mart Posted August 3, 2013 Share Posted August 3, 2013 My circuit-breaker cable arrived this morning, and things started off well. Plugging and unplugging a few basses, active and passive, seemed to work ok. Then I switched to a guitar, plugging it into an acoustic fitted with an LR Baggs pickup. At first the cable didn't want to go in the socket, but with a bit of pressure (tricky with a right-angle jack that has a push-button switch just where you might otherwise push to get it in) it finally went in. And mostly worked, although at one time I switched the plug to mute it, and unplugged from the guitar, and got loud buzzing, as if I'd been touching the tip of the jack plug myself, even though I wasn't, and it was set to mute. Unmuting it made no difference. Plugging it back in (after muting on the amp) it then worked ok again. But then I switched to another bass and this happened: the plug just would not go in, and then got jammed so it would not come out either. I ended up taking the socket out of the bass in order to get enough purchase to move the plug in the socket at all. I've now managed to get the plug half-way into the socket, as in the photo, but I cannot get it further. I suppose, maybe, this socket and the Baggs one, are non-standard sizes, and extra tight, even though I've never had a single problem with them with any other cable. The alternative, which seems a bit more likely, is that the stories are true: PW plugs are too big. So, the circuit-breaker aspect does seem to work well, with actives and passives. (Almost all of the time). Just a shame they can't get the size right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mart Posted August 3, 2013 Share Posted August 3, 2013 Just as a brief update, I took some pliers to get enough grip on the barrel socket, and managed to extract the PW jack plug. I then tried it in an open socket from Maplins. Again it just would not go in. But with the pliers I rammed the PW jack plug in and out enough times until it could actually be pushed in by hand, and then did the same with the barrel socket in the photo. This wore quite a bit of the gold finish off the plug. But putting other cables (with Neutrik plugs) in the sockets seemed to still be ok - they still seemed to grip reasonably well. So is it just that the gold-plating takes the PW jacks out of spec? For now I'm not too fussed. It was an unpleasant afternoon, but I now have a cable that I can use reliably to mute while I swap or unplug my basses (and guitars). Thanks for those who reassured me that this would work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mart Posted August 3, 2013 Share Posted August 3, 2013 Next job is to find a psychiatrist who can help me deal with my OCD battery problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Telebass Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 I use the great big foot switch on my TU-2. Who needs switching cables? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mart Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 (edited) [quote name='Telebass' timestamp='1375685007' post='2164113'] I use the great big foot switch on my TU-2. Who needs switching cables? [/quote] Yeah, when I use a pedal tuner inline, then I make use of the implicit mute facility. Although if you then unplug your bass, you can sometimes get a pop after you've plugged the bass back in, when you stomp the pedal to un-mute things. But I get nervous having a pedal inline, because it has a battery which might run out. So I prefer to use a headstock tuner these days as I know I can turn it off. (Plus I never play in tune anyway ) Did I mention the obsessive nature of my worries about batteries. ;-) Edited August 5, 2013 by mart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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