Jack input problem.

[rohan]

My current bass has a barrel jack, And the connection inside the jack was very loose. As the connectors are sealed inside the jack the only way to move them was to pry open the end of the jack. Although this sounds very uneccesary i could see no other way of getting into it. So I tightened everything up. As the bass is active there are three connections two the jack, two to the pins at the end, and one to the outer of the jack. Not sure why this is, but I may have re soldered them wrongly. I'm pretty new to this kind of thing so any help is appreciated.

[gilmour]

Hi,

I think that this is a really comon problem with active basses, the sockets have a switch in (turning it on every time you plug it in - the third pin is the switch) unfortunatley this means that they wearout more easily, it's really annoying, and like you say because the sockets are sealed it's very difficult to fix them.

I Found the easiest fix was to try different leads, as some have a slightly oversized jack and will fit in more snuggly, but if you've already opened up the socket this may not work.

A replacement barrel jack should only cost about £5 - £10 and it's a pretty easy job to solder in, so you should probably just cut your losses and pick one up, they should be available in most guitar shops.

Hope this helps.

[BOD2]

Active basses uses a stereo jack socket with, as you say, 3 connections. If you look at a stereo jack PLUG you'll see how the three connections work -

TIP - connects to the tip (ball end) of the jack
RING - connects to the small metal ring immediately behind the tip
SLEEVE - connects to the large metal sleeve of the jack barrel, immediately behind the ring

Stereo jacks are also know as "Tip, Ring, Sleeve" or "TRS" jacks. See here [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tip_ring_sleeve"]Wikpedia[/url]

A MONO jack has only a tip and a larger sleeve. When you put a mono jack into a stereo jack socket both the ring and sleeve of the socket will touch the larger sleeve of the plug. This effectively connects the ring and sleeve contacts of the socket together.

This principal is used to switch the active circitry on when you insert a jack plug into the socket. The negative side of the battery is connected to the sleeve contact and then a wire goes from the ring contact to the preamp. The positive side of the battery is permanently wired to the preamp. With no jack in the socket the ring and sleeve contacts are open (not connected) and no battery power can go to the preamp. When you insert a monmo jack into the socket the ring and sleeve contacts are shorted together (by the barrel of the mono jack) which connects the negative side of the battery to the preamp and switches the preamp on.

Example here [url="http://www.emginc.com/downloads/wiringdiagrams/BTseries.pdf"]EMG preamp wiring[/url]

Consequently - don't leave a jack plug in the socket of active guitar when you're not using it (the battery will run down) and don't use a stereo jack lead as the contact between ring and sleeve will not be made.

[rohan]

Cheers guys! Have ordered a new input