Zeppelin Labs VPM-1 volume pedal mod for Ernie Ball VP jr.

PunchySunshine

Well-known member
Wow! What a difference! This kit was challenging but doable.
It shipped and arrived quickly. Two cool points for the packing material of a uline catalog crumpled up!
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Everything seemed in order, I even knolled for a picture but I didn't cross reference the BOM and I was missing the two LDRs. DOH!
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Oh well, I built what I could and contacted ZDL. They responded by sending the missing LDRs.
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I used E6000 to attach the board instead of the super glue the instructions recommend as I figured it would work better under the circumstances. YMMV.
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The tolerances were INCREDIBLY tight for everything in the kit. That said, it fit. I'm just glad I didn't need the two upgrade (stereo and expression). The included heat shrink for the optocouplers was a tad short tbh. No big deal, I just added some but note that you may need some for a good roach.
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Have you had a chance to play through it much? I’ve had mine for several years, and still haven’t tried the boost function out, which is a bit embarrassing I think. I also remember it as being tightly packed.
 
Have you had a chance to play through it much? I’ve had mine for several years, and still haven’t tried the boost function out, which is a bit embarrassing I think. I also remember it as being tightly packed.
I did try it out a bit today. Butter smooth! I'm keeping the boost off for now but I've tried it and it's clean. Nice to have the option if I need it for a tube rig. I'm just happy I can now put it anywhere in my pedalboard sequence and things don't freak out! I had the old one setup as just a master volume at the very end but now its right before going back into the guitar preamp and before the delays. YAY!!
Thanks for pushing me over the edge on this one! ;)
 
I picked up the pedal just so I could get this mod kit; thanks for the positive review.

Been waiting for a sale...
Happy to pay that GAS forward!
Honestly, it seemed overpriced looking at it but I feel it's a great value even at retail price. After seeing the amount of engineering and development needed for this product I'm a believer in Brach!
 
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