IBANEZ MC2924 (1986) fixing treble eq

[benvantende]

Hey! I did a huge maintenance round on my Ibanez MC2924. The only thing left is that my treble EQ seems to be broken. I don't have the necessary gear yet to test the components, but wanted to ask in advance if somebody has some experience with this. I have been searching for hours and hours for another pot meter. From what I understand, it is likely this is broken. There is nothing on the market that looks like this one. This one has four pins, and the one in the back seems to be for power. They don't make them like that anymore I have been looking for a replacement with circuit board, but it seems a gamble just buying one. I hope to be able to test the components next week, but even if the pot meter seems faulty, it does not look like I can replace that easily. Pics attached. Let me know if you have any ideas.

 

[Arjank]

Fellow Dutchie here who also happens to own a MC2924.
Maybe it's a solution to get a 4-pin pot (20k) and "wire" it to the small circuit board.

These 4-pin pots aren't very common though

 

[Matt Liebenau]

I could be tracing it out incorrectly but where does the brown wire go? It looks like the bottom lug on that pot just grounds the case. If so, that should be easyish to replace even if you can’t find the exact replacement. Use a multimeter and check for continuity between that bottom lug on the pot and a ground point in the control cavity. If that’s the case then get a PCB mount potentiometer the same resistance and taper, solder a wire to the case and when you install the new one solder in the ground wire where that fourth lug is.

That’s all assuming the potentiometer is the issue. The board it’s attached to is going to be proprietary to Ibanez so you’ll need to find their part number for the assembly and probably order from an Ibanez dealer.

 

[benvantende]

Fellow Dutchie here who also happens to own a MC2924.
Maybe it's a solution to get a 4-pin pot (20k) and "wire" it to the small circuit board.

These 4-pin pots aren't very common though

Thanks for the feedback. I will desolder it and check every component once I have the tools. It will work at some point. Will keep you posted.

 

[benvantende]

I could be tracing it out incorrectly but where does the brown wire go? It looks like the bottom lug on that pot just grounds the case. If so, that should be easyish to replace even if you can’t find the exact replacement. Use a multimeter and check for continuity between that bottom lug on the pot and a ground point in the control cavity. If that’s the case then get a PCB mount potentiometer the same resistance and taper, solder a wire to the case and when you install the new one solder in the ground wire where that fourth lug is.

That’s all assuming the potentiometer is the issue. The board it’s attached to is going to be proprietary to Ibanez so you’ll need to find their part number for the assembly and probably order from an Ibanez dealer.

Thanks Matt, that is helpful. It does not sound very likely you can still order that, but I am going to check. I will also do the stuff with the multimeter. Still need to get some alligator clamps