Powerhouse strat electric problems

Barney

I just got a powerhouse strat in trade but seems to have stopped working altogether ...IV tried changing battery but nothing ....it was making some strange noises before hand .. these have some sort of circuit board in ...does anybody have any ideas 

ICBM

Not specifically, but the good news is that the PCB only contains discrete through-hole components so it will be possible to repair it easily even if the fault is on the board. I think it's more likely to be a broken wire though, single transistors are pretty reliable.

 

I would check that the dummy coil hasn't come off and broken something - it's meant to be fixed to the underside of the pickguard, not loose as in that pic... and don't remove the guard like that. This is how it should be attached -

Funkfingers

Barney said:

stopped working … it was making some strange noises before hand  

The most likely explanations are a short to ground, a dry solder joint or a loss of voltage to the booster PCB. 

First, check the connections to the jack socket. Tip = signal, ring = battery clip, sleeve = system ground. 

It is possible that one of the connections inside the battery clip has failed. This can be difficult to see. Test continuity with a multimeter.

Might be worth cleaning the resistance tracks inside the pots. 

The stock mid boost pot is relatively low impedance. If this has been replaced with a 250k pot, that will screw up the booster performance.

Barney

ICBM said: Not specifically, but the good news is that the PCB only contains discrete through-hole components so it will be possible to repair it easily even if the fault is on the board. I think it's more likely to be a broken wire though, single transistors are pretty reliable.

 

I would check that the dummy coil hasn't come off and broken something - it's meant to be fixed to the underside of the pickguard, not loose as in that pic... and don't remove the guard like that. This is how it should be attached -



 Thanks ...I sort of looked under with strings on and saw dummy coil ithink.....it was moving around would this stop it working ?

Barney

Funkfingers said:

Barney said:

stopped working … it was making some strange noises before hand  

The most likely explanations are a short to ground, a dry solder joint or a loss of voltage to the booster PCB. 

First, check the connections to the jack socket. Tip = signal, ring = battery clip, sleeve = system ground. 

It is possible that one of the connections inside the battery clip has failed. This can be difficult to see. Test continuity with a multimeter.

Might be worth cleaning the resistance tracks inside the pots. 

The stock mid boost pot is relatively low impedance. If this has been replaced with a 250k pot, that will screw up the booster performance.

Thanks will check that ...it seems it could be a slack wire cos it it just stopped working altogether 

ICBM

Barney said:

...it was moving around would this stop it working ?

No, but it might break something.

I'm not 100% sure of the way these are wired up, but if the dummy coil is in series with the pickups then a broken connection at one of the eyelets on the dummy coil - which is common on US Fender pickups (this is one, without the magnets) - would stop the whole thing working.

Barney

Barney said:

ICBM said:

Not specifically, but the good news is that the PCB only contains discrete through-hole components so it will be possible to repair it easily even if the fault is on the board. I think it's more likely to be a broken wire though, single transistors are pretty reliable.

 

I would check that the dummy coil hasn't come off and broken something - it's meant to be fixed to the underside of the pickguard, not loose as in that pic... and don't remove the guard like that. This is how it should be attached -

 Thanks ...I sort of looked under with strings on and saw dummy coil ithink.....it was moving around would this stop it working ?

Thanks ...looked today and the purple was off but I can't tell where it came from ...it looks like ground on pics ?

ICBM

Barney said:

Thanks ...looked today and the green was off but I can't tell where it came from ...it looks like ground on pics ?

From this it looks like the input connection on the volume pot - that would definitely stop it all working if it's come off. (Not marked as green but you can follow the third wire from the right on the PCB.)

Barney

ICBM said:

Barney said:

Thanks ...looked today and the green was off but I can't tell where it came from ...it looks like ground on pics ?

From this it looks like the input connection on the volume pot - that would definitely stop it all working if it's come off. (Not marked as green but you can follow the third wire from the right on the PCB.)

Sorry yes it was the purple that was off ...I got it all back on but the when touching the pickups with a screwdriver or even connections they are making noise but when I put strings back on I get nothing 

ICBM

Barney said:

Sorry yes it was the purple that was off ...I got it all back on but the when touching the pickups with a screwdriver or even connections they are making noise but when I put strings back on I get nothing 

That's very odd...

Best guess is what I thought originally - the dummy coil is in series as I suspected, and if it's damaged it might pass enough signal to make sound when the polepieces are tapped but not otherwise.

If you look at the diagram, can you see where the two dummy coil connections go - one to the switch, and one to the middle terminal of the middle pot? Try jumpering these points with a wire (just tack-solder it on lightly for now) - if it now works it's the coil.

Barney

ICBM said:

Barney said:

Sorry yes it was the purple that was off ...I got it all back on but the when touching the pickups with a screwdriver or even connections they are making noise but when I put strings back on I get nothing 

That's very odd...

Best guess is what I thought originally - the dummy coil is in series as I suspected, and if it's damaged it might pass enough signal to make sound when the polepieces are tapped but not otherwise.

If you look at the diagram, can you see where the two dummy coil connections go - one to the switch, and one to the middle terminal of the middle pot? Try jumpering these points with a wire (just tack-solder it on lightly for now) - if it now works it's the coil.

Thanks ...will try that

mark123

Thread resurrection and partial hi-jack.
Basically I want to wire a tbx control into my Powerhouse strat and clip the bottom capacitor to take it to 25db boost.

Will the tbx be a straightforward fit ? as this is a powerhouse strat ,or could i just copy the Clapton usa wiring diagram ? there was a couple of diagrams in the powerhouse owners club website of people who have done this to their models but i can't open the pics for some reason.

And a last question,  the bottom control on the Powerhouse ,is it just a normal tone pot that i turn around to boost ? .

mark123

Anyone ?

ICBM

No, it’s not straightforward. The upper tone control is standard and could be replaced by the TBX, but the lower tone control is not. I can’t remember exactly how it’s wired, but I don’t think it’s replaceable with a 25dB boost without replacing the whole electronics package with the Clapton one.

Personally I would leave it alone unless you’re going to do that.

mark123

ICBM said:

No, it’s not straightforward. The upper tone control is standard and could be replaced by the TBX, but the lower tone control is not. I can’t remember exactly how it’s wired, but I don’t think it’s replaceable with a 25dB boost without replacing the whole electronics package with the Clapton one.

Personally I would leave it alone unless you’re going to do that.

According to the forums all you do is snip the bottom capacitor and it goes up to 25db.
The electronics box is identical to the Clapton strat.
https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/powerhouse-strat-mod.277575/

mark123

Its the upper tone control i want to replace with the tbx so should that be easy enough for a guitar tech ? 

ICBM

In that case you can do it.

mark123

Thank you

bluecat

I have no clue on wiring ICBM is the Daddy of that one, but the bottom tone knob on my powerhouse strat controls the boost. I would imagine it is very similar to the Clapton type.

Barney

mark123 said:

Thread resurrection and partial hi-jack.
Basically I want to wire a tbx control into my Powerhouse strat and clip the bottom capacitor to take it to 25db boost.

Will the tbx be a straightforward fit ? as this is a powerhouse strat ,or could i just copy the Clapton usa wiring diagram ? there was a couple of diagrams in the powerhouse owners club website of people who have done this to their models but i can't open the pics for some reason.

And a last question,  the bottom control on the Powerhouse ,is it just a normal tone pot that i turn around to boost ? .

On my powerhouse strat the bottom tone control adds mid range turned right down it's like a normal strat type of thing and turning up makes it more of a humbucker sound ....it seems to work differently to my TBX control on my strat plus as this seems to add top end ...(unless it is not working properly ) but I like what it does ..the only mod to the strat plus I made was a add a JB junior pickup in the bridge