Big disappointment with Kemper

    I hate to be the negative guy, but I thought I would share my experiences with the KPA so far, and I'm sad to say, I am not a happy customer!


    DISCLAIMER: This is not so much directed at Kemper the company, more the actual products. Each unit had/has been treated very safely, using racks and hardcases for transport, and kept well within safe levels of operation. Also note that every avenue was exhausted attempting to fix said errors before having no option but to contact Kemper/Point of sale for warranty support etc.


    KEMPER 1 - Unpowered Lunchbox. Purchased by myself around 18 months ago direct from Australian Distributor. After 12 months has slowly but surely consistently had LEDs die on the front screen. Last count there is about 6-8 LEDs that are dead. An annoying problem, but one I am happy to look past as with weekly band practice and weekly shows, I dont have the downtime to send it back to be repaired. Otherwise unit works fine, and I am happy with the product.


    KEMPER 2 - Unpowered Lunchbox. Purchased by my bandmate at the time.Purchased 18 months ago concurrently with Kemper 1 from Aus Distributor. After 12 months it had multiple LEDs die, around 10-15 at last count. Also has had 4 LEDs literally just fall out of the front of the Kemper, mainly from the volume knob. For the last 2 months, it has had an intermittent Output error, meaning sometimes it would receive input, but send no output to monitor or main out. A soft system reset would fix it, but as of last night, it experienced a hardware DSP error, and is now in the process of being repaired/replaced by Aus distributor.


    KEMPER 3 - Powered Rackmount version. Purchased by current bandmate 4 months ago from Thomann in Germany, due to the steep $4000 AUD retail tag here. As of last week, after being used literally a handful of times, also experienced a hardware DSP error, and will have to be sent back to Thomann for repair/replacement.


    KEMPER 4 - Unpowered Rackmount version. Owned by guitarist friend of mine. On arrival from Thomann, had a faulty input which meant guitar signal was weak/intermittent. Had to be sent back to Thomann for repair.


    Not a happy customer at all. Whilst I am happy with my unit - I have lost what faith I had in its reliability, due to the fact 3 close friends of mine, who have all bought different versions of the KPA have had major issues. This is just not good enough in my eyes. To add to the problem, Kemper 3 died less than 7 days out from my new bands first show. We then contacted my friend that owns Kemper 2, and asked to borrow it for the interim. Problem solved until it then finally gave up its last life essence the night before our first show. All I can say is thankfully the Aus distributor have been super helpful, as they offered for us to borrow one of their demo models for the weekend to cover us for the first few shows. That being said, we will have a good handful of shows in the next 4 weeks which will mean it will be an ongoing issue having to borrow gear until Kemper 3 comes back from Germany.


    Kemper werent too helpful in the matter regarding Kemper 3 (were not needed to be contacted regarding the others) Whilst I do completely understand that it is not necessarily their direct responsibility to deal with a unit that was sold from Kemper to a distributor in Europe, which was then sold to Thomann, which was then sold to a customer on the other side of the world - The other half of me thinks that considering it is a high end piece of equipment with a similar price tag from a newer company, I hoped that maybe they would have maybe gone a little further for their customer, considering we had a show in a week, and after 3 months and barely any use was completely dead. Maybe even giving a directive to the Aus distributor to replace the dead unit with one of their stock, the aus distributor then sending the Dead unit back to Kemper, and kemper to replenish the distributors stock with a new unit. Kemper then dealing with thomann & distributor. A very convoluted process I know, but just an idea. We were left feeling a little left out in the cold with it all. After contacting Thomann, they were helpful in the fact they will cover the shipping for the unit, but the lost time to send it from Aus to Germany and back cant be refunded, and we will be left with scrounging for gear for shows until it arrives back.


    Sorry for the long nature of this post, but between us we have spent around $7000 AUD on these products, and each one has been faulty and/or unreliable. Let this be a little warning to prospective buyers that these units although good arent bulletproof, and in my case (which I hope is a one-off) extremely prone to error. At this stage anyone that asks my opinion on digital gear, I will be steering them towards an axe fx or a pod hd before these.

    One post wonder...and will stear people to lesser products just because he got unlucky with a known bad batch of units (LED issue). Now DSP errors could accure, but very few units actually have to be sent in because of it. I'm sorry this happened to you any your friends, but it is common issues that have been taken care of.


