Do-it-yourself Dunlop pedal conversion

[vtgearhead]

This has been an interesting experience.  I figured it would be a no-brainer to replace the pot in a Cry-Baby with a 10k linear, wire up a stereo jack and use as a Kemper wah pedal.  Unfortunately, Kemper's pot calibration algorithm is constantly trying to re-calculate the pedal limits.  I like to use "heel off" and even the tiniest bit of "slop" or inconsistency in heel-down position prevents the effect from reliably disengaging.  The Mission pedals pay a lot more attention to mechanical integrity (I have one for my Helix), but getting a Cry-Baby to cooperate was a bit painful. 

The secret was to remove the rubber bumper under the heel end of the pedal - and - disassemble, clean and lubricate the treadle pivot and tension strap. 

When you hold it in your hands, the rear of the pedal doesn't seem to compress very far at heel down.  But, with the weight of your foot on it, it's enough to cause the Profiler to recalibrate and treat the compressed limit as "off".  Then, removing your foot lets the bumper expand enough to trigger "wah on".  To a lesser degree, the treadle pivot can bind against the tension strap and get a little fussy about settling cleanly at full off. 

Interestingly, there were a litany of complaints on the Kemper forum about constant recalibration.  The official line is "..that's the way it's supposed to work.  It's a feature, not a bug".  I have a lot of respect for C. Kemper and his engineers, but not providing a way to either disable the real-time calibration or increase hysteresis around the end points is a poor design choice, IMHO.