PC1 sustainer troubleshooting question

[vklobucar]

So my Chlorine PC1 with the DOA sustainer is still not working.

As a sort of troubleshooting measure I pulled the sustainer unit and circuit board from my newly arrived Au Natural and installed them in the Chlorine.

Guess what? It did NOT work. This leads me to believe that since neither the sustainer nor board is at fault, it must be something else that is shorting the circuit and preventing it from working.

Both boards as the same version too by the way.

I did a quick troubleshoot a few weeks ago when it arrived and with my mulitmeter found no shorts.

So then what gives?

Since we can 100% rule out a bad sustainer and board, what could be the damm culprit?

I wanna working PC1!!!!!

[Newc]

Did the new one work before you swapped them?

[vklobucar]

COLD SOLDER ON THE BATTERY BOXES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Chlorine PC1 is up and running!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Still a bit of fine tuning needed though.

For some reason the LED never lites up. Not when you plug in or any other time for that matter. Could that be a blown LED?

I can certainly live with that mind you!

Another thing is that I noticed the two trim pots underside of the PC board and both maxed out (clockwise) and that the sustainer tends to "oscillate" a bit after a second or two of sustaining.

Is there a factory position for those and how the hell can I adjust that while playing a few notes/chords if it is underneath?

Still, I am NOT complaining! I had a strong hunch that after swapping sustainer/board unit and not having it work that it might be a simple bad connection that was causing these issues.

Time for a cold Coor Lite. I think I deserve one no?

[Newc]

Check your other 2 and see how they're set. If they're both maxed out, I'd still adjust the one to see what effect it has - but that's just me; I am DrNewcenstein, after all

[rjohnstone]

COLD SOLDER ON THE BATTERY BOXES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Chlorine PC1 is up and running!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did I or did I not tell you to check for a shitty solder job on the battery box?

As for the trim pots on the board, maxed out is BAD!
Center them and then adjust as needed.
Get one of these tools to adjust the trim pot.


Start in normal sustain mode and adjust to you liking and then flip to harmonic mode and fine tune it.

[vklobucar]

You would not believe just how bad that factory solder job was in that guitar. Makes many Chinese Squier solder jobs look beyond pro.

How that leaves the Jackson factory is really beyond me?

Is that a plastic screwdriver?

Is that because you do not a metal one touching something while the unit is on?

Do we know what each pot does and what would be "to my liking"

Finally should I be concerned about the dead LED light?

[rjohnstone]

You would not believe just how bad that factory solder job was in that guitar. Makes many Chinese Squier solder jobs look beyond pro.

How that leaves the Jackson factory is really beyond me?

I asked myself the same question when mine crapped out.

Is that a plastic screwdriver?

Yep

Is that because you do not a metal one touching something while the unit is on?

Exactly

Do we know what each pot does and what would be "to my liking"

One is a gain control and the other is the harmonic blend.
It's been a while, so I forgot which one is which.
You'll figure which is which once you start tweaking them.

Finally should I be concerned about the dead LED light?

It's not really important. I wouldn't risk damaging the board over it.

[slang05]

YEAH! Congrats!

[vklobucar]

Huge thanks to all the folks that helped out with the troubleshooting tips!!!

[CMH (OH)]

Congrats man!

Thanks for the updates. After seeing the progress from the beginning, it's good to see it working.

Cheers,
Chris

[vklobucar]

I am sure that many other alternatives (ie. return to Jackson or one of their authorized service centers) would not have been cheap.

Besides there is a really great feeling to troubleshooting and solving your own problems.