Wish Klon Centaur Clone troubleshooting

[benhammond123]

Hi all,

first time poster. Just bought a Wish Klon Centaur clone and I believe it is faulty. Basically, the gain knob doesn't do anything. Look, I am not electrician and I opened it up expecting to see *something* wrong as to why it is not working (anything scorched and black, missing/loose diodes or burnt out ones etc) and nothing is immediately apparent?

Anyone got any advice? Currently they are only offering me a poultry 20% refund.

 

[benhammond123]

N.B ive been powering it off a 9v supply so I know there is no battery in it!

 

[Si G X]

I see the IC's are in sockets... it may be worth re-seating those to make sure all the connections are good.

.... I don't really understand how wish works but you are entitled to return/refund by law. How can they offer 20% for something that's faulty on arrival?

 

[Fenderbaum]

Wish is basically a shopping app where everything on it is just chinese low-grade goods.

 

[benhammond123]

I see the IC's are in sockets... it may be worth re-seating those to make sure all the connections are good.

.... I don't really understand how wish works but you are entitled to return/refund by law. How can they offer 20% for something that's faulty on arrival?

Hi! Thanks for pointing this out! Could you genuinely circle the bits that you pointed out because I have genuinely no idea

I think they thought i was going to keep it but i have asked for a full refund

 

[Si G X]

Hi! Thanks for pointing this out! Could you genuinely circle the bits that you pointed out because I have genuinely no idea

I think they thought i was going to keep it but i have asked for a full refund

Sure, all these black rectangles with 8 legs.. commonly known as 'silicon chips' a word of warning though, they can be damaged by static so don't rub your feet on the carpet before poking them! First off just put a finger on them and push down gently to make sure they are seated down fully in the sockets (the black rectangles underneath that the pins/legs go into) they could have got knocked lose in shipping...

if that doesn't work, come back.. but that would be the first thing I would try.

 

[benhammond123]

Sure, all these black rectangles with 8 legs.. commonly known as 'silicon chips' a word of warning though, they can be damaged by static so don't rub your feet on the carpet before poking them! First off just put a finger on them and push down gently to make sure they are seated down fully in the sockets (the black rectangles underneath that the pins/legs go into) they could have got knocked lose in shipping...

if that doesn't work, come back.. but that would be the first thing I would try.

View attachment 995943

Hey thanks for this, and for being super patient with me. I am much better with nuts and bolts than I am electronics.

So i managed to take them all out with tweezers checked the pins for any damage (none observed) and plugged them back in ensuring they were seated properly. Tested the pedal again and the gain at fully off position is actually giving a volume boost, but the fully on position actually makes the volume less and changes the dynamics of the sound slightly but with 0 gain.

I have had advice that the footswitch middle pins were unsoldered but they arent connected to anything so that checks out. Someone mentioned to check the solder of the gain pot itself and it appears okay. Might try and take the motherboard out by removing the knobs and seeing if anything on the otherside is wrong.

What do you think?

 

[strat56]

The middle of the switch isn't connected to the board. Don't know if thats a problem but it doesn't look right to me.

 

[archtop_fjk]

Go to the 6 pins that connect the gain pot (which is a dual 100K linear). If you have a soldering iron, reflow the solder on each pin and check to make sure there are no solder bridges (i.e. two adjacent pins with a blob of solder connecting them). If that's not it, then there may be a bad connection (cold solder joint) elsewhere.

 

[benhammond123]

The middle of the switch isn't connected to the board. Don't know if thats a problem but it doesn't look right to me.

So I have checked a diy build video and this is actually how it is supposed to be. this was one of the first things I thought too!

 

[benhammond123]

Go to the 6 pins that connect the gain pot (which is a dual 100K linear). If you have a soldering iron, reflow the solder on each pin and check to make sure there are no solder bridges (i.e. two adjacent pins with a blob of solder connecting them). If that's not it, then there may be a bad connection (cold solder joint) elsewhere.


View attachment 995962

The soldering throughout the pedal is diabolical so you are probably onto something. Will let you know when I get some solder

 

[archtop_fjk]

The soldering throughout the pedal is diabolical so you are probably onto something. Will let you know when I get some solder

You don't need any solder - just a clean tip of the soldering iron. Heat the connections one at a time and remelt the solder. Visually inspect the pots pins and if you have a multimeter check for solder bridges (shorts). Looking at the image, it may be that two of the pins (two on lower left) may be shorted together (hard to tell). Good luck!

 

[benhammond123]

You don't need any solder - just a clean tip of the soldering iron. Heat the connections one at a time an remelt the solder. Visually inspect the pots pins and if you have a multimeter check for solder bridges (shorts). Looking at the image, it may be that two of the pins (two on lower left) may be shorted together (hard to tell). Good luck!

I do have an iron and will attempt tomorrow!

Thanks

 

[benhammond123]

Hi there,

I resoldered this morning and unfortunately nothing changed. I think maybe the wiring connecting the pot to the PCB is wrong, but to check that I would have to unsolder the pots, footswitch and LED to take the PCB out.

Not sure that's worth it

 

[Skyhook]

N.B ive been powering it off a 9v supply so I know there is no battery in it!

Duly noted.
However... in the spirit of troubleshooting you should consider it.
Do you experience the same trouble when running off a battery?

 

[Si G X]

Don't worry about the footswitch, those pins aren't used for anything... the klon is not true bypass.

So the tone and volume controls work fine? ..... there's just no overdrive?

 

[ahiddentableau]

I'm going to state the obvious because it hasn't been stated yet and you mention it in your first post: if you can't hear a major difference when you turn the gain knob up and down in that circuit something is definitely wrong. You should be able to get a fair amount of fur when the gain knob is cranked.

Am I right to think that you bought this new? If you did this the seller really needs to replace the pedal or give you your money back. I'd go down that road first if it's available before you run into troubleshooting with little electronics knowledge and/or experience.

 

[benhammond123]

Don't worry about the footswitch, those pins aren't used for anything... the klon is not true bypass.

So the tone and volume controls work fine? ..... there's just no overdrive?

Correct!

 

[benhammond123]

I'm going to state the obvious because it hasn't been stated yet and you mention it in your first post: if you can't hear a major difference when you turn the gain knob up and down in that circuit something is definitely wrong. You should be able to get a fair amount of fur when the gain knob is cranked.

Am I right to think that you bought this new? If you did this the seller really needs to replace the pedal or give you your money back. I'd go down that road first if it's available before you run into troubleshooting with little electronics knowledge and/or experience.

Yeah nothing at all. Wish are historically bad at getting back to people so I have asked for a complete refund.

Just thought in the mean time I could use it as a little project to bring me up to speed with electronics knowledge. I think one of the ICB's (7600s) might be bad so I will test it with a multimeter some point today. Dry signal is present when pedal is off and on so I think the ICB may be bad.

 

[benhammond123]

Just thought I would open it up and take out the PCB to have a look if anything is amiss. Apart from terrible soldering I think everything looks okay to me?

However, I am new to this so would appreciate other eyes. I have a multimeter so can test for shorts or resistance.