What PS1 model do you prefer?

Hi guys, This is my first return thread since i'm happy that ASSEMBler is back Okay, I got an SCPH-1001, and i went through 4 of those bastards until i found a fully functional one.
I bought my first two 1001's at my florida vacation 2 months ago at the Florida Swap Meet at West Palm Beach.
They were made in July 1995 and July 1996 and both had KSM-440-ACM and AAM modules on them and guess what, when i replaced their lasers with KSM-440-AEM, It didn't fix anyything!! On the July 1995 1001, On Spin Jam, It will be stuck at the empire logo and never move on to the next screen and on Spider-Man 2000, It will skip alot on the Activision logo. On the July 96 1001, On Spin Jam (my slightly scratched copy), When i choose Gilly and let it load, It will be stuck on loading and say Get ready and never get to the first level. I tried the same AEM laser in my 7501 and guess what, It workes like a charm! Then i got an SCPH-1001 from Jan. 1997 that was missing a spindle bought off of eBay and when i first put a KSM-440-BAM laser, It didn't fix it. Then finally I got an SCPH-1001 from March 1997 which i have now and it's working perfectly. Is it possible to adjust BIAS and GAIN without a mulitmeter? And me buying a 1001 was a huge mistake. Is it properly the laser or the scratched discs fault? I got so frustrated that i destroyed 3 1001 since laser replacing didn't do shit. Why couldn't the SCPH-1001 just have an Automatic BIAS and Gain just like 5501 and newer? In my opinion, People keep saying 1001 models are awesome but IMO they are not awesome for me. They always die no matter what even with new lasers in them. What models do you prefer:
Here is my take right now:

SCPH-1001: Higher audio quality, RCA Jacks and Parallel Port, Laser wears out fast and made out of plastic and can cause FMV Skipping Issues.

SCPH-5501: Same DAC as SCPH-1001, Fixed laser and relocated and RCA Jacks removed.

SCPH-7501, Good model, Parallel Port still.

SCPH-9001, No Parallel Port, Good model.

Should i keep my SCPH-1001 or use my 7501?

 

I'd go for the 1001, although one that already has the PSOne KSM-440BAM laser.

I personally had one (built it myself) and it was the best I could get. For some reason, while all the other models I had (a 5552,a 7502 and a 9002, all chipped) skipped like crazy (mind you, this was with lasers in pretty good shape), the 1001 was working very smooth. Weird that you need to adjust the BIAS and GAIN. I remember that on mine I just popped the laser in and it worked fine.

 

Net Yaroze.. DTL-300x !

Man... the black matte texture soft finish is just out of this world good lookin'!

 

Well for me, I have no luck with the 1001, Even if i put a BAM laser in, I have to Adjust BIAS GAIN.

 

By any chance is the BAM laser from eBay? Or a genuine BAM laser out of a slim PSOne?

I ask this since the eBay BAM lasers are known to be crap, while the genuine ones work first try. A worn BAM laser may be the culprit as well, though I'm not sure if that would be the case.

 

Sometimes the spindle motor becomes unstable. Make sure to check that if you are swapping only the laser

 

I found a Modchip in my SCPH-1001 today when i was opening it up. What should i do with my 1001? And what brand CD-R's do you recommend? And what speed do you recommend to make the PSX read it correctly?

 

iirc 1001 models had problems with color banding. It was fixed in 75XX models. Might have been fixed in 55XX models as well but I have yet to test that. When I mod my 5501 I'll let ya know!

Oh and there is no true-stealth chip for 10XX models. It's only partial stealth manually switching modes at startup. Just food for thought.

 

SCPH-1000, SCPH-5903, and PSONE

 

I made the mistake of having the SCPH-1001 as my main Playstation. At this point, I'm about to lose my cool here. . Here is why:
1: Sometimes, When i start a game with the new BAM laser (taken from a PSone) even if clean games, It will freeze on PS logo and i have to restart it.
2: I'm about to get rid of the SCPH-1001 i have and use my SCPH-7501.
3: The SCPH-1001 is not an awesome model. They are not awesome because once you put in a new laser assembly, The thing must be fucking CALIBRATED!!
4: Is there a model that your prefer that is not an SCPH-100x? I'm done with that model and lost my cool!
I set the laser intensity on mine to 15.2
I have the BIAS set to the left
I have the GAIN set to the right and
RV 702 set to the middle
and it reads but sometimes, when it gets stuck on PS logo, I have to reset it and it will work. What is causing that?

 

i prefer the scph-5501. though mine seems to be picky about the laser. i tested a bam laser from a psone and it didnt work. also a new one, which is supposedly by sony, also didnt work :/ i do like the psone models, i have a mint condition one in storage ive been meaning to install a mayumi v4 on

 

Did you try adjusting RV703? And did you also try a laser from an SCPH-7501? That might get it going.

 

They started using the new GPU+SGRAM on later PU-8 boards sometime in late 1995, so a SCPH-1001 can either have the banding or not have it.

I like the old GPU revisions for their novelty, it's almost unbelievable how crappy especially newer games can look on them at times. The underwater sections in Spyro 2/3 and Crash 3 come to mind, though there are probably much better examples out there.

 

If you think you are, please take a moment to consider your actions carefully before you do something that you might regret.

I'm pretty sure that any PlayStation model requires calibration if you swapped the optical block. Calibration is probably not actually done with a multimeter either.

 

whats the proper way of doin it? i have two psone bam lasers id like to put in older ps1 models

 

I am confused as to whether this is a general question that belongs in general gaming, or a question on how to repair something. The title suggests the former, so it might need changing if you want to keep it as a repair query.

Considering you don't use a multimeter to adjust them, yes it is. You need the right test disc, an oscilloscope and a jitter meter. Not cheap gear.

Don't assume a cheap, crappy Chinese third party laser copy is going to be any good, either.

 

Use this model if you want good CD performance.
It has multiple automatic calibration built into the chip set. That's how a mediocre drive can perform well with it.
A PU-7 or PU-8 (SCPH-1001) has nothing like that. You can only manually calibrate them, which is very hard to do, and then it relies on a perfect drive so that the calibration is good across the entire disk and at various heat levels.

Another good model is PU-18 (SCPH-5501). It has most of the automatic calibration of the later boards but still uses the older DAC + encoder for video. If you prefer the softer look of the old consoles, it's the model for you.

You seem to be using scratched disks, so I recommend you just go with the 7501.

 

What do you mean with the softer look of the old consoles, do you have any examples or links? I'm curious what difference it makes.

 

I have installed hundreds of original KSM-440 BAM optical blocks in SCPH 100X models without the need to adjust the bias and gain. If the optical block is in good condition it will work fine most of the time. No FMV skipping. No freezing.

Sometimes however you will need to adjust the laser intensity using the potentiometer that is located on the block's ribbon. Info on how to do this is available online.

You will also need to replace the plastic shell that is on the top of the KSM-440 BAM with the one from the original block found in the SCPH 1XXX model as it won't fit into the PS shell and the disc will not spin properly.

 

Guess what, I'm using the SCPH-7501 and you are right, it's working perfectly. I'm just done with the SCPH-1001!!!! It is not an awesome fucking model at all!! So i destroyed an SCPH-1001 and went for an SCPH-7501.