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Ibanez CS-9 Chorus: LED comes on but no effect -- troubleshooting?


Alex_SF

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This weekend my old MIJ Ibanez Stereo Chorus CS-9 pedal stopped working on me: the LED would come on when I hit the switch, but there would be no change in the sound. I tried both outputs and just got a "dry" sound either way.

 

Did some web searching and found a user review that discussed having this exact problem, which was caused by a broken circuit board around the ground screw. Opened up my pedal and sure enough, my circuit board was cracked around the ground screw.

 

I did the recommended repairs -- consisting of super-gluing the board back together, then soldering small wire jumpers to connect all the ground points around the screw -- and tested those ground points' actual ground connections with a multimeter. So far, so good. But then I hooked up a battery and tested it: problem still not fixed. I can hear something happening when I hit the switch now, but it's just a very subtle change in tone, still without any chorus effect.

 

Any ideas for what else might be causing the problem and what other troubleshooting / repair steps to take next? The schematic is available here if anyone cares to take a look. Reissues are selling pretty dearly these days, so I'd like to save the one I've got if I can.

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  • 7 years later...
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It's been a few years since the OP. I was just having the same issue (minus the PCB crack) and found my answer was simple. Turn the pedal upside down. Take off the battery hatch cover. Look through the hole in the chassis and you see 2 trim pots. The one now on left controls the effect gain. Mine was turned with the stamped numbers to the left and the slot almost vertical. I turned the trim counter clockwise until the slot was horizontal but with the right side of the slot slightly higher. My CS9 sounds fantastic now. Not certain how it ever was turned but whatever. I'm simply happy to have my CS9 back.

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It's been a few years since the OP. I was just having the same issue (minus the PCB crack) and found my answer was simple. Turn the pedal upside down. Take off the battery hatch cover. Look through the hole in the chassis and you see 2 trim pots. The one now on left controls the effect gain. Mine was turned with the stamped numbers to the left and the slot almost vertical. I turned the trim counter clockwise until the slot was horizontal but with the right side of the slot slightly higher. My CS9 sounds fantastic now. Not certain how it ever was turned but whatever. I'm simply happy to have my CS9 back.

My pics are too big. Will try to downsize and share.

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