Any Charvel 475 Deluxe/Model 4 users here?

maxdown

maxdown

Fractal Fanatic
I've decided to re-build my old dinged up Charvel 475 Deluxe which I gigged to near death back in the 80's/90's and then threw in a dusty corner. It was always a great playing and versatile guitar but I just felt a bit self-conscious as I aged and had this bright red pointy headstocked wangy machine .....

I've put on a new Schaller Floyd Rose to replace the rusted seized up old one - strung it up and had a play to test out the electronics ...... surprisingly the pots and 5 way switch seem to be good as ever - no noise when using them.

However - when I use some gainy amp AxeFX presets the low end farts out badly (really badly). Input levels all fine on AxeFX - it's only with mid boost full up can I get yellows to light compared to my other guitars which

Does this happen with other users out there with known to be good working order 475/Model 4/Model 6 guitars?

Clean amps seem to be sounding ok .... and even winding up the mid-boost doesn't fart them out.

After lying around and covered in dust for 20 years I'd not be surprised the active circuit board would have a load of dried out caps - so sort of not too surprised - but just want to check that healthy 475/Model 4 guitars work well with the AxeFX input.

I do have a replacement/replica JE-1200 mid boost board/vol pot ready to put in if needs be - also have a complete replacement set of Jackson pups (J50BC + 2 J-200s) coming my way - but before I update all the electrical stuff just wanted to know if a healthy 475 or Model 4 (or Model 6 which uses same JE-1200 board) mid-boost circuit does this farting out on the AxeFX.

Once I get my old 475 working good again I'm thinking of loading the same components into a Jackson Adrian Smith SDX I have ..... so I have a 475 in disguise (no pointy headstock)
 
Maybe try cleaning the contact areas of the input jack. If there is grunge there, the je-1200 might not be getting proper voltage from the battery. The J200's are pretty low output normally, but I'm not too sure on the J50's.

Unfortunately, I can't give you a comparison with my Model 5 output because I put Blackouts in it and they slam the bejeebers out of the input.
 
The stereo input jack is definitely going to be replaced once my (numerous but small stuff - the postman will be giving me funny looks) ebay purchases land with me. I did wiggle the jack a little with the cavity plate off and it crackled.

I've played this guitar in the past with amps I had at the time .... Mesa Boogie Mk3 and then a JMP-1/Mesa Fifty/Fifty rack and it behaved well with all of them at all gain settings ...... so I'm suspicious about the mid-boost board ...... but it's a finickity job wiring a new one in (mini pots used for tone and boost control) so want to definitely ID it as the culprit before I start burning my fingers with the soldering iron :)

It still had it's 20 odd year old battery in place (and it had some juice left in it believe it or not) so I was thinking at first the current would have kept the caps happy on the boost board ..... but then I remembered the circuit isn't active until a jack is plugged in ...... so those caps could be just dried out and done due to sitting there inactive for so long. The boost does still seem to work though ....

I'll replace the jack socket first then .....
 
Indeed ..... bring back the pointies! An added bonus is that I can use it as a deterrent when the vocalist strays near my pedalboard exclusion zone.
 
I have about ten model series guitars with the je 1200 and all are as hot as my emg guitars on the standard humbuckers, but the volume of the J-200's are lower. Never really noticed much problem with high gain patches, but I don't really like tone of those guitars at all for mid gain stuff.
 
Hey Maxdown!

It's been a while since you've started this thread but I thought I'd comment anyway.

I play a lefthanded charvel 475 deluxe desert crackle from 1991 and it has zero issues with the low end.
What it does is a clicking sound that is very annoying and I'm not sure where it comes from.
It could be an a dead capacitor maybe?
Anyway, the low end is fine on mine. Did you found the source of the problem?
I'd like to hear about it or if anyone has an idea of my clicking issue that would be also fine.

Best regards,
Simon
 
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