LED "problem"

    I have one of the earliest KPA's. Worked without any problem.
    After 2 years and 1 month the LEDs died for no reason.


    It was no big deal.
    Achim (the one working in the repair department) repaired it really fast.
    I got mine back within one week (shipping days within Germany included!).


    I am pretty sure these LEDs will sooner or later die again.


    My advice: Wait till you have too many dead LEDs to ignore, then send it in ;)
    An always prepare yourself that some may die again after repair (other users have reported this)


    Now I am no longer in warranty. let's see what happens and what they will charge for a repair in the future.
    In the meantime..rock on.

    Hi Guys.. I've had 3 die in the last week, all on the volume control.. I've had my Kemper around 16months now.


    Can anyone point me in the direction of a thread that explains the cause (it seems that its a known issue/bug ??)


    What's the deal with getting them fixed?. I don't really want to have to ship to Germany but if its covered under any warrenty then I may have to do so.


    Cheers
    Steve


    Its covered under warranty. This was a known issue for a certain batch of KPA's made between a certain time. Send a support ticket and I'm sure the KPA team will sort it out :)



    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

    Quote from steveness

    erm.. so how do I raise a support ticket ?.. been to Kemper support page but I don't see anything on there other than phone or email and neither appear to be for hardware faults.


    You open a support ticket by using the Email form here:
    http://www.kemper-amps.com/pag…plifier___Contact_Us.html

    Seems like this LED problem isn't just a bad batch, but all Kempers from the first ones up to a certain point (I hope), at least I know how to change LEDs myself in guitar units, but it is still very annoying. I have a 25 year old Lee Jackson unit, and it's power-on led still works, also a 14 year old Rocktron Intellifex with all LEDs working, so why should LEDs in a new unit that are 2-3 year old start to die? I'd change the LED manufactor for sure if I was responsible for the unit

    I messaged Thomann and started the procedure to send it back.
    My kpa is from 05/11/2012. Lets hope they change them all. I don't want to send it back all the time. It would be a costly thing.Not to mention not been able to play for the time its gone.


    *dusts of the old amp*

    Hehe the only thing I sold just after I got my Kemper was my old Pod X3 Live, and that was to finance a mic or two for profiling ;) Still got like 9 amps (7 tube) and pod HD300, while I don't use the transistor and hd300 much more, the tube amps are quite inreplaceable, even with the Kemper. It is just a supplement for easier recording and home playing and maybe eventually giging (for me).

    Thanks Guys.. been chasing this one a bit, raised a ticket email, was told to go via my dealer, called them they said better to go to Kemper direct as their postage insurance wouldn't cover the cost of the Kemper if it got lost or damaged in transit (plus it adds an extra hop in the repair chain), went back to Kemper and I'm now dealing with Achim.. fingers crossed I will be able to get the LED's fixed under warrenty. It's not actually a massive issue for me, but I'm concerned that 3 failed in quick succession.


    Going to miss it whilst its away though !

    Quote from steveness

    Thanks Guys.. been chasing this one a bit, raised a ticket email, was told to go via my dealer, called them they said better to go to Kemper direct as their postage insurance wouldn't cover the cost of the Kemper if it got lost or damaged in transit....


    What? Not enough postage insurance? This is lame and inacceptable for a dealer.

    They said if they sent it back it would only be covered by £100 insurance. They also said that they thought the manufacturers warrenty was only 12months and were surprised when I told them it 36 months.


    To be fair they did say to call them back if there were any issues dealing with Kemper directly and they would assist in any way they could, it just seems daft going via a 3rd party if I can do it directly. The dealership I bought it from isn't local to me do I'd have to ship it to them, for them to post it to Kemper.. daft really :)

    thomann asked for a picture so, i went to system and turned all the leds to 10 and promptly 2 more died :(


    So 5 down now, bass and treble the top led died both at the same time. This does not look good.

    Has anyone heard definitively that it is the LEDs themselves? It may not be the LEDs, they can theoretically last over 100 years if not mistreated. It could also be that the LED driver chips being used are failing or having issues. I haven't the foggiest notion of what the Kemper uses to drive the LEDs, but I'd say some sort of pulse width modulation to control brightness (and color for the multicolor LEDs). Just saying.


    Update - saw the post from one of the moderators (Burkhardt?) that said it was a bad batch of LEDs. So never mind the drivers comment...


    BTW, are there any unit S/Ns that are known to be from that time frame so that the owners can be aware of this potential issue? I purchased my Kemper last December from a distributor here in the States (American Musical Supply) and would like to know if there is the potential for LED failure in my unit. As a cautionary measure, I have turned my LEDs down to try to lower the probability, and will only turn them up for use in sunlight.

    Edited once, last by ucnick: updated info (read post from moderator regarding LEDs) ().