What my Kemper means to me.
I've owned my Kemper since 2013.
It was purchased second hand form a guy just outside of Guildford, he himself had only purchased it from 'Andertons Music' in Guildford two weeks earlier.
I had sold my Fractal Audio AXE FX Ultra (which I loved), so I could purchase the Kemper.
When I first heard the Kemper at the sellers house, it had an 8 string going through it and it sounded nasty. However, I had heard this unit before and knew how good it would sound.
Got the Kemper home and reset it to how it would have originally been shipped like.
Plugged in my Gibson Les Paul and played a single 'A' chord.
Holy Sh1t! I thought!
Since that day, Kemper have improved on the software, the interface & the overall quality, time and time again. Each time giving us musicians more control over the tones we aspire to.
Unfortunately, I have one of the batch that has the LED issue and I'm sure there's a SPIDIF issue too. However, I love it, no matter what.
My Kemper is the only thing that keeps me sane. In 1996 I had a car accident (I wasn't driving), where I chipped the base of my spine / pelvis. This caused issues for a good 6 - 7 years afterwards, but with hospital treatment, I slowly recovered.
Unbeknownst to me, this had actually triggered an issue that would cause great effect to my life.
In 2011, I began to experience severe backache and moments where I was unable to move. By late 2013, I was unable to work, as the pain at time would cause me to black out or vomit. In 2013 I was diagnosed with Ankylosing spondylitis & Scoliosis. I was also told that the car accident I'd had in 1996 had damaged my 'shock absorbers' in my spine (L4, L5).
I have now not worked since 2013. I have had to leave my band and sell my Mesa MK IV and two of my heavy guitars as I can't lift them anymore.
I do get depressed, then I go into my studio and plug in my Kemper and play. Sure, a few LED's are faulty, but I don't care about that. I have been informed by the excellent customer service department at Kemper, that if I ship my unit to a repair facility in Germany, They will repair my unit, free of charge and ship it back to me. This will mean I am without my unit for a while, which is why I haven’t done this.
My Kemper allows me to escape, play till my hearts content & makes me feel like I’m still in the music game.
So really, this is a thank you.
Thank you Kemper. Thank you to all of the awesome people on the Kemper forum.
Thank you for all your hard work, commitment and understanding.
Thank you Christoph. My thanks go to all the people who worked so hard to create such an amazing product. You've prevented my insanity. . . . . . . . Well, delayed it.
Ray Lloyd
Livewire Studio