    Yes Kemper should never have shipped them out in the first place, and nowadays they send a replacement front if wanted. No need to ship the unit in anymore. Also when you look at the units in stock it is very hard for the company to replace a unit because of their limited production intensity. They're currently selling more than they manage to produce. Also how are you transpoting these unit between shows, and how are they placed at shows? Screwed to a rack or just carried in a handbag? I wouldn't trust a lunchbox in any flight or bus transport unless is was really secured in a non-rattleling rack.


    And it is really not a "head/top" it should not sit on top of the cabinets, that shake loose parts and fry LEDs for sure. It should be treated as rack gear no matter if it is a lunchbox or a rack edition.

    Wow, that's a bad trot man, sorry to hear it. I don't blame you for being a bit pissed. It's always dodgy buying digital stuff from O/S, it saves money initially but any problems and you're up a creek. Innovative are a damn good distributor to be honest, they fixed my fireface for free (that I bought 'open box' from the states).


    I'd be scared to recommend it for live use too with that track record, you would wanna mention your bands history with it just to cover yourself.

    I can certainly understand your bandmates frustration to be without his unit for some time but it was his decision to order it from a store that is as far as possible from his location.
    Things do break and although the 36 months warranty covers the expenses for parts and labour it should have been clear to him that sending it in would take 4-6 weeks at least.
    He certainly cannot blame Kemper for the weakness of the australian dollar or their distributor for not taking responsibility for units that didnt go thru their network of dealers.
    I am amazed that Thomann will cover the shipping because that basically means that they dont make any profit on that sale.
    If i bought a Digeridoo directly from australia because they are cheaper over there compared to their european distribution and it breaks here in europe and i have to send it to australia to get it repaired i would probably kick myself but not the ones who made it.

    Edited once, last by Lambik ().

    You guys are kidding, right?
    Four faulty units and you think he's either stupid or conspiring?..


    OP:
    There was a bad batch of LEDs. Talk to Kemper support directly, they could have the parts sent to your local distributor - once it gets there, installing them shouldn't take more than a day.
    Also try talking to them about the DSP errors - there is often a software fix and if not, maybe the parts could be sent to you as well?


    EDIT: sorry, didn't read your post thoroughly enough.
    I understand how Kemper could have been more helpful, but i can't see how you can blame them...

    "But dignity is difficult to maintain
    stamina requires constant upkeep
    repetition is boring
    and you pay for grace."

    The problem is that two of the units were bought in germany and not in australia-therefore they need to be send to germany for service.
    The units with the broken LEDs were bought in australia and will be serviced by the australian distributor.

    Hey Maverick187,


    I completely understand your frustration and the general build quality makes me worry a bit as well. I think it's near perfect for a studio setup most of the time. But for live/tour use there's certainly lots of room for improvement. My unit has the LED problem as well and it's going to repair soon, while I'm out of country. But if I had 4 units (own and band mates') making trouble, wow, I certainly would go crazy about it as well. I wouldn't start recommending a Pod HD before getting a Profiler though.


    I have no idea about the technical reasons for these failures and I have even less idea about how this could be solved by Kemper. But my personal guess is, that it can't be the electronic parts alone that are being used inside the Profiler. For example the external connectors for Ethernet, S/PDIF, USB A, USB B look and feel like SMD connectors that aren't rugged enough for daily use. No strain-relief, doesn't feel very solid. So if there's some lesser quality build found on some external connectors there might be issues as well with internal connections. I don't know, I've never opened my Profiler.


    As a manufacturer of electronic equipment, you always have to balance production cost against market price (ROI). I just wonder if a little higher production cost for a more rugged product would reduce warranty repair cost significantly.


    Anyways, I wish you a quick and satisfactory solution for your problems, so you can start enjoying the huge benefits of the Profiler again. :)


    Good luck,
    Martin

    Man.. disturbing to hear... I've got a trip to LA next month that I was planning on shipping the KPA in its original contain out there for the sessions... I'm starting to rethink the strategy now... I have no problems with mine, all LED's are working fine.. but I'd hate to jinx it. What to do???

    Gettin' funky up in here..

    Well this could be one of 'those' threads, so I hope it remains calm and non- speculative.
    First of all, I feel for the OP and if it happened to me I would certainly be annoyed as hell.
    So actually I appaud you for voicing your grief in a civil and balanced manner.


    Maybe this post can help Kemper re-think their strategy with supplying distributors with spare units, re- think QC or whatever.
    It could be a good idea to send the original post directly to the support team as well.

    For anyone reading this you can significantly increase the led life by reducing brightness from the system menu page 2/9.


