Crackling sound

    Hey all,


    I seem to have a strange problem. My Kemper gives off a crackling sound (Link to hear it).


    Yesterday I had this for the first time and at first I thought it was my power socket, so I tried another one and same thing. Then I changed out every single cable and same thing again. Then I turned off the Kemper for a long while and let it sit for an hour and came back to it: problem was fixed and no more crackling (or so I thought). I then played for 2-3 hours and it didn't come back.


    Today I'm playing and at first no crackling sound ... after about an hour of playing the crackling returns. So I then unplug everything that's not the Kemper or my monitors. Still crackling sound ... I then downgrade to firmware 1.8.2 and crackling is gone. Played 15 min and no return of the crackling.


    The first time that I had it (yesterday) I also:
    - Tried another guitar
    - Tried another profile
    - Turned of everything in a profile: still audible crackling


    Could this be a firmware problem or is it maybe the heat that's been going on in Belgium or ...? Fwiw: I've had my Kemper for about a full year.

    update:


    I went to check out if the problem would return if I would play for more than 15 minutes ... sure enough: after about an hour of playing on firmware 1.8.2, the crackling returned :(


    I then unplugged the kemper and monitors and used another power strip (something like this ) and the crackling was gone ...


    Tomorrow I'll go out and buy me a new power strip and check if it returns ... so far I'm pretty much stumped on what the problem could be other than the Kemper since the crackling seems to appear after about an hour of playing and downgrading/leaving it off for a while/unplugging everything and using another power strip all seemed to work ?(


    If any of you have had something similar happen once or got some more things I could try: I'm all ears! ... If it returns tomorrow with the new power strip I'll have to contact support I guess ... :S

    The fact that it's intermittent makes it super hard to diagnose. I once tracked something like what you're describing to the bridge pick up of my guitar. Maybe see if switching to a different guitar will make the problem go away.

    Thx for trying to help guys! :thumbup:


    I was using the latest firmware but I downgraded to try and fix the problem but I'll give it another shot.


    I sure hope it's not my soundboard (like that guy in the thread)... the weird thing is indeed that it's intermittent and I tried another guitar and it didn't go away.


    We'll see what'll happen today ... I'll be sure to update this thread so people suffering from something similar will have something to compare with.

    I have discovered the same problem in the past after profiling a rig with a way too high volume. There crackling appears after a minute or so rose constantly and ended in a total freeze of the machine, requiring a reboot.
    I guess it was on FW release 1.8 ... or so. Since FW >2.0 I didn't get that problem no more.

    I re-upgraded to 2.0.1. today.


    I was still getting the crackling sound (even with everything disengaged). I then tried 3 other cables, 2 other guitars, using headphones and even went to another room to try another power outlet. Still crackling on the output.


    So I opened a ticket with support today ... many thx for the comments but I'll see what the Kemper team says now.

    Support also thinks it's a hardware issue and that I should contact my dealer and initiate the repair procedure.


    For the people that want a brief summeration:
    Problem:=> A crackling sound like found in the link of my first post:
    - This in all the outputs (even the headphone output).
    - Even with another rig, another guitar, everything in a rig turned off, another firmware, other cables, another power outlet, only guitar and headphones connected
    - Crackling sound usually appears after a while of playing and doesn't disappear
    - Letting the Kemper sit powered down for more than an hour or changing firmware removes the crackling sound but it returns after a while of playing


    Have to say that the Kemper support team was very cool about it in their mail ...

    I'm having this problem now as well, currently dealing with support to try and get it sorted out. I did a flash deletion and it stopped for a while but now it's back. Has anyone else had success resolving this issue?

    Quote from Raoul23

    What firmware are you on ?

    When it started I was on 2.0.1, then after my flash reset it went back to 1.8.2 and the crackling went away. It started again and I tried upgrading back to 2.0.1 and it didn't help. Support says they don't think adjusting firmware or flash resets should have any effect on it and that it is most likely a hardware issue, perhaps temperature related.

    Mine was doing the same thing, sort-of... It would crackle whenever I played a note. I solved the issue by lowering the "Aux Input Volume".