Let’s have a full month of posting only choruses as pedal pots. Why? Because i can.
What is it?
Ibanez CS5 Super Chorus. Soundtank series unit in plastic enclosure, made in taiwan in mid 90s.
I may not be the biggest chorus user there is. I’m really not even sure how and where i would use one. Of course, i’ve used a lot of choruses while recording, but mainly for opening up some synth tracks, rather than using them with guitar. Choruses lie somewhere in the middle ground from vibes, phasers and flangers. There’s always an LFO that creates the modulation pulse. Which then usually controls the delay timer, which then controls the delay itself, creating sweeping chorus effect for the pre and post effect mixing amplifier.
Ibanez CS5 Super Chorus is no exception. TL022 as LFO and NM3102/NM3207 pair for analog delay. 1458 takes of the mixer duties. Circuit is quite standard for a chorus, expect for the delay time control, which adds a lot of versatility and definitely is not as standard control as width/depth and LFO speed controls. Guess that’s what makes this Super. For those interested, the schematic is up at SchematicsUnlimited.com
To me, it looks like the design is very close to Ibanez CS9 Stereo Chorus, but with added delay time control. So in a way, this is better than its great predecessor.
Board, design, traces and components are well in line with the better standard boxes of this series. Only culprit is – you guessed it – the switch. After swapping it, this one runs like a very nice charm again.
How does it sound?
Good. With these controls, it is very versatile sounding chorus that can do both, hard and soft chorus from fast to slow, from natural to harsh. Basically the sound that makes this one very nice effect, even if it is housed in a plastic box. One of the greatest designs in the series.
hi.
Ive got a soundtank super chorus with thenwonky switch problem.
i need to replacem the capacitor but cant figure out which one it is.
You seem pretty knowledgable. could you please send me the cap # as it appears on the circuit board if you know it.
It will save me a lotmof trial and error.
thanks
tony
If you look at my board photo, you see the switching flip-flop circuitry is located at the top left side of the board. There are CR1 and CR2 present there. The cap you want to change is one of the three ceramaics right next to CR2. Correct one connects its other side to the switch and the other to ground. Hope this helps.
+m
How’s it man, I recently picked up one of these from a friend cause because it was dead. Now I’ve opened it up and it looks like D1 (sitting right between the input and output jacks) is fried. It’s the first diode in the circuit between the dc in points so I’m pretty sure he just used the wrong power supply and cooked it. Anyway, the diode itself is unrecognizable and no schematic has the details on it’s value. Would you please take a quick look at yours and let me know? Then getting a replacement in and getting it up and running will be simple. Would really appreciate the help! Thanks
Any standard schottky will do. I’d take 1N4001 in its place. It’ll work fine once the leaky, dead diode is removed, but to have protection – just install a new 1N400X diode.
+m
Thanks for the help man, much appreciated! Keep up the good work 👍
hi there, I have a CS5 that I would like to make true bypass.. any idea how I can mod the pedal to always pass the effected signal? or always power up in the “on” position? thanks!