    Won't solve the underlying issue but might save you a few leds in the long run. I've ran mine on 3.5 on the small ones and knobs at 6.5 and none have died. Mine was a thomann B-stock customer return too.

    Quote from nakedzen

    For anyone reading this you can significantly increase the led life by reducing brightness from the system menu page 2/9.


    Won't solve the underlying issue but might save you a few leds in the long run. I've ran mine on 3.5 on the small ones and knobs at 6.5 and none have died. Mine was a thomann B-stock customer return too.


    Would love to confirm this, but I can't. I'm running my Profiler with Color LEDs @ 5.0, Buttons @ 6.0, LED collar @ 2.0, Tap @ 6.0 since day 1.
    Although I'm running the LED collar at just 2.0 I have 8 LEDs gone already. Maybe you've just been lucky to get a unit without this issue. :)


    Cheers,
    Martin

    Problem is the Kemper is so good that you can't live without it, not even for a day. :love:
    So it feels extra painfull to miss it for three weeks or more
    Everyone should get a service Kemper to use for free, untill there own unit is fixed.
    If the quality is o.k. every shop/dealer should have enough on one spare service KPA ;) .

    Edited 4 times, last by Dorrus ().

    I have a few suggestions:


    1) Contact the Manufacturer right away if you have a problem with a unit. They have the required experience for problem solving, not the resellers who don't know much about problems with the unit. Plus resellers have extra turnaround time being the middle man. No one wants to be without a unit longer than they have to. Often talking to the Manufacturer about your gigging needs will prompt them to speed up their service to you.


    2) USE the FORUM to help you. People here have had the same problem and can give you good advice.


    3) Random events happen in clusters. Most have no problem, a few who do, have had several. That is how the universe works. It's a proven mathematical theorem.


    4) Judge a Manufacturer by how it solves your problem. Not by it's problem. Every physical piece of hardware can have issues. It's the company's job to make the customers of their products happy via timely, adequate and friendly service.


    5) Do NOT wait 18 months having had and seen several problems and then take a large dump on a forum. It's like not enjoying your wife's cooking and you wait 10 years to tell her. Who does that? You tell someone up front what the issue is. That smooths relationships greatly. Bottling up frustration and then exploding with it is not healthy for you, nor the forum. People expect members to ask for help, THEN complain when they don't get adequate help. You didn't give anyone here a chance to help you, and then months later take a full dump. So that typically doesn't go over well.


    6) Expect some Forum Members to not like what you say, and say negative things about your comments. Some are just fanboys. Others have legitimate points. Take them in stride, and don't take them personally. The KPA forum, unlike many other forums, has a liberal policy of letting people express themselves. That is a good thing.


    7) When you make your first post to a forum, it should always be "Hi, I'm new here" so people can say "Hi" back and get to know you. Then when you have an issue or gripe, you are voicing these issues among fellows, and don't seem like a troll barreling in like a hippopotamus in a delicate glassware shop! ;)


    8) Welcome to the forum! With your 18 months of Kemper experience, and gigging experience in general, you will be a great enhancement to the forum! Glad to meet you, Maverick187 (what's the 187 stand for?)

    Regarding the LED issue, like so many others, quite a few of mine failed as well. Kemper was very prompt in setting me up with shipping to the US repair facility in Texas. My unit was out of service for about 3 weeks, mostly due to shipping times. It would have been longer, but I paid the repair facility an extra US $50 for expedited repair. Now about 9 months later, my LEDs are failing again. So if the problem was fixed, the replacement unit (which I understand is the entire front assembly) was one of the original, problem plagued units. I really don't want to be without it again, and I certainly don't want to spend another US $50 to get it back more quickly so I guess I will live with the defect until so many fail (which I am expecting) that they become unusable as indicators any longer. Any piece of electronics can fail and I accept that. That's what warranties are for. But it is disappointing for to have this be a well known issue and have it happen twice to what is otherwise a very high quality (and expensive) piece of gear.

    Quote from nakedzen

    For anyone reading this you can significantly increase the led life by reducing brightness from the system menu page 2/9.


    Won't solve the underlying issue but might save you a few leds in the long run. I've ran mine on 3.5 on the small ones and knobs at 6.5 and none have died. Mine was a thomann B-stock customer return too.



    Thanks for the info!


    Australia is a nightmare for music gear


    I'm kicking myself I didnt get a 2nd hand one recently it was such a good price....I'd die without mine (speak of the devil another one just came up for sale locally :)