Gigantic Problem!!!

[rjohnstone]

Pull the battery box and post a pic of the wiring. There should be enough slack to pull it out.
If it was wired as a true 18v system, putting in only one battery would still leave the circuit open because the batteries are wired in a series.
A parallel system has the batteries wired together.

I know, cheezy graphic, but it illustrates the two scenarios.

[GodOfRhythm]

Thanks man! I'll do it first thing tomorrow morning and have the pics for you!

[zeegler]

I feel for ya man. After months of waiting for my KV-1 to be painted, I got it back, plugged it in, and it sounded exactly how you describe it. WAY too clean, no balls, no tone, nothing. God was I bummed out. All I did was yank those EMGs and put in some SDs. I really don't know how anyone gets good tone out of EMGs, because to me they sounded like pure shit.

[jtr]

Looking at the pot are you sure they are 25K those look like MIJ 250 or 500 K pots kind of small.

[jrnic]

I know this has been said already, but are you sure the cable is pushed all the way in? I had a similar problem with a "tinny" sound with my EMG's. I discovered that the cable was not pushed ALL THE WAY IN to the input jack. Also maybe there is a problem with the jack. I had another guitar that the cavity that the jack was in was too small and the ground contact (the bigger wrap around contact) was up against the wall of the cavity and not letting me push my cable all the way in. I thought it was in but it wasn't. I wound up using a Dremel tool and sanding out the cavity larger so it wouldn't interfere.

Hope this helps.

[straycat]

I need pics.The jack not being all the way in will cause that problem.Not saying thats it but from being OK to fucked up in such a short time thats sounds like a possability.
You may have pulled a wire loose at the battery connector or have a bare wire arcing off another.

[jrnic]

*********UPDATE***************

After I posted my last comment, I actually tried to re-create your problem with my RR3. I have an 81 and 85 in it. I plugged it in normally and of course it cranked, BUT when I pulled out the plug partially, so as to just make contact with the jack, I got the sound you are talking about. Just like your clip you posted of AC/DC. Sounded very dull and lifeless with no sustain. I pushed the plug the rest of the way and it sounded normal again. I would bet that your problem is in the jack area. Either the plug is not going in all the way or a wire came loose.

I even once had a problem with an Epi LP that wound up being in the jack too. It worked fine for a long time but after a while, all of a sudden, everytime I plugged in the sound would drop off completely. After playing with it a while I discovered that the entire control cavity, including the jack cavity, was covered in shielding paint. Everytime I plugged in, the larger contact pushed out whenever the plug went in and grounded against the shielding paint. Drove me crazy for hours until I discovered that. It was a quick fix (sanded out the area larger.)

With so many problems over the years stemming from the jack area, I always seem to go there first when I have an output problem. I would bet that your problem is in the jack. Hope this helps!!

[jrnic]

You may have pulled a wire loose at the battery connector or have a bare wire arcing off another.

That's a very good possibility also.

[chrisolson]

Are you using metric 9v batteries? I hear American 9v batteries don't work well in Europe...





:ROTF:

[ozzuk1]

Sounds to me like a wiring problem, could be the jack i've had similar experiences due to the stiffness of the emg stereo jack, on a few of my EMG'd guitars...

Can you take it somewhere to get the wiring checked out?

Double check the jack is in all the way, cause htis thinny lack of balls sound i've had before when not plugging the guitars jack in all the way...

From your description it sounds like there is something not fully connecting so there might be a loose wire somewhere between the batteries and controls....

Shouldnt really be happening on a CS jackson but hopefully it's an easy fix...

[GodOfRhythm]

I took out the battery box to check the wiring....

One of the wires on the second batteryloader has come loose, looks like the soldering gave way. Pretty shocking for a CS, but whatever.

They are 100% certainly wired in series though, so it IS the 18v set-up. How it manages to work with only one battery in there (in the loader that still has both wires connected) is completely beyond me.... Any theories on that?

So I guess we have found our culprit! I want to thank you guys (especially Rick and Jrnic) so much for helping me, I'd have NEVER thought of this shit by myself.

I'll have a friend of mine fix the soldering on there, hopefully that should restore the tone somewhat. Eventhough it will probably still sound a bit different. But I just knew the difference in tone was TOO gigantic to be JUST the result of fresh batteries.

------------

I guess some good has come from this, tho, eventhough after having this fixed, I'll probably have the most part of my tone back, I still realized that the Quad just might not be cutting it for me anymore, and I'm starting to fall in love (read: GAS ) with ENGL and the powerball in particular.

[jrnic]

Glad you found the trouble, my gut told me it was somewhere in the jack/battery wires. Good luck with it.

[rjohnstone]

I told you those boxes are crap.
Tiny wires and a half-assed solder job.
Have your friend re-solder all the connections. It's likely that the lead that fell off, crossed the circuit. This would explain how it worked with only one battery.

It's an easy fix, but I do agree that for a CS piece, this is totally unacceptable.

[MetalMedal II]

Interesting conclusion. Glad you found the culprit.

So with the short, was the other 9 volt coming thru, or was the sound just bleeding thru circuitry? I'm just wondering if the huge difference you were getting (from your usual good sound) was due to one 9 volt or just the entire system not working right.