Frustrated. Sending kemper in for repairs, again.

mikenothing · Nov 5th 2014

First off, I love my Kemper. Completely satisfies my needs. But, I am pretty frustrated.

I have owned my kemper rack for 1.5 years. A couple of months back one of my LEDs went out. Weird, since I thought the LED issue only affected early toaster versions.

[Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/3meakvd.jpg]

I sent it in for repairs in early September and I did not have my kemper for 3.5 weeks. Really sucked, but I was just eager to get it fixed.

So last night I turn on my kemper and this is what I see:

[Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/Cbf2wbr.jpg]

Obviously I am extremely bummed out and really don't want to be without my kemper another 3-4 weeks...

My question is, do you guys at Kemper know what causing the LEDs to fail? Its obviously happening way to early on in the lives of the LEDs and to too many people who own kempers. While I understand you guys have great support... What is going to happen after the 3 years warranty is up? Will we all be responsible to fix our own LEDs?

I am opening up a support ticket today. Just really shit situation to be in.

mikenothing · Nov 5th 2014

Sorry guys, posted this on the wrong sub forum... My mistake, please move if needed.

Peto · Nov 5th 2014

This is not good.
I feel sorry for you.
I wonder what is causing the leds to fail. Typical led should have lifespan around 30.000-50.000 hours, considering you are not driving it with high current. Or is it controller's fault?

Ingolf · Nov 5th 2014

Bummer!

Raoul23 · Nov 5th 2014

What a pain dude. It would be interesting to see what's causing this issue

Peto · Nov 5th 2014

Mike, what is your LED Collar intensity set to?

mikenothing · Nov 6th 2014

@Peto

Can't remember, I will check once I get home

Feck · Nov 6th 2014

That's a drag, but to be blunt - why does it matter if one of 15 or so LED's go out? It doesn't really affect anything. I'd leave it, and wait until/if a second one goes out and then send it in to ask if the whole LED panel can be swapped.

mikenothing · Nov 6th 2014

@Feck

It might be my OCD haha. But in all honesty a unit that costs $2,000 should not have failing LED's. It's obviously not an isolated case and it is not limited to early run of toasters. If I remember correctly, I read somewhere on this forum that when an LED goes out (1 or all) they replace the whole panel anyways. This worries me as it's a re-occuring issue and I don't want to have a beat up looking kemper after the 3 year warranty period is over.

I wrote this on here in hopes that @ckemper would give us some insight on why this is happening? And if it a known issue...how to they plan to rectify it and work with the existing warranty?

viabcroce · Nov 6th 2014

Quote from Feck

That's a drag, but to be blunt - why does it matter if one of 15 or so LED's go out? It doesn't really affect anything. I'd leave it, and wait until/if a second one goes out and then send it in to ask if the whole LED panel can be swapped.

As for me, I'd hate it LOL
OTOH, he's to do it before the guaranty expires

nightlight · Nov 7th 2014

I'd suggest waiting till before your three years are up and then send it in. At least that's my plan with my LEDs.

It would be good to know what our options are after three years are up though. What does it cost to replace the LED panels and how much would users have to pay in such a situation. I believe there are quite a few early adopters whose three years with the Kemper are almost up now.

endlessnameless · Nov 7th 2014

It is worth bearing in mind that (at least in Europe )items are expected to be of 'satisfactory quality' in all the circumstances. So a three year guarantee is not necessarily a restriction on your consumer rights.

If you buy a piece of pro audio equipment in the £1k+ range you could argue that the LEDs should be expected to last longer than 3 years with normal usage. If after 3 years the LEDs start going on your Korg Pandora sub £80 fx unit you could argue that is not necessarily unreasonable.

aleksanderilievski · Nov 7th 2014

This happend to my kemper aswell. The thing is that they have to send it to Germany to fix it, and I cant be without my kemper for more than 1 month! What to do?

viabcroce · Nov 7th 2014

It depends on where you're located: USA customers don't have to.

Often you can arrange something with the store where you bought the unit... it might be worth a try.

endlessnameless · Nov 7th 2014

Just a suggestion but if you are working on a recording project and need the kemper, you could record the guitar parts dry, monitor through a backup unit and then re-amp them when your kemper comes back?

Kemper Support #1 · Nov 11th 2014

Normal repair times are 5 working days in our german service center. Add another 4-5 days for shipping within europe.

wcfieldskx · Nov 11th 2014

I thought this whole LED issue was resolved a while ago? How come this is still happening on new units?

warlus1 · Nov 11th 2014

leds in new rack aren't perfect
"software issue" they say ... not hardware

Hannes_ITS · Nov 11th 2014

Quote from nightlight

I'd suggest waiting till before your three years are up and then send it in. At least that's my plan with my LEDs.

It would be good to know what our options are after three years are up though. What does it cost to replace the LED panels and how much would users have to pay in such a situation. I believe there are quite a few early adopters whose three years with the Kemper are almost up now.

I´d love to know this aswell. None of my LEDs have failed so far but you never know and knowing which options I´d have and how much I´d have to play would be some good background info.

Peto · Nov 12th 2014

Today new fw 2.7.3 PB was released with following fix: - fixed: LED anomalies in Rack panel software
Maybe it will cure your problem with LED?

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