Godin A5 output jack wiring problem

[julesb]

Hi, I've just replaced the output jack on my Godin A5 (Non midi version) and I'm getting no sound. I thought I'd followed what was there before but obviously not. Any ideas? it's a piezo system which I imagine is what the extra wire is coming from...

[BassBunny]

It's very difficult to see from the picture what each wire is connected to, ie tip/ring/sleeve. Without knowing what each wire does, hard to advise. Could you contact Godin and ask them where each wire should go then it would be easier to comment.

[KiOgon]

Possibly you have the screen and black wires swapped over? The black you have soldered to the centre of the socket, the earth, but the black could well be the battery - neg. which should go to the contact where you have the screening, the ring contact. Red looks right! Not sure about the blue, is it from the piezo or what?

Cheerz, John

Edited April 26, 2019 by KiOgon

[julesb]

2 hours ago, KiOgon said:

Possibly you have the screen and black wires swapped over? The black you have soldered to the centre of the socket, the earth, but the black could well be the battery - neg. which should go to the contact where you have the screening, the ring contact. Red looks right! Not sure about the blue, is it from the piezo or what?

Cheerz, John

Hi,

I traced the wires back and the blue is actually coming from the battery so is that the battery Neg? If so are you saying the blue should go to the centre and the black and shield go to the left?

[KiOgon]

In the picture the centre tag is the earth, that should have the screen and maybe the black, but if the blue is from the battery then it should be on the left, where it is but without hte shield. Try it!

[julesb]

Thank you. I''ll report back tomorrow.

[julesb]

No luck with this either I'm afraid. I even tried another jack but ti no avail...

[KiOgon]

Without getting me 'ands on it, I'm out of ideas I'm afraid 🤔

[julesb]

After further investigation from the LR baggs forum it seems the black is the switch and the blue wire was not from the battery but some sort of additional ground from the cavity shielding. I soldered accordingly and it still doesn't work so I'm worried I may have blown something in the preamp with my messing about. I imagine that's fairly unlikely but... Many thanks for your help John. I'll continue over on the LR Baggs forum to see if they have any more ideas.

[Andyjr1515]

Don't panic about the preamp yet.

I'm not sure quite which wants to go where, but you definitely have some of the wrong wires on the wrong tags.

If this is the typical Switchcraft stereo jack, these are the tags:

So the earth tag on the socket is where you currently have the black wire soldered (probably correctly)

The shielding - and the blue if that is, as you say, an earth too - needs to be soldered onto the same tag.

If the red is your hot lead, then is needs to be soldered to the tip tag, not the ring tag.

 

If there is no battery and the lead you use is a mono lead, then - correctly - there will be probably nothing connected to the ring tag. 

 

POST SCRIPT - just read the beginning.  This does have a battery?  Then the BLACK - if that is the switch - goes to the Ring Tag

 

Edited April 28, 2019 by Andyjr1515

[Andyjr1515]

So to clarify.

Assuming this is a battery-powered system and the black is the battery switch lead:

 

I stress that in terms of the wiring, the above is if your assumptions of the wire conventions are correct.  It looks like it is a Switchcraft or copy so I'm pretty sure my tag descriptions are correct.

Let us know how you get on. 

[julesb]

Thanks Andy, that was the point I'd got to which seem the same as your instructions and still no Joy. I've had everything apart and everything seems connected and in place. Red and black wires you see from the pre are going to the battery. The wires you see connected to the jack are from the underside of the pre and there seems to be no loose connections. I'm not sure what I could have actually disturbed whilst doing this. Dog was no help btw😀

[Andyjr1515]

Just double check for me - does the longer of the two jackplug contact strips (the righthand one in your photo) attach to the tag that the red wire is soldered to?

Also, have you checked your battery?  The way it was wired before will have shorted the battery and therefore it might be dead.

In the meantime, I'll try to find the preamp diagram to double check that we are interpreting the wire colours correctly.

[julesb]

Thanks Andy. Yes, the red is on the longer one and contacts with the tip when a lead is in. I also though about the battery and replaced it with one from a working bass. Interestingly it didn't wreck the battery as that works in the other bass.

[Andyjr1515]

OK

I'll have a peep and see if I can find the circuit diagram

 

Andy

[Andyjr1515]

I'm clutching at straws here because I can't find anything to explain what wire does what.

Last ditch, assuming that the blue wire is an earth - try swopping the red and the black.

 

If that doesn't sort it I'm stumped.  You say right at the beginning that you were trying to replace the original jack.  Are you able to work out from that original jack which is the ring, the earth and the tip?  One thing is for sure, the braided wire HAS to go onto the earth tag.  The blue one is a mystery...any way of verifying where it goes?  And was it definitely soldered to the braided wire originally?

If the red/black switch doesn't work, probably worth dropping the LR Baggs tech team an email  ([email protected]) rather than relying on the LR Baggs forum and just ask them which wire goes to which tag (Ground; Ring; Tip) on the jack.

 

 

[itu]

According to the preamp picture there are three named contacts in the board: GND, SW, and OUT. They can be seen in the upper right side of the PCBA. If there are those coloured cables on the other side, the texts give you a very clear message.

Now I do not get a clear idea of the cables, where they come from? There is a pretty poorly soldered red cable on the left side of the board - where does it come from? The battery? Is the black from the battery or from the stereo plug (ring or sleeve)?

I am also a bit worried of the quality of the solderings. Without a DMM it is hard to say whether the cables have became so hot that they are in contact with each other under the shield. Should be checked.

This is not rocket science or composing music. Find all cable ends and you are very close to finding the right places of the wires.

[julesb]

Thanks for everybody's help. I'm certain the jack is now correct. Black and red from the top of the board are to the battery.Gnd sw and out go to the jack and appear correct. I'll check the wires haven't melted together. I'm snowed under but determined to get to the bottom of this soon. 

[julesb]

Ok, just checked it with a multi meter and there is continuity between all points from the pre to the battery and the jack which has also confirmed that the wires are in the correct places. New battery installed. Zilch....

[julesb]

SOLVED! After taking it all apart what seems like a hundred times, the culprit was the connection between the battery poles and the  contact strips in the battery holder. TFFT! 

Thanks again to all who got involved in trying to help. I know a lot more now then I did at the start of this. Cheers!

Edited April 29, 2019 by julesb
typo

[Andyjr1515]

3 hours ago, julesb said:

SOLVED! After taking it all apart what seems like a hundred times, the culprit was the connection between the battery poles and the  contact strips in the battery holder. TFFT! 

Thanks again to all who got involved in trying to help. I know a lot more now then I did at the start of this. Cheers!

EXCELLENT!!!!!!  Very pleased