NEED HELP!!! Wiring Ibanez using VLX91 5-way

[PylonRacer]

Well I yanked the '59 & JB out of the Ibanez S470 (H-S-H) and was wanting to put it back to "stock" switching with the pups it came with. I get all 5 switch positions; but not all in the correct place . Position 1 & 5 are swapped 2,3,4 seem to be correct (I've confirmed this by raising and lowering pups). The switch only fits one way; and like I said 2-4 seem OK. This is really making me :crazy: :cussing:

Any gurus out there familiar with the Ibanez VLX91 5-way super switch? I wired it up according to the stock diagram; but it seems as if it's missing info (jumper wires) or I'm just totally confused.

This is the factory diagram.
http://www.jemsite.com/tech/img/t_wd_7.gif

All the diagrams I have found on the net are different This is my last resort before I either 1) Pay to have someone to wire it correctly 2) Throw it off the roof of my house into the street and run over it multiple times with my truck. I'm about 50/50 which way I'll go.

 

[PylonRacer]

Re: NEED HELP!!! Wiring Ibanez using VLX91 5-way

OK now it's worse. I tried someone elses schematic to no avail. So I soldered it back to the factory JEM schematic. I took out a jumper out of the switch that connected one bank to the other just in case that was throwing things off and now my in-between positions, 2 and 4 are the same as position 3, single coil alone; and... the neck & bridge are still swapped. I'm afraid I'm going to start heat damaging things with so much soldering and unsoldering, so I am putting it down.

If anyone is familiar with the VLX91 that would be great. I do know that it is a 4-pole six-throw switch. If not, I'll have to take it to a tech that can do the work.

 

[Artie]

Re: NEED HELP!!! Wiring Ibanez using VLX91 5-way

Man . . . I'm sorry, but I'm just not sure how that switch is configured internally to give you a confident answer. :yell:

 

[erikm5150]

Re: NEED HELP!!! Wiring Ibanez using VLX91 5-way

this might help

if you need more help, i'm sure you can find it at either jemsite.com or dimarzioforum.com

 

[PylonRacer]

Re: NEED HELP!!! Wiring Ibanez using VLX91 5-way

I did look at the Jemsite.com and got mucho conflicting info. BTW, I didn't think or know about dimarzioforum. Thanks. I might field my question there. I can't believe this switch ist *that* big of a mystery.


So I've been looking at the Superswitch. It's also a 4 pole 6 throw switch. I've attached the wiring connections below. I'm going to guess that the VLX91 works the same? So It looks like the VLX91 side commons go to the hot side and the OATX commons go to ground. So I probably need to jumper both 0 (common) sides together. My switch has a jumper from position 0 on the OATX side to the switch chassis, so this sort of makes sense.

OK, baby steps...

So... to wire the bridge in series I need to...

1) Solder VLX91 side position #0 to hot side of Volume pot
2) Solder OATC side position #0 to ground side of Volume pot (or just ground)

3) Solder the braid to ground
4) Solder the bridge hot wire to VLX91 side position #1
5) Solder the bridge negative wire to OATC side position #1

Am I anywhere near the right track?

 

[PylonRacer]

Re: NEED HELP!!! Wiring Ibanez using VLX91 5-way

OK I think I might have it. I've been rolling this switching thing around my head for a while. I got up in the middle of the night and had an epiphonic (?) moment. I've never really understood how pup selector switches worked; but I think I've got it sorted. Looking at the Stewmac superswitch diagram gave me the breakthru.

I'll try to wire up the guitar tonight and post the results! (good or bad).

Oddly enough if I follow the Ibanez diagram with my theory, position 1 (neck series) & 5 (bridge series) positions are swapped; but 2,3,4 look right. Hmmm..... just like my guitar sounds by following the diagram Hmmm....

 

[PylonRacer]

Re: NEED HELP!!! Wiring Ibanez using VLX91 5-way

OK I did sort it out - with the help of a VOM meter I borowed from work. Hopefully this will be helpful for someone else. It turns out that the VLX91 is just like a superswitch (see diagram). Also the switch diagram erikm5150 posted IS correct. The numbers printed on the OTAX side of the switch are NOT!. I verified this with a continuity tester. Also if you follow the Ibeenhad wiring schematic, you get the bridge HB & neck HB positions swapped (just like the first time I wired it following their schematic.

So the switch works like this: If the toggle is in Position 1 (neck position for this guitar), each pad #1 will be connected to its respective common pole (the 0 at the bottom of each column). Having the toggle in Position 1 does not connect all four of the #1 pads together. The common poles are not connected to each other, so you need to jumper them together to create the proper connections. If you were to jumper all the commons together, then when you flip the selector to position 1, it would connect all the #1 pads through the common #0 pads.

I'll post a wiring diagram; but will take some effort to create. Sorry I'm not as good an artist as Artie.