Peavey Vypyr 15

Preset Foot-Switch Mod

By: Dustin Corbin
AKA: djcdude95
 Description
The Preset Foot-Switch Mod enables you to change
between the 12 presets on your amp with your foot,
and not by reaching over and pushing the buttons on
the amp.

Unlike it successors, the Vypyr 15 does not have the

option to hook up a midi interface like the Sanpera or
Sanpera II. A midi input can be connected, but it would
take a lot of work to make a midi circuit, or cost a lot
to buy one pre-made.

This mod basically creates a, what I call “double

switch.” This is because you are wiring a momentary
switch to the positive and negative contact to the
preset switches on the amp.

I suggest you read through the entire PDF before you

do anything just so you can become familiar with
everything and to see if your skill level is high enough.
This isn’t super complicated, but its not easy.

PS: Sorry for the crappy quality pictures, I don’t have a

camera so I have to use my phone.
 Tools Needed
Screwdriver
(Phillips was all I used)

Power Drill

Soldering Iron
(You'll need to know how to solder)

Solder

Wire Cutters

Wire Strippers

Saw or Jigsaw or Table Saw

 Materials Needed

5 Momentary, Normally Open, Button Switches

Wire ( Telephone cable works well)

Zip Ties

Electrical Tape

Thin Wood Sheets

Duct Tape

Small 90degree Corner Brackets (I only used 2)

OPTIONAL:

Shrink Tubing
 Building the Pedal Box

The dimensions can vary depending on what you

prefer, but all dimensions are what I used.
If you have a box you want to use then feel free to skip
this section.
 Cut:

Two 4”x14” pieces of thin wood.

This will be your top and bottom of the pedal.

One 3.75”x 14” piece and one 2”x 14” piece

The shorter one is the front.

Assemble as shown on the Pics above EXCEPT the top

board. We need to assemble the switch board.
 Assembling the Switch Board

Take the top board and mark holes for each switch.

The pic below shows the spacing I use.

I put the bank switch a little more spaced from the

other buttons just because it has a different function.

Drill a hole to fit the switches at each mark.

Install each switch.

 Wiring

You can use normal wire but that can get confusing and
messy. Telephone cables have 2 wire in each cable
which make it easy to track which wire goes to which
switch.

The longer the telephone cable the better. I had a 24ft

cable and cut it into 4 equal pieces(6ft) but I had to
make a cable for the bank control. If you have a 50ft
cable you can cut it into 5 pieces(10ft). The longer the
wires are from the box to the amp, the more options
you have on where to place it on stage or in your
room. I only had 6ft of wire out of the pedal so I found
an old game controller cable about 6ft long and used it
as an extension to make the wire 12 ft. But if you had
another telephone cable then you could use it instead.

Once you have the strands of wire, you will need to

connect each wire to to each contact of the switches.
 YOU NEED TO KNOW HOW TO SOLDER!

Cut a hole in the back plate and feed all the wires out
of the box through the hole.
Its important to keep track of what wires go to which
switch, so mark them as you go along. I use a LED and
battery to hook up to each wire to test which button
controls which wire.

Once you have all of the wires out the back, you can
put shrink tubing on if you have it or you can just use
zip ties to bunch the wires up together. If you want to
make an extension, wire it up. Just keep track of
which wire goes to which switch.

Once you are satisfied with the length of your wire, its
time to wire it up to the amp.
 Amp Wiring

This part of the project is the hardest and most time

consuming section, simply because you have to be
careful. I don’t want to take my Amp apart again so I
will use some pics from the site that helped me with
this.

Take apart the amp. Unplug all plugs first, let sit for 10
minutes to let the capacitors discharge. Then unscrew
the 4 screws on the top of the amp that holds the
chassis. Unplug the speaker from the chassis, MARK
WHICH WIRES GOES TO THE POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE
TERMINAL ON THE SPEAKER, and pull out the chassis.

Examine the insides. The circuit board that is up

against the knob panel is what we want. You can
unhook the wires and unscrew everything and remove
the board, but I wired everything without removing
anything. BE VERY CAREFUL NOT TO CUT, BURN, OR
DAMAGE ANY OF THE WIRES OR ITEMS ON THE CIRCUIT
BOARD.
The circuit board on the bottom of the pic is what we
want. It holds the Bank and Preset buttons.

You can drill a hole in the back of the chassis to put

your wires through. Make sure you do that before you
solder the wires to the circuit board.
 Solder the other ends of the wires coming from the
foot pedal to the contacts shown above. Make sure the
wires don’t touch each other. Make sure you hook up
the #1 button to the #1 preset and so on.
 This is a pic of the #1 and #2 presets hooked up.

Once you get the Bank and 4 Presets wired up, you can
reassemble the amp or just hook up the amp to the
speaker. Plug in the amp AFTER you plug in the
speaker. Turn the amp on, wait a few seconds then try
out the buttons. The Bank switch should change the
bank, the #1 switch should activate the #1 preset and
so on. If you hold down the button it will save the
preset like normal.
 Finishing
Reassemble the amp and try it out using your feet.
The sturdier you build the box the better, and the
switch you use can affect the reliability.

In the future I plan to wire a quick connector to the

wires so I can disconnect the pedal from the amp when
not in use. That would make it much easier to
transport.

Warnings

Although the chances are very slim, any modifications

to the amp can affect the amp and could cause
damage. I am not responsible for any damage that
happens to you, the amp, or anything else used.
Also I cant guarantee the reliability of the mod, so if
you use it on stage, use at your own risk.
 Resources

http://peaveyfootswitch.skyrock.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yYBRx5c2Gg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UVfkvfLWYE