Posts by AidyJames

Definitely. I’m not even sure that I trust Kemper to be able to fix it if I send it in. The store aren’t confident that exchanging it for another unit will work, either. I don’t want to have to settle for inferior sound just to get some semblance of reliability, but I may have to do that.

I’ve started posting about this in more public places and people are chiming in. People are saying I should replace the battery myself because the batteries Kemper use are inferior and often don’t even supply the correct voltage. Almost £1.5k on a piece of gear and I’m dealing with this for a second time in a month. It would be bad enough if I wasn’t disabled, which forces me to get a taxi to and from the store whenever I have to get Kemper or the store to sort out Kemper’s mess.

Yeah. If Kemper don’t give us answers on this, I’m out, too. I’m even tempted to contact some guitar-related publications to make this known. Knowing that I wasn’t able to find out about these issues because they were hidden in a private forum has made me even angrier about this. I was so excited for my brother to play this when he comes up to mine on his birthday next week, but I highly doubt that it’s going to be here unless I void the warranty by doing the battery replacement (that apparently works) myself in able to have full control over the quality of the battery and the work involved.

So what is it, Kemper? Are the batteries dying off en masse, or is this a massive problem with the firmware that even regression to previous versions isn’t solving? Can I trust you to fix it?

Quite a few users - myself included - have been getting "clock setup error" messages whenever the Stage is turned on since the new update. Installing version 7.1.5 of the firmware didn't solve the issue and I re-installed the latest update. Kemper support have given different answers to us, which is confusing. Some have been told that this is a firmware issue that will be solved in an update, whereas others and myself have been told that it's a hardware issue and that we'd have to send our units in to be fixed.

I had to return my first unit on day 1 because it displayed this error from the start and it was found to have no battery installed in the clock module. I've had this one for a month with no issues until the latest update, only for it to succumb to the same thing as the first unit. The store have said that I'm the third Kemper Stage owner to have to bring my Stage in to them to be sent off to Kemper with this issue in the past few days. Surely it can't be a hardware problem if so many of us are experiencing it simultaneously?

If it really is an issue involving the battery, I'm a robotics engineer. Can't I just replace it myself without voiding the warranty? Setting aside the fact that I'm sceptical about this being a simultaneous mass-death of batteries, shouldn't this battery be a user serviceable part if it's so prone to dying?

Just chiming back in to say that I’ve tried reverting to version 7.1.5 and it didn’t solve the problem.

I called the shop I bought it from to ask about returning it for a refund and they said I’m the third person to return their Stage to them with the same problem in the past few days and they’ve had no concrete answer from Kemper as to what’s going on or how to solve it.

It’s also frustrating being unable to try replacing the battery without voiding the warranty. I’m a robotics engineer - I think I can handle opening the chassis and replacing a battery.

It’s absolutely gutting to say this, but unless I have assurances from Kemper that this can be solved soon with an update, I’m just going to return it and get something else. If I have to send it in to Kemper, that’s a lot of downtime on a lot of projects - some of it being work I’ll have to now turn down.

The shop have offered me a slightly damaged floor unit from another store and a £40 refund, but I don’t know how I feel about getting a unit with dings and scratches on it when I’ve paid so much to get it new. That, and my trust in the Kemper Stage being a reliable piece of gear is about 0 right now.

This is so incredibly frustrating.

I opened a support ticket and was told that it’s either a dead battery or an unstable connection to the battery. This doesn’t sound right at all, especially as so many other people have had the same problem arising at the same time. It’s got to be a software issue, right?

As much as I don’t want to lose the Kemper Fuzz and the ability to control my Stage from my laptop, I think the best course of action will be to revert to a previous update and see if that does anything before I go ahead and send my Kemper in to be serviced or return it to the store. How would I go about this? It looks like the latest available version on the Kemper website is 7.1.5. Would this be the right one?

EDIT: It’s now consistently displaying the error. I’m so annoyed with this that I’m seriously considering just returning it and exploring my options.

Quote from rrandreas

AidyJames - question, when you received your replacement unit for that month long period, was the latest firmware on there or did you upgrade it. I'm truly wondering if software is playing a role at all in this or not.

I really don't want to fall into the same scenario with a replacement inconvenience if the problem is just to be recycled all over again. This is my second unit already - with the first being from Guitar Center which was damaged cosmetically (The fact that they re-sell used or demo equipment as new is very real). Buying from Kemper direct I was surely hoping to be done with this game. This really bothers me, but at least the pedal unit can still be used without downtime at the moment.

Let me know . - RA

I think I explained the situation badly: I’ve had a Kemper for a total of a month. I had the first unit - the one with the constant error message - for a day before it was swapped out for the one I currently have, which I’ve had for a month. The original had the latest firmware at the time. I’ve had the replacement for about a month and it was absolutely fine until yesterday. I believe the problem started with the new update, but as the error message is only displayed some of the times it’s booted up, I simply didn’t encounter the problem until yesterday.

I really hope I’m not going to have to go through the hassle of either getting a refund and buying it again elsewhere (the shop I bought mine from no longer has any Stages) or sending it off to Kemper to get it fixed, resulting in a long period of downtime. I have a lot of work to do and I’d rather have my Kemper to get the best results.

I hope this helps!

Quote from rrandreas

AidyJames - I'm a bit in the air with this myself now. Was given additional information from Kemper USA after I posted that the planned correction may not be coming as soon as promised. A firmware solution may be delayed (not 2 weeks as I was told). If you track down through older threads which can be cumbersome to find, you will see this issue with "system clock error" is not new at all and goes back to much older units in the past as well (years back) and addressed either by physical fix of the battery, battery holder, and or software firmware upgrades. I was really hoping that these items would be sorted by 2021. Really. Its a recurring theme and possibly related to either physical or software. Can vary by case.

I was sent a UPS return label and have not used it yet, hoping this is firmware related (putting my faith in Kemper). It clearly evident that many are affected by this. I did some more work in the studio last night and just can't seem to part with the item, it sounds too good. Total replacement for my wall of tube amps. At this point I will stay committed to keeping the product (and not returning it for a refund) and hope that the company does the right thing with these issues. I'm watching my email and this forum daily for an update. If others are reading this - post in this thread please - volume and awareness are everything to getting a global problem fixed in a timely manner. You are not alone. - RA

I’m facing the same dilemma. It’s just so good and I’ve started recording my band’s new album with it. I’ve gone from using an amp with a massive pedalboard to just the guitar, the Kemper, and an expression pedal. In A/B tests, none of my pedals made the cut. Not one. Not even the Whammy or “boutique” pedals such as my Fuzz Factory. My other motivation for buying it was to profile my Fender Bassman 70 that - for some strange reason - sounds totally unique, even when compared to identical amps. It needs servicing and I’m concerned that servicing it will “fix” whatever’s “wrong” with it that makes it so special, so I wanted to profile it before I take it in for servicing. I haven’t had the time to do that yet. No other unit (besides the impossible to find Quad Cortex), so I’m reluctant to return my Kemper.

However, with one unit having this issue out of the box and this unit developing it within a month of owning it, I’m beginning to question whether I should keep it. Like you, I’m just hoping for a fix. Hopefully, we’ll get one soon.

Weirdly, the error is intermittent. It’s a coin toss as to whether it will come up - unplugging the unit from the mains doesn’t seem to have any bearing on this. I’m in the UK, too, so this is definitely a widespread issue.

I’ll also echo the call for others who are experiencing this problem to post about it in this thread. If enough of us make enough noise about it, it would give Kemper a good idea as to the scale of the problem.

My first Kemper Stage that I bought about a month ago had this issue from the start and it was exchanged for a new unit. Since yesterday, the replacement Stage has started displaying the clock setup error that was present in the first one.

The store are reluctant to replace this one in case it’s a problem with their entire stock. From the other replies in this thread, it looks like a lot of users are having the same issue.

I’m new to Kemper, so is this likely to be resolved with the update that others in this thread have been informed about in the next week or so?