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midibuddy
Silver Member
Ecuador
285 Posts |
 Posted - 08/30/2009 : 07:25:38
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| Today I powered a pedal I recently bought, to see if it was working correctly. It is a MIT CS-3 compressor. When I powered it, I noticed that the led is barely visible when on.. it's like the batteries are dying or something. When I disconected the power I checked and it read use boss ACA power adapter. Can I use it with my PSA-120S power supply? Are these CS-3s better than the PSA versions? |
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midibuddy
Silver Member
Ecuador
285 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2009 : 07:29:58
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| Today I powered a pedal I recently bought, to see if it was working correctly, a MIT CS-3 compressor. When I turned it on, I noticed that the led is barely visible when on.. it's like the batteries were dying or something. When I disconected the power and read the back of the pedal it said "use boss ACA power adapter only". Can I use it with my PSA-120S power supply? Are these CS-3s better than the PSA versions? |
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Dirk
Platinum Member
Netherlands
1309 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2009 : 11:18:00
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When you replace both R32 and D10 on the circuit board with jumper wires you have made yourself a PSA pedal. 
It should now also work when daisy chained together with a PSA pedal from a PSA adaptor. |
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RONanFEZ
Bronze Member
USA
85 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2009 : 12:08:16
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This is kinda long but is some good info i got from Josh Scott at jhs.
Pedals are great but if you aren�t feeding them what they need, their most likely gonna cause some problems.
Why is the battery best? It�s not so much the power that the battery offers. It�s not that your pedal likes the battery any better than a power supply. It�s how the battery is all to itself. Because of this, the pedal is receiving isolated power. You may still be wondering how this matters. Power is power, right? Wrong.
What if you were to share a drink with five or ten people? Everybody just takin a sip and then they pass it back to you... Now that�s scary. When we don�t use separate sources of power for our effects it is really no different than this. If one pedal has any DC noise, it will spread across the board causing hiss and hum that may drive you nuts. The most common cause for this is daisy chaining your pedals from one adapter like a �One Spot� or �Godlyke�. These products are excellent but when chaining multiple powered devices, you never know what your gonna get. If your noticing a lot of noise with your setup and your daisy chaining, this is most likely the cause. Overdrive and distortion pedals are particularly prone to this as they boost and pull on certain frequencies that cause DC noise. Daisy chaining is great for just a few pedals but if your running a big board, you may want to revaluate the situation.
We want the isolation of a battery but the convenience of a daisy chain. How can all your pedals get what they need while making it easy on you? The answer is an isolated power supply! There are lot�s of these out there but here are a few that I feel are the best. My favorite is the Voodoo Lab �Pedal Power 2�. It has eight isolated outputs, voltage sag option, external plug (great if you use a Whammy or other DC pedal) and its own balanced transformer to insure low noise. I run two of these under my pedal train and they save my tone everyday!
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Edited by - RONanFEZ on 08/30/2009 12:10:20 |
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FRANZONI
Double Platinum Member
Ireland
3543 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2009 : 16:32:51
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On the question of is the ACA CS-3 better...? i would be tempted to say yes...Laurie has a theory that the reason that some of us love our CS-3's while others don't is because there was a different chip used in some models....i wold love to know is the THAT chip was used in the older ACA versions....mine is ACA and it's my clean booster and it's a great pedal.....i also keep the sustain level down below 12 o'clock to avoid too much squish.... |
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cctsim
Silver Member
United Kingdom
418 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2009 : 19:02:02
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I think the older CS-3 comes with the dbx chip that sounds better than the THAT chip found in the newer CS-3.
The ACA pedals have a diode and a resistor to bring the dc voltage from 12V down to 9V. I don't see how this or a battery is an advantage tonewise assuming you use a reasonable power supply. |
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FRANZONI
Double Platinum Member
Ireland
3543 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2009 : 21:13:18
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quote:
Originally posted by cctsim
I think the older CS-3 comes with the dbx chip that sounds better than the THAT chip found in the newer CS-3.
The ACA pedals have a diode and a resistor to bring the dc voltage from 12V down to 9V. I don't see how this or a battery is an advantage tonewise assuming you use a reasonable power supply.
No i think your right on the power supply side..the point i was making was maybe the older ACA pedals had the DBX chip or which ever of the two made some CS-3's sound better than others.... could also be a whole range or other issues to why some of us like it and some don't...your amp/guitar setup and how and what your trying to get out of the pedal.....personally i think of the CS-3 as being a bit like a DS-1...very few(if any) turn the tone control on a DS-1 up past halfway..i always think that the CS-3's sustain control is a bit like this and if kept down below half and the level and attack pushed up to compensate it can sound quite good..... plus there are a good few aftermarket mods out there that some people reckon make a big difference ......one of my favourite compressors is the sim in my XT pro of the old LA-2A studio compressor..unfortunately it can't be switched in and out from the foot controller.... .... |
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Laurie
Double Platinum Member
Canada
4854 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2009 : 22:01:45
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quote:
Originally posted by FRANZONI
No i think your right on the power supply side..the point i was making was maybe the older ACA pedals had the DBX chip or which ever of the two made some CS-3's sound better than others.... could also be a whole range or other issues to why some of us like it and some don't...your amp/guitar setup and how and what your trying to get out of the pedal.....personally i think of the CS-3 as being a bit like a DS-1...very few(if any) turn the tone control on a DS-1 up past halfway..i always think that the CS-3's sustain control is a bit like this and if kept down below half and the level and attack pushed up to compensate it can sound quite good..... plus there are a good few aftermarket mods out there that some people reckon make a big difference ......one of my favourite compressors is the sim in my XT pro of the old LA-2A studio compressor..unfortunately it can't be switched in and out from the foot controller........
I'm standing behind my theory about the dBx chip. I've had over 10 CS-3's on my bench now and tried them all through the same rig. dBx comes out ahead in my opinion.
All MIJ CS-3's should have the dBx chip. I thnak all ACA versions (whether MIJ or MIT) might have the dBx chip. |
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FRANZONI
Double Platinum Member
Ireland
3543 Posts |
Posted - 08/31/2009 : 10:01:54
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I'm to lazy to pull my CS-3 off my board to see what chip is in it..... it's ACA and i've have it since my rack was stolen when i was on hols in 1995...i bought the CS-3,-OD-2,CH-1 and my first DD-3 off a dealer i got my musicman amp off......best move ever.... |
Edited by - FRANZONI on 08/31/2009 10:02:22 |
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midibuddy
Silver Member
Ecuador
285 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2009 : 00:42:14
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CS-3 pedals mystery solved!!
I opened up my new CS-3, and the vintage one I got last week (ACA powered), and I found out the different chips they use. The ACA uses a dbx chip, and the newer ones use "THAT" chip (that's it name, really!)
Well, here's a photobucket folder, you can watch both of them here:
http://s786.photobucket.com/albums/yy142/midibuddy/
Hope you like it!
Needless to say, the dbx one is on my pedalboard, and I'm selling the newer one. The dbx sounds a bit more natural, but I like the newer one being louder. |
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sp-1
Platinum Member
Germany
1454 Posts |
Posted - 09/05/2009 : 16:25:58
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I just found out my MIT ACA CS-3 has no dbx chip.
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midibuddy
Silver Member
Ecuador
285 Posts |
Posted - 09/05/2009 : 17:46:04
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| Mine does! I guess I should consider myself lucky. This was an unexpected surprise. |
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BOSS CS-3 - ACA Version
