Single Cable foot controller is here...my Midi Moose MOD

Hey All,

The Behringer foot controller is just too big for the small stages I play on, and even too big for me at home.

So I bought a used Tech 21 Midi Moose and installed 4 extra momentary switches to control Stomps/Effects besides the midi control...

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This connects to the Kemper with a single VGA cable and is a small 17" x 3.75"...

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The 15 pin VGA cables are inexpensive, and can daisy-chain together for any length. You might know them as PC computer monitor cables.

The single cable also powers the the Midi Moose, along with using the power jack on the Moose as a courtesy jack for powering another pedal, or even more if using a daisy chain 9V cable. I currently use this to power my looper...

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I added a jack to plug an expression controller into it too. This overrides two of the switches when plugged in...

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The switches sit high enough that you can't accidentally hit the switches on the bottom row...

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It works well and is small and portable. Plus just one cable to the foot controller! It still could run off batteries and use a midi cable if I needed it to.

It was a pain to wire up the VGA cable, but now that it is done, I am happy.

Haha!

Left footed I am!

I did make it usable for both sides though. With the amount of bacon I eat, I'm planning ahead for a possible stroke.

Thanks guys!

Hey ThomasMike,

Sure, be glad to help.

You need to use "momentary" switches, also known as "non-latching" switches. I used these soft-touch ones found here.

You can have 4 switches, 2 switches and a expression pedal, or 2 expression pedals at one time. You choose these settings in the Kemper's System menu on page 4.

Instead of drilling into your Midi Moose, you could make a 2 or 4 switch box using an enclosure . Here's a couple I made before I had the Moose...

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They connect to the Kemper with a 1/4" stereo (TRS) cord. So you need two stereo cables for 4 switches.

Very easy to wire, just connect the ground to the same lug on each of the switches, and one of the other lugs goes to the Tip and the other to the Ring.

You could run the two stereo cables and the midi cable zipped tied together to have a "snake", or I choose to wire everything using a VGA cable, since it has 15 leads...
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This plugs into a breakout box in the back of my lunchbox Kemper in the space where the power amp would go. The breakout has two right angle TRS cables, a right angle midi cable, and power for the Moose and it's now courtesy 9V outlet. These stay plugged in all the time, I just need to plug the VGA cable in and it's ready to go.

I've been using the switches for a solo Boost in the effects section, and a rotary speaker, both "Locked" so they behave the same in all presets (love that Lock feature!)

I also play in a trio with another guitarist and drummer, and then I lock one of the switches to transpose down an octave in the Stomp section, and have a very usable bass guitar tone. People love it when I go from playing bass lines to a screaming lead with a toe tap...thanks Kemper!!!

Quote from MrVivz

Hello ur2funky, very nice mod! Maybe I'll try this! Is it possible to have a picture of your box inside the Kemper where you plug your Vga cable please?

I dont really understand how you plug and split it to jacks and midi cable

Thank you

Thanks, I will get some pictures.

I have the unpowered Lunchbox Kemper, which has a large cavity in the back where the amp would go. I didn't modify the Kemper at all. I cut the VGA cable leaving 12" or 30 cm on one end. I wired everything (midi cable/stereo switches cable/9v power) to this and it stays inside the cavity of the Kemper mounted on a removable piece of wood, connecting to the midi moose with the VGA jack and connecting to the Kemper with right-angle plugs which are left plugged-in all the time. So I just unplug the VGA cable, Kemper power cord and speaker outputs to move the amp.

I debated wether to have the VGA cable detachable on the Moose end, but for my needs, I hardwired it.

These VGA cables "daisy-chain" so you can just add another cable to increase the cable length for the size of the stage or studio.

The VGA cable also comes in different thicknesses. Here are the ones I have which are thinner than a guitar cord and are small and easy to coil, or you can get heavy ones thicker than a fat speaker cable.