Problem with Arion SCH-Z Chorus - Help!

[zombiwoof]

I've got an Arion chorus that I bought a couple of years ago.   I checked it out when I bought it, worked fine, I really liked it, but I didn't touch it for a couple of months.  When I took it to a jam, I hooked it up with a couple of other effects, and suddenly I got no sound out of it.  When I got home, I tried it again and it worked!  Later, when I again tried to use it, no sound again!  I called Musician's Friend, where I bought it, and they wouldn't take it back because it was too late for a return.  Since I only paid about $20 for it, I figured I would buy another one if I couldn't fix it, but I waited too long and now they've disappeared from the market, except for a few here and there on Ebay.

Anyway, I've checked it out a bit and everything looks OK inside.  There's a little spring that comes down from the board and contacts the metal bottom plate inside, I figure that is some kind of ground, so I extended it a bit by pulling on it to increase the contact with the plate, put it back together and it worked again, but a couple of days later it messed up again.  I did discover this time that if I pushed down lightly on the top of the knobs it would come on again!  Anyone got an idea what the problem might be?  I really dig this chorus, I'd like to get it working.  Maybe bad solder job on the board-mounted pots?

I'd appreciate any help that is offered.  Jeez, why doesn't some company clone this thing?  A lot of people like them, but the construction is junk.

Thanks,
Al

[johngreene]

  I did discover this time that if I pushed down lightly on the top of the knobs it would come on again! 

Sounds like a cold/cracked solder joint to me. Looks really close at all the solder connections, maybe reflow as many as you can reach and see what happens. It would be best if you could use an audio probe to trace the signal while it is failing to better narrow down the location rather than the shotgun approach. Depends on how deep you are willing to go into it.

--john

[Mark Hammer]

Were you attempting to use it with an adaptor?  If so, it is not uncommon for people to try and use an adaptor with a 2.5mm hole in the plug on a device with a 2.1mm hole.  The plug will "fit" but insufficient contact will be made with the centre pin to actually power the thing.

A long shot, I realize, but thought I needed to mention it.

[zombiwoof]

It happens with battery or adapter.  I assume, though I'll definitely check, that it has the "industry standard" center negative jack.  Can't be the problem, anyway, as the light stays on, it's getting power.  When I get a chance, I'll touch up some of the solder joints.  I'll have to be careful, as it looks like a cheap machine soldered board with tiny, close soldered connections.  This thing is driving me nuts.  What happened to Arion, anyway?  I didn't hear anything about them discontinuing the pedals, they were just all of a sudden gone.

Al