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kmclarke
Copper Member
USA
6 Posts |
 Posted - 04/27/2009 : 08:46:51
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I bought my first pedal off craigslist, probably my first mistake. It is a Boss CS-3 compression Sustainer. It was in seemingly great shape until I got it home and realized there is a slight rocker to the bottom cover (the metal plate right under the psa adapter input.)
When you put it on a flat surface the pedal rocks side to side. Aside from being annoying I took it apart and it appears defective.
When I unscrew the four bottom screws and take the padded silver cover off it is no longer bent. The cover gets bent when screwed back in like the psa adapter housing is not flush with the bottom surface of the housing so it causes a bend when the cover is screwed back on.
Are there cases of this with other Boss Pedals. I am bummed. That's what I get for buying off craigs I guess. Any help from you guys is greatly appreciated. |
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Dr. Bob
Moderator
Australia
6593 Posts |
Posted - 04/27/2009 : 09:32:36
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Hi kmclarke
First of all welcome to the forum from Australia.
Depending on when your CS-3 was manufactured, the bottom plates are not perfectly symmetrical, if you have the older CS-3 try turning the base plate 180 degrees, it may have a slight cutout that goes/fits at the DC socket end.
The embossed BOSS logo in the rubber on the base plate, should be at the DC socket end.
Assuming you have the older CS-3, with the DC socket that is at the bottom edge of the case.
It could be that someone has exchanged the base plate with a newer Symmetrical one, that does not have the cutout.
This is much easier to see in a picture, that it is to explain.
Look at the Type 1 label on this link.
http://www.bossarea.com/labels/labels.htm
Is your case & base plate like that one?
If it doesn't have the cutout, the base plate, will most likely make the pedal rock,
& I don't mean Rock & Roll... 
Perhaps upload a pic of the plate & bottom of the pedal.
Good Luck.
Regards Dr. Bob 
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Edited by - Dr. Bob on 04/27/2009 09:35:07 |
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kmclarke
Copper Member
USA
6 Posts |
Posted - 04/27/2009 : 16:33:55
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Dr. Bob, thanks for the thorough reply. You obviously have some history with Boss pedals.
I did a search of the serial # on the bossarea site and it came up as April 2008. The unit also looks newish. The bottom plate is silver (made in Taiwan) and does have the cutout you described.
It is almost like the dc input does not fit properly in its cutout on the back side of the unit. When seated, it extends just the slightest bit past the bottom of the metal housing so when I screw the plate back on, it cant help but bow in the center. I also notice the dc input is slightly narrow for it's cutout on the back of the housing. I suppose it's possible someone replaced the dc input with one of the wrong size. Now I'm worried about using it at all :(
I am traveling right now but when I get home in a few days, I'll post some pics.
PS. I have high resolution pics with me. Does anyone know if the bossarea posting engine will automatically resize them in the post. I'd hate to bog you guys down with large file sizes. |
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Dr. Bob
Moderator
Australia
6593 Posts |
Posted - 04/27/2009 : 16:43:59
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Hi kmclarke
quote:
PS. I have high resolution pics with me. Does anyone know if the bossarea posting engine will automatically re-size them in the post. I'd hate to bog you guys down with large file sizes.
You will have to manually re-size the pics, the forum does not auto re-size the pics.
You will most likely get a server time-out if uploading large files
Upload pics no larger than about 1024x768 - or 300K & smaller.
As a possibility, try turning the DC socket 180 Deg,
And see if it fits better.
Once we see some pics, we'll be in a better position to help you out.
If you have problems displaying the pics after uploading,
just let me/us know, & we'll add the HTML code snippet for you.
Regards Dr. Bob |
Edited by - Dr. Bob on 04/27/2009 16:45:23 |
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bossarea
Forum Admin
United Kingdom
3652 Posts |
Posted - 04/27/2009 : 16:55:24
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Hi kmclarke and welcome to the forum.
Did you try to see if the main housing rocks on a flat surface when the bottom plate is removed? It sounds like the housing is slightly bent out of shape. |
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kmclarke
Copper Member
USA
6 Posts |
Posted - 04/27/2009 : 17:01:20
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This forum rules!!! Thanks to Dr. Bob and the help of the pics of the CS-3 insides (page 2) I have found the problem.
It is actually almost embarrasing but once I noticed that the dc input had some slop, side to side, in it's cut out I saw in the internal pics that it was installed sideways. In the end a simple 90 rotation of the dc input has my pedal sitting flush with the ground.
The pics also helped me aleve my fears that the insides had been tampered with too much by being able to check mine against the stock photo. Great recource! Thanks again. |
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Dr. Bob
Moderator
Australia
6593 Posts |
Posted - 04/27/2009 : 17:31:24
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Hi kmclarke
That's good news. 
Can I ask if your CS-3 has the "dbX" Chip, or the "THAT" Chip?
And it's serial number.
Laurie, Bossarea & I have been keeping a short list of which CS-3's have which chip.
Regards Dr. Bob |
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kmclarke
Copper Member
USA
6 Posts |
Posted - 04/28/2009 : 02:33:05
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Dr. Bob,
Sure. You might have to guide me in since I don't realy know what I'm looking for regarding chip ID. |
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Laurie
Double Platinum Member
Canada
4854 Posts |
Posted - 04/28/2009 : 04:04:00
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Hi kmclarke and welcome!
There will be a chip on the circuit board that has either "dBX" marked on it, or "THAT". It is the only chip with a marking like that. |
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kmclarke
Copper Member
USA
6 Posts |
Posted - 04/28/2009 : 04:27:29
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Thanks Laurie.. that was easy.
I have the "THAT" chip and my serial number is HW 93450. Made in Taiwan April 2008. |
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kmclarke
Copper Member
USA
6 Posts |
Posted - 04/28/2009 : 04:39:51
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| I must admit to now being curious about the chip difference. Is there a thread someone can point me to to read up on it? I tried a quick keyword search but didn't come up with anything. |
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Laurie
Double Platinum Member
Canada
4854 Posts |
Posted - 04/28/2009 : 06:30:32
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Not really a thread, and not really a consensus... yet 
Just an observation that the dBX chip in the older CS-3's is probably a little "better" to some ears.
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Topic |
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Bent Cover under CS-3
