon connector that accepts a standard RJ45 cable on the back side and a short ethernet jumper to go from the back of your panel mount to your KPA.

    Thank you but you must have missed the part where I wrote:

    I would want a mod like BA did with no plug sticking out. To me, that is an accident waiting to happen that for sure would shut you down.

  • Thank you but you must have missed the part where I wrote:

    I would want a mod like BA did with no plug sticking out. To me, that is an accident waiting to happen that for sure would shut you down.

    Somehow I missed the concept that your KPA head (unlike my rack) doesn't have a space between the KPA and a patch panel to route the cable and must be routed inside in order to keep the unprotected RJ45 from being out in the open.


    Yea, that would require removing the existing RJ45 from the KPA and replacing it with a RJ45 that is a straight mount (vs 90 deg). They likely then just run the cable to the jack as I had suggested .... although it is possible that they actually solder wire by wire .... but that seems silly squared to me.


    Anyway, I was just suggesting a way to make the mod yourself on a shoe-string budget of around $20.00 in parts (plus a little machining of an aluminum plate).


    FWIW, I would think that this mod would invalidate your KPA warranty if you still have one.

  • Two of my friends have broken rj45 sockets in their kemper racks. They still work, but they don't hold the cable tight(yes, cable and nose is ok, its the socket). This can happen when someone accidentialy pulls hard on the cable while plugged in.


    It is possible to change them. But you have to disassamble the whole unit to get to this point, and have to solder the small connectors.

    If you don't live in the US getting the spare part costs about 35€ or more, cause you only find shops in the US that sell